Mark de Castrique is well known in Charlotte as one of the Queen City’s leading mystery writers. He has published twenty-four mysteries, the most recent of which is Desperate Spies, which Severen House released on November 4, 2025. The third book in Mark’s Secret Lives series, the book focuses on a retired FBI agent named Ethel Fiona Crestwater. I recently contacted Mark and asked him for more information about Desperate Spies. In his response, he provided information about the book, but he also shared the news that he and his wife (Linda) have recently moved to Virginia:
Released earlier this month, the third book in my Secret Lives series is titled Desperate Spies and features retired FBI agent seventy-five-year-old Ethel Fiona Crestwater. For over fifty years, Ethel has been renting rooms to fellow agents, and she knows everyone in law enforcement in the D.C. area. She’s smart, fearless, and readily becomes involved in her roomers’ cases.
Writing a series lets me discover something new about the main character in every book. In Desperate Spies, we learn more about Ethel’s back story and how she became involved with the Mafia and Russian spies. The challenge of a series is keeping the recurring characters fresh while still imparting enough previous information so that the novel can be read as a standalone. Hopefully, Desperate Spies works for both new and existing readers of the series.
Just like Ethel has over fifty years of ties to D.C. and Northern Virginia, I have over fifty years of ties to Charlotte. However, a few months ago, my wife Linda and I joined Ethel in Northern Virginia. Although she’s a fictional character, our two daughters and their families are not, and we now live closer to them.
But my writing of twenty-four mystery novels would not have happened without Charlotte’s support. The most influential contributor to my considering myself to be a Charlotte writer has been the English Department of UNC Charlotte. In 1998, I enrolled in the M.A. program and found the professors both accessible and encouraging. I was interested in narrative structure in storytelling, especially studying how the way a story is told can have as much impact on a reader as what’s being told.
Then, after receiving my degree, I was invited to teach a class on The American Mystery. Teaching that course at UNC Charlotte for several years kept me focused on the elements of a good story that I hope I applied to some degree to my own work.
So, thank you, UNC Charlotte’s English Department. You’ll always be a part of my story.
For additional information about Desperate Spies and Mark’s other mysteries, please click on the following link: http://www.markdecastrique.com/
I wish Mark and Linda all the best as they settle in their new home in Alexandria, Virgina. While Mark is no longer living in Charlotte, as far as I am concerned, he will always be a Storied Charlotte author.