THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999

Mystery authors reveal their writing secrets

By Rachelle Imson

On-Line Forty-Niner

Everyone knows the butler did it, but on Monday, Cal State Long Beach students got a chance to find out who wrote about it in a mystery authors panel held in the University Library.

In "The Self: A Rainbow of Mystery," four well-known mystery writers including Jan Burke, Dale Furutani, Carolina Garcia-Aguilera and Gar Anthony Haywood discussed writing about segments of the population that are not traditionally well represented in mystery literature: the Japanese-American, Cuban-American and African-American cultures.

Dale Furutani, author of the Ken Tanaka contemporary mystery series set in Los Angeles, said he has two agendas in writing: to get down the best mystery story and to talk about a culture and a subculture.

"I take a reader from every day and put him in a world so unusual - it's almost science fiction," Furutani said.

As for research, the writers admit to using unusual techniques.

Furutani has taken numerous trips to Japan just to walk down the streets and get a visual picture. Garcia-Aguilera became a licensed private investigator and started a detective agency in Miami with a partner. Though no longer in the business, she admits to tagging along with working P.I.s to gain the experience she needs for her mysteries.

Mystery writing is a self-gratifying job, the writers said.

However, there is a drawback. For others, writing takes a bite out of their social life.

"The low point is how many hours you toil away totally by yourself," Garcia-Aguilera said. "You've got to be antisocial at heart to do this sort of stuff."

As minority mystery writers, Furutani, Garcia-Aguilera and Haywood are one of the first of their race to break through in the predominantly Caucasian field.

Though the writers would like to see more diversity in publishing houses, in the end, it comes down to how good the book is.

"Publishing is a business," Haywood said. "In the end, it's what they think will sell."