Hi Chris, many thanks that you take the time to answer a few questions to us.

Chris, you have studied forensic psychology in Michigan, and works six years in the prosecutor´s team of psychologists. Why did you decide to become a novelist? Did the work done no fun anymore?

In total I actually worked for four years with the District Attorneys office in Michigan. I didn´t go from forensic psychology to being a writer straight away. I first got involved with music and became a guitarist in a rock band in Los Angeles. I worked as a professional guitarist for many, many years before I decided I wanted to write. The main reason I went from forensic psychology to rock musician is because rock musicians get more girls. What can I say, I was young.

You have studied psychology with specialization in criminal behaviour, was it a great help to write The Crucifix Killer?

My experience as a psychologist has certainly helped in writing The Crucifix Killer. Robert Hunter, the protagonist, is a criminal behavior psychologist turned detective. He applies a lot of the theories I used to apply to the cases I was involved with. But I try to keep the psychology side of my novels very light. If I get the balance wrong, it can become boring instead of interesting.

I've heard that you were successful as a musician. What have you done for music, and you're still active?

I played for several Glam Rock bands in Los Angeles during the height of the glam rock era. After that I became a session guitarist and have played and travel the world with artists as diverse as Michael Bolton, Ricky Martin, Shania Twain, Bjork, Tom Jones and Julio Iglesias.

Please supply a brief summary of your book, The Crucifix Killer.

I guess the best summary is the blog created for the novel. In a derelict cottage in Los Angeles National Forest, a young woman is found savagely murdered. Naked, strung from two wooden posts, the skin has been ripped from her face, while she was alive. On the nape of her neck is carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer. But that´s not possible. Because, two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed. Could this be the work of a copycat killer? Someone who has somehow accessed intricate details of the earlier murders, details that were never made public? Or is Homicide Detective Robert Hunter forced to face the unthinkable? Is the real Crucifix Killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Hunter with his inability to catch him? Robert Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining, where there's no such thing as a quick death.

You have great success in Germany with The Crucifix killer, and you get fantastic reviews at amazon. Have you in the United States and other countries huge success?

The Crucifix Killer hasn´t been released in the USA or Canada yet. The book has been offered to Simon & Schuster USA, but they passed on it saying it was too gruesome for the American market. In the UK, the book has only been released in Hardcover (paperback scheduled for 04 March 2010). The Hardcover has done extremely well, beyond all my expectations. As for reviews, I don´t read them at all. It´s a rule that I created myself.

I have read that you are the second novel from the Robert Hunter series have done. When will he appear in Germany?

Brutal * English title * is actually finished. Will go through some edits with my editor in the coming weeks. In the UK, the novel is scheduled for release in July 2010. I don´t know what Ullstein, my German publisher, has planned for the novel. I think it might be released in Germany around the same time as the UK.

Can you tell us a little bit what to expect in your new novel?

I will use the blog I created when I was developing the story. A priest is brutally beheaded inside a church. His blood has been drunk. His head has vanished. The killer´s calling card is left on the victim´s chest. But this is only the first in a series of savage and gruesome murders. At first Detective Robert Hunter, of the Los Angeles Homicide Division, believes this is a ritualistic killer. But as more bodies surface, each killed in a completely different way than the previous one, Hunter realises this is something much bigger. All the victims have died in a way they feared the most. Their worst nightmares have come true. But how could the killer have known? And what links these apparently random victims together? To catch the killer Hunter finds himself following a psychological path he´s never been down before. He has to chase the most elusive and sadistic killer he has met. Someone who knows what scares you to death. Nightmares will come true.

Many thanks for this interview chris, and still more success in writing.