Released by Michael Lister …
Mystery Novelist Michael Lister Inspired by
Real-Life Madeleine McCann Case
New York Times bestselling mystery novelist Michael Lister continuities to be inspired by true crime.
“From the moment I heard about the Madeleine McCann case, I knew I was going to write a novel about it,” Lister said. “I wasn’t sure how exactly it would inform my new novel. I just knew it would.”
Madeleine McCann, a three-year-old British toddler, went missing on the evening of May 3, 2007, during a family holiday trip at the seaside resort of Praia de Luz in Portugal. When she vanished, Madeleine was alone in a condo with her two-year-old twin siblings while her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, and their friends, ate at an outdoor resort restaurant approximately one hundred and eighty feet away.
“Blood and Sand doesn’t deal directly with Madeleine’s case,” Lister said. “In fact, you could read it and not know it was the inspiration. But once readers know that it is I think they’ll find it fascinating exploring how it is.”
In Blood and Sand, three-year-old Magdalene Dacosta vanishes on the night of her parents’ Winter Solstice party and is never seen again. But how did this happen? The home was locked up securely, and security cameras show no one entering or leaving the residence. John Jordan must figure out how this seemingly impossible crime was committed and who is capable of such wickedness before it’s too late for another innocent.
Madeleine McCann’s case, which has garnered international attention, has been turned into a Netflix documentary titled “The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann,” which takes a detailed look at the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, her family, and the twists and turns of the ongoing investigation.
“I was riveted by the Netflix documentary about the case,” Lister said. “Then, when I began to write Blood and Sand, I did additional research into the case and watched much of the documentary again.”
This isn’t the first time that true crime has informed and inspired Lister’s fiction. His time as a student in Atlanta led him to research and write about the Atlanta Child Murders. His and his family’s connection to Tallahassee led him to research and write about Ted Bundy. His previous career as a prison chaplain with the Florida Department of Corrections gave him many real-life crime stories to explore. And more recently, he has studied and then examined in his fiction the cases of JonBenét Ramsey, Maura Murray, Hae Min Lee, and Columbine.
“My goal as a novelist is to entertain and inspire, to explore what it means to be human,” Lister said. “With every word, I’m attempting to tell the truth, and true crime seems to help in that pursuit.”
In addition to exploring humanity, Lister is also exploring North Florida. His new novel is set in the fictitious town of Sandcastle on 30A—an area of the region made famous by Seaside the Truman Show that was filmed there.
“Madeleine was taken while vacationing with her family at Praia de Luz in Portugal,” Lister said. “To me, the master-planned communities along 30A in Walton County have a resort feel. They are the hot spot for families with means to enjoy the Gulf of Mexico away from the more crowded, kitschy, and crassly commercial tourist destinations in our area. I thought it was the perfect place to set Blood and Sand.”
What’s next for Lister? A John Jordan Christmas in December and another mystery-thriller novel featuring the detective in early 2020.
“I first started writing about John Jordan a quarter-century ago,” Lister said, “and I am more engaged with him and more excited about writing about his next case today than I was when I first saw him emerge on the page in the summer of 1994.”
