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Vincent H. O'Neil

Award-winning author of mystery, science fiction, horror, and non-fiction

Blogs From Exile

My latest short story, for fans of crime and mystery

July 17, 2011
Tags: undercover, murder, drugs, motorcycle, biker, biker gang
HANDLER HANK by Vincent H. O’Neil


Here’s a question for you: When are undercover cops most at risk? Some people think it’s when they’re all alone with a gang of criminals, completely cut off from backup—but that’s wrong. That’s the meat-and-potatoes of undercover, and most of the  Read More 
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DEATH TROUPE gets its first official review!

April 1, 2011
Tags: murder, mystery, theater, acting, directing, playwriting, Adirondack
The Midwest Book Review’s excellent review of DEATH TROUPE:


It's quite annoying when fiction becomes reality. More so when your fiction is murder. "Death Troupe" follows the theatre group known as the Jerome Barron players who have earned the nickname Death Troupe, surrounding their practice of doing murder mystery plays. But when their  Read More 
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Hearing the Music: How composing a song and composing a story can be almost the exact same thing

February 25, 2011
Tags: composition, composer, theater, director, Playwright, music, climax, murder, mystery

In my latest novel Death Troupe, the play’s gruff director Jerome Barron gives some advice to his playwright, main character Jack Glynn:


“Do me a favor, Jack. Get yourself a nice set of headphones and listen to a few classical tunes. Pick something that really hits you, that gets your blood going or  Read More 
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Getting It Write: When your main character is a writer

February 16, 2011
Tags: writing, playwriting, directing, acting, murder, mystery, Adirondack


In my new novel Death Troupe, the main character is a playwright. Creating such a role was a new experience for me, and I was surprised by how much work it turned out to be. I’ve read many novels in which the protagonist was some kind of writer (Stephen King’s The Shining,  Read More 
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Murder, Romance, Suspense, and Theater: My new novel Death Troupe

February 11, 2011
Tags: theater, acting, directing, playwriting, Adirondack, murder, Romance, mystery
Now available on Amazon:

DEATH TROUPE by Vincent H. O’Neil (394 pages)

The Jerome Barron Players have a problem. Their writer, Ryan Betancourt, has killed himself under mysterious circumstances and they need a replacement right away. The Players, unofficially known as Death Troupe, come together once a year to perform a high-end murder mystery  Read More 
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Starting your mystery novel can be murder

November 27, 2010
Tags: murder, writing, mystery, opening, plotting, Getting Started
One of the great things about being an author is that I get to meet so many talented writers, both published and not-yet-published. We ask each other everything under the sun, but one of the most common questions in the mystery genre is how to begin plotting the story. Murder mysteries aren’t like  Read More 
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When your characters misbehave

October 19, 2010
Tags: plot, writing, characters, inspiration, murder, Florida
The studio guy told me, “Kid, you have no future in this business.”
So I asked him, “Why?”
He said, “When Tony Curtis first walked onscreen carrying a bag of groceries—a bag of GROCERIES—you took one look at him and thought, THAT'S a movie star!”
So I asked, “Weren't you supposed to  Read More 
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Motivating Your Murderer

September 28, 2010
Tags: murder, mystery, murder mystery, plot, writing, motive, motivation
One of the great things about writing murder mysteries is the opportunity to imagine the mind of the villain. After all, no matter how many times we say we’d like to kill someone in real life, most of us thankfully aren’t ever going to get closer to the mindset of an actual  Read More 
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The Mighty Tiny Tim

December 16, 2009
Tags: murder, mystery, short story, Tiny Tim, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Originally posted on The Stiletto Gang's website on December 16, 2009:

Recently, I had the good fortune to have two short stories included in anthologies. So when The Stiletto Gang (I have to work that name into one of my mystery novels) offered me the chance to guest blog for them, I decided to try and  Read More 
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Who should play the characters in the "Exile" series?

November 11, 2009
Tags: Florida, mystery, murder, murder mystery, novel, amateur sleuth
Marshal Zeringue runs a great series of book-related websites, and he recently asked me to write an article about who should play the characters in my "Exile" mystery series for his "My Book-The Movie":

A pair of book reviews first prompted me to think about the possible casting of my "Exile" mystery novels. Both  Read More 
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