​When author Cal Thomas was in town for a book signing at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Mike DiVittorio of the Oakmont Plum ADVANCE LEADERchatted with him about his writing and other business endeavors:
In the years before writing thrillers A STRADIVARI AFFAIRand DECOY, Thomas specialized in TV financing and production. He collaborated with international producers BBC, Thames Television, TV Ontario, NHK, plus PBS, APTV and others in the U.S. Prior to starting his own company, Thomas was an executive at Pittsburgh’s WQED.    
DiVittorio reports on Thomas’ years as a military intelligence operative in Europe, and later on as a symphony orchestra manager. Thomas channeled those varied experiences and his TV years into the creation of the lead character in the Kyle McBride Adventure series. Several of the fictional character’s experiences parallel those of the author. 
 “Kyle does some of the same things that I know about,” Thomas says.  “But these are not autobiographical stories. They are fiction, even though there’s a lot of information in there that I know to be true.”
DiVittorio notes that the first of the Kyle McBride series is A STRADIVARI AFFAIR, in which the protagonist gets caught up in thievery, subversion and murder that takes him from New York to Florida and Europe. It was inspired by the true story of the theft of a Stradivarius from backstage at Carnegie hall.
Thomas’ latest work, DECOY, begins in London in 2005, and was inspired by real-life terrorist attacks that year. DiVittorio quotes the author describing character Alan Durant, a disillusioned young jihadist: “He is tasked with being the decoy, who must distract and lure defending forces away from the targeted nukes.” Thomas says, “McBride makes things personal when the terrorists bomb a building with one of his loved ones inside.” More information about the author and his work can be found at CalThomasThrillers.com.