An Interview with Wendy Gee, Author of Fleet Landing

Hello, dear readers! It’s been a while since we’ve published an interview with an author, so I’m super pleased to share with you a brief Q&A conducted with debut novelist Wendy Gee!

As a volunteer at the Charleston Fire Department, Ms Gee had a front row seat to the hustle and intrigue common in firefighters’ line of work. She turned her stories from the station into Fleet Landing, the first in the gripping Carolina Crossfire mystery series.

ATF Special Agent Cooper “Coop” Bellamy has been doing his best to repair his strained relationship with his 11-year old daughter. But when Charleston’s fire chief calls him in to investigate a series of nuisance fires that swiftly turns deadly, he finds himself torn between his family and his duty to protect society.

Tenacious TV reporter Sydney Quinn is determined to find justice for a man wrongly imprisoned for arson. Uncovering a decades-old conspiracy sets her on a collision course with a sinister figure known only as the Falcon. Despite receiving a chilling warning to back off, she refuses to let the truth stay buried.

Coop and Quinn will have to join forces, setting the differences in their personalities aside in order to better navigate a labyrinth of lies and corruption together. Will they be able to catch the (real) arsonist without anyone getting hurt in the process?

Read on for an illuminating interview with the author about her background, inspirations and plans for future novels!

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Q. How did you get involved with the Charleston Fire Department?

A. Back in the day, my neighbor was the CFD Fire Marshal, and he was practically a celebrity—always in the news. Curious about his division’s many challenges and adventures, I offered to help out as a volunteer. Little did I know, I’d end up writing about their tales. I didn’t think of myself as a writer back then, but those stories were so colorful, I had to put them on paper.

Q. What was the inspiration behind Fleet Landing?

A. The story is loosely based on an actual series of unsolved fires and the true story of a man released after spending more than four decades in prison for a fire he didn’t commit. When those narratives were woven together, the combination resulted in what I hope is a compelling story.

Q. What is your writing process like?

A. I start with the crime I’ll be working through–which is tangential to the “murder(s).” That leads me to researching, headline ripping, then mashing things all together into an amalgam that I hope will capture people’s imagination.

Q. What drew you to the mystery genre? What writers inspire you?

A. I have always enjoyed the twists and turns of a well-conceived story. I try to figure things out ahead of the story’s investigator, but am completely satisfied when the author makes a final tug of the rug. I love Robert Crais, Janet Evonovich, Karin Slaughter–just to name a few of the brightest stars.

Q. What’s next? Can readers expect to see more of Coop in the future?

A. Coop will reappear. But Sydney takes the lead in Book 2 solving a high-stakes cybercrime. And Dino takes charge of Book 3 as we delve into his origins as a police officer.

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Fleet Landing by Wendy Gee was published today June 10 2025 by Books Fluent and is available from all good booksellers, including