Q&A: Former lawmaker writes murder mystery set at state Capitol

At the Legislature, Ed Seeberger encountered plenty of big egos during his 14 years as director of Senate Committee Services. But he insists none of those people directly inspired the central character in his new book, “Olympia: A Psychopath in the State Senate.”

Rather, Seeberger says his memories of Olympia and the Legislature formed a detailed backdrop for his self-published tale of sex, politics and murder.

Scenes in the book are set in the Governor Hotel in downtown Olympia, the Cherberg Building on the Capitol Campus and in cars driving along Deschutes Parkway on the edge of Capitol Lake. Seeberger also inserts a reference to the private Senate cafeteria, which he writes “developed a paunch” on the title state senator and many of his fictional colleagues.

The murder mystery focuses on a female prosecutor investigating the killing of an escort and the senator behind the crime.

It’s a departure from Seeberger’s nonfiction book, “Sine Die: A Guide to the Washington State Legislative Process,” which has become standard reading for students of Washington politics.

Seeberger, who also served one term in the state House in the 1970s, spoke with The Olympian recently to discuss his most recent project and how it relates — or doesn’t — to his time at the Capitol.

Warning: His answers contain some spoilers.

Q: How much of the plot is based on real-life events, and how much is your imagination?

A: It’s all fiction. It’s not based on any one person, although the heroine in it is kind of based on a woman by the name of Jeannette Hayner, who used to be the Senate majority leader, a Republican. She looks like that, a short, small woman with dark hair, and very dynamic and very bright, and that’s kind of the person I had in mind — although in the book I didn’t make her a legislator. I’m thinking about doing that in a follow-up book.

Nobody I know is like anybody in the book. I wouldn’t want that. But of course all the people I’ve known in politics and out kind of find their way into the story.

I didn’t know any psychopaths in the Senate. A few narcissists, but no psychopaths.

Q: What can you tell us about the main character, the psychopathic senator?

A: He’s the most interesting person in the book. He doesn’t die in the end, he ends up in prison, but I had him comment throughout the book. … Of course he’s a pathological liar, so everything he says in the book is probably not true, or an exaggeration.

Q: Does the book include places locals will recognize?

A: Streets, restaurants, locations, like the children’s museum down by the waterfront. I tried to make it real around Olympia, with a few fictional things, but mostly accurate geographically. And in the Legislature, the description of his office in the Cherberg Building and action on the floor where he goes over and talks to the majority leader, those kinds of things are all very real.

It’s set partly in a little town south of Olympia that I made up, but it could be a small timber town. The mill’s closed, the economy is depressed, and this guy comes in and is able to buy a seat in the Senate because he has so much money. It’s I think very real, it’s sort of like the area northwest of Olympia, the Shelton area. I didn’t have Shelton in mind, but something like that — a small timber town.

Q: Did your experience as a lawmaker and director of Senate Committee Services inform your writing?

A: Absolutely. There are things in just the way people act and I’d say overall a sort of an attitude of corruption, in the sense of getting whatever you can out of the job. It doesn’t pay much … just the attitude toward getting lunches or gifts. It just kind of informs the kind of general attitude of, “let’s just get what I can from this.”

I don’t mean to put down the politicians. I don’t know why they do what they do.

Q: How is writing fiction different than writing a nonfiction book like “Sine Die?”

A: It’s so much more difficult to write fiction, I think. “Sine Die” was just pulling together all the various facts. … It took awhile, but writing fiction is so much more cerebral. You have more freedom, but it’s like you create this world. You’re on your own. It’s harder, but it’s more fun writing fiction because you can make anything happen. And the characters kind of take over your story, once you get started.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Q&A: Former lawmaker writes murder mystery set at state Capitol."