SONS OF SPADE

Temptation Town (Jack Barnett) by Mike Dennis

2012-02-15T03:51:00.001-08:00

I'm a big fan of novelettes as ebooks. Mike Dennis shows how much is possible with this format in this one.
Jack Barnett loses his PI license in LA, and fearing criminal prosecution, heads over to Las Vegas.
Over there he is hired to find a missing daughter. He ends up clashing with pimps and encounters his own feelings of guilt.
The story is 12,000 words, nice and short but packs a huge emotional and gritty punch. Who needs a full novel when you can reach so much with a novelette?
This novelette proves Mike Dennis is a crafty writer and a huge asset to the world of PI fiction.

Guest Post: The House of Silk

2012-02-14T00:41:00.001-08:00

The new Sherlock Holmes novel The House of Silk

Any detective fiction buff worth their salt will be familiar with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes outside the current star-studded movie series. And those who’ve read entries in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless series will note a substantially small amount of testosterone-fueled action, but no shortage of quick British wit or clever plot construction. Indeed, in many ways the mysteries of the Sherlock Holmes series set the stage for countless future mystery and detective fiction authors whether or not they realize it. The superhumanly analytic Holmes and his ever-present sidekick Dr. Watson tackled seedy crime rings and uncovered suspicious deaths all over London to the delight of millions of readers, all of whom assumed the adventures ended with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s death in 1930.

But there are more adventures yet. Last year and for the first time ever the Conan Doyle Estate approved the publication of a new Sherlock Holmes work by an author other than Sir Arthur himself. The renowned English hard crime author Anthony Horowitz was allowed to publish the latest installment in the Sherlock Holmes series, known as The House of Silk. While it should be noted that there do exist other Holmes tales outside of those written by Conan Doyle, this work by Horowitz represents the first that is recognized by Conan Doyle’s Estate as befitting of the author’s tone and aesthetic for the series.

What’s it about?
Anthony Horowitz was quite clever with his construction of this novel. Set up in the traditional style of Dr. Watson narrating events of a past case, the introduction sets up a practical reason for the absence of another classic Holmes story in the past hundred years. The contents of “The Case of the Man in the Flat Cap and the House of Silk” involves topic deemed to dangerous to discuss at the time, so Watson instructed his heirs to publish the work a hundred years after his death.

The tale itself is in the same late nineteenth century London setting familiar to diehard Holmes fans. The case in question involves a Mr. Edmund Carstairs, an art dealer who claims to be harassed by a mysterious man in a flat cap. The man is allegedly part of a crime organization that may or may not be behind the loss of several prized paintings in Boston that Mr. Carstairs had intended to sell for a fortune. This simple enough case, of course, is complicated by events not fully realized by Holmes or Watson until much later in the book. The perpetrators behind the piling crimes and conspiracies stretch higher and higher in the hierarchies of London government and society until it’s climactic end, which of course I’ll let you discover on your own.

Is it worth a read?The truth is that The House of Silk is a great novel no matter where your loyalties lie with Sherlock Holmes. Some purist fans won’t give the novel the time of day because of the new authorship, but the writing is so true to form and the story so engrossing that the matter of authenticity is irrelevant. Even if you’re not familiar with crime novels in a Victorian setting, I’d still heartily recommend this book. Anthony Horowitz does Sir Arthur Conan Doyle credit and then some with The House of Silk, and we’re all the luckily beneficiaries of his work.

Byline:This is a guest post from Jacelyn Thomas. Jacelyn writes about identity theft protection for IdentityTheft.net. She can be reached at: jacelyn.thomas @ gmail.com.

The Last Refuge (Sam Acquillo) by Chris Knopf

2012-02-14T00:35:00.002-08:00

To celebrate the fact The Last Refuge by Hardboiled Collective member Chris Knopf is coming out on Kindle, here's a repost of the review I did of the paperback edition...
Sam Acquillo used to be an engineer before he decided to quit the business and his wife left him. Now he lives in his dad's old place in Southampton where he spends the time doing not much besides drinking vodka. When he discovers the dead body of his neighbor, an old lady he sets out to fulfill a role as her administrator but also investigates wether her death was really a natural one.

Chris writes Sam as a very 'real' man and he made me care for the character. That's what he excels in, the original characters and the story of a man who seems to have lost all and chosen to. He also writes pretty witty dialogue although some conversations do seem to take a bit too long. That's also the most important gripe I had with the book. It went on a bit slow for me. As a literary novel it works better almost than as a crime novel.

Good reading if you like something slower and different, skip it if you only read Lee Child, Robert Crais and James Patterson.

Q & A with Mike Dennis

2012-02-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

I interviewed Mike Dennis who just published Temptation Town featuring PI Jack Barnett...

Q: What makes Jack Barnett different from other (unofficial) PIs?
He wants out of the business, but keeps getting dragged back into it. After years of being short-tempered, he finally pushed the wrong guy around and wound up losing his license in LA. Fearing criminal prosecution, he split for Las Vegas in the middle of the night to assume a very low profile playing poker in a downscale casino. He's in constant need of money, so when a PI opportunity shows itself, he reluctantly takes it. Off the books, of course.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
I had thought about doing a PI series for a long time, but I wanted a character who could stand out in this very inflexible format. A couple of years ago, I saw a YouTube video of a really old TV show called Man Against Crime. It was produced all the way back in the late 1940s and the central character was a PI named Mike Barnett. He always worked alone and he never carried a gun, very much a traditional knight in shining armor. I thought about a series built around Mike Barnett's grandson, only with many flaws. After a couple of false starts, I had Temptation Town. The key was really having Jack Barnett be on the run, constantly afraid of being found by the California authorities.

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole ebook revolution?
Ebooks are on their way to taking over the book business, regardless of what New York publishers say. They're pretending ebooks are just another opportunity for them to make money, when they won't allow themselves to see the long-term fatal flaws in their fundamental business model. When the big authors see how much money they're losing by staying with New York, they'll jump ship and New York will painfully make the transition from controlling the book business to controlling the print book business, a much smaller pie. Amazon is the big gun in town right now, and their crafty innovations bring more and more authors into the fold. Apple will probably enter the fray in a more serious fashion, but either way, it means ebooks will be king. It's the tide of history and it cannot be stopped. Cannot even be slowed.

Q: What's next for you and Barnett?
Next up is a short story called Hard Cash. There's a sneak preview of it in the back pages of Temptation Town. After that, I've got a Barnett novel that's in the polishing stages right now. It's called The Downtown Deal. I might add, all these Barnett works are chronological. Temptation Town is set in January, 2002. Hard Cash takes place in February, 2003, and so on. I intend to have Barnett age as the years go on, and the changing face of Las Vegas will be reflected as well.

Q: How do you promote your work?
I have a website, a Facebook page, and I'm all over the blogs. I do interviews like this one and try to get my books reviewed as often as possible on the best websites.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
I think it was a good idea at first, but now the psycho-sidekick has become clichéd. It's a good device, because it allows the PI to remain pristine while the sidekick does all the illegal/crazy stuff, but I think it's been somewhat overdone.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
Those guys will continue to influence future generations. They set the standard, they created and perfected the genre, and we all follow their lead.

Q: Kent Westmoreland came up with the following question: What hidden secret motivates your PI to become involved in the lives of others?
Back in Barnett's past, there was Lyla. She's a tragic figure from his earlier days (the early 1990s) and is only hinted at in Temptation Town, but she clearly haunts Barnett to this day.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
What criteria did you use to choose the setting for your PI?
In my case, I chose Las Vegas. I could've chosen Key West, since I had lived there for over 15 years right before moving to Las Vegas. But I felt a Key West location would be too confining. It's a small town and I thought the constricting PI format would be difficult to pull off without veering into Margaritaville-type clichés, which I wanted to avoid at all costs. Besides, I already had a Key West series working, Key West Nocturnes, a group of standalone noir novels that reveal that island city as a true noir city.
I had only lived in Las Vegas for about three years when I started to write the series, but I had spent time in the grimy parts of town, far from the luxurious Strip, and I had walked the streets well enough to place Jack Barnett in that atmosphere. Remember, he's not from Las Vegas. He's an outsider, too, so he's constantly uncomfortable. The city is big enough to keep the series fresh for a long time. Not only that, there are a lot of outsiders, trying to get by in that bizarre town, so I felt the vibe was right.

Guest Post: Ebook Possibilities by Michael Haskins

2012-02-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a guest post by my friend and Hardboiled Collective member Michael Haskins. Check out his blog as well.
As the two or three followers of mine who read this know, my newest Mick Murphy Key West Mystery – Stairway to the Bottom – is now available as an eBook and on Amazon as a trade paperback. If I had gone the conventional way and presented it to my publisher it would have been sometime in 2013 before it was available. I wrote Car Was Blues right after Free Range Institution (published Feb. 2011, written in 2009) and it will not be available until Aug. 2012, by my publisher.

Since eBooks begin to make money, or have the possibility to make money, as soon as they become available, logic says go eBook. Small, conventional publishers do little to help the author on book signings, to get exposure on radio or TV, and so forth. From what I’ve heard from a few writers I know who are with the larges house, the support they receive from their publishers is receding too. Of course what we all know is that the publishing world on the ‘90s is gone and reinventing itself in the 2000s.

As a newly published writer (2008) this change has left me in a quandary. Like many wannabe writers, being published was a dream and when it happened, I expected my life to change. In a way it did! I learned that I was not only a writer, but a public relations person, travel agent, and the list continues to grow. Not all the things the larger houses offer a writer are available from the small houses. Maybe that’s why they’re called “smaller publishing houses.”

Nothing will ever match the feeling I had as I opened my box of hardback books and held my first book in my hand. It was something! Or the first time I walked into a bookstore and saw my book on the shelf! Wow! What an ego trip. Too bad, it didn’t go all the way to my bankbook balance.

The eBook revolution came and I have friends who’d never published that are making money; more money than me, a traditionally published writer. My advance, small as it was, went the way of the unicorn as I did my self-arranged book tour and PR.

It didn’t take me long to join the revolution, but I haven’t walked away from my publisher. They have Car Wash Blues and as I begin to rewriter my third, and last of the ‘lost manuscripts,’ they may be offered it when finally done. It’s not a Key West Mick Murphy, but one of the first three I began writing. (If you care to know more about the ‘lost manuscripts’ you can find a story by Shirrel Rhoads from Solares Hill news on my website – www.michaelhaskins.net – that explains it all).

There is one major downside of eBooks. Many of the awards for books shy away from eBooks. That is slowly changing in both the MWA and ITW. That’s a good thing.

For writers like me with only a few years and/or books it is also unlikely that a major publisher will ever consider anything I writer. I know there are exceptions. But let’s get real, the odds are
against eBook authors ever getting the four or five figure advance from the large publishing houses. Of course, the large houses are growing smaller and even some of their favorite authors have switched sides and come over to the revolution.

I don’t know, on one side I have my ego that is great at remembering the feeling of holding the hardback in my hands and seeing my name on the cover. On the other hand, my banker (not half as exciting as my ego) loves me, as my small balance seems to grow a little each month.

Maybe I’ve not joined the revolution totally. I would like to see the publishing world come into the eBook world and work something out that would benefit writers and publishers. I am losing faith in that possibility as the days go by, especially when you hear of a top selling author leaving his/her publisher and going into the self-publishing eBook world.

Guest Post: The Last 8 Great Crime/Noir Novels I've Read by JJ DeCeglie

2012-02-05T02:36:00.000-08:00

Jochem has been good enough to invite me to guest blog on the back of the release of my psycho-noir novel “Drawing Dead”.
It got a cracking review over at Spinetingler...Check it out here.

Also these nice little quips to boot:

Drawing Dead is a brilliant noir from one of Australia's most exciting new novelists."

-- Adrian McKinty, author of 'Dead I Well May Be", "Fifty Grand", "Falling Glass" and "The Cold, Cold Ground"

A terrifying portrait of a man destined to lose, Drawing Dead is at once stark and lyrical, with the ghosts of Jim Thompson and James M. Cain whispering all over the pages. Keep an eye out for JJ Deceglie, a stunning new voice in crime fiction.

--Jon Bassoff, publisher of New Pulp Press

“An impressive, memorable voice, with dark echoes of Bruen and Sallis and Ellroy. You won’t soon forget this book.”

--Charles Ardai, publisher of Hard Case Crime

And remember if you feel it, why not leave a review.

Enough of that though.

I thought what I'd do is share some books with ya, some works that really got me going, books that set me alight and burnt to the bone...I went to the old Moleskin and went through my reading lists. I checked and rechecked carving it down to these eight works that have stuck in my skull.

Works that inspired, delighted, debased and enthralled me.

I read them all in 2011, and have doubled up on a couple of authors (with good cause):

Hard Feelings – Jason Starr
Jason Starr's work, especially those early novels, are benchmark neo-noir nightmares. Starr's stories are dark urban jewels where no one, say again, no one gets off easy, where grit, paranoia and tension build into borderline surreal mayhem. Here we have Richie Segel, a boring IT salesman with marriage problems, on and off alcoholism and a shocking secret in his past that pops up in the present and offers the possibility for brutal sadistic retribution; and of course a lovely little spiral into madness to boot.

Dead I Well May Be – Adrian McKinty
McKinty is a great writer. Equal parts of dark brutality and literate poetics run through all his works. I only found him last year and read almost all his books in one hit. He's that good, a real find. That said, I liked this one the best. We meet Michael Forsythe in New York, a Irish immigrant working for Darkey White. Forsythe is a great creation. A tough, dangerous and intelligent protagonist. This is a brilliant novel from start to finish that takes great unexpected turns, but I especially liked the prison section in Mexico, and the calculation of the revenge exacted post. This guy can write.

Cockfighter – Charles Willeford
Willeford does here for cockfighting what Hemingway did for bullfighting. He captures the art, shape and love of the sport. The appreciation of animals and the men who live the life. The man is an original and writes with a beautiful, distinct voice that draws you into the psyche of the protagonist and his no-holds barred mission to win the Cockfighter of the Year award on the Southern American Cockfighting Circuit. You come away with a thorough understanding and appreciation of the bloody carnage and death of the pit and men who take part in it. A classic by a champion of the genre.

Drive – James Sallis
This is a concise, clear sledgehammer of a book. A lesson in simple existentialism and measurement; LA sunshine noir at its very best. Hard-boiled, tough as nails. The loner making his way in the absurd world. I'm sure you know the plot (due to Refn's excellent film adaptation last year) but I tell you the novel delves deeper and hits harder, grabbing you by the throat and never, never letting go. I was disappointed when it ended, yet impressed with its discipline to do so at that particular moment.

Fake I.D – Jason Starr
The second Starr book on my list, some say this is his finest hour and it's hard to disagree. Tommy Russo is your anti-hero, a struggling actor working as a bouncer at a bar, a completely unreliable narrator, degenerate gambler, philanderer and sociopath. His luck goes from bad to worse and so do his decisions and we get to sit back and enjoy the dark, dark ride...and man is the ending goddamned perfect.

I Spit On Your Graves – Boris Vian
I stumbled across this at second hand bookstore down the street, picked it up and read a section, bought it in an instant and have read it twice since; written by a Caucasian Frenchman (a contemporary of Camus and Sartre) it's the story of a black man who can pass for white. He arrives in a small Southern town in the US and sets about becoming part of the community. The entire time he is plotting revenge for the lynching of his brother. He finds a pair of young, rich beautiful white sisters, seduces them, humiliates them and then kills them, and yet you still kinda like the guy. Violence and sex and horror compellingly dominate this book, it is pulp and yet isn't, you should be disgusted with the narrator yet aren't. It's an anomaly. I have a funny feeling this is some sort of masterpiece.

Zombie – Joyce Carol Oates
This is a serial killer novel, written in a simplistic, chilling diary format that reads very easily and is horrifying at times. It is an extremely realistic look at the mind of a psychopath, nothing is glorified, nothing has the volume turned up for effect. The killer slowly grows in confidence with his hunting, fine-tuning his quest for a zombie of his own (he bungles repeated lobotomy attempts on his victims reading from medical books as he goes). His plots become more elaborate and his need for sex and violence grow. It reads like a case-study. This one stays with you.

Falling Glass – Adrian McKinty
Another cracker from McKinty. Probably my second favourite of his (though I hear the new one “The Cold Cold Ground” ups the ante again). This is a slow-burning, layered story that builds to a fantastic conclusion. Tense, thoughtful, gripping and intelligent.
Killian is the protagonist this time round, world weary, semi-retired enforcer of Pavee stock (Nth. Irish traveller) called on by a filthy rich businessman living in Macau to hunt down his ex-wife and two children. Perhaps three-fifths of the action takes place in Northern Ireland, and its here that McKinty shines telling a story in the land of his birth. Man, he does it again, wonderful language, humour, brutal violence and a fast paced, ripping story. There is more than one scene in this one that stick very clearly in my mind. Including a fantastic finale involving none other than Michael Forysthe himself from the “Dead” Trilogy .

Q & A with James W. Hall

2012-02-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to interview the great James W. Hall about his Thorn-series.

Q: What makes Thorn different from other (unofficial) PIs?
Thorn has tried to stay as disconnected from the world as possible. He lives in virtual isolation, trying for simplicity. He focuses on his craft of tying bonefish flies and does not seek out danger or adventure. He's got no connection with law enforcement and no training in the military. He's a very basic man. More like Thoreau than Philip Marlowe. Trouble keeps finding him, however, and though he resists it, he continues to leave his sanctuary to put things right by any means necessary.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
I was living in Key Largo when I first wrote about Thorn. There were a lot of examples of characters like him around me. People who simply wanted to be left alone. They fished, they watched the sun set, they lived simple lives. But they are also very tough and resourceful people. I think of them as some of the last American pioneers. They only strap on their six guns as a last resort.

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole ebook revolution?
It's a very exciting time to be alive. Major techtonic shifts in the way we experience media are happening at light speed. I don't think it matters much to the reading experience itself how the words enter our minds. If ebooks make novels more available to more people, that's very positive. The ebook revolution is certainly reshaping the publishing industry. It's hard to see where we'll be in five years, but I think the novel will survive. It's a resilient and powerful form of storytelling.

Q: What's next for you and Thorn?
Nukes and crocs. That's all I'll say.

Q: You painted a great portrait of the TV show business in Dead Last. Where did you get the information about that one?
One of my former students from 30 years ago was inspired by my class to shift careers out of sales and into the film business. He's now the executive producer of Burn Notice, a very good cable TV series shot in Miami. He let me hang out on the set for a while and absorb that strange and fascinating world.

Q: How do you promote your work?
I answer interview questions from wonderful webmasters like you.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
I've tried to sort of reverse that formula. Thorn is the loose canon in my books. His friend Sugarman is the PI who is far more rule-bound and logical. Thorn's not psychotic, but he's extremely unpredictable. In general, I don't think psychotics are very interesting. Bad guys who have a very good reason for doing very bad things are a lot more interesting to me.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
There are lots of fine young writers out there and some great middle-aged ones. James Lee Burke is probably our senior statesman when it comes to crime novels in general. They aren't strictly PI novels, but PI's do play a role. The coming generation would be wise to study his work. The young Michael Koryta is doing some very strong work in the PI world and I expect him to gain a very wide audience. And Lehane looks to be around for a good long time. Sue Grafton is running out of letters, so Kinsey won't be around much longer. I'd love to see a new generation of writers embrace the Chandler/Parker tradition and re-invent it for the 21st century.

Q: Kent Westmoreland came up with the following question: What hidden secret motivates your PI to become involved in the lives of others?
In my first Thorn novel, Under Cover of Daylight, Thorn must face his own violent and murderous behavior from long ago. That same dark secret still burns at the center of his soul and perhaps it's this need to make amends for past sins that forces him out of his isolation to aid others.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
Why don't you write a real novel?
I'm trying to do just that.

Goshen Hole (Joe Hannibal) by Wayne Dundee

2012-02-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

A new full-length Joe Hannibal... I was already thrilled before I started to read it... And wasn't disappointed.
Hannibal, a former PI, spends his time running a security firm in Nebraska. When he's asked to track down the missing ex-wife of an old friend he's going to need the help of his Native American friend, William Thunderbringer to make it out of the case alive, going up against a crazy Mexican crimelord.
There's a lot to like in this one. Hannibal is a cool, old-fashioned hero. His witty conversations with Thunderbringer echo the best of Spenser-Hawk and there's a lot of action.
Often PI novels are compared to Westerns where the stranger rides into town to take care of business. This is absolutely one where that comparison is valid. Lone Ranger Hannibal and Tonto Thunderbringer are great archetypal heroes and the setting is very Western-like. Not a huge surprise, since Wayne Dundee writes some mean Westerns as well.
Read this one if you like PI stories OR Westerns...

Non PI, but all tough guy and recommended!

2012-01-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

There's two ebooks available I had to let you know of, even though they're not standard PI books...

First up is Wayne Dundee's Manhunter's Mountain. This is a full length novel in the Cash Laramie / Gideon Miles series. Writing about Edward A. Grainger (aka David Barber)'s characters featured only in short stories before Wayne manages to get to the essence of those wonderful noir westerns, adding his own special style, showing Western (just like the PI genre) isn't dead yet!

Second, is the excellent novella The Pain Eaters by William Tooker. It features tough guy and athlete Jack Fugazi (named after the punk band?) and his role as Earth's protector against the dark evils that cross over from the world of shadows to hours. There's lots of cool concepts, like the Invisible College, the Dark Suits and the superpowers Jack has. In a fantastic mix of horror and two-fisted action William Tooker has served up an entertaining piece of urban fantasy that should appeal to fans of superheroes, horror, fantasy and tough guy heroes like Jack Reacher.

Fun & Games (Charlie Hardie) by Duane Swierczynski

2012-01-25T04:06:00.000-08:00

Housesitter Charlie Hardie spends his time in strange houses, drinking beer and watching movies until he encounter actress Lane Madden. She's being hunted down by The Accident People, a shadowy group of assassins that works for the film industry, cleaning up their problems by killing people and making it look like accidents.
This fast-paced tale is just made for a movie adaption with Bruce Willis in a starring role. Not a surprise, because it takes place in Hollywood and every chapter starts out with a movie quote.
There's concepts in here for several series, like the TV show Truth Hunters, the role Hardie used to play for the cops, etc.
Duane's comic book influences shine through in this slightly larger-than-life, exciting thriller. I'm looking forward to the sequal already.

Guest-Post: Great PI Novels From 2011 by Amanda Tradwick

2012-01-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

Great PI Novels From 2011

If you’re looking for a fun read, you may find these PI novels to be a ride worth taking.

“Started Early, Took My Dog” by Kate Atkinson features the stories of three characters: a retired cop, an aging actress, and a semiretired PI. When the retired police officer discovers a lowlife scumbag is essentially abusing a child, she buys the child from him, saving the child, but also putting herself in a risky situation. The actress, who is experiencing the first signs of senility, reviews her life experiences, while the PI investigates an adoption, which causes him to re-examine his own past. All three characters wrestle with thoughts on abandonment and redemption as the stories intersect and separate.

“The Troubled Man” by Henning Mankell will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night. Now that the series by Steig Larsson is so popular both in the United States and Europe, more people are discovering other Scandinavian authors such as Mankell. In “The Troubled Man”, Mankell pulls on the heartstrings as he puts his PI Kurt Wallander into a highly personal and emotional investigation involving his daughter, her fiancé, and her future in-laws. The case goes back to Cold War days and explores mysteries past and present, culminating in a rewarding finish.

“The Second Son” by Jonathan Rabb is both thrilling and heart-rending. Set in rural Spain in the mid 1930s, it is a story of violence and tragedy. Nikolai Hoffner, a PI who holds strong anti-Nazi sentiments, travels throughout the outlying Spanish countryside looking for his son who has gone missing when working for anti-Franco politicians. Hoffner deals with additional personal angst as his other son dives into the Nazi regimen, turning against Hoffman and his ideals.

“A Lesson in Secrets” by Jacqueline Winspear is a charming British cozy infused with a jolt of modern shock factor. The PI Maisis Dobbs is kind and insightful, but she’s no dummy, and she detects evil from afar. The story is set just before war with Germany; Dobbs is sent into the fray to determine what exactly is going on with suspicious college staff members who may or may not be involved in some insidious pre-war activities.

We hope you enjoy these suggested readings! Feel free to comment with your thoughts on these novels and others suggested on this site.

About the author:
Amanda Tradwick is a grant researcher and writer for CollegeGrants.org. She has a Bachelor's degrees from the University of Delaware, and has recently finished research on grants for women and minority scholarships grants.

Dead Last (Thorn) by James W. Hall

2012-01-18T02:03:00.000-08:00

Cancer robs Key West adventurer Thorn of the woman he loves. There's not much time to grieve, however as he is drawn into the investigation of several murders that seem to be influenced by the cop TV show Miami Ops. The killer of that show, who uses obituaries to decide who and how to kill, seems to walk around in real life.
We meet some wonderful characters like sheriff Buddha Hilton, Mae West-like Garvey, DeeDee Dollimore and others. All unique and funny.
Soon Thorn finds out he won't have just a killer to deal with, but also some mistakes of his past.
This story seems to be a bit more of a traditional whodunnit than we're used to from James Hall, but it works out great. He manages to breathe some essential new life in this series, developing Thorn's background and burning some old baggage (literally) to make sure there's enough adventure to be found in the future.
I was looking forward to this one, but it turned out to be even better than I thought!

Q & A with Kent Westmoreland

2012-01-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

I interviewed Kent Westmoreland, excellent writer of the Burleigh Drummond stories...

Q: What makes Burleigh Drummond different from other (unofficial) PIs?
Drummond is a fixer for New Orleans bluebloods and politicians. He gets tapped when his clients’ lawyers become faint-hearted. Drummond’s primary skill is his ability to negotiate solutions. He doesn’t own a gun or use his fists; his weapons of choice are brains, charm, and aplomb. When necessary he employs blackmail and bribes.
In the novel BARONNE STREET, he refers to himself as a PI. In the short stories, which were published subsequently, that term is avoided.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
An early decision was to create a character who went against type for the hard boiled genre. I also wanted some who was young (late twenties), financially successfully and a drinker who was not an alcoholic.
Even before I fleshed out the character I knew a key ingredient was setting. I wanted small city with an insular society; a city controlled by the old money mentality that progress may disrupt their lives and for that reason progress should thwarted by any means necessary.
New Orleans was the perfect location for Burleigh Drummond to set up shop.

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole ebook revolution?
I think it is a win-win for readers and authors. It enables readers to have many books available at any time. It provides exposure and availability that many authors do not have in the past. Approximately 75% of my sales are ebooks.

Q: What's next for you and Drummond?
I’m taking time off from the second novel to work on a spec screenplay for BARONNE STREET. There is a growing market for direct-to-video and cable movies. Movies with modest budgets that actually get made. I’m writing the screenplay for that market.

Q: How do you promote your work?
My site www.KentWestmoreland.com and Facebook are two methods I use. But mostly I cajole blogs, web reviewers, TV & radio stations to spread the word. I have readings and signings whenever possible.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
Hawk definitely doesn’t fit the clinical definition of psychotic. I see him more as a person who sees most everything in black and white. He has strong views on right and wrong and will act accordingly. His relationship with Spenser has changed his thinking of black vs. white and right vs. wrong.
I would say Mouse from the Easy Rawlins series would be closer to the laymen’s definition of psychotic.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I don’t think Lehane will have a lasting influence; I find his PI novels more sign-of-the-times than classic and derivative of 70’s TV. I would hope that readers and writers are searching out and finding truly original writers like O’Neil De Noux and Anthony Neil Smith

Q: Larry Block came up with the following question: How do you keep the series from running out of steam?
We’re yet to see if I am qualified to answer the question, but I’ll give you my plan. A long term story arc that allows the main characters to grow, recurring characters to appear when needed and not in every novel just because the readers like them. Fresh plots and topics.
As we have seen, many times a successful series will go on long after it has run out of steam. In some cases after the creator has died. No need to name names.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
What hidden secret motivates your PI to become involved in the lives of others? In the case of Burleigh Drummond during high school he was scared to defend an autistic student being mocked by a violent jock-type. Had he become involved he would have surely been beaten badly. From that time on he knew he had to develop and rely on his ability to negotiate solutions.

Liquid Smoke (Noah Braddock) by Jeff Shelby

2012-01-11T01:24:00.000-08:00

We had to wait a long time for surfer PI Noah Braddock to return but finally he's here...
When a lawyer contacts Braddock to take on a deathrow case it turns out the man in jail is Braddock's long-lost dad. At first he's reluctant to investigate, but when people start dying he's compelled to get to the bottom of the case.
Slowly we follow Braddock's descent further and further into darkness. I don't want to give away too much but Braddock out-Hammers Mike Hammer in this one.
There's some light moments of humor, but especially the last part of the book is very dark. It even seems unlikely Braddock will return, which would be a shame, because I really enjoy his adventures.

Hardboiled Collective: Truman Smith series by Bill Crider

2012-01-11T01:03:00.001-08:00

Hardboiled Collective member Bill Crider has published his Truman Smith series in ebook-form.

Dead on the Island: Private-eye Truman Smith returns to his hometown of Galveston, Texas, to investigate the disappearance of his sister. He runs into people from his past, finds a cat, and gets into a lot of trouble. Publishers Weekly says that Smith is "another well-drawn protagonist, this time a moody, introspective PI in the finest tradition, who works in a seamy city smoldering with old and dangerous secrets. "

Gator Kill: Who'd investigate the killing of an alligator? Private-eye Truman Smith would. Publisher's weekly says: "Soon the brooding gumshoe is stumbling over the bodies of dead humans, is shot at and run down by a souped-up four-by-four as he's embroiled in a plot complete with crooked police, a possible land-grabbing scheme and bad guys who, but for their lack of redeeming good nature, could be Damon Runyon inventions."

When Old Men Die: Does anybody care when old men die? Private-eye Truman Smith does, and he's going to find out who's responsible, even if it kills him.

Since they're by a member of my handpicked Collective they all come highly recommended!

Q & A with John Barlow

2012-01-11T00:50:00.000-08:00

Here's an interview with British crime writer John Barlow, author of the new LS9 series.

Q: What makes John Ray different from other (unofficial) PIs?
His whole family is deeply involved in crime, and he grew up in a criminal environment. But his girlfriend is police. John finds himself between the two worlds, which is psychologically difficult for him, but gives him a unique perspective when it comes to solving crimes.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
He came more or less fully formed. There’s a bit of wish-fulfilment, in that he’s the kind of man that I’d like to be (well, some of the time...). Other than that, I don’t remember ‘devising’ the character of John at all, at least not like I did with the characters that surround him. I knew I wanted someone with a split perceptive as a detective, and from that proposition John Ray emerged pretty much naturally.

Q: Why switch from literary to genre writing?
As a young, unpublished writer everything I wrote had a minimum of one dead body in it! Then, when I was 32 (and still unpublished) I wrote a novella about a man who eats furniture. It was published in the Paris Review (a very ‘literary’ American magazine) and won a prize. That led me into literary writing, and for the next decade I more or less forgot about crime fiction. Then, two years ago I wrote a semi-spoof American noir novel, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JERRY PICCO?, under the pseudonym Joe Florez. I loved writing it, and it made me think: why not do a serious crime mystery set in the place I know best? So I did.

Q: What's next for you and John?
HOPE ROAD is the first novel in the LS9 series, which will eventually comprise nine books. They will not all feature John Ray as the point-of-view character, and they will not all take place in Leeds. But they will all be about the Ray family in some way. So, that’s my future! I’m into the second book now, and the plotting has been made slightly easier because I recently found out that a great uncle of mine was an arms dealer (found dead on a flight from Amsterdam in the early 80s). Go figure.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Ebooks and self-publishing are completely new to me. So far I’ve been contacting book bloggers and asking them to mention the novel, or to allow me to do a guest blog or interview. I’m also starting out with Twitter, and a few other social sites of a literary nature. I’ve only been publicising the book for a week, and I’m sure I’ll discover new ways of findings readers as time goes on. I always following the blog posts of David Gaughran, who is an excellent source of info and know-how on self publishing. As for advertising, I am running a Facebook ad (using a $7 coupon that gets you $50’s worth of ads), but I don’t think it’s having much effect.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
My writing is not hard-boiled in that sense. I don’t depict righteous violence as a response to society’s ills. There is criminal violence in HOPE ROAD, but there is no violent retribution, at least not so far. What really interests me is how people deal with a world in which criminal violence and the threat of it are constants. My main character suffers from having witnessed the murder of his own brother (a career criminal), and it’s that close proximity to the inevitable violence of the criminal world which sets John Ray apart from ‘normal’ citizens. His girlfriend, a police detective, also exists in a world where criminal violence is a constant. To me, they’re an interesting pair.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I think it will diversify to the point that a clear evolution is impossible to draw. A lot of ‘literary’ writers are moving into genre fiction, often crime, and that complicates the idea of a direct inheritance. Meanwhile, writers like Lee Child are leading the genre as close to parody as it can go (I mean this in a good way). However, this is a dead end in terms of the development of the genre; if you want to write broadly realistic fiction you couldn’t get MORE macho than Reacher, and the scrapes he manages to get out of couldn’t be more unlikely. A lot of writers, especially self-published ones, seem to be following this groove (and it’s a very good groove), I think the interesting trends moving forward will be those who take the genre away from pre-established moulds.

Q: Larry Block came up with the following question: How do you keep the series from running out of steam?
I dunno. Perhaps I will run out of steam. I certainly don’t want to write nine books with John Ray as the prime focus. I think we all know authors for whom the new novel is just a yearly chore. I was talking to an editor at a UK publisher a few weeks ago and she said that it is pretty much an accepted fact that when a crime writer gets his/her series well established, the quality often falls off. In the case of my LS9 series, books four to six will have a different point-of-view character, and if we get to book six and everything’s still going to plan, I’ll make another shift for the final three novels.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer? Do you write about crime because you’re too scared to do it?
Absolutely!

LINKS
http://www.johnbarlow.net/
http://twitter.com/John_Barlow_LS9

Buy HOPE ROAD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HOPE-ROAD-cime-mystery-ebook/dp/B006LWJ75K/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1323875230&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/HOPE-ROAD-crime-mystery-ebook/dp/B006LWJ75K/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&m=A317O7WZ1CN6AQ&s=generic&qid=1323895467&sr=1-9

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/HOPE-ROAD-LS9-crime-mystery/book-rnmeYquIhU2oz6METLKAKQ/page1.html
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/115581

Fever Dream (Danny Rinaldi) by Dennis Palumbo

2012-01-04T00:04:00.000-08:00

Danny Rinaldi is a trauma expert and consultant for the Pittsburgh police. In his second adventure he's called in when a bank robbery goes wrong. He's asked to extract information from a traumatized witness to the robbery by an attractive female cop.That's when the twists start to pile up, nothing is what it seems in the plot of this exciting thriller. Palumbo manages to give Jeffery Deaver a run for his money in that department.
The robbery takes Rinaldi to corrupt lawyers, the suspect suicide of a mental patient and clashes with a violent criminal.
There's more than just a good plot though. The characters, although sometimes a bit stereotypical (the hot female cop, the boozing detective, the corrupt politician, the psycho crook)are real and vibrant enough.
Rinaldi is a great character, sort of a two-fisted Alex Delaware, that you can relate to but is still believable as a sleuth.
A satisfying mystery for fans of Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, Jonathan Kellerman and Ross Macdonald.

Free full lenght-novel for a limited time!

2012-01-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

For a very, very limited time White Knight Syndrome is available for free.
Get it either Jan 03, 2012 or Jan 04, 2012 and pay nothing, instead of 3 bucks.

Q & A with James Winter

2011-12-30T06:54:00.000-08:00

James Winter has finally brought out his Nick Kepler novel Northcoast Shakedown out as an ebook. A nice time for an interview...
Q: How did you come up with the character?
When I started sketching the story that became Northcoast Shakedown, I worked for a large insurance company. A freelance claims investigator seemed like a good fit for the story, and Nick sort of evolved from there. I wrote a few shorts to get a feel for him: He’s a part time musician. He used to work for the company that gives him office space (a tip of the hat to Sue Grafton). He gets along fairly well with cops, but not with organized crime. All that came about as I worked on Northcoast Shakedown.

Q: What's next for you and Kepler?
When Northcoast Shakedown was originally published, I already had the second book in the can, so I plan to release Second Hand Goods in the new year.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Twitter. Other blogs. Beg. Whine. Plead. Mainly I count on word of mouth. I think when I get enough work out there, I’ll start offering books for free.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
It was interesting when Parker did it because no one had done it before, and for his first couple of appearances, you never knew whose side Hawk was on. Pike is an interesting character in and of himself. But beyond that, I’ve read too many PI novels where the psycho sidekick was there because someone told the author they had to have one. Beyond Hawk and Pike, Bubba Rugowski’s the only one that’s ever worked for me. I deliberately avoided using one in my work.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
Probably Michael Koryta, who can really craft a good story, and Sean Chercover, who didn’t really reinvent the PI novel. He just wrote a damned good one. We need more from Sean.

Q: Dennis Palumbo came up with the following question: what is it about those "mean streets" that make your character insist on going down them, regardless of what awaits?
The mean streets are actually something we don’t see very often in our day to day lives, unless you’re a cop or a criminal or someone on the fringes of society. We do our daily commutes, go to work, go to school, go home, go to the bar or to church or to the movies, and life functions, on a very basic level, by a certain set of rules. The “mean streets” are where those rules breakdown. It’s not that our daily life is a fallacy, but it’s what’s beyond it that’s where the conflict lies. And the guy going down those mean streets for some reason always has a need to put things right. His or her idea of right doesn’t necessarily conform to what we normally think it should be.

Hurt Machine (Moe Prager) by Reed Farrel Coleman

2011-12-28T01:20:00.000-08:00

With this novel Reed shows us again why he’s the crime writer’s writer.
Moe Prager has been diagnosed with stomach cancer, but that doesn’t hold him back from investigating the stabbing of his ex-wife’s sister.
There’s a lot of people out in NY that hated her, because she neglected her duties as a paramedic and let a man die in a restaurant. Uncovering her secrets Moe infiltrates into the macho world of the New York fire department. And it must be said, Moe might be getting old, he might be getting sicker and sicker but he can still be a pretty tough guy.
What makes this such a great PI novel is the fact it never strays from what makes the genre great but also adds more. The mystery is very satisfying but we also can read the story as social commentary, as a more literary view of a man fighting age and disease. Excellent work.

White Knight Syndrome - now on Kindle!

2011-12-17T00:27:00.000-08:00

It came out in paperback a few years ago, but is NOW available as an ebook for the low price of 2,99 bucks.

Noah Milano is a Los Angeles security specialist with more than a few family problems. Because, in his case, his family is the family. He's the estranged son of a mobster, which creates a big deal of tension and more than a few problems. Fiercely independent, and determined to sever all ties with his past, Noah has to adjust from being a spoiled mobster son to being an independent operator with little money.
When he's hired to bodyguard a beautiful and rich teenage girl he's drawn into a web of family secrets, homicide and the dangers of falling in love.It's not easy to be a White Knight in a world filled with betrayal and mob violence but Noah Milano is going to try anyway... Even if he has to die doing it...

Get it here.

Favorite Sons of 2011

2011-12-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

As I do every year I want to share with you my favorite PI-stuff of the year.

BEST PI NOVEL: 13 Million Dollar Pop by David Levien
BEST DEBUT: Pocket-47 by Jude Hardin
BEST NEW PI: Conway Sax (in Purgatory Chasm) by Steve Ulfelder
BEST ACTION SCENES: Kiss Her Goodbye by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins

Honorable mentions go to Timothy Hallinan whose first novel featuring Junior Bender, Crashed, was my favorite book I read this year. It came out in 2010, so it didn't really belong on this list.

Guest Post: Out of the ordinary crime fiction

2011-12-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a writer needs to look outside their comfort zone to find constructive inspiration for a story. When writers draw inspiration solely from within the confines of their own genre, writers run the risk of sounding repetitive, like their rehashing parts of someone else’s story. Hardboiled crime writers can lose their individual voice in the echo chamber of their genre just like any other fiction writer. It could be the case that a genre writer looking for inspiration could find it within unconventional stories that challenge traditional devices of the genre. Below are three books that manipulate traditional hardboiled crime fiction in ways that could reinvigorate writers and readers to the subject.

P.D. James’s Death Comes to Pemberley
A crime writer for over twenty years, British-born P.D. James is no stranger to the genre. What sets her newest novel Death Comes to Pemberley apart from its peers is the subject matter and the narrative style. James sets her story in the same Victorian setting as Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and by the same setting I mean the same characters, the continuation of the same storyline that ended with Austen’s novel. But don’t be scared away by the premise! James uses her skill as a crime writer to investigate the dark, gothic underbelly that belies the relatively sunny atmosphere of the British socialites in Pride and Prejudice. The novel playfully inverts the decorousness of its Victorian subject matter: bloodied corpses are discovered, shady characters sully the main characters’ decorous conventions, friends betrayed, and mysteries beget mysteries. It’s an entertaining and refreshing reinvention of the Victorian mystery fused with the best elements of contemporary crime fiction.

Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice
Thomas Pynchon might be called a lot of things in his illustrious career as a fiction writer, but “crime writer” is not usually among them. His huge and dazzlingly complex novels have garnered him decades of critical acclaim while the author himself remains shrouded in anonymity, a mystery novel unto himself. His relatively breezy 2009 crime novel Inherent Vice playfully engages the elements of hardboiled fiction in the drug-haze of early 1970’s Los Angeles. The story follows the main character, Private Investigator “Doc” Sportello, through a series of bizarre investigations begun with a small job taken on behalf of his ex-girlfriend. Follow Doc through a hilariously drug-induced fog of paranoia and half-baked mystery that plays out like a well-crafted Coen brothers movie.

Jennifer Egan’s Look at Me
Most recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, Jennifer Egan is a writer’s writer. Her prose is as florid as it is thought provoking and complex. Her 2001 novel Look at Me focuses her critical eye on the theme of identity, how people perceive of themselves and others. The story interweaves several narratives, but the main story concerns a spiritually lost private eye and a has-been fashion model trying to hunt down a mysterious figure known to them only as Z. As the story progresses and Egan reveals more background about every character, you start to gain a deeper understanding of the stereotypical private eye, their job, their lives, and the interconnectedness of the lives around them. It’s a compelling read well worth your time.

Byline: Jane Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. She writes about criminal background check for Backgroundcheck.org. Questions and comments can be sent to: janesmth161 @ gmail.com

New Joe Hannibal novel out now!

2011-12-14T01:14:00.000-08:00

Good news! There's a new Joe Hannibal novel coming out. If you like my blog you need to read this series, going strong for a long time now. A great traditional PI, Joe Hannibal's adventures are always a delight to read.

Following the life-altering events of THE DAY AFTER YESTERDAY, Joe Hannibal is back in action! Operating now out of the Lake McConaughy region in west central Nebraska, Joe still carries a PI ticket but doesn't solicit investigative cases like in the old days. This doesn't mean, however, that trouble doesn't still have a way of finding him, even when he doesn't go looking for it.
As a favor to a new friend from the lakeside community, Joe agrees to do some discreet checking on the pal's ex wife who seems to have gone missing from her digs in nearby Cheyenne, Wyoming. In no time at all, Joe finds himself at odds with a shady local businessman, on the radar of a bloodthirsty Mexican crime boss, and in the crosshairs of a rogue bandito who won't hesitate to take down not only his primary target but also anybody/everybody else who tries to get in his way.
Before he can find the answers he set out after, Joe must endure the fight of his life and in the process learns that the dusty back roads and wide open spaces of the high plains can be every bit as dangerous as the meanest streets from the cities of his past.

Read about it here and buy it here.

Mike Dalmas 3 is out now!

2011-12-14T01:02:00.000-08:00

Husband, father, vigilante... Mike Dalmas left Special Forces to become a dedicated family man, but when his daughter gets molested he had his revenge, killing the pervert who committed the crime.
Now the Bay City cops keep him out of jail if he takes care of their dirty work. The things their badge won't allow them to do but for which Dalmas has the right skill set.
When the gangs of Bay City plan to join forces Dalmas is asked to sabotage this merger. He seems to be successful, but is the solution worse than the problem?

Read all about it in the newest digital short featuring Mike Dalmas: COLOR OF BLOOD!

Crashed (Junior Bender) by Timothy Hallinan

2011-12-14T00:43:00.000-08:00

Junior Bender is a burglar and works as a PI for other crooks. In this first in the series, an e-book original, he is hired to babysit Thistle Downing. Thistle is a former teenage TV star that gangster boss Trey Annunziato contracted to star in a porn movie. Everything's not all right with drug addicted Thistle and Junior starts to feel very protective of her. To protect her he will have to clash with some very dangerous people.
Thistle is a wonderful character, a true modern lady in distress and Junior a great white knight.
The dialogue is the fastest, wittiest since a Kevin Smith movie. The characters are unique and well fleshed out. Junior is a fantastic, likable character that shows a real hardboiled side to him in the end.
All in all, this one served up everything I need in a hardboiled crime story and more. One of my favorite books... ever!

Ranger (Quinn Colson) by Ace Atkins

2011-12-07T02:25:00.000-08:00

As a fan of the Nick Travers series I was excited to hear Ace Atkins had a new series coming out.
In this first novel of the series we follow Ranger Quinn Colson as he returns to his hometown because of his uncle's death. What he encounters is a large cast of redneck villains and some great Southern Belles. He's aided by one-armed sidekick Boom and deputy sheriff Lillie. Especially Lillie is a great, likable character. Quinn is a cool, cigar-smoking tough guy but not the superman Jack Reacher is.
There's a strong subplot about a teenage girl who got herself pregnant by a piece white trash that comes to a violent conclusion in the end.
It all reminded me a bit of Lori Armstrong's No Mercy and people who enjoyed that one will surely enjoy this one. More Southern noir than a straight mystery novel Ace shows how to make the best use of a setting.

Q & A with Dennis Palumbo

2011-12-07T01:14:00.000-08:00

I interviewed Dennis Palumbo, therapist an author of the Daniel Rinaldi series.

Q: What makes Daniel Rinaldi different from other (unofficial) PIs?
A: Even though he's a psychologist who consults with the Pittsburgh Police, he's not even unofficially involved in investigations. As a trauma expert, his job is to treat victims of violent crime---people who've been robbed, assaulted, raped, kidnapped, whatever---and for whom these experiences have left them with classic PTSD symptoms. By that, I mean anxiety, hyper-vigilance about potential dangers, nightmares, depression, etc. But, as often happens with series characters, even this tangential connection to the various cases soon gets Daniel in hot water. Which means constantly warring with homicide detectives, the District Attorney, and even his clinical colleagues as he doggedly tries to uncover the truth.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
A: A lot of Daniel's background is similar to my own: Italian-American, born and raised in Pittsburgh, and a Pitt grad. I've always wanted to create a series character, and one to whom I could really relate. So I made him a therapist, like me--though he's a lot braver and more resourceful than I am! Plus, as a former amateur boxer, he's able to survive the occasional physical scrape he finds himself in. (Kirkus Review calls him "Jack Reacher with a psychology degree.") Again, very unlike me!

But in terms of developing a psychologist character who could be the lead in a mystery series, I felt it important to create a unique specialty for Daniel. One that would give him reasonable access to the police and their investigations. I also wanted to use our shared Pittsburgh childhoods and experiences as a vehicle to talk about how the city has changed since I grew up there. How it's gone from being an industrial, shot-and-a-beer town to a modern, white-collar city. Gone are the steel mills and factories. Now it's all about medical breakthroughs at its world-class hospitals and cutting-edge research in nanotechnology. Yet, at the same time, Pittsburgh still boasts venerable old neighborhoods and broad-shouldered pride in its football team. Even with all the changes, it's a tale of two cities. As is true with me, Daniel's life spans both the old and the new Pittsburgh.

Q: How has your background as a therapist influenced your writing?
A: In the most obvious way, I suppose, it's in how Daniel Rinaldi sees the world, the particular way he understands and relates to the emotional experiences of both his patients and the other characters in the books. Since the novels are written in the first person, the reader gets to be inside the head of a therapist as he struggles to help traumatized crime victims. And, with a therapist's curiosity (and a stubborn streak all his own), he's apt to get more and more involved in the actual case.

As happens in MIRROR IMAGE, the first in the series, when the brutal murder of one of his patients plunges him into the investigation. Or in FEVER DREAM, the latest novel, in which Daniel is summoned by the cops to treat the sole hostage released from a deadly bank robbery in progress. The police need Daniel's help in getting the traumatized young woman to give them vital information about what's going on inside the bank. As one reviewer said, Daniel's like a psychological Columbo, using his understanding of feelings and motivations to unravel the mystery, to see things about the case from a different perspective than that of the police.

Q: What's next for you and Daniel?
A: In the third novel, called NIGHT TERRORS, Daniel is asked by the FBI to help a retired serial killer profiler who has become terrorized by nightmares relating to his twenty year career. Not only is he traumatized by his years living inside the heads of the worst kinds of murderers, but he's tormented by guilt when he realizes that one of the guys he put away, who has since died in prison, wasn't the real killer. And that the real killer is still out there, about to kill again.
Naturally, Daniel soon finds himself involved in bringing the bad guy down.

Q: How do you promote your work?
A: Poorly, I think! I mean, I try to give interviews like this one, I blog regularly for the Huffington Post, and I make the rounds of mystery-writing conferences.
I also have a website, and send out a mass email newsletter every three of four months. But I'm a licensed therapist with a full private practice, so my time for PR work is limited. However, I do radio interviews whenever I have the opportunity, and have been lucky enough to have appeared on CNN, NPR and PBS. I must admit, I envy the mystery writers who have hours every day to blog, to participate in blog tours, to contribute to dozens of genre websites and message boards.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
A: Parker and Crais are wonderful writers, and I enjoy both of their sidekick characters very much. With lesser writers, though, such "psychotic" characters are often used merely to provide mindless violence. This is particularly troublesome to me because, having worked with psychiatric populations for many years in a variety of settings, I can say that so-called psychotic patients are rarely violent. What injury they occasionally do cause is usually leveled at themselves.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
A: Good question, since so many of the best writers in the genre now are still using characters with official police status. Writers like Stephen Jay Schwartz, CJ Box, T. Jefferson Parker, and Michael Connelly. I guess you could point to Sue Grafton or Sara Paretsky, with their female private eyes. Or Kate Atkinson with Jackson Brody. Among the men, Robert Crais' Elvis Cole certainly stands out, I think. Not to mention the unofficial PI's, like Randy White's Doc Ford and, of course, Lee Child's Jack Reacher.

Q: Larry Block came up with the following question: How do you keep the series from running out of steam?
A: Luckily, I'm still early enough in my Daniel Rinaldi series not to have to deal with that issue. But I'm sure that, if I'm fortunate enough to be able to maintain the series through six or seven books, I'll bump up against the problem. I suppose then I'll just keep exploring new facets of the continuing characters, the changes coming about in their lives. As both a mystery reader and a mystery writer, it's well-rounded characters and how they deal with the stresses of life that keeps me coming back to series books.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
A: The question would be: what is it about those "mean streets" that make your character insist on going down them, regardless of what awaits? And the answer, borrowed from Mallory, is quite simple: Because they're there.

Dead Men's Harvest (Joe Hunter) by Matt Hilton

2011-11-30T00:26:00.000-08:00

If you've been reading my blog you know I'm a fan of Harboiled Collective member Matt Hilton's Joe Hunter series. That means I'm excited about the sixth novel in the series that has links to the first Hunter novel and the villain that was featured there, the sinister Harvestman: Dead Man's Harvest.
Just click here for more about Hunter and Hilton.

Q & A with Brett Battles

2011-11-30T00:12:00.000-08:00

I interviewd Brett Battles, author of the Logan Harper series (among others). He's been a big influence on my Mike Dalmas stories.

Q: What makes Logan Harper different from other (unofficial) PIs?
Logan's a former soldier who, in an effort to piece his life back together after the death of his friend, has moved back to his hometown to work in his father's auto shop. He has a strong moral center that makes it hard, if not impossible, for him to ignore the wrongs done to others.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
I wanted to create someone who was different for the character Jonathan Quinn in my successful Cleaner series. Quinn operates in the world of espionage, has money and access to a lot of tech. I wanted Logan to be an everyday man who didn¹t have those aids, and who lived in the regular world. While he does have talents because of his military background, he¹s not a rich man, and whatever else he needs to solve a problem has to be pulled together from what sources are available.

Q: What's next for you and Logan?
I just released the second Logan book, EVERY PRECIOUS THING, and am starting to work on the plot for the third. It¹s a little early to say where that one's going yet. Hoping to release it sometime next summer.

Q: How do you promote your work?
I try to maintain a good web presence, mainly through Facebook and Twitter.I also do guess blog posts, and will be joining a group blog focused onmiddle-school and YA thrillers early next year. I do attend a few conferences also, and any time I have news (about every other month) I sendout a newsletter. You can sign up for that here.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
I¹m a big fan of both of your examples. My only caution on psychotic sidekicks is that they shouldn't be crazy just for the sake of being different. That bugs me. Give me a plausible reason for their uniqueness and why they are friends with the hero, and I'm fine.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influencedby Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you thinkwill influence the coming generation?
Wow...there are just so many to choose from. One of my favorite PI writerstoday is Sean Chercover. He is simply fantastic. Also, and this is more onthe amateur PI side, I would hope that Tim Hallinan would be a big future influence. You can't go wrong with either of those guys. I love everything they write.

Q: Larry Block came up with the following question: How do you keep the series from running out of steam?In my mind, it's the characters. While each story in a series has it's own arc, there is a grander arc that covers the entire series. My characters continue to change both their relationships with each other and as individuals. If that's not happening, you end up writing the same book over and over, and that will quickly run out of steam. I do believe every series has a limit, though. Hopefully, in my case, I'll recognize it before I accidently go passed it.

My appearances on other sites

2011-11-30T00:05:00.001-08:00

This week I write about novelettes at Michael Haskins' blog, am being interviewed at Ebookery and have a short story out at Powderburn Flash, featuring The Innocence Man, a college professor getting innocent people out of jail.

Great article about PI fiction

2011-11-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

You just have to read this article article that interviews many of my favorite writers about Robert B. Parker and his influence on the genre.

Kiss Her Goodbye (Mike Hammer) by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

2011-11-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

After a repose in Florida, recovering from a gunfight with mobsters the Legend returns to New York... Mike Hammer investigates the supposed suicide of his old police chief and soon he's up to his porkpie hat in gangsters and dolls. He visits an exclusive gun club as well as an exclusive disco. He encounters a strong woman who still doesn't stand a chance against his charms. There's a very violent gunfight that proves Hammer doesn't need a psycho sidekick like Elvis Cole and Spenser do, because he IS the psycho sidekick AND detective.
There's a strong subplot about how Hammer seems to have mellowed and aged and him proving everyone wrong and the love he feels for his old partner, Velda.
Max, from an unfinished manuscript by Hammer's creator Spillane, manages to write in Spillane's voice again and the pulpy sex and violence is just incredibly entertaining to read. A big middle-finger to literary thrillers and a big homage to the hardboiled pulp that makes the genre great.

Survivor's Affair (John Logan) by Rick Nichols

2011-11-18T02:20:00.000-08:00

A phone call by the daughter of his old mentor lands ex-spy John Logan in the middle of a murder investigation. Trying to prove the daughter's innocense brings him into conflict with several professional hitmen.
When it turns out his old spy-buddies are getting killed as well he enlists the aid of the survivors of his unit to find out who's killing them.
More of an action thriller than mystery, this one will appeal to fans of David Baldacci and Eric van Lustbader.
It's a fast-paced ride and John Logan is a larger-than-life action hero with heart.

Act of Deceit (Harlan Donnally) by Steven Gore

2011-11-18T02:18:00.000-08:00

Steven Gore introduces us to a new series character, Harlan Donnally, in his third novel. Asked to track down the sister of an old friend he finds out she was murdered by a psychopath... or was she? He uncovers a vast conspiracy linked to sexual abuse by the church and potgrowers.
Flirting with the psychological and legal thrillers at the start, this exciting novel ends up in Lee Child territory in the last chapters.
Steven Gore writes an engaging mystery with a large amount of twists, great investigative details and a broad canvas of places and concepts.
Donnally is a classic tough guy character but written in a believable manner. Highly recommended.

Felony Fists (Fight Card) by Jack Tunny

2011-11-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

When a Harboiled Collective member has a new book out you just know it's going to be great... This one is no exception...
It's an entry in the The Fight Card series, inspired by the boxing/fight stories in the sports pulps from the '30s and '40s, such as Fight Stories Magazine and Knockout Magazine as well as the Sailor Steve Costigan tales from Robert E. Howard.
It's a nice, fast and atmospheric pulpy read by Paul Bishop writing as Jack Tunny. There's more in this series coming up, written by Eric Beetner and Bob Randisi.
Here's the details:

FELONY FISTS by Paul Bishop

Los Angeles 1954

Patrick “Felony” Flynn has been fighting all his life. Learning the “sweet science” from Father Tim the fighting priest at St. Vincent’s, the Chicago orphanage where Pat and his older brother Mickey were raised, Pat has battled his way around the world – first with the Navy and now with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Legendary LAPD chief William Parker is on a rampage to clean up both the department and the city. His elite crew of detectives known as The Hat Squad is his blunt instrument – dedicated, honest, and fearless. Promotion from patrol to detective is Pat’s goal, but he also yearns to be one of the elite.

And his fists are going to give him the chance.

Gangster Mickey Cohen runs LA’s rackets, and murderous heavyweight Solomon King is Cohen’s key to taking over the fight game. Chief Parker wants wants Patrick “Felony” Flynn to stop him – a tall order for middleweight ship’s champion with no professional record.

Leading with his chin, and with his partner, LA’s first black detective Tombstone Jones, covering his back, Patrick Flynn and his Felony Fists are about to fight for his future, the future of the department, and the future of Los Angeles.
Go buy it over here

Free Range Institution (Mad Mick Murphy) by Michael Haskins

2011-11-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

Key West's hardboiled reporter is back in action... and I do mean action!
In this very action-packed tale we follow Mad Mick Murphy's investigation into the death of a friend that falls from a building. He becomes embroiled into the fight against Columbian drug traffickers.
Obviously well-researched, full of details about the location this reads like a visit to another, very interesting world with Murphy as a tour guide. At times Murphy seems to be a bit of a by-stander as Feds take action against the bad guys, but hey, he's a reporter, right? Murhphy makes up for it in the thrilling last chapters.
There's an interesting supernatural element in the character of Padre Thomas, who might or not be an angel. It reminded me of early John Connolly before he went a bit overboard with the supernatural elements and of James Lee Burke's use of the supernatural.
All in all a good, fast-paced read.

Q & A with Chester Campbell

2011-11-04T02:04:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview with Hardboiled Collective member Chester Campbell...

Q: What makes Sid Chance different from other (unofficial) PIs?
Sid Chance’s motivation lies in the belief that his efforts can have a major effect on righting the wrongs done to his clients, situations such as the one he found himself caught in before becoming a PI. After nineteen years as a National Park ranger, he enjoyed his position as police chief in a small town south of Nashville. Until an unsavory sheriff fell for a drug dealer’s ruse to falsely accuse him of bribery. Though ultimately absolved of guilt, he felt too tarnished to remain in the town and totally fed up with the ways of flawed humanity. After three years of self-imposed exile in a hillside cabin, he came back home to Nashville to take on the bad guys.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
I had been writing a husband and wife PI team who are, as one reviewer put it, “like the people next door.” I wanted a more hard-edged story so turned to a big, impressive guy (he’s six-six and wears a black beard). He had served with Army Special Forces in Vietnam, then further developed his rugged image in the wilds of national parks. To give him a little additional quirk, I named him Sidney Lanier Chance, after the nineteenth century Southern poet who had some career similarities.

Q: What's next for you and Sid?
I’m sure he’ll come up with another exciting adventure. My next book will be number six in the Greg McKenzie series, then it’ll be Sid’s turn again. I don’t plan ahead, so each new book gets a fresh plot search.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Every book has a couple of pages on my website (http://chesterdcampbell.com). I have a blog called Mystery Mania, and I blog a couple of times a month on two others, Murderous Musings and Make Mine Mystery. I also post on Facebook and occasionally on Goodreads. I attend a few conferences each year and do several book fairs. I do occasional interviews like this one and post on listserves such as DorothyL, the granddaddy (or grandma) of mystery lists. I also stay on the lookout for ways to push my name out there.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
I find them a bit implausible but enjoy reading about them. I gave Sid Chance an unusual sidekick in Jasmine (Jaz) LeMieux. Her father was a French Canadian who came to Nashville after the Korean War and established a national chain of travel centers. Jaz was disowned by her aristocratic mother after dropping out of college and joining the Air Force. She then became a champion woman boxer and finally a Metro Nashville cop. After her mother’s death, she returned to good graces with her father and inherited controlling interest in the business. Serving as chairman of the board without an active role in day-to-day operations, she has time to assist Sid in tough cases like the one in The Good, The Bad and the Murderous.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I haven’t read enough of the newer crop to hazard an informed guess, but Robert Crais seems to be holding up well at the present.

Q: Larry Block came up with the following question: How do you keep the series from running out of steam?
I think the key is to come up with fresh, interesting characters in each outing. That and finding unusual cases to keep the reader intrigued. I like to weave in subplots that wind their way back into the main story.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
Would your PI commit an obvious breach of the law to solve a case? My answer: Yes, if it was a technical violation and the circumstances warranted it. But if it involved a felonious act, he’d look for a way to get around it. Real PIs avoid actions that would jeopardize their licenses.

Coming Soon

2011-10-31T04:15:00.000-07:00

COMING SOON... 13 SHOTS OF NOIR

Halloween fiction

2011-10-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

My pals at Trestle Press have some great Halloween fiction lined up for you. Check this link for a list of their books.

First In, Last Out (Tom Gregory) by Gerald So

2011-10-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

This is what the Kindle is all about. Cheap, fast and thrilling reads. This one collects the Tom Gregory stories by Gerald So. They're about an ex-Marine sniper that comes home and finds trouble. Gerald edited fiction on the Thrilling Detective site and it shows. The writing is tight and well thought out. Solid, fast read.
Check it out here.

More appearances of me and Mike Dalmas

2011-10-28T03:04:00.000-07:00

I guest blog about my favorite PI's here.
Paul Brazill has good things to say about Find Her, the first Mike Dalmas story.

Q & A with John Gilstrap

2011-10-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

I interviewed John Gilstrap, author of Threat Warning.

Q: What makes Jonathan Grave different from other (unofficial) PIs?
Jonathan Grave is a former Delta Force operator who makes his living as a freelance hostage rescue specialist. Unlike law enforcement agencies, whose hostage rescue activities are constrained by the obligation to collect and preserve evidence that will convict the hostage takers in court, Jonathan and his team care only about the victim. Everything else--including due process--is secondary to the rescue mission. Whereas more traditional PIs work more or less within the established justice system--ultimately working with the police who don't necessarily appreciate their activities--Jonathan and his team work completely outside of the law.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
I wrote a nonfiction book a few years ago called Six Minutes to Freedom, which told the story of Kurt Muse, the only civilian of record ever rescued by Delta Force. During my research, I got to know quite a few Special Forces operators, and I was very impressed by their single-minded dedication to their mission. Once dispatched to make a rescue, their Precious Cargo is coming home, even if the operators have to sacrifice their own lives to make that happen. When that order goes out--and it's always on foreign soil because of Constitutional restrictions on donestic military operations--there are no warrants, no concerns for the rights of the bad guys. The single mission is to reunite the PC with his or her family. People who get in the way of that mission are likely to die.

I thought it would be a cool paradigm for a civilian contractor to use domestically. The idea stewed in my imagination for a while, and Jonathan Grave was born.

Q: What's next for you and Grave?
In Damage Control, due out in July of 2012, Jonathan and his team are sent to rescue a busload of American missionaries who have been taken hostage by Mexican drug lords. When things go wrong, it becomes clear that someone within the American halls of power want Jonathan dead.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Promotion of fiction is an exercise in frustration. I have a newsletter for my fans, and a website (www.johngilstrap.com). I'm a weekly contributor to The Killzone, a blog featuring eleven suspense authors (http://killzoneauthors.blogspot.com). My column appears every Friday. I go to a few conferences every year, and I try to maintain a reliable presence on Twitter and Facebook. I do these things because I enjoy the interaction with people, and in hopes that the effort might sell a few books. In the end, though, I think an author's most reliable avenue for promotion is to keep writing books. I'm pleased to report that there will be at least two more Grave books after Damage Control. They'll be out in 2013 and 2014.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
I was one of the last holdouts. I even wrote a blog post for The Killzone that I called, "Kindle Schmindle." Then I was given a Kindle for Father's Day two years ago, and now I don't know how I ever lived without one. I enjoy everything about the Kindle--and, by extension, eBooks in general. I find the reading experience to be perfectly fine, and I love the quick availability of tens of thousands of titles.

There's a lot of Internet nonesense out there foretelling the demise of commercial publishing because of the birth and growth of the eBook. I just don't see that happening. In fact, given the amount of self-published dreck that is flooding eBook outlets, I think that in a few years readers will become even more depended upon the imprimatur of a publisher as a means of sifting readable material from the awful stuff that has been vanity-published for next to no cost. For that to happen, though, New York publishing needs to start pricing eBooks more reasonably.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
Well, I sort of have one in Jonathan's long-time colleague named Boxers. I actually don't think of them as psychotic. I see them as loyal men who are willing to die for their friends. As such, it only makes sense that they would be willing to kill for them, too. I've known several people like that over the years.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
Man, I'm the wrong guy to ask about the coming generation. I think that the current crop of PI writers--including myself--are on the trailing edge of what will soon be known as "traditional" storytelling. We all use characters who are bound in reaity and depend largely on shoe leather and firearms to get the job done. I see a new generation that is far more tied to technology than I will ever be, and that technology will be the key influence. Truth be told, I don't think I've yet read the author who will cause the next seismic shift in the genre.

Q: Max Alan Collins came up with the following question: Are you a Hammett man or Chandler?
Okay, stand by for heresy: Neither. I respect both authors for essentially setting the rules for the genre, but I don't particulary enjoy reading their books. These days, they seem for me to approach the line of historical fiction. I'd rather spend my time reading new voices than old ones.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
If it were possible, would you spend a year living your character's life? Why or why not?
My answer: Absolutely. Jonathan Grave is the man I wish I could be. His dedication and clarity of purpose inspires me. He knows who he is, and more importantly he has an inviolable moral center that defines for him who he will never allow himself to become. Plus, he's got some really cool toys.

New Mike Dalmas story out now!

2011-10-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

The new Mike Dalmas story is out now for just 99 cents!
FATAL DOSE - A MIKE DALMAS STORY
Another in the Trestle Press Cliffhanger Digital Short Series:
Husband, father, vigilante... Mike Dalmas left Special Forces to become a dedicated family man, but when his daughter gets molested he had his revenge, killing the pervert who committed the crime.
Now the Bay City cops keep him out of jail if he takes care of their dirty work. The things their badge won't allow them to do but for which Dalmas has the right skill set.
When the death of an innocent young girl is ruled as an OD Homicide cop Carver thinks the girl's boyfriend, a tough K-1 fighter, is behind it. He orders Dalmas to see justice done. But is the girl that innocent? And is they boyfriend really a criminal?

The Good, The Bad and the Murderous (Sid Chance) by Chester Campbell

2011-10-19T00:06:00.000-07:00

Vietnam veteran and ex-park ranger Sid Chance goes to work for a young black man that just got out of jail. The ex-con is charged with a murder he swears he didn't commit. Chance is helped out by a quirky cast of sidekicks in this satisfying mystery filled with enough action, twist and turn to please any PI-fan.
Chester Campbell also happens to be a member of the Hardboiled Collective, so it comes highly recommended.

A Bad Night's Sleep (Joe Kozmarski) by Michael Wiley

2011-10-14T04:07:00.000-07:00

Joe Kozmarski is hired to watchdog a building. The burglars arriving turn out to be cops. When Joe is forced to shoot one of them it doesn't make him popular.
The Chicago PD asks him to infiltrate the gang of crooked cops. In the end though, he finds out the gang's plans weren't what the thought.
Besides this main story we also follow Joe's relationships with his ex-wife and his lover and his struggle with booze and coke.
Joe Kozmarski is not an unique character but has enough ant-heroic qualities to make him interesting. There's a nice number of action scenes and surprises, the ending surprising. All in all, not the best PI novel of the year but a very satisfying read.

Hardboiled Collective members on other blogs

2011-10-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

Check out my guest blog here and read a great interview with Hardboiled Collective member Bruce DeSilva here.

News about and for international crime writers

2011-10-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Libby Fischer Hellmann gave me the chance to write a guest post on her blog about what the Dutch think about US-crime fiction. You can read it here.

And while we're on the subject... For you international crime writers go here to contribute to a great new concept!

Q & A with Lawrence Block

2011-10-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to present this interview with Lawrence Block!

Q: What makes Matt Scudder different from other (unofficial) PIs?
A: The PI is often labeled a man with a code. Bob Parker's Spenser, in what came perilously close to self-parody, would actually sit around discussing his code with Susan. If Scudder ever had a code, he's long since lost his Captain Midnight decoder ring. He has to work it out as he goes along. I find it more interesting that way.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
A: An agent suggested I develop a tough cop as a series character. I realized I'd be more comfortable writing from an outsider perspective, an ex-cop rather than a member of a bureaucracy. As much for convenience as anything else, I situated Scudder in the New York neighborhood where I was then living.

Q: What's next for you, Scudder and other characters like Keller?
A: I never know what's next. Many times over the years I thought the Scudder series had reached a natural stopping point, but I've learned otherwise so many times that I no longer predict anything. My next novel, coming sometime next year from Mulholland, will be about Keller, and a week ago I could have told you the title, but now that's uncertain again. And of course all of this continges upon my finishing the thing...

Q: How do you promote your work?
A: I used to tour a lot whenever a book came out. Travel's become so cumbersome and unpleasant over the past decade that I've pretty much cut that out. Lately I've become very active online—Twitter and Facebook and my own blog—and I think that's probably more effective than racing around the country. God knows it's simpler. I think, though, that it's only a good idea for writers who enjoy it. I like the online and email interaction, I get a kick out of it, but I know writers who don it doggedly, out of a sense of duty, and I think it then becomes counterproductive.

Q: Tell us why the PI novel isn't dead.
A: One reads its obituary from time to time, and it always turns out to be premature. The individual relying on his own resources to right wrongs or calm troubled waters is an archetype that seems to endure irrespective of shifts in the culture. It gets all the reinvention it needs.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
A: I'm reading the second volume of Robert Caro's masterful biography of Lyndon Johnson, and I wish it were available as an eBook, because an hour with it leaves me with aching wrists. I love eBooks—as a reader and as a writer. My whole backlist is available now, and most of those boks have been out-of-print for years. That delights me. And I've published three eRiginal books for writers this year, The Liar's Bible, the Liar's Companion, and my early-days memoir, Afterthoughts; those wouldn't exist but for the eBook medium. And, of course, my new venture in self-publishing, The Night and the Music, is driven by the eBook; there's a print edition available, but I'd never have done this in an eBook-less world.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
A: I'm not sure I'd characterize either of those estimable gentlemen as psychotic—surely not to their faces! It's not hard to understand the appeal of a trusted friend who's more violent and less constrained by moral rules than the hero. I suppose Mick Ballou plays some of that role vis-a-vis Scudder, but only now and then; mostly he's a friend, and the evolving dynamics of that friendship keep me engaged.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
A: I have no idea.

Q: Gar Anthony Haywood came up with the following question: What other P.I. writer, alive or dead, would you want as a huge fan?
A: There's a conundrum here. If I idolize and/or idealize a particular writer enough to pick him for the role, I'd perforce regard him as too exalted to waste his time on my work. So, while Gar's question's a good one, I'm not going to answer it.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
A: How do you keep the series from running out of steam? And now I have answer it, huh? Okay. By allowing Matt Scudder to age in real time, and to be changed in one book for having lived through the preceding one. And by only writing the next book when it's ready to be written. And by avoiding the trap of trying to give readers what they want.

A great week for Noah Milano!

2011-10-07T08:11:00.000-07:00

It's great week for Noah Milano... He appears on Thrills, Kills 'n' Chills with a new short story, War Crimes , Tough As Leather is reviewed at Murderous Musings AND the Noah Milano Novelette The Alabaster-Skinned Mule is available.
Here's the lowdown on this novelette, a cool 36 page story. It's probably the most action-packe Milano tale yet.

A pretty young girl is used as a mule, smuggling drugs for Mexican druglords. When she discovers the drugs she gets rid of them. The druglords will do anything to get them back.
She hires Noah Milano, security specialist and ex-mob fixer to protect her. He ends up putting his dearest friendship and his very life on the line for her.

Praise by other authors:
''Great pop sensibility with a nod to the classic L.A. PIs.'' - David Levien, author 13 Million Dollar Pop
"Terrific stuff.'' - Lori G. Armstrong, author of No Mercy
Jochem's deep and abiding love for classic pulp fiction comes through on every page, and his stories continue the time-honored tradition of the hardboiled American PI." -Sean Chercover, author of Trigger City.

Guest-Post: Look Who's Reading Mine by Bruced DeSilva

2011-10-07T04:18:00.000-07:00

Fans of Bruce DeSilva, author of Rogue Island might have seen the cool 'Look Who's Reading' posts on his blog. I asked Bruce to tell us how they came about...

Publishers spend the most of their limited promotion budgets on sure winners – the latest books by the likes of Lee Child and Laura Lippman. A first-time novelist who wants to tell the world that he’s written a book is largely on his own.

So last fall, as the publication date for my first crime novel, “Rogue Island,” drew near, I was wracking my brain for a way to get some attention.

“I know,” my wife, the poet Patricia Smith, said. “Why don’t we take pictures of famous people reading your book? We can post them on your blog, and on Facebook and Twitter?”

That sounded like a plan. Books are sold largely by word of mouth: One person reads it, likes it, and tells his or her friends. Social networking sites are good for writers because they have greatly expanded the reach of word of mouth.

The problem with these sites, however, is that when you post something, it is seen only by the people you have “friended” on Facebook or who follow you on Twitter. However, you can reach many thousands more if your friends like your post enough to repost it, passing it on to THEIR friends.

The right photos, I thought, just might do the trick.

So Patricia and I started toting a camera and a copy of my book around in case we ran into famous people. Except sometimes, we forgot. It would have been nice if we’d had the book with us when we ran into Chris Rock at the Bronx Zoo.

But over the last year, we accumulated 84 pictures of famous people reading “Rogue Island,” and I’ve been posting several each week on Facebook, Twitter and my blog, brucedesilva.com.

More than half of those who posed for our cameras are famous crime and thriller writers – Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Val McDermid, Ken Follett, Lee Child – taken at crime writing conferences including Mystery Writers of America, Bouchercon and Thrillerfest.

But there was also Andrew Young, former ambassador to the United Nations, whom I ran into on a trip to Washington, D.C.

And Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr., TV pundit, convicted felon and former mayor of Providence, R.I., where my novel is set.

And famous journalists like Eugene Robinson and Roy Peter Clark, happy to do a favor for a former member of their tribe.

When Patricia journeyed to Hollywood to do a poetry reading at the Getty Museum, she snagged photos of actresses America Ferrera of “Ugly Betty” fame and Amber Tamblyn, who starred in “House,” “Joan of Arcadia,” and “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.”

My favorite, though, was Patricia’s picture of Goth music star Marilyn Manson, who posed for two photos – one reading the book and another holding it against his crotch. I used only the first one.

The Manson photo was the biggest hit. When I posted it on my bog, I got six times the normal number of daily hits.

Most people just held the book open and smiled, but a few mugged for the camera. Sara Paretsky, a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, and Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial, stared at a page with their mouths open, as if they’d just read something shocking.

And no one, not a single person, turned us down.

Did this sell any books? It’s impossible to say for sure, but it didn’t hurt. “Rogue Island” has sold well for a first crime novel – and nearly a year after its release, it’s still selling.

Now I need to come up with a promotion idea for my second novel, “Cliff Walk,” which will be published by Forge next May. Any suggestions?

Treste Press offers cool digitals shorts!

2011-10-07T04:11:00.000-07:00

I recently signed up with Trestle Press to bring out my Mike Dalmas series. There’s a great group of writers with this publisher and I figured you all deserved to know about them.

There’s Alexandra Weis, who puts out thrilling supernatural crime stories, the latest of which, set in New Orleans, is The Keeper of the Dead. Great for fans of horror and James Lee Burke.

Also for horror fans Trestle Press offers the work of April Pohren, whose latest short story is Dream Me To Death.

Showing how diverse Trestle Press is, there’s Big Daddy Abel’s work.

And, if you’re a fan of hardboiled crime (and if you’re not why are you visiting this blog?) you will have to check out B.R. Stateham’s Smitty series. Smitty is an Avenging Angel that will appeal to everyone who digs my own work.

While we're on the subject of great stuff from other people: Adventures of Cash Laramie and Gideon Miles Volume II is out now, featuring great tales of noir western by the talented Edward E. Grainger. Don't miss out on this one if you like noirish short stories.

Guest-Post: Truly Noir by Austin S. Camacho

2011-10-06T03:04:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to offer you this guest post by Austin S. Camacho, author of the Hannibal Jones series and The Piranha Assignment.

My Hannibal Jones series is not very different from other detective series, except of course for the fact that Hannibal Jones is an African American private eye. When I decided to write a hardboiled detective series I set out to explore my detective’s predecessors, the characters he’d be compared to when he made his appearance.

That turned out to require a lot less time than I expected it to. As a hardboiled detective with an African heritage, Hannibal Jones turned out to have few predecessors. The best known black mystery characters, chronicled by Walter Mosley, James Patterson, Chester Himes and Hugh Holton, are policemen or amateur sleuths.

So where are all the men of color following in Phillip Marlowe’s gumshoe footsteps? Ed Lacy introduced the first credible African-American private eye, Toussaint Moore, in 1957. He won an Edgar, but no one followed his lead. I assumed that John Shaft would turn the tide when he appeared in 1971. Ernest Tidyman's Harlem private eye was so hardboiled that at the time my friends and I jokingly referred to him as “Sam: Spade Detective.” Yet despite his film success, there was no rush of imitators. All the African American private eyes seem to have vanished mysteriously.

I can hear all the white authors out there now, shaking their heads and muttering, “Don’t blame me.” Well, why not? African American authors write white characters all the time, so why not reverse that spin. And white authors don’t seem to have any trouble writing black characters as sidekicks, or villains. Why not write them as detectives?

Of course, there is the danger of stereotyping. Your ethnic readers will look very closely at any characters you introduce who don’t look like you. So how do you get it right when you’re writing about people from another race and culture? Here are three hints that will help you.

Observe: spend time in the grocery stores, restaurants and bars filled with mostly faces of color. Don’t worry, no one will assault you as long as you mind your own business. And by listening closely you’ll get a feel for the attitudes and interests of that group, not to mention their food and drink preferences. You will also develop a feel for the rhythm of language and common phrases they use. I’ve found this works for Latin, Korean and Iranian characters too.

Avoid dialect: When we change the way words are spelled to imitate the sound of someone’s voice we not only insult them, we make it harder for readers to get through our writing. All you need to do to get the dialog perfect is to use the words your characters would use in their own unique order. Your reader will “hear” what you meant, be it North Dakota Swedish or inner city black.

Get a reality check: First, make a black friend. Next, have that friend read your work and beg them to be honest in their feedback. Watch their face as they read. Ask them to test the dialog aloud, and listen for changes they may make unconsciously. If your friend balks at something, don’t debate it, change it.

The most important thing, of course, is to remember that we are all more alike than different. Human motivations, desires, fears and joys are universal, so make sure your black characters are first and foremost human.

And in case you’re skeptical about writing a black detective, let me remind you that Toussaint Moore’s creator, Ed Lacy, was actually a white guy named Leonard Zinberg.

Q & A with Rick Nichols

2011-10-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

Today we talk to Richard Nichols, author of the action-packed John Logan series.

Q: What makes John Logan different from other (unofficial) PIs?
A: I think there are several things. First is his background. Logan was born in America but raised in Japan. As such, he has a strong tie to the land and their philosophies of duty and honor. It has a profound effect on his actions. Secondly is his past as a Special Ops soldier and his work in covert intelligence. His career didn’t end well and his relationship with the government is strained because of it. He does think about the lives he’s taken and the men he lost and he desperately tries to help people as a way of atonement for his past “sins.” In the end, though, he must always rely on his training and skills to get him out of situations and it’s that duality that makes him so much fun to write.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
A: When I was in college about 30 years ago, I got the kernel of the character in my head. I knew a lot of his background but I had trouble figuring out what I wanted him to be doing in the present. When I hit upon the idea of making him a PI it seemed to fit and by the second paragraph I knew I was on to something.

Q: What's next for you and Logan?
A: A third book entitled The Sheltering Tree is due out in 2012. I have a few other ideas that Logan might pursue but they are still percolating in my brain. There will be more Logan stories to come.

Q: How do you promote your work?
A: Anyway I can. My publisher helps of course, but I am on Facebook as well as have a fan page (Rick Nichols, Author), I am on Twitter (RickNichols3), and I have my author page (www.wix.com/richardn45/rick-nichols) I also have a blog (www.ricknichols.blogspot.com). I try to grant interviews to anyone who wants them and I generally find that just getting your name out is the biggest task. Once people know who you are, if the books are good, they will buy them.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
A: I think that ebooks are the future of the business and recent sales figures from the traditional publishers show ebooks outselling hard copies. The paperback is a vanishing species and let’s face it, being able to store 1000 books on a small pad is neat! I haven’t made the switch yet, simply because I’m old fashioned and like the feel of a real book but I will. It’s a matter of time.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
A: Well I wouldn’t use the term psychotic. Chandler and Hammett started the lone PI thing and Parker originally wanted to do the same with Spenser. Hawk and Pike are both loyal and have a great sense of justice. Hawk has a darker side to him that Pike doesn’t seem to have but he is a good man with a strong sense of justice. I think a sidekick can bring out other facets of your character that otherwise might not get revealed. You learn a lot about Spenser through his relationship with Hawk and the same with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. The bonds of friendship between them, the respect they have for each other, and their willingness to risk everything for their friend is a great concept. When I had the epiphany of Logan being a PI, I knew I wanted him to have one guy, one friend, to be there for him. Mason Killian was born and I created him with no preconceived ideas, just allowed the character to write itself. And it worked. There is a great chemistry between Logan and Killian that I think is amazing and it is the key to making these kinds of relationships work on the page.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
A: I think the masters will continue to influence many generations to come. I think Crais needs to be in there as well as Walter Mosely and Ed McBain. There are a couple of other but I honestly can’t think of their names right now.

Q: Max Alan Collins came up with the following question: Are you a Hammett man or Chandler?
A: Chandler. Hammett is great but there is a power to Chandler’s prose, almost a rhythm to it that hooked me from the first paragraph of The Big Sleep and never let me go. I have all of his novels and even the pulp stories he wrote.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
A: Wow, that’s an interesting question. You’ve certainly asked some good ones today. I would have to say, especially if they are doing a series, is how do you keep the stories fresh? Even Parker had some weak plots from time to time and I’ve found in writing three Logan novels that it can be so easy to stick with what worked before. In The Sheltering Tree, I tried to change things up a little and I try to reveal parts of a character or a relationship that I have not explored before. Just trying to keep it fresh and not fall into repetition is certainly a challenge for me. It’s easier since Logan still has some things to discover but by the 20th book (if I make it that far), I’m sure it will be more challenging.

Pocket-47 (Nicholas Colt) by Jude Hardin

2011-10-05T00:29:00.000-07:00

He used to be in a rockband but after surviving a plane crash that killed his band and family Nicholas Colt became a PI. Cool back story, right?
In his first outing he tracks down a runaway but ends up confronting neo-Nazi's and discovers shocking secrets behind the plane crash.
Colt is a character in the vein of Elvis Cole, Rush McKenzie and Noah Milano. A pretty good guy who uses violence when pissed off. Well... There's a scene with a pencil in the book that would be a bit hardcore for those characters, even for Mike Hammer. It surprised me a bit and felt a bit out of character. Also, the ending involving a form of virgin sacrifice, read a bit too much like a B-movie.
However... For the most part Colt is a character you can relate to, the pacing is great, there's a good mystery and enough action. All in all, I'm looking forward to a follow-up.

Mike Dalmas all over the web!

2011-09-28T01:03:00.001-07:00

The web is buzzing about the new Mike Dalmas series.
See me talk about it at Do Some Damage and see others talk about it here, here, here and here.

Q & A with Gar Anthony Haywood

2011-09-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

When he won the Shamus Award for Best Short Story I just had to talk to him... Here he is, Gar Anthony Haywood...

Q: What makes Aaron Gunner different from other (unofficial) PIs?Well, first, he IS an "official" PI, in that he's licensed in the state ofCalifornia to practice private investigation. How he differs from otherfictional, official PIs (aside from his ethnicity):
1. He likes to drink, but suffers no addiction to alcohol or any other drug.
2. He's not running from anything in his past (a woman, a dark secret, adeath he caused accidentally, etc.)
3. Technically, he's not an ex-cop (he went to the LAPD training academybut got booted out before graduating).
4. He's only moderately competent at his job.
5. The novels that feature him (unlike the short stories) are always toldin third person, not first.
6. He's got a biting wit, but it's used quite sparingly; you'd nevermistake Gunner for a stand-up comedian.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
Basically, by deciding over time what I DIDN'T want him to be: white,altruistic, invulnerable, sexually irresistible, ingenious, fearless,addicted to (booze/cocaine/heroin/meth/painkillers), fast with a one-liner, dependent on someone less scrupled to do his heavy lifting.

Q: What's next for you and Gunner?
I'm only a couple of pages into book #7: GOOD MAN GONE BAD.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Through my website (www.garanthonyhaywood.com); personal blog
www.wisdommistakenforlunacy.com); my postings on the Murderati writersblog (www.murderati.com); Facebook; and convention appearances.

Q: How did it feel to win the Shamus for short stories? I made light of it in my acceptance speech, but I am always incrediblyhonored to have my stuff recognized by my peers in the PWA. The nominatedauthors were awesome (Mickey Spillane vs. me? Are you kidding?), so thisShamus win was particularly special to me.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
I've long ago given up thinking that ebooks are not the wave of thefuture. They are. And as an author, I intend to jump onboard the ebookexpress with both feet very soon (we're negotiating now with Severn Housefor the rights to re-publish the early Gunner novels in ebook form). However, I love paperback novels like some people love crack, and bookstores will always be my greatest passion. The heft of a new book in myhands, the texture of the pages against my fingers as I flip through them,the embossing on an awesome cover suitable for framing---these are allexperiences the ebook can't offer me, so while I'll become an ebook readereventually, I'm in no hurry to get there.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe
Pike?
While the two sidekicks you mention are exceptional and worthy of their extended roles in the work of Parker and Crais, respectively, I have always felt that such characters in general are something of a cheat, inthat they allow an author to lay waste to his villains without having toget his protagonist's hands dirty. Mouse serves this same function forEasy Rawlins in Walter Mosley's work. Mouse can do things on Easy'sbehalf that readers would find unconscionable were Easy to do them forhimself. And yet, these particular sidekicks are fascinating charactersin their own right. Their purpose might be simplistic, but theirpsychological profiles are not. Will I ever develop such a character for Gunner's benefit? Possibly. Butright now, I enjoy the challenge of having Gunner get out of his ownmesses, all by himself, regardless of how much blood this makes itnecessary for him to personally spill.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
Larry Block. Robert Crais. Walter Mosley.

Q: Max Alan Collins came up with the following question: Are you a Hammett man or Chandler?
This is like asking me if I'd rather be in a locked room with Christina Hendricks or Halle Barry. I can only choose ONE? Okay, I'll go with Chandler. Though THE MALTESE FALCON is damn near asgood as a P.I. novel can ever get.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer? What other P.I. writer, alive or dead, would you want as a huge fan? My answer: R
oss Macdonald.

The first Mike Dalmas is out!

2011-09-25T08:49:00.001-07:00

I told you about it a few days ago and now it's here: the first Mike Dalmas short story, available on Kindle here.

It's my first at Trestle Press and because of that I can offer you some great stuff if you buy it.

*** One is that Treste Press will be offering 6 of the titles for free, one for each month we have been doing this, yours to enjoy, no questions asked!!
You can ask any Trestle Press author for them and, BOOM. They are yours, no muss, and no fuss, please enjoy them!
Here is the list of titles from The Author’s Lab/ Collaboration series:
“Who Whacked the Blogger”- Benjamin Sobieck- the birth of Maynard Soloman
“Hotel Beaumont” –B.R. Stateham-Hard-boiled noir
“Thad and The G-Man’s Most Awesome Adventure” –Thad Brown-adventure/suspense/humor
“Bring Us Your Living …Now!’ – H.R. Toye- straight up horror
“A Prince in Trenton,Seriously”- Mark Miller- an all ages tale- everybody from 2 to 200 can read this!!
“Dueling Microphones”- Rose A. Valenta - Humor
***Second- if you purchase ANY Trestle Press title we will double your pleasure by sending you a second free story (of same or equal value). All you need to do is contact me send your proof of purchase from Amazon Kindle or Barnes & Noble Nook.

Coming Soon at Trestle Press: Mike Dalmas!

2011-09-21T02:30:00.000-07:00

I just signed up with Trestle Press to bring out my new Mike Dalmas series of short series. It's coming your way soon!

Husband, father, vigilante... Mike Dalmas left Special Forces to become a dedicated family man, but when his daughter gets molested he had his revenge, killing the pervert who committed the crime.

Now the Bay City cops keep him out of jail if he takes care of their dirty work. The things their badge won't allow them to do but for which Dalmas has the right skill set.

In his first story to appear Mike Dalmas is blackmailed in saving a young girl from a known sex offender. The cops want him to find her before she dies or loses the will to live. The clock is ticking... Will Dalmas be prepared what is needed to find her in time?

Jochem Vandersteen is the writer of the Noah Milano series, founder of the Hardboiled Collective and blogs at www.sonsofspade.tk.

Hardboiled Collective: Revenge (Mick Murphy) by Michael Haskins

2011-09-21T02:21:00.001-07:00

There's a great novel out right now by another member of The Hardboiled Collective.

When journalist Mick Murphy runs into his love fantasy in a wintry Harvard Yard, he is soon dragged into a web of brutal killings that began in Boston and end in Southern California. Trying to protect his dream girl, a Filipina named Michelle, Murphy runs afoul of a police friend and his nemesis, a Cuban-American cop, as well as Los Angeles County sheriffs, before he is beaten by a gang of Ameriasians and his Jeep is blown up. Holding onto his romantic dream, Murphy faces loss of friends and his life before the finale.

You don't want to miss this one if you love Travis McGee, Doc Ford or Thorn.

Go buy it here.

The Sentry (Joe Pike) by Robert Crais

2011-09-21T02:11:00.000-07:00

Joe Pike has the lead in Robert Crais' newest action thriller. When Joe walks in on a store owner getting beaten up he takes action. With that heroic deed he gets involved in an FBI investigation into La Eme, the Mexican Maffia.
His buddy, Elvis Cole, finds out the restaurant owners are not what they seem, however. Meanwhile a psychopathic hitman is stalking the restaurant owners.
This is not Crais' best. It's great to see Joe and Elvis back in action, doing what they do best, because I love the characters. The story seemed to be a bit lacking, often I had the idea Crais didn't know exactly where the story was going either and improvised it with every chapter. That only worked partly for Robert B. Parker whose last few novels weren't up to the old standards either.
I felt the plotlines were wrapped up a bit too suddenly and the mystery behind it wasn't very interesting. Also, I think the psycho assassin was dealt with a bit too easily after the whole set-up.
In short, it's good because it's Crais, but it should have been better because it's Crais.

Shamus Award Winners 2011

2011-09-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

The Shamus Award winners have been revealed at Bouchercon. Sons of Spade congratulates all winners and is happy that one of my favorites (No Mercy) is among the winners.

• Best PI Hardcover: No Mercy [Mercy Gunderson] by Lori G. Armstrong (Touchstone)

• Best First PI Novel: In Search of Mercy [Dexter Bolzjak] by Michael Ayoob (Minotaur Books)

• Best PI Paperback Original: Asia Hand [Vincent Calvino] by Christopher G. Moore (Grove/Atlantic)

• Best PI Short Story: "The Lamb Was Sure To Go" by Gar Anthony Haywood (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November 2010)

• Best PI Series Character: V. I. Warshawski, created by Sara Paretsky

• The EYE Lifetime Achievement Award: Ed Gorman

Nick Kepler now on Kindle!

2011-09-16T04:57:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the Favorite Sons bar on the right.
See the name "Nick Kepler" there? I'm afraid a lot of you might not know that name. That's because there was only one novel.
There were a great deal of fantastic short stories out there, though.
One of them can be found on Kindle now.
What makes Nick so great? The fact that he's a character that grows with every story. That he feels so real you can imagine having a beer with him.
Don't just take my word for it, though. Go check it out.

Bye Bye Baby (Nate Heller) by Max Allan Collins

2011-09-14T00:15:00.000-07:00

I usually am not a big fan of historical mysteries but always make an exception for Max Allan Collins's Nate Heller series. Why? Because Nate rocks! He's a fantastic mix of Marlowe and Hammer, a tough guy who is like the anti-Spenser. A real anti-hero who is not afraid to bed women and dump them, lets his guns speak and takes a bribe.
This novel is no exception, he even beds Marilyn Monroe! What a guy!
The novel deals with the death of Marilyn Monroe, pulling in a huge amount of historical detail without losing sight the story should be about Nate Heller as well as the era the story is set in. We see Frank Sinatra pop in, JFK and family and historical LAPD figures. Nate feels like a natural in those surroundings, making you forget this is fiction and it's not possible he really hobnobbed with the Kennedies and slept with Monroe.
If you are interested in either of those historical figures, the 1960s or if you could care less about all of that but dig Mike Hammer you should read this one!

Q & A with Simon Swift

2011-09-14T00:07:00.000-07:00

Simon Swift steps into the world of historical PI writers with Black Shadows and I had the pleasure to interview him about it.

Q: What makes Errol Black different from other (unofficial) PIs?
There is a lot of back-story in the prologue to Black Shadows. In those first few pages, you find out plenty about Errol Black. He is official, he is quite traditional I suppose, but most of all he is real. He may have dalliances with mobsters, killers, psychotics, hookers and all the usual cast of hardboiled noir, but he is also a very deep thinker and a complicated guy. The reasons for this unfold over the trilogy. I wanted to make him much more three dimensional than the typical wisecracking private eye, but not lose that authenticity and hardboiled grittiness. This has been said of third world dictators before: he's a bastard, but he's our bastard! That's how I like to think of Errol Black.

Here's an extract from the second, forthcoming novel, The Casablanca Case which sheds a little more light on the guy...

You often wonder when you read all those hard-boiled novels of lone-wolf heroes prowling the mean streets of Los Angeles or San Francisco, shoving their guns in people's stomachs and pulling the trigger, being beaten senseless by a gang of Outfit yobs, or seduced by the resident femme fatale, you wonder just what made them like they are. Did Phillip Marlowe ring his ma and pa at weekends, or go round for Thanksgiving dinner? Did Mike Hammer have to wait by the telephone whilst Velda went to the clinic for a pregnancy test, or did he always carry rubbers, or did he really not give a fuck? They never tell you the other half. All you get is half a life, hell it's the only half worth reading about that's for sure, but you still wonder.
I suppose I read the secret half of Errol Black in those first few weeks back in New York. I read it, understood a whole lot more and burnt the fuckin' evidence. You could say that my turning point in life had arrived. I became a most wonderful cynic and a terrible rogue. Turned my back on reality and crept onto the pages of Hammett's typescript. Hermeez knew it was a facade, a shell that I had carefully constructed around me, that one day he would help me smash to pieces. I'm sure he had it all planned one day in the near future; a cathartic return to heal all the old wounds and tie up all the loose ends. Unfortunately I don't think he planned to persuade me to return quite like this.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
Errol Black has been developed over many years. I suppose he was born from a thousand mysteries, encapsulating Sam Spade, Phil Marlowe, Mike Hammer and more recently Max Allan Collins' Nate Heller. Those guys were heroes of mine, as were a couple of Ellroy's darker characters - Dudley Smith and Dave Klein. I wanted to write a story about a detective who could walk those same mean streets, but also a guy that was real, not simply a cliché (no offence to the tonnes of great clichés that are out there at the moment on the pages of noir!!!) And on top of all that, of course there is a good dose of Simon Swift mixed in there too.

Q: What's next for you and Errol Black?
Errol's next adventure is The Casablanca Case, which should be ready to buy early 2011. Whereas Black Shadows is heavily influenced by The Maltese Falcon (bestselling author Debbi Mack broke down with tears of laughter when she realised what I had done with the classic original), The Casablanca Case is a much darker, psychological tale. The, as yet untitled, third instalment will be the last full length novel featuring Errol Black, but will hopefully prove a fitting conclusion to my hero. There is also a novella on the way, and I do envisage Errol popping up in a range of shorts over the next few years.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Not half as well as I should do. I am far too lazy to make it as a marketing success! I hang round a few writer's websites and of course try to update my own website as often as I can. I also do blog interviews (Al Guthrie's Criminal-E was an honour) and seek out reviews. Luckily I have friends that use Facebook and tweet and all that jazz (for which I am forever thankful), but I am yet to become a fully paid up member of the 21st Century. I am still in the middle of a book signing tour for Black Shadows and have a number of Waterstones bookstore signings coming up, which keeps the word about.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
Ebooks are the future. That is what we keep hearing and like it or not (and I'm not quite sure yet that I do) it is an increasingly indisputable fact! As a writer, I kind of like kindle, but am very new to it. It feels wonderful when your book hits a top 100 list (Black Shadows was recently rubbing shoulders with Hammett and Chandler in the mystery / hardboiled section, which was great) and yes I think eventually kindle will take over the world, a bit like Tesco is doing! As a reader, I ultimately remain a traditionalist and will always cherish the feel of a 'real' book in my hands. It's even better when it's your own 'real' book. That said, I have recently got a new phone and have downloaded a stack of books to the kindle app on there. You know, maybe I will come around...

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
Hmm, this is not something I have really though about. I guess psychotics will always have a place in any hardboiled fiction. Now, if you asked me who would win between Hawk and Pike in a fight, I would have to go with Pike. He's the younger guy and the martial arts would see him home!

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
Swift, Vandersteen, Bird, Mack, Neil Smith and Brazil. Hey, why not?

Q: Max Alan Collins came up with the following question: Are you a Hammett man or Chandler?
Gotta be Hammett. I love Raymond Chandler, but Hammett is the godfather and I have to agree with MAC that The Maltese Falcon influenced us all. We may never see another book top it ever, but as long as guys like Collins, Ellroy and a whole host of lesser knowns are out there trying, noir fiction will stay in a healthy place.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
Spade was supposed to be a 'blonde satan' yet Bogie sent him into superstardom. And he wasn't blonde or satanic. Who would you choose to play you PI on the silver screen?

And for Errol Black, it would be... Tom Sizemore. He would be perfect, although I might have to age Black a little.

Noteworthy news

2011-09-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

There's some stuff on the web you will want to read if you like my blog.

Rapsheet blog has Denise Hamilton talking about Surf Noir.

J. Kingston Pierce writes about a PI you might have forgotten.

There's a fantastic new issue out of Thrilling Detective.

Check out these books along the way:
Steven Gore's Act Of Deceit, a new series that brought you the Graham Gage novels.
Cary Pepper's Reel Life Crime, a Maltese Falcon pastiche.

Q & A with Max Allan Collins

2011-09-07T00:49:00.001-07:00

What an honor it was for me to interview Award-winning author Max Allan Collins...

Q: What makes Nate Heller different from other (unofficial) PIs?Well, first of all he's very much official, a licensed, traditional private eye. When I wrote TRUE DETECTIVE almost thirty years ago, the idea was to start him out in a small office, right out of Phillip Marlowe -- he even lived in that office -- and then gradually move him up in the world, until he had operatives and eventually an agency with branches in various big cities. A really successful small businessman, ultimately not that small. I spent a whole chapter in the first novel discussing his family history, going back to his grandparents in Germany. He marries, has a son. All things that weren't part of the world of private eyes like Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe and Mike Hammer. I wanted him to be very much the traditional PI of literature, but more real. He would bleed, cry, fart, fuck while wearing a condom, and also lie, take bribes and quit cases when they got dangerous. Though the voice comes out of Chandler, chiefly, I set out in TRUE DETECTIVE with the notion of breaking every rule of Chandler's "down these mean streets" code, including despoiling a virgin.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
George Hagenauer, my research associate, had a lot to do with it. Initially I had a much more traditional Marlowe type in mind, who would have quit the Chicago PD over the corruption there. George pointed out that a guy like Heller would get on the force in order to take advantage of the corruption, and that he'd have to have connections to even get on at all, particularly in the Depression. The realities of who Heller would have been in real-life Chicago dictated who he became in the novels.

Q: What's next for you, Heller, Nolan, Quarry and Ms Tree?
I've just completed the novel about Heller and the JFK assassination. I won't be doing a Quarry this year, but I hope to next, and Charles Ardai at Hard Case indicates that should happen -- that would be a book called THE WRONG QUARRY and would pit him against a serial killer. In the meantime, the postponed QUARRY'S EX is about to come out. I love doing those books. Also, I keep kicking around doing a final Nolan novel for Charles, but it hasn't gelled. On the other hand, it looks very likely that a new Ms. Tree graphic novel will happen soon. I am trying to decide whether to pick up where we left off, or re-boot her like I did in the prose novel DEADLY BELOVED, or do a tale where we acknowledge the hiatus between stories and allow her to be older, and do a RETURN OF MS. TREE take.

Q: How do you promote your work?
I don't do enough. I'm not a social networking guy and have to kick myself in the butt to use Facebook. I don't Tweet. I do a weekly update each Tuesday at www.maxallancollins.com. Sometimes I do book signings, but they aren't as effective as they once were. We are doing a limited book tour for BYE BYE, BABY -- a four-city swing on the West Coast, plus a couple of other key appearances, with one in Chicago at Centuries & Sleuths, a great bookstore. I do try to make sure Internet sites reviewing and discussing my kind of book get access to the novels. I think that's key in this environment.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
As a reader, I have no interest. If I travelled more, I might have -- my son Nate has one, though he still buys physical books, too. It doesn't suit my needs, or a personality nurtured since childhood by the look and feel and smell of books. As a writer, however, it's just another means of getting my work to readers, and I am fine with that, and will pursue it. I'm part of the Top Suspense Group, a cabal of authors trying to work the e-book market more effectively.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
I was asked about this on a panel and said that my protagonists do their own psychotic dirty work. Parker was and is an important writer in the field, and he made it possible for other writers -- like me -- to write private eye novels when the form might otherwise have died out...he's like Spillane in that regard. But to me the Hawk character is inherently a racist conception -- the black guy who does the white guy's dirty work. And the character itself is lifted from blaxploitation movies. That this aspect of Parker's work had such an impact -- with writers as popular as Mosely and Crais imitating it -- is frankly bizarre to me.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
Certainly they will. But they are all variations on Hammett, Chandler and Spillane, who will continue to be read and will continue to be the primary influences. What Parker did well -- this was very smart -- was to take Marlowe and wrap him up in contemporary trappings. Initially, Spenser was a sort of Yuppie P.I., with his cooking and his smart girl friend and the Boston setting. Lehane does what I have tried to do (I don't think I influenced him at all, though), which is to take the PI novel onto a larger landscape and give it some mainstream feel.

Q: Terry Faherty came up with the following question: Is there a future for the PI subgenre in the face of the current competition from cozy mysteries and police procedurals/crime scene investigation procedurals?
The Private Eye isn't going away. The character will evolve with the times, but this figure is as timeless and necessary as the Western hero, and not as rooted in one era as that figure. For me, it was necessary to place Heller in the historical context of the original writers -- the '30s through the early '60s. But the appeal of the lone problem solver is eternal. How necessary the literal P.I. aspect will be to this -- the license, essentially -- I can't predict. But my hunch is, even that will remain.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
Are you a Hammett man or Chandler?
And my answer -- despite having been heavily influenced by the first-person approach of Chandler -- is Hammett. Right out of the gate, he created the perfect private eye novel in THE MALTESE FALCON. That gives all of us a goal, something to try to top. And none of us ever will.

Hardboiled Collective: Skintight Shroud & Bullet For One by Dundee & Drake

2011-09-07T00:14:00.000-07:00

As founder of the Hardboiled Collective I want to point out there's two fantastic ebooks out there you don't want to miss. They're written by two guys who really appreciate PI fiction and now how to write them themselves.
There's Wayne Dundee's The Skintight Shroud, featuring Joe Hannibal, a PI that has been around for years. This is a chance to read this classic on your Kindle you shouldn't pass up. Read how the Rockford PI solves murders in Illinois' adult movie industry.

Also, there's Brian Drake's "Bullet For One"
John Coburn is a private eye who wo’t let the law stand in the way of justice.

Five years ago Coburn watched as his father was gunned down by a masked man. Tortured by the fact that the killer was never caught, Coburn fights the feelings of failure that haunt his every waking moment.

Now, history has repeated itself. When his best friend Felix is murdered after agreeing to protect a witness, Coburn dives in to catch the killer before the police and FBI. Battling official law enforcement and his own demons, Coburn turns over every lead, rattles every cage, and stretches his own moral code to the breaking point. As he digs deeper into a mystery that involves a team of thieves, corrupt businessmen, and a mafia kingpin with a price on his head, Coburn realizes that revenge has a cost he cannot calculate.

If he fails, can he live with another ghost?

If he succeeds, can he live with the consequences?

Shamus Award Nominees

2011-08-24T00:27:00.000-07:00

The nominees for the Shamus Awards are in! Here they are:

BEST HARDCOVER PI NOVEL
No Mercy, by Lori Armstrong (Touchstone)
The First Rule, by Robert Crais (Putnam)
Voyeur, by Daniel Judson (Minotaur)If the Dead Rise Not, by Philip Kerr (Putnam)
Naked Moon, by Domenic Stansberry (Minotaur)

BEST FIRST PI NOVEL
In Search of Mercy, by Michael Ayoob (Minotaur)
One Man’s Paradise, by Douglas Corleone (Minotaur)
Rogue Island, by Bruce DeSilva (Forge)
Random Violence, by Jassy MacKenzie (Soho)
City of Dragons, by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL PI NOVEL
Hostage Zero, by John Gilstrap (Kensington)
Nightshade, by Tom Henighan (Dundurn Press)
Mister X, by John Lutz (Pinnacle)
The Panic Zone, by Rick Mofina (Mira)
Asia Hand, by Christopher G. Moore (Grove/Atlantic)
The Little Death, by P.J. Parrish (Pocket Star)

BEST PI SHORT STORY
“The God of Right and Wrong,” by Steven Gore
(Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, January/February 2010)

“The Lamb Was Sure to Go,” by Gar Anthony Haywood
(Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November 2010)

“The Girl in the Golden Gown,” by Robert S. Levinson
(Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2010)

“Phelan’s First Case.” by Lisa Sandlin
(Lone Star Noir, edited by Bobby Byrd and Johnny Byrd; Akashic Books)

“A Long Time Dead,” by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
(The Strand Magazine, June-Sept. 2010)

I am especially rooting for Bruce (Hardboiled Collective member), Lori and Max. Good luck!

Hardboiled Collective: Little Elvises (Junior Bender) by Timothy Hallinan

2011-08-24T00:19:00.000-07:00

After reading Skin Deep I immediately asked Timothy to join the Hardboiled Collective, the group of hardboiled writers.
Timothy has a new book coming out which is a must-read for all PI fans...

Junior Bender is a San Fernando valley burglar, an unhappily divorced man who still cares for his former wife and adores his 12-year-old daughter, Rina. Junior's a very, very good burglar. Despite plying his trade for most of his late-teen and adult life, he's never been arrested. He also runs a profitable, if dangerous, sideline: he works as a private eye for crooks. When someone does something crooked to a crook, the police are often not an option. The option is Junior.

This moonlighting has not made him popular with some members of the LA underworld, and with the cops also interested in him, Junior lives in a series of motels, in a region that's especially rich in awful motels. The motel of the month is part of each book, in one way or another. (In LITTLE ELVISES, it's Marge 'n Ed's North Pole.)

In LITTLE ELVISES, Junior is forced by a corrupt cop to go to the rescue of an old record producer, a guy who, in the sixties, grabbed handsome boys off of Philadelphia stoops and turned them into little Elvises for six months or a year, until the fans got tired of them. A supermarket-tabloid journalist has been murdered on Hollywood Boulevard and the cops think the music producer did it because -- well, because he was planning to do it. He was even scouting for a hit man, which someone told the cops, but somebody else got to the journalist first. So the story takes Junior into the arena of old-time rock-and-roll, missing persons, the world's oldest still-dangerous gangster, a murderer of young women, and a terrifying if somewhat hapless hit man named Fronts.

Skin Deep (Simeon Grist) by Timothy Hallinan

2011-08-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

This was the first Timothy Hallinan novel I read and boy, did I like it. Simeon Grist is a nineties version of Philip Marlowe. I loved his wry, sarcastic voice!
Hired by the men behind actor Toby Vane to keep him out of trouble he ends up in bed with a stripper. Not bad! Toby Vane likes beating up women and a stripper gets murdered. Very bad!
Hallinan paints a great picture of the dark side of Hollywood with exciting, but 'real' characters. The ending is just fantastic! The way Grist deals with the villain in the end seems like something Noah Milano might even shy away from. Inventive and brutal.
This is only one of four reissued Grist novels and I will be sure to read them all.

Hardboiled Collective: Fox Five (Charlie Fox) by Zoe Sharp

2011-08-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

In my quest to promote authors of hardboiled stories I've started a group of writers that promote other writers they like. The first our group, The Hardboiled Collective, focuses on is Zoë Sharp and her e-book Fox Five.
If you're a fan of Lee Child, Matt Hilton or love strong women you must read her books!

FOX FIVE is a collection of stories by the highly acclaimed crime
thriller writer, Zoë Sharp. All feature her ex-Special Forces soldier
turned self-defence expert and bodyguard, Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Fox.

In A Bridge Too Far, we meet Charlie before she’s become a professional
in the world of close protection. When she agrees to hang out with the
local Dangerous Sports Club, she has no idea it will soon live up to
its name.

Postcards From Another Country has Charlie guarding the ultra-rich
Dempsey family against attempted assassination – no matter where the
danger lies.

A finalist for the CWA Short Story Dagger, Served Cold puts another
tough woman centre stage – the mysterious Layla, with betrayal in her
past and murder in her heart.

Off Duty finds Charlie taking time away from close protection after
injury. She still finds trouble, even in an out-of-season health spa in
the Catskill Mountains.

And finally, Truth And Lies puts all Charlie’s skills and ingenuity to
the test as she has to single-handedly extract a news team from a
rapidly escalating war zone.

Also included: Excerpt from KILLER INSTINCT: Charlie Fox book one, Meet
Charlie Fox, Meet Zoë Sharp, info on the other books in the Charlie Fox
series.

Praise for Zoë Sharp and Charlie Fox:

‘Ill-tempered, aggressive and borderline psychotic, Fox is also
compassionate, introspective and highly principled: arguably one of the
most enigmatic − and coolest − heroines in contemporary genre fiction.’
Paul Goat Allen, Chicago Tribune

'If you don't like Zoë Sharp there's something wrong with you. Go and
live in a cave and get the hell out of my gene pool! There are few
writers who go right to the top of my TBR pile − Zoë Sharp is one of
them.' Stuart MacBride

'Anyone with a brain wants Charlie Fox for the girl next door. Funny,
compassionate, and with moves that can − and do − kill, Charlie is the
indelible creation of the remarkable Zoë Sharp.’ Gayle Lynds

More comments from the Hardboiled Collective can be found here, here and here and here as well.

Q & A with Jude Hardin

2011-08-17T00:25:00.000-07:00

I interviewed Jude Hardin, author of Pocket-47.

Q: What makes Nicholas Colt different from other (unofficial) PIs?
He’s a former rock star and the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed his wife and baby daughter and all the members of his band. That gives him a unique worldview, I think.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
Honestly, I just gave him a name and he sort of evolved from there. He turned out to be a badass with a wry sense of humor and a fat emotional hole.

Q: What's next for you and Colt?
I recently turned the second book in to my agent. I’m sure she’ll have some editorial comments and suggestions and we’ll probably go back and forth on a rewrite or two. Then she’ll start pitching the manuscript around New York.

Q: How do you promote your work?
I've done some guest blogs and some bookstore signings, and I've been active on Kindleboards and Facebook. I've done some giveaways, I frequently leave a link when I comment on other blogs, and I recently posted a guest column for Chuck Sambuchino (one of the editors for Writer's Digest magazine) on his Guide to Literary Agents blog. Pocket-47 received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly, and I link to that whenever possible as well.

Q: How did you get published?
Pocket-47 started out as a book called The Kill Switch. I landed an agent with it, and he pitched it around New York without success. I did a major overhaul on the plot and the character, and the result was Pocket-47. The same agent tried to sell the new version, but it was 2008 and the economy was collapsing and the market got tighter than ever. I finally decided to go it on my own, and I ended up placing it at a small press.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
Ebooks are the future of publishing. No doubt about it. I got a Kindle for Christmas last year, and I haven’t bought a dead tree book since.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
They’re fun, and useful, and I guess I could go into a whole Freudian analysis about them, but I’ll leave that to the scholars. I like them, but I think they sometimes steal the show from the main character. Colt does what he does alone, and that’s the way he likes it.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I think those writers will continue to be huge influences, and also writers like Loren D. Estleman, Andrew Vachss, and Lawrence Block. Who knows? Maybe someone will read one of my books and then decide to write their own private eye novel.

Q: Terry Faherty came up with the following question: Is there a future for the PI subgenre in the face of the current competition from cozy mysteries and police procedurals/crime scene investigation procedurals?
Sure. Like I said, ebooks are the future of publishing. Ebooks come with unlimited shelf space. There’s room for everybody.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
What kind of car does your character drive? You can find my answer in the first chapter of Pocket-47. One person who leaves the correct answer in the comments section here will be selected at random to win his or her choice of the hardcover or ebook. Hardcover winners must have a mailing address in the U.S. or Canada. Good luck!

Blood and Ashes (Joe Hunter) by Matt Hilton

2011-08-12T01:52:00.000-07:00

Joe Hunter, Matt Hilton's vigilante is back again.
This time he takes on a bunch of neo-nazi's in a plot that is more relevant than ever after the dreadful events in Sweden.
As always the action is fast and furious but there's some elements that make this latest Hunter-adventure one of the best.
There are more plot twists, making sure you get a few surprises (Jeffrey) Deaver-style. Also, the subplot of how Arrowsake, the organisation that birthed Hunter, has gotten corrupted is very interesting.
We see Hunter struggle with his morals, an element that also fuels my Noah Milano stories.

Great review for Tough As Leather

2011-08-12T01:21:00.000-07:00

There's a fantastic review of Tough As Leather on Wayne Dundee's blog.
If you like PI-fiction and you haven't read Wayne's books and stories you're missing out on some fantastic work.
Head over here to see what you've got to read up on.

New Noah Milano short story on Kindle - special offer!

2011-08-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

A brand new Noah Milano short story is available at Amazon.com for not even a buck: Honey Trap! When a chemist in the perfume industry gets blackmailed by a blonde wearing a honeybee tattoo he calls in the help of Noah Milano, security specialist and ex-mob fixer. The blackmailers won't give up very easily, forcing Noah to resort to some extreme, but unexpected measures.

David Levien, author of City of the Sun, Where The Dead Lay and 13 Million Dollar Pop to say this about it: ''Great pop sensibility with a nod to the classic L.A. PIs.''

As a SPECIAL OFFER everyone who e-mails me the last line of the story get a free Noah Milano short story not available anywhere else in their email box.

Q & A with Steve Ulfelder

2011-08-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

This time we interview Steve Ulfelder, author of Purgatory Chasm.
Q: What makes Conway Sax different from other (unofficial) PIs?
There’s his backstory, of course; Conway is a once-promising NASCAR driver who drank away his big opportunity. Now a devoted member of an Alcoholics Anonymous group called the Barnburners, his cases – the series hook, essentially – is that he helps fellow Barnburners out of the jams that alcoholics get into.
The more important distinction, I think, is this: In the family tree of fictional PIs, one common trait is that detectives are wise-crackers, and this type of wit is born of cynicism. Conway is different. He’s not unintelligent, but he’s never the smartest guy in the room, never the best educated or the most well-read. Thus, he keeps his mouth shut a lot. I suspect that the most frequently used sentence in the Conway books is “I said nothing.”

Q: How did you come up with the character?
Believe it or not, the Barnburners came before Conway. I was regularly attending this AA meeting that featured many strong personalities, and it occurred to me they would make a good milieu for a detective series. (Not the most original idea, I know, but it apparently worked). Naturally, I needed a protagonist. I invented Conway Sax. His primary trait, I knew, had to be loyalty that bordered on fanaticism.

Q: What's next for you and Sax?
I’m finishing up revisions on Conway2 (sorry, no official title yet), which Minotaur Books will publish in May 2012. Then I jump right into Conway3!

Q: How do you promote your work?
For the most part, I simply do all the things smart professionals advise me to do. I blog. (OK, I blog infrequently.) I’m on Twitter (@SteveUlfelder) and Facebook. I’m reasonably assertive about visiting all the bookstores in my area, signing stock, setting up my own events, etc.
Because I race automobiles, I do have another avenue of promotion (see attached pic). I’ve got the book cover on the hood of my race car, and I’ve been featured in several US magazines devoted to racing. That’s a nice little edge that has definitely helped sales.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
As a reader, I use ebooks less than I thought I would. They’re OK for fiction, but I read a lot of history and biography, and hardcopy is far superior for books with a lot of notes, maps, illustrations, and so on. As a writer, I think ebooks are wonderful. I’m grateful anytime anybody reads my work – whether they buy it in hardcover, wait for paperback, download it, or get it from the library.
Many writers want to dictate how readers read. That is, they want their work to be purchased at full price, preferably in hardcover, from an independent bookseller. Much as I love indies, this attitude is silly, as it places the writer at the center of the universe. Wrong! The CONSUMER, in this case the reader, is the center of the universe. And damn, it’s a great time to be a reader.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
“Psychotic” is a strong word, though I know exactly what you mean: sidekicks willing to do things the protagonist won’t do. I think such sidekicks are fine on several levels. They allow for some nice, dark vengeance to take place while the main character remains sympathetic. And they make for interesting explorations: How amoral or savage can a character be and still be likeable? How clean can Spenser’s conscience be if he knows full well Hawk is killing a man in cold blood – at Spenser’s behest? The line we walk as writers of hard-boiled crime is: a bad man trying to be good versus a good man who does bad things.
In the Conway books, I twist the hero-sidekick relationship. Conway Sax has a pretty heavy background. He has served time for Manslaughter, and there are hints that this was not the only time he killed. His sidekick, an Iraq War veteran named Randall Swale, actually serves as Conway’s conscience. He reins him in, tries to keep him at least somewhat on the straight and narrow.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I would add Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole to that list; he seemed the clear successor to Spenser. And I suppose my overall answer is “All of the above.” The best series writers are almost uniformly students of the genre; that’s why it’s so fun to speak with them – they REALLY know what they’re talking about. Lee Child is influencing crime writers now, and will continue to: In the Jack Reacher books, he’s overlaid a mystery-series hero on the thriller template, which for the most part used to be dominated by stand-alones. You see many writers trying this. And then there’s Sophie Littlefield, who’s doing a brilliant job with Stella Hardesty, a dark-but-likeable protagonist who is (obviously) a woman.

Q: Terry Faherty came up with the following question: Is there a future for the PI subgenre in the face of the current competition from cozy mysteries and police procedurals/crime scene investigation procedurals?
Sure there is! I’m a naïve optimist; I believe that if you come up with a great set of characters and a compelling story, your book will find a market regardless of fluctuating tastes.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
The question: How long will you continue to write your series? My answer: As long as the checks clear!
Actually, I do have a serious answer. One of the nice things that’s happened lately is that writers have more leeway to take a break from their series. Lehane, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly and Crais are all examples. If, after writing 5 or 6 Conway books, I feel the need to try something different, I’m grateful to these bestsellers for showing that you can do so – and return to your series, recharged, when the time is right.

Steal the Show (Willis Gidney) by Thomas Kaufman

2011-08-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

Thomas Kaufman's follow up to PWA First Private Eye Novel winning Drinking the Tea is a bit more conventional but certainly as enjoyable. Likable Washington PI Willis Gidney returns. When he finds an abandoned baby at a murder scene he decides to adopt her. The Adoptive Services are opposed to this, so he sets out to hire an expensive lawyer. To cover those costs he takes on a job that's not entirely legal, breaking into a warehouse.
Kaufman shows off his knowledge of the movie world with the important plot point of a breakthrough in movie piracy and a few movie business supporting characters.
The style is pretty breezy, sometimes a bit too breezy as the way Gidney takes care of his enemies with a shovel and glue seems a bit too much Keystone Cops and too little Sam Spade. Gidney is a character you will root for, however and the mystery is satisfying.

13 Million Dollar Pop (Frank Behr) by David Levien

2011-08-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

David Levien's work gets stronger every novel. PI Frank Behr is back, working for a private security company, having decided to get more steady work because his girlfriend is pregnant. On a executive protection job Frank is fired upon, motivating him to find out who took a shot at him and the man he was hired to protect.
Gunning for them is a Welsh hitman, a great character that would have made this book a worthy read on his own. But we get more... There's sidekick Decker, a metal-loving cop and ex-Marine who's as tough as Behr but considerably younger, giving a very modern feeling to the ''classic'' hardboiled story.
The best part of the novel is the writing though. The style could be compared to Michael Connelly's almost journalistic prose but even more hardboiled.
A definite contender for Sons of Spade's favorite PI novel of 2011.

Special Offer! Free short story!

2011-07-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

Tough As Leather is still for sale at Amazon.com.
As a special offer everyone who emails me the last line of the last story in Tough As Leather receives a free short story featuring Noah Milano, currently not available anywhere else!

Q & A with Paul D. Brazill

2011-07-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

Paul Brazill has a new series coming up, Drunk On The Moon. He writes the first novella in the series, other writers will follow up with stories featuring the same character, werewolf / PI Roman Dalton. I ask him some questions...
Q: What makes Roman Dalton different from other (unofficial) PIs?
Apart from being a werewolf, I don't think he is different.

Q: How did you come up with the character?I was inspired by the Tom Waits song, Drunk On The Moon.

Q: What's next for you and Dalton?
Well, we've had a few submissions coming in, so there'll be a new story next month from a different writer.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Oh, I'm all over the internet.

Q: How did the idea of making Drunk On The Moon a series come about and how did you come up with the idea of multiple writers?
I liked what Lee Goldberg did with The Dead Man series.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
It's the way to go for most mid to lower range writers now. It's great for writers giving a new life to their back catalogue. I don't read ebooks as quickly as paper books but that's probably just an age thing.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
The psycho sidekick does the dirty work and allows the 'hero' to keep clean

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
No idea, but there are quite a few influenced by Ken Bruen.

Q: Terry Faherty came up with the following question: Is there a future for the PI subgenre in the face of the current competition from cozy mysteries and police procedurals/crime scene investigation procedurals?
Well, the PI is certainly edgier than those sub-genres but it's still a part of the mainstream.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
How to you avoid writing cliches? Maybe you don't. Maybe you should embrace them!

Misery Bay (Alex McKnight) by Steve Hamilton

2011-07-13T01:33:00.000-07:00

Finally Alex McKnight, the PI from Paradise is back. Steve Hamilton did some standalones which were so well-received I was getting worried Alex might never return.
There's no love lost between police chief Maven and Alex, but still the old cop asks for his help in finding out who is killing state troopers and their children, making it look like suicides. What follows is as much a thriller as it is a PI novel and will probably also appeal to fans of the Kellermans or Tess Gerritsen. It read a bit too much like a regular thriller for me, and I could've done without the pretty FBI agent that we see pop up in so many hardboiled novels these days but it WAS good to see Alex and his pals return and hopefully he'll be back soon.

PI stuff around the web this month

2011-07-13T01:26:00.000-07:00

There's some interesting things to read on the web right now.
There's a new interview about Noah Milano at Brian Drake's blog. While you're visiting over there, check out his PI novel Bullet For One!
John Lutz talks about Fred Carver, his PI that is back in ebook reprints at Thrilling Detective and Mullholland Books.

Purgatory Chasm (Conway Sax) by Steve Ulfelder

2011-07-02T00:33:00.000-07:00

Conway Sax is a fixer for an AA groups, mechanic and former NASCAR driver. He's asked by a friend to retrieve a car that is in a garage but not returned. After a violent encounter his friend seems to have committed suicide. Sax investigates and finds out there's a lot more to his friend than he thought.
Meanwhile he has to come to grips with his estranged alcoholic father and takes on some gangsters.
Sax is an original character. He's a lone wolf kind of character but still has a family. He's tough as nails but not an ex-cop or ex-military type. I figured the story would be quite pulpy but I was surprised by how literate the story turned out to be. Welcome, Conway Sax and welcome Steve Ulfelder!

Highway 61 (Rushmore McKenzie) by David J

2011-07-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

David Housewright has been putting out the consistently entertaining Rush McKenzie series for a couple of years now but this is his best.
McKenzie, both rich and an ex-cop does favors for friends. This time he helps out someone who is not exactly a friend. The ex-husband of his girlfriend is being blackmailed, having ended up in a motel with a dead young girl. When McKenzie tries to do something about it he gets involved in a prostitution ring, crazy gangster brothers, arsonists and some of the most powerful people in the Twin Cities.
This is one of the darker books in the series as we see how McKenzie struggles to stay into the light while the problems he faces drag him into the dark further and further.
This novel really has it all, a cool hero, action, a lot of twists and intrigue. This might end up being my favorite PI novel of 2011.

Noah Milano on the web

2011-06-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

I've got a new Noah Milano story appearing at Beat to A Pulp. Go check it out!
Also, I'm being interviewed over at the blog Kindle Author to promote Tough As Leather, my short story collection that has just come out on Kindle.

Tough As Leather - The Noah Milano Collection on Kindle!

2011-06-20T14:13:00.001-07:00

Cool news! Tough As Leather, the Noah Milano collection is now available on Kindle at www.amazon.com.
This Noah Milano short story collection features introductions by fan favorite authors like Les Roberts, Jeremiah Healey, Ace Atkins, Sean Chercover and Mark Coggins. Read how the son of a mobster tries to make an honest living as a security specialist but time and time finds out it's not easy to keep your hands clean when you're dealing with the most evil bastards of L.A.

Here's some kind words from other writers:

Jeremiah Healy, author of TURNABOUT and THE ONLY GOOD LAWYER: "J. Vandersteen takes us back to the glory days of pulp fiction. And I mean the genre, NOT the movie. His Noah Milano character rings completely true as a tough, lone-wolf private."

Wayne D. Dundee - author of the Joe Hannibal series: The difference is mainly in the character of Noah Milano himself, a man struggling both internally and externally to break free from his "Family" ties and to walk his own path toward what he deems Right and Just. This is good stuff. Read and enjoy."

Les Roberts, author of the Milan Jacovich series: "Noah Milano is all too human, which makes him more appealing."
"Terrific stuff.'' - Lori G. Armstrong, author of Snowblind

'Noah Milano walks in the footsteps of the great P.I,.'s, but leaves his own tracks." - Robert J. Randisi, founder of PWA and The Shamus Award

Jochem's deep and abiding love for classic pulp fiction comes through on every page, and his stories continue the time-honored tradition of the hardboiled American PI." -Sean Chercover, author of Trigger City.

You can find it here.

Buried Secrets (Nick Heller) by Joseph Finder

2011-06-14T23:43:00.000-07:00

Joseph again mixes the PI novel with the more standard action thriller with great success in his second Nick Heller book. Private spy Heller is asked by an old friend to track down his missing daughter. It turns out she's been buried alive, hence the title. Employing all his special army skills and contacts in the financial world Nick uncovers a political scandal and takes on some dangerous (Russian) bad guys.
The writing is very fast-paced, real Hollywood movie material and the ticking clock enhances the suspense. What I also liked is the fact the story really feels ''modern'', with the technology being in the now as well as the way the kids are being portrayed. This is the kind of stuff that shows the PI novel has a way to exist in the future and doesn't need to be outdated.

Guest Post: LA Noire: A Detective Game for People who Hate Video Games (and People who Like Them, Too) by Nancy Farrell

2011-06-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

If you are anything like me, you may find video games frustrating and time-draining. Although, to be fair, many would say that reading detective fiction and watching noir mysteries is just as much of a pointless endeavor as is anything in life. And to these people, I say, screw you.
Now despite not enjoying video games, I am open to trying new things, so when my friend told me I'd love a new Play Station 3 game entitled LA Noire, I said I'd give it a try. And, oh how right he was. Although it took me awhile to adjust myself to controlling the game, being familiar with the private investigator/detective fiction genre definitely helped me attain fluency with the game that would be difficult for others who are not as well versed.
What is great about this game, and many newer games in general, is that it basically functions as an interactive movie, complete with differently angled shots, dialogue, plotlines, and well-developed characters. It's been said that LA Noire is the equivalent in length and character development of a detective television show of two seasons.
The main character, Cole Phelps, is the detective whom each player assumes as an avatar. Phelps is an LAPD officer in 1947 Los Angeles, back when Hollywood was glamorous and fun, but also when corruption and crime were rampant. Phelps, a World War II veteran, hopes to rise through the ranks of the police department in order to seek justice and alleviate his guilty conscience after war crimes committed in the past.
Throughout the game, you'll be engaged in various tasks. You'll drive a car with your partner, arrive at the crime scene, and search for clues. After finding and noting clues that shed light on details of the crime (which are homicide, vice, or arson-related), you'll be off to question witnesses and other persons of interest. Questioning characters is my favorite part of the game, but it requires that you read facial expressions and body language in order to decipher whether or not they are lying. Although Phelps asks fixed questions, you are given the option of choosing "Lie," "Doubt," or "Truth." Phelps' questions and demeanor change based on your selection, with the "lie" option being most accusatory. If you are wrong about the lie, a person of interest can get turned off or frightened, and you'll lose some key evidence.
There are several more facets to the game, including optional dispatches in which you are called to a different scene, like a bank that's being robbed. In these instances, the game turns into a traditional shoot 'em up game.
Although the game was released in Australia and a few other countries last year, in America, it was released only a few weeks ago to glowing reviews. Most reviewers noted that the style and ambience of the game perfectly evokes the epoch and the genre. Critics also praised the incredibly detailed facial expressions of the characters, and it is said to use the most advanced CSI available. That the storyline is interesting and cohesive, and the characters are very three-dimensional is another aspect of the game that I find commendable.
Still, the game is not without its flaws. Many times the clue searches can be a bit too contrived, and driving can be clunky and counterintuitive. Many gamers have complained that the game has its moments of monotony, with long, filmic shots between the action. However, for those of us who are more interested in the detective genre aspect of the game, these issues should not present themselves as problems.
For a more detailed review of the game, check out this Guardian appraisal.

Author Bio:Nancy Farrell is a freelance writer and blogger. She regularly contributes to the criminal justice degrees, which discusses about child abuse, human rights, divorce, and crime related articles. Questions or comments can be sent to: nancy.farrell13@gmail.com.

Q & A with Terence Faherty

2011-05-11T05:59:00.001-07:00

Q: What makes Scott Elliot different from other (unofficial) PIs?A: It's nearly impossible to do anything completely new in the PI subgenre. Elliott's claim to originality may be his relationship to postwar Hollywood. He's a former actor turned soldier turned operative for a shady security company, Hollywood Security, a firm as likely to cover up a crime as solve it—if that's what it takes to protect a star or a movie. In taking this job, Elliott is working out (or feeding) his unrequited love for the town he left behind when he was drafted in 1941.
Q: How did you come up with the character?
A: I started my career writing about an amateur sleuth named Owen Keane, a failed seminarian who was very non-violent and cerebral. After four Keane books, I decided to try a second series, and I wanted a protagonist who was different from Keane, to give me a real change of pace. So Elliott is more of a man of the world and a man of action. The period Hollywood angle came about because I had an idea for a sequel to the classic film Casablanca. I decided to write a murder mystery set in 1947 in which Warner Bros. tries to film the sequel. The result was Kill Me Again.
Q: What's next for you and Scott?
A: 2011 saw the publication of two Elliott books: a collection of Elliott short stories, The Hollywood Op, and a new novel, Dance in the Dark. The novel is set in 1969, which follows my pattern of aging Elliott quite a bit between books. I'm making notes now for a novel set in or around the mid 1970s. Every Elliott plot is built around a pastiche of a famous movie. In this case, it would be The Sting. I'm thinking there would be a "contemporary" plotline concerning a film about a sting or a con game, on which Elliott would be serving as a technical advisor, and a flashback plot, set in the late 1940s, in which Elliott and his boss Paddy pull off the very con on which the '70s film is based.

Q: How did the return of Scott come about?
A: He never went away entirely. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine published a number of his short stories after the last Elliott novel, Raise the Devil, appeared in 2000. And he's turned up in a couple of anthologies as well, most recently in Hollywood and Crime in 2007. Those stories are collected in The Hollywood Op, along with a previously unpublished story in which Elliott tries to tie up a loose end from The Big Sleep. The collection was made possible by Perfect Crime Books. Perfect Crime is a new company that has already brought out some interesting collections, so I was pleased to do one with them. Dance in the Dark is a book I wrote because a single image or idea fascinated me: a 1940s private eye wandering around a 1960s rock concert. I thought it would be interesting both to shove Elliott outside his comfort zone and to have him comment on that moment in time. Working backward from that, I came up with a story that combines Viet Nam, drug smuggling, pornography, and runaway teenagers. The film being "pastiched" in it is Easy Rider.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
I haven't taken the plunge yet as a reader. Like a lot of book lovers, I hate to give up the physical book. But I expect I will soon. Two of the Elliott books are available as ebooks, and I'm going to start reissuing my Owen Keane series this year. To a midlist writer, this is the big attraction of ebooks: the chance to make out-of-print titles available again.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
A: A violent, loose-cannon sidekick working with a thoughtful point-of-view character like Spenser lets the author have it both ways. He can combine sensitivity and graphic violence in the same story. It's not a technique I've used myself. As any reader of my work knows, I'm not into extreme violence, not even in the Elliott books.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
A: Writers like Lehane, who are currently at the top of their games, will be major influences for years. But I think Hammett and Chandler and Macdonald will serve as wellsprings of inspiration for the PI subgenre for as long as people are writing it. As for the major influence of the 21st Century, who knows? Probably someone we've not heard of yet and perhaps someone for whom an American PI working in Los Angeles will be as exotic and distant an ideal as the knight-errant was for Chandler.

Q: Tina Whittle came up with the following question: what kind of detective do you think you’d make?
A: Probably a very timid and reluctant one, much more like Owen Keane than Scott Elliott, though I share Elliott's love of Chandlerisms and wisecracks. So I'd probably be beaten up a lot.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
A: Is there a future for the PI subgenre in the face of the current competition from cozy mysteries and police procedurals/crime scene investigation procedurals?
A: I think there is a future for the story of the lone PI questing after the truth. I hope there is. One tenet of my writing faith is that the mystery can be a serious novel. And I think it's more likely to achieve this if it operates somewhere between the very puzzle-oriented cozy mysteries and the pseudo scientific ones that hold out the hope that the truth is hidden in blood splatters or in bits of DNA, waiting to be exposed by the proper lab test. The truth about human beings is always going to reside in the human mind and the human heart—the real mean streets—waiting to be rooted out by a person with more guts and curiosity than common sense. A PI, in other words.

Devil Red (Hap & Leonard) by Joe Lansdale

2011-04-27T08:48:00.001-07:00

In this sequel to Vanilla Ride Hap and Leonard are back. Hap is getting more plagued by his conscience by the day, troubled by his violent ways these days. It doesn't help Leonard takes him along to beat up some gangbangers to get an old lady's money back.
When they are hired by their PI friend Marvin to investigate a cold murder case he will have to come to term with those violent ways, though, as he has to encounter the assassin called Devil Red. And when Vanilla Ride returns there will be hell to pay.
Another great violent but funny and sometimes even moving story you just can't understand why Quentin Tarantino didn't buy the film rights yet. Think about it, Bruce Willis as Hap, Samuel Jackson as Leonard... instant box office hit!
Until that happens though, just buy this one and love every page of it.

Dance In The Dark (Scott Elliott) by Terence Faherty

2011-04-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

Scott Elliott, Terence Faherty's historical PI is back, this time in 1969. Still a Hollywood op, he sets out to find a missing girl and stop a shipment of marijuana from being smuggled. He ends up at a Woodstock-like music festival, complete with biker security guys (never a good idea).
Meanwhile, he has to deal with the fact his son is MIA in Vietnam, causing some marital problems.
The story was a bit light on tension and suspense for me, but there's enough of a mystery and action to make it a thrilling enough read. The real fun comes from the view it gives you of that specific time periode, complete with references to Star Trek, Batman,Woodstock and cheap sci-fi flicks.

Q & A with Tina Whittle

2011-03-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

Q: What makes Tai and Trey different from other (unofficial) PIs?
In many ways they’re very traditional. Tai is an amateur sleuth with no investigative background who is drawn into a murder investigation involving her brother. Trey is an ex-cop with a tragic past operating on the civilian side of the thin blue line. Their differences come from who they are more than what they do. Tai is a former tour guide who knows how to make coherent stories from little pieces of information here and there; she’s adept at filling in the blanks (even if that involves a little creative supposition). Trey is in recovery from a car accident that left him cognitively impaired, yet the same brain trauma that limits him to a certain linear thinking also opens up some startling new abilities. Neither got into the PI game on purpose, but as it turns out, they make a pretty good team.

Q: How did you come up with the characters?
Tai is a creative amalgam of several women my best friend, who is smart and extroverted and a little mouthy; my Southern girl cousins who climbed trees in their dresses and told outrageous stories, and a certain liberal feminist woman I know who runs a gun shop.

Unlike Tai, Trey has no real life counterpart, but he does have a factual inspiration, an article in Scientific American on aphasic stroke victims (people who have lost the ability to speak resulting from stroke damage to certain parts of the brain). This article explained that such people were much more gifted than average at knowing when other people were lying. In fact, their abilities were CIA-caliber, without any special training. I decided that a person with such abilities would make an interesting detective, even if this one strength came packaged with many deficits. And thus Trey, my fictional character, was born.

Q: What's next for you and Tai?
So far, she still finds me interesting and capable enough to hang around with through the second book in the Dangerous Edge series (to be published by Poisoned Pen Press in March 2012). It’s as yet untitled, but it’s set once again in Atlanta, this time in the competitive world of performance poetry, also known as spoken word. Take a bunch of dramatic artists, throw in some illicit sex, season with a few nasty secrets, then toss liberally with potential fame and fortune . . . Let’s just say that the more I studied the real world of these literary powerhouses, the more I’m surprised somebody hasn’t been killed for real. They live big, poets do.

Q: How do your promote your work?
With some reluctance. I got into this writer business because I’m an introvert who likes to spend long hours at the computer talking to imaginary people to say that this PR stuff has taken some personality re-tooling is an understatement. That said, once I learned to see promotion as a potential partnership a mutually beneficial connection between me and readers, me and booksellers, me and reviewers I learned to enjoy it. I blog, answer Q & A, speak at libraries, conduct workshops, write articles, attend conferences and hold book signings. I also maintain an online presence through my website http://www.tinawhittle.com and through Facebook and Goodreads. But my favorite thing to do is sit around with a bunch of fellow writers and talk about what we love to read, especially if there is wine and sushi involved.

Q: What are your thoughts on ebooks as a reader AND a writer?
I love e-books. Viva la revolution. They are changing the way we think about what a “book” is, opening the market to writers in unprecedented ways, and giving readers a smorgasbord of talent to choose from. I am very old school; I prefer the multi-sensory experience of a book the texture of pages, the papery smell but I see e-books as a complement to my book collection, not a replacement. There’s only one caveat to this e-book business the vanishing brick and mortar bookstore. I do my part to make sure my local independent book shop stays in business, however. No electronic gizmo is going to replace that community in my life.

Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
I’ve always found them fascinating of course, the kinds of quirks that render them psychotic could also apply to my characters, especially Trey. He has a deep but easily accessible violent streak, the same violent streak we all have, but unlike most of us, he has the training that makes him truly deadly. Plus, he‘s lost the ability that most of us have to render valid judgments about when to use violence, and when to use diplomacy. Trey is always just one binary choice away from deadly force (which is why he’s one of the “dangerous edges” referred to in the title).

I think that’s why we find these people so intriguing they represent that part of us that could run amok and do serious damage to those who have wronged us. There’s a quotation I use in the book: “Revenge is just a form of wild justice.” These characters on the edge the ones willing to wrench retribution from the jaws of circumstance, no matter the cost give us vicarious satisfaction. The moral landscape may not be more orderly after being swept by their kind of justice, but it will be more balanced, even if that balance is of the “eye for an eye” variety. Lady Justice is blindfolded, after all; all that matters in the end is that the scales swing level.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I think all of these fine writers will continue to inspire future crime fiction writers they each wrote turning points in the genre. Lehane is well on his way to becoming one of the grandmasters read his short story “Animal Rescue” (which is up for an Edgar this year) to see a writer at the top of his game, with even more top to come. Lee Child deserves his place in this company as well.

But you must add three more writers to this list: Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, and Sue Grafton. They made history by creating strong female PIs who weren’t femme fatales, who were tough and smart and professional, who didn’t define their work by their gender, but who didn’t deny their female-ness either. Their protagonists forced a generation of crime fiction readers to confront all the misconceptions about what makes a strong woman (it used to be that she acted like a man not anymore). They didn’t just shatter a glass ceiling; they tore down a big wall, brick by brick. Any novelist writing a crime fiction series owes them big time they made the creative space that we all benefit from today. And they’re still writing strong.

Q: Brian Drake came up with the following question: How has your motivation for writing evolved over the years?
I don’t think my motivation has changed all that much. The thing that gets me into the chair and at the keyboard is pretty much unaltered from when I sold my first story in my teens what has changed is the discipline. I write because I enjoy the mental challenge of rendering an experience into words. But not all days are golden gifts from the muse. Some days are a hard slog. And I write through those hard days now, put in just as many hours as I do when the words flow like honey. That’s what’s changed about me as a writer my willingness to write even when it’s no fun, even when it hurts, because in the end, the reward is the same no matter the effort.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
What I want to ask every PI writer I read is this what kind of detective do you think you’d make? I mean, we write all these smart sleuths, and we research all these cool new technologies and forensic tools. So we should make pretty good detectives ourselves, right? And yet I know that I would make a lousy detective. I get bored too easily, and frustrated at the drop of a hat. I also trust people too much and would take everyone’s story at face value, even the murderer’s. I’d never see though anybody or anything. I’d make a great sidekick though (just not one of the psychotic variety I’m more Dr. Watson than Mr. Hyde).

Innocent Monster (Moe Prager) by Reed Farrel Coleman

2011-03-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

Reed Farrel Coleman is surely one of the most valued PI writers of the last decade. The praise by other writers and genre fans aren't in line with the overall popularity and sales of his books however. Hopefully with this novel that will change.
In this sixth Moe Prager novel the hero is asked by his daughter to find Sashi Bluntstone, the missing daughter of her childhood friend and a very young but popular painter. There's a lot of people who hate her work, and even more who want to profit from it. That means there's lots of detecting to do for Prager while he tries to get a better sense of his relationship with his daughter and his single status.
What makes this such a wonderful book is that there's enough character-pieces in it to make it multi-layered and interesting but never forgets it's also a mystery. There's a good deal of surprises in the end!
If you like Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder you'll be sure to enjoy this top notch mystery novel.

Interview at Dundee's Desk

2011-03-19T05:18:00.001-07:00

I am featured on the blog of Wayne Dundee who asks me some good questions, check it out here.

Water Hazard (Huck Doyle) by Don Dahler

2011-03-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

Are you into investigators like Elvis Cole, Rush McKenzie or Tres Navarre? Or are you into golf? Then this is a novel for you. Returning after the debut A Tight Lie golfer and PI Huck Doyle is back in action. He not only competes into a golf tournament, he also investigates the death of a friend's dad. Evidence points at the Chinese government, but you won't ever guess who's responsible for his death in a great surprise ending.
Huck is a very endearing character, a great hero to identify with and absolutely not a superhero. His dad is, though. I enjoyed the return of psycho sidekick and father Pete, a great over the top asskicker.
The mystery is nicely paced, there's enough humor to alleviate the darker elements and there's some great cyber-detecting. Good stuff.

Loser's Town (David Spandau) by Daniel Depp

2011-02-09T06:01:00.000-08:00

Bobby Dye, a young actor is being threatened and hires PI and ex-stuntman David Spandau to protect him. Spandau quickly finds out there's more to this case than Bobby tells him, coming into conflict with a tough mobster. Along the way we follow his sidekick Terry and a thug called Potts.
It's no wonder this novel gives you a really realistic feeling look at Hollywood since the author is the brother of famous actor Johnny Depp. That makes the character Bobby Dye that more interesting.
An even more interesting hero is Spandau's sidekick Terry, a Lord of the Rings loving Irish ex-soldier who manage to steal every scene he's in.
Potts is a great character as well, a thug that you start to like but will hate at the end. A pity these great characters make David Spandau appear a bit boring.
Some people might think Daniel got his publishing deal because of his brother. Read this novel and you will know these people are wrong.

Mercy Kill (Mercy Gunderson) by Lori Armstrong

2011-01-26T04:43:00.000-08:00

Mercy Gunderson is back! After the events of No Mercy she's trying to put her life in Dakota in order when an old friend from her military days shows up. He's trying to get people to back up Titan Oil, a company that wants to put a pipeline through Eagle River County. When he ends up being murdered Mercy sets out to investigate, clashing with her secret lover, the local sheriff. She even decideds to campaign for the position of sheriff, following in her dad's footsteps.
Mercy is a pretty tough chick, and she'll need to be because there's some very evil criminals involved.
Mercy is a great character, way tougher than girls like Warshawski or Milhone, wilder than even moste male characters and still with a soft side. The way she deals with her family and her military past is just as important as the crime stuff. Because Mercy is so hardboiled a character though it never gets too sappy or too much like chicklit.
Lori really outdoes herself this time with the army flashbacks which make you feel you're transported over to the battlefields along with Mercy.
More excellent stuff from an already excellent series.

Interviewed at Murderous Musings

2011-01-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a note that I've been interviewed for Murderous Musings, a cool blog by some cool writers like Beth Terrell, author of the excellent novel Racing the Devil.
I was asked some pretty good questions and hope I provide some entertaining answers.

Cut and Run (Joe Hunter) by Matt Hilton

2011-01-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

You don't read Matt Hilton's books for the intricate mysteries or deep characterization. You do read them for the fast action. This new installment in the Joe Hunter series won't let you down. Traveling from Miami to Columbia we get an interesting glimpse into Hunter's past as it looks like an old enemy is back for revenge. As someone seems to be impersonating Hunter he needs to find out who is killing people using his name and is aided by some old friends.
If you love Andy McNabb, action movies or the Executioner novels this one's for you.