New interview with crime fiction novelist Ed Duncan

A hearty welcome back to crime fiction author Ed Duncan. We’re chatting about his new novel, Rico Stays.

You can read our last interview about The Last Straw.

Bio:

Ed is a graduate of Oberlin College and Northwestern University Law School. He was a partner at a national law firm in Cleveland, Ohio for many years. He is the original author of a highly regarded legal treatise entitled Ohio Insurance Coverage, for which he provided annual editions from 2008 through 2012. Rico Stays is the third novel in the Pigeon-Blood Red Trilogy which began with Pigeon-Blood Red and was followed by The Last Straw. Ed, originally from Gary, Indiana, lives outside Cleveland.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, Ed. Please tell us about your newest release.

Rico Stays continues the saga of the uneasy friendship between two men from different sides of the tracks, each of whom harbors a secret admiration for the other. Paul Elliott is an African American lawyer in a large, mostly white corporate law firm in Chicago, and Richard "Rico" Sanders is a white enforcer/killer for hire, but one with a conscience. Their paths cross when Rico is gravely wounded in a shootout with the hot-headed nephew of a local mob boss and three other men. Rico dispatches the three men, one of whom has a brother who has just been released from prison in California, but the nephew escapes and vows revenge. The brother arrives in Chicago also seeking revenge and joins forces with the nephew and others, but the brother is conflicted because of a budding relationship with an old girlfriend who thinks he has abandoned his criminal past.

After a brief hospital stay, Rico is released but he is in no condition to face multiple gunmen. Therefore, his girlfriend Jean persuades Paul to let them use Paul's cabin, located miles from the city, as a hideout until Rico regains his strength. Paul's girlfriend Evelyn has always been wary of Rico, and Paul allowing Rico to use his cabin causes a rift between her and Paul. After a few days, using Jean as bait, several killers lure Rico back to the city, and Paul and Evelyn are along for the ride and the climactic gun battle that follows.

What inspired you to write this book?

I knew practically from the start that I wanted to write at least a trilogy. With Pigeon-Blood Red and The Last Straw behind me, all that remained was to come up with a plot and a title for the third book. I knew I wanted Rico to be more vulnerable than in the first two books. Once I imagined him being wounded and needing Paul's help, the other elements of the plot fell into place. The title came to me while watching an old Barbara Stanwyck movie called Babyface. There was a scene where Stanwyck's lover asks her to get rid of her long-time maid, whose name was Chico. In response she replies gruffly, "Chico Stays." That gave me the idea for the title.

Excerpt from Rico Stays:

Cosgrove, however, hadn’t finished venting and didn’t appreciate Koblentz’s gesture. “You want some of this, old man?”

“I was just –”

Cosgrove interrupted him with a vicious slap to the mouth that drew blood. Koblentz fell to one knee, head bowed, and was silent.

“You bastard!” Jean yelled. She glanced at Rico, who was still in his car in front of her some ten yards away. She wasn’t sure how much he’d seen because his expression, as usual, was utterly inscrutable behind his aviators. She sprinted to Koblentz’s side and knelt beside him. “Are you okay?”

Cosgrove glared at her, then a cruel smile lifted his mouth. She was a mouth-wateringly gorgeous woman and his mouth watered. Taunting her, he pressed one foot against Koblentz’s back and slowly forced him to the ground. Jean’s eyes flashed and she straightened up and slapped him hard enough to make his head turn. At once surprised and enraged, he immediately drew his arm back to retaliate. Jean closed her eyes and flinched in anticipation. Cosgrove reached far behind him to increase the momentum of his blow and then he launched his open hand toward her as hard as he could, creating a swoosh of air as his hand traveled forward to meet Jean’s face.

But it never reached its target.

Rico had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and, with one hand, had grabbed Cosgrove’s wrist from behind, stopping his hand mere inches from Jean’s face. Now he stood behind Cosgrove holding his wrist in a vice-like grip from which there was no hope of escape. Slender and soft, Cosgrove was around five feet ten inches tall and weighed about one hundred and seventy-five pounds. Rico stood six feet two, weighed over two hundred pounds, and was solid muscle.

He was a killer, but not your run-of-the mill killer. He was exceptional at what he did, but he was not only that. He was also a killer with a conscience. He didn’t kill kids, he killed women only as a last resort, and he only killed people who “had it coming.” Or at least that was what he told himself, because sometimes it was a close call. But at least he tried. And that made him unique, as nobody else in his business gave a hit a second thought.

Cosgrove tried to turn to face him, but with just one hand holding his wrist, Rico prevented him from even budging. After Cosgrove stopped squirming, Rico twisted the man’s arm behind his back and wrenched it upward until he yelped in pain. Then he thrust his free forearm under Cosgrove’s chin and applied just enough pressure so that Cosgrove, with some effort, could still breathe and talk. Just.

Cosgrove squealed, “What the –”

“Shut up,” Rico said and turned to Jean who was helping Koblentz to his feet. “You all right?”

“Fine.” Her worried eyes met Koblentz’s. She smiled. “Are you okay?”

Gingerly wiping the blood from his face, he nodded and smiled back.

“Wait in the car,” Rico said.

“What are you gonna do with him?” Jean asked, a little apprehensively.

“Wait in the car.”

Jean started to press him but by now she knew the drill. She collected her shopping cart and she and Koblentz headed for the car. The boy, still on his back resting on his elbows, scrambled to his feet and stood staring at Rico in awe. Rico said, “Kid, get outta here.” Dejected, the boy slowly started to walk away. Raising his voice an octave, Rico said to the other gawkers, “That goes for everybody else, too.”

The edge in his voice did the trick. No one objected and no one lingered. Except the boy. He turned around after he’d taken a few steps and, in a voice just above a whisper, said, “Thanks, mister.”

The slightest hint of a smile appeared on Rico’s face. “Nice catch, kid.” That brought a grin to the boy’s face. He pounded the ball in his glove and hurried away.

Rico scanned the area in a 360-degree arc and, seeing no one besides the steadily retreating onlookers, released the choke hold on Cosgrove’s neck but maintained his grip on his wrist. Then he placed his free hand on the back of Cosgrove’s neck and, mimicking what Cosgrove had done to Koblentz moments earlier, he slowly guided him to the ground, face down. Rico knelt beside him.

Cosgrove coughed and drew in several sweet breaths of air now that the pressure on his windpipe had been relieved. “Your ass is mine, motherfucker,” he hissed under his breath.

“I don’t think so,” Rico said as he patted Cosgrove down. “I’m pretty attached to it.”

The pat down yielded a Smith and Wesson Model 10 .38 revolver in Cosgrove’s belt under his jacket. Searching him had been a basic precaution, yet Rico hadn’t expected to find a gun and when he did, he immediately regretted leaving his own in his apartment.

“Shit,” he said out loud, but it was in the same tone of voice he might have used if he’d walked down three flights of stairs only to find that he’d left his cell phone upstairs in his apartment. In other words, he was irritated but not alarmed – yet. After all, this was only one guy with a .38 – no, one guy who used to have a .38. And so far, there was no evidence that he had company.

But there was no evidence that he was alone, either.

Rico tucked the gun in his own belt next to his belly, and with his free hand he reached down and turned Cosgrove’s face toward him. He had a question. He knew he couldn’t trust Cosgrove’s answer but the inflexion in his voice might give him a clue. “You alone, smart ass?”

Cosgrove said nothing.

Rico increased the upward pressure on Cosgrove’s arm which was still pinned behind his back. Cosgrove gritted his teeth. Rico increased the pressure again until Cosgrove could stand it no longer. He yelled, “Help!”

Maybe it was just a primal cry to the heavens, but Rico thought it was directed toward someone. Maybe more than one person. Who knew? He relaxed the pressure on Cosgrove’s arm but continued to hold his wrist in a vice-like grip. With his other hand he checked the .38, engaging the cylinder release, snapping the cylinder free, spinning it with his thumb, then snapping it back in place. It was fully loaded. Six rounds. A picture of his Sig Sauer with its twelve-round capacity magazine flashed across his mind. This will have to do.

What is your next writing project?

I haven't decided yet whether to enlarge the trilogy. I suppose it could be called the Pigeon-Blood Red Trilogy plus One. While I ponder that, though, as I mentioned in my last interview, I've written screenplays for each of the novels and am hoping to get them produced. Although the market is larger than ever these days, it is still very competitive, especially for an outsider. Alternatively, it is possible that the screenplays could be converted into a TV series and, if so, I would love to be involved.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book?

All of my books so far have been about the same main characters. The biggest challenge is devising a plot that results in their lives intersecting in an interesting and believable way. Although reading my novels requires a suspension of disbelief, nevertheless, I want the reader to imagine that what I've written could actually happen. In other words, I don't want the plots or characters to be totally divorced from reality. To achieve that effect while working with characters from such disparate backgrounds requires some effort.

If your novels require research - please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you're writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

As I mentioned in my last interview, I had to research the history of pigeon-blood red rubies and specifications for Rico's automatic of choice, the Sig Sauer, but practically everything else comes from books I've read or films I've seen that depict criminals and gangsters. So far my books have not dealt very much with Paul's law practice, but to the extent they have, obviously, I been able to draw upon my own experience as a civil trial lawyer. One small detail did require some minimal research. I wanted a conference table in Paul's law office to be made from uncommon and expensive wood. I knew nothing about the kind of wood that might fit that description. After a Google search, I came up Bocote, an exotic wood native to Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. I only used the word in one sentence, but I think it added a nice touch.

What's your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.

In my last interview I mentioned the table downstairs that separates my kitchen from the family room and my study upstairs. Those haven't changed but when the weather is nice, I take a legal pad outside and work on my patio in my back yard. I have to admit, though, that I get a lot more done inside than outside.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside your genre?

In addition to those mentioned in my other interviews, I've read in my genre Lisa Scottoline (whom I met at a book conference and took a picture with), John D. MacDonald, Lou Berney (whom I met when he gave a talk at a local library), and Caleb Pirtle (who is also a fan of my work). Outside of my genre I've read Bryan Stevenson and Max Hastings (both nonfiction authors) and Carlos Luis Zafon (author of a magical novel that almost defies description) to name a few.

New interview with crime fiction author R.G. Belsky

I’m happy to welcome back mystery author R.G. Belsky to chat with us about his latest novel, The Last Scoop, just released last month.

You can check out our interview about Below the Fold and the interview about Yesterday’s News.

Bio:

R. G. Belsky is an author of crime fiction and a journalist in New York City. His newest mystery, The Last Scoop, was published in May by Oceanview. It is the third in a series featuring Clare Carlson, the news director for a New York City TV station. The first Clare Carlson book, Yesterday’s News, came out in 2018. It won the David Award at Deadly Ink for Best Mystery of 2018. Below The Fold, the second Clare Carlson mystery, was published in 2019. Belsky previously wrote the Gil Malloy series – The Kennedy Connection, Shooting for the Stars and Blonde Ice- about a newspaper reporter in New York City. Belsky himself has had a long career in the New York media as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News.

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews, Dick. Please tell us a bit about your newest release.

TV journalist Clare Carlson is on the trail of a serial killer.

The scariest kind of serial killer—one you don’t know exists

It begins when Clare’s first newspaper editor, a beloved mentor who inspired her career as a journalist, tells her he’s working on a big story. But she’s too busy with her own career to pay much attention to him.

When the editor is killed on the street one night during an apparent mugging attempt gone bad, it seems like he was just an old man whose time had come.

But Clare—initially out of a sense of guilt for ignoring her old friend and then because of her own journalistic instincts—begins looking into his last story idea. As she digs deeper and deeper into his secret files, she uncovers shocking evidence of a serial killer worse than Son of Sam, Ted Bundy, or any of the other infamous names in history.

A serial killer who has killed 20 women over 30 years - without anyone even realizing the deadly crimes were all connected.

This could be the biggest story of Clare Carlson’s career – if she lives to finish it.

Because not all is as it seems during Clare's relentless search for this terrifying serial killer.

And she soon finds herself in the killer’s sights herself as his next intended victim.

What inspired you to write this book?

Two things:

1. I covered the Son of Sam story as a young journalist at the New York Post during the infamous Summer of ’77 when he murdered six people and wounded seven others in random shooting attacks that terrified the city. Our most famous front-page headline back then was: NO ONE IS SAFE.

I wanted to write a crime novel like that about a jouranalist and a serial killer – but a different kind of serial killer than Son of Sam. So instead of being a madman taunting the media and police with notes about his victims like Son of Sam or others, my serial killer works under the radar. And he’s done that – quietly and effetively – for nearly thirty years. Killing 20 women while wandering around the country – without anyone ever putting the murders together as being done by one person. Until Clare Carlson discovers this secret serial killer.

2. Also, when I was growing up in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, a teenaged girl was mysteriously brutally murdered in her own bedroom in broad daylight in a quiet, normally crime-free neighborhood not far from mine. No one ever found out who killed the young girl or why. It remains one of the most baffling unsolved murder cold cases ever, and I’ve never forgotten about it. So I used that in part as my inspriration for the first murder linked to my serial killer in The Last Scoop. That’s the great thing about writing mystery fiction: You get to make up answers to things in a way you can’t do in real life.

Excerpt from The Last Scoop:

From CHAPTER 1

I was sitting in my office at Channel 10 News, drinking black coffee and skimming through the morning papers when I saw the article about Marty Barlow.

It was a brief item about the murder of a man on an East Side New York City street. It identified the victim as Martin Barlow. It also said that Barlow was a retired journalist. It did not say Barlow was the first—and probably the best—newspaper editor I ever had.

The police reported that he’d died from a blow to the head. Apparently, from a solid object, although the object itself was never found. Cops first assumed it had been a mugging, but later backed off that a bit because his wallet wasn’t taken. Instead, it just seemed—at least on the face of it—to be one of those crazy, senseless crimes that happen too often in New York City.

The article never mentioned Marty’s age—he refused to ever tell it to anyone—but I figured he must be well up in his sixties by now. He was a frail-looking man. He had disheveled white hair, pasty-looking skin and he couldn’t have weighed more than 150 pounds. He always wore the same old wrinkled suit that looked like it had last been cleaned during the Reagan administration.

But more than twenty years ago, when I was starting out at a newspaper in New Jersey, Marty Barlow had helped me become the journalist that I am today. He was my editor, my mentor and my friend.

Barlow was a grizzled old veteran even back then, and I soaked up every bit of knowledge and wisdom I could from him. He taught me how to cover police stories, political scandals, and human-interest features. “Never turn down an animal story,” was one of his mantras. “People love animal stories!” But mostly, he taught me what a noble calling it was to be a newspaper reporter—and about all the integrity and responsibility that went with it. His favorite quotation was from an old Humphrey Bogart movie where Bogey played a managing editor talking about the job of being a newspaper reporter: “It may not be the oldest profession, but it’s the best.”

I moved on eventually to a bigger newspaper job in New York City where I had a career filled with pretty spectacular moments. I won a Pulitzer prize by the time I was thirty, I scored a lot of other big exclusives and front-page stories for the paper, and became a big media star because of all that. Then the newspaper I worked for went out of business, and I moved into TV. After a few false starts there—mostly finding out that I wasn’t very good as an on-air TV reporter—I wound up on the executive side of the business. First as a segment producer, then an assignment editor and now as news director of the whole Channel 10 operation. Along the way, I found the time to get married—and divorced—three different times, too.

Marty had helped me get through the highs and lows in my life—both professional and personal—over the years. He was always there for me. He always supported me and took my side in everything. Well, almost everything. Everything except the marriage stuff. Marty could never understand why I couldn’t make my marriages work. “Why don’t you find one man, the right man, and settle down with him for the rest of your life?” That’s what Marty said he had done with his wife. “It’s not that easy,” I told him. “Sure, it is,” he said. “You make sure your marriage is as important to you as your job in the newsroom. Then the rest will take care of itself.” It was good advice from Marty, even though I didn’t always follow it.

Marty stayed on as editor of the same New Jersey paper where we’d met, doing the job he loved, until he was pushed into retirement a few years ago. At some point after that his wife died, and he came to live with his daughter in Manhattan. Even after he retired though, Marty became very active in local political and community events. He started a website that skewered local politicians and demanded more accountability/public disclosure in New York City government. Then he became a kind of local gadfly—showing up at town hall and council meetings to demand answers from politicians. That was Marty. Still looking for his next big scoop even after he retired.

We’d kept in touch and he was always asking me to meet him for coffee, but I hardly ever got around to it. Or to checking out any of the various news tips and leads he kept sending me. I never could find time for Marty Barlow anymore.

Until that last day when he showed up in my office.

What’s the next writing project?

My next Clare Carlson mystery, the fourth in the series, will be published by Oceanview in 2021. It’s called Beyond The Headlines. About a celebrity model/actress who marries a billionaire businessman – and then is charged with his murder. Clare has to figure out whether or not she really did it.

I also have a thriller coming out next month (June 8) written under the pen name of Dana Perry. It’s called The Golden Girl and will be published by Bookouture. This one features another journalist, newspaper reporter Jessie Tucker.

What is your biggest challenge when writing a new book? (or the biggest challenge with this book)

For me, the biggest writing challenge is the “dreaded middle” of the book.

I always have an idea on how to start the book, and I usually have a general idea about how I want it to end - but no real idea of how to get from one to the other. That’s true in The Last Scoop – and pretty much every book I write. I do not outline or plot anything in detail before I start. I just go wherever the story (and my character) takes me. I have found this can result in a lot of surprises, even to the author. Which I think is a good thing.

I’m always optimistic at the beginning of the book, ecstatic at the end when all the pieces finally come together – but have to work really hard in between to make all of that happen. Not that I’m the only author who feels this way. I remember Stephen King once said something about how finishing a novel was like attacking a fortress: you just threw all your forces and all your weapons and all your strength at it until you finally figured out how to beat the enemy.

I’ve always figured if that’s the way Stephen King writes a novel, it’s good enough for me too!

If your novels require research – please talk about the process. Do you do the research first and then write, while you’re writing, after the novel is complete and you need to fill in the gaps?

First off, I try to keep research to a minimum by writing about things I already know.

My books are set in a big city newsroom, and I’ve worked in big city newsrooms for most of my life as a journalist - just like my character TV newswoman Clare Carlson. So I guess you could say I’ve been researching that for most of my life.

My books are also set in New York City, where I have lived and worked since I left college so I’m very familiar with the locale. When it comes time to write a scene in another location, I pick places that I have visited for other reasons and know about first-hand. I’ve written in the past about Nantucket and the New Jersey shore, where I vacation; I’ve written about Cleveland, the Ohio city where I grew up; and I’ve written about places like LA, New Orleans, Washington and else that I have been to for either business or pleasure reasons.

So I’ve done my research basically before I start writing. If there are things to check along the way, I can do that afterward - but I try not to slow down my actual writing with any research efforts.

As a journalist, I spent many years researching the facts in stories to make sure they were accurate. As a fiction author, I get to make up a lot of the facts in the story. I find that more fun than doing research.

What’s your writing space like? Do you have a particular spot to write where the muse is more active? Please tell us about it.

Okay, I’m unusual here when it comes to author writing habits.

I don’t want to be alone, I don’t want quiet and I don’t want to avoid distractions.

So I write in crowded places (or at least I did before social distancing). My favorite spots are NYC coffee shops, parks, beaches, bars and even on the subway or commuter train. The energy and the vibes of the people in these places inspire me much better than sitting in a quiet library somewhere. That’s probably because I spent so many years writing in crowded newsrooms as a journalist. That’s the way I write mystery novels too. With lots of noise and people and energy around me. Hopefully, I’m able to use that to energize my writing.

What authors do you enjoy reading within or outside of your genre?

My favorite mystery author (and he has been for a long time) is Michael Connelly. I’ve read every one of his books over the past nearly 30 years - Harry Bosch and all the rest. I think he is without question the finest mystery writer of our time.

Other favorites of mine from the past in the mystery field include Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block and - going way back - Ross MacDonald and, of course, the incomparable Raymond Chandler.

Outside of the genre, I’ve been a big of Stephen King dating back to when I first read Carrie and Salem’s Lot and The Shining in the 70s. Some people think of him as just a horror writer, but he is so much more than that. He’s put out such a wide variety of best-selling books over the years – including some with a real mystery/suspense angle. And his non-fiction book, On Writing, is a must read for an author of any genre.

When it comes to non-fiction, I mostly read sports (I’ll devour any baseball book written by Bill James) and American history, particularly stuff related to the John F. Kennedy assassination. My favorite author on this is Anthony Summers, who wrote Not In Your Lifetime: The Defining Book on the JFK Assassination.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers today?

It’s impossible to talk about putting out a new book right now without also mentioning the extraordinarily stressful and difficult times we’re dealing with today because of the coronavirus.

For an author like myself, the health crisis – and the social distancing restrictions that have come with it – take away my ability to do what I love best about this business: being able to connect personally with readers. My book launch party at Mysterious Bookshop in NYC: conference appearances at Bouchercon, Malice Domestic and Deadly Ink: a Mystery Writers of America reading; bookstore appearances around the country – they’re all not going to happen now.

Fortunately, there is social media like this blog – and many others – where I’ll be doing my best to talk to readers and spread the word about The Last Scoop.

And, of course, even though many bookstores remain closed, people can still read – and order – books online.

Hopefully, one day soon we’ll all get back to our normal lives.

Thank you for coming back to Reviews and Interviews!

Interview with debut legal thriller author Michael McAuliffe

Today’s special guest is debut author Michael McAuliffe to chat about his legal thriller, No Truth Left To Tell.

Bio:

Michael McAuliffe has practiced law for over 30 years. He has served as an assistant United States attorney and as a federal civil rights prosecutor at the Department of Justice. In 2008, Michael was elected as the state attorney for Palm Beach County leading an office of 125 prosecutors. After leaving public service in 2012, Michael was the general counsel for a global company. He also has been a partner at a major law firm, a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University’s School of Law and an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary’s School of Law. In 1993-94, Michael was a CEP fellow and visiting law professor in the Czech Republic.

Michael is an avid alpine mountaineer having climbed and reached the summits of Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Island Peak in the Himalayas, and many other mountains.

He and his wife Robin, a US district judge, have three children, and live in Florida and Massachusetts.

Welcome, Michael. Please tell us about your current release.

No Truth Left To Tell is a story about the feds trying to stop the Ku Klux Klan from starting a new race war in the South in the 1990s. Adrien Rush, a young, ambitious federal prosecutor from Washington, DC, is sent to Lynwood, Louisiana, to work on the Klan investigation with Lee Mercer, an experienced and skeptical black FBI agent. They must solve a series of cross burnings targeting the town’s minorities before the violence escalates. Their case becomes compromised when the feds realize a local police detective employed his own brand of justice to extract the confession from the culprit, who is the grand dragon of the Klan. The inescapable collision of right and wrong, of white and black, has deadly consequences.

The novel is about violent racist extremism and police brutality in America and the high cost of protecting the rights of us all.

What inspired you to write this book?

Early in my legal career, I was a federal civil rights prosecutor in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. While in the section, I travelled around the country investigating and prosecuting violent extremists, corrupt law officials (many in law enforcement) and human traffickers. The novel is loosely based on those experiences including a case in which I prosecuted thirteen members of the Klan in Louisiana and their grand dragon. Also, many of the victims of racial violence I met while working as a federal prosecutor showed great courage and resolve in the face of terror. For decades, I wanted to create a fictional world that reflected their very real and inspiring bravery and determination.

Excerpt from No Truth Left to Tell:

…

Nettie Wynn awoke from a deep slumber that night to the siren calls of the fire engine. She grasped the corner post of the full-sized bed and lifted her small frame. She shuffled toward the offending noise, and as she drew back the heavy floral curtains, the cycling lights sprinted into the room and around the walls. She reached out and tried to touch the truck’s folded ladder, but her hand hit the windowpane instead.

With her sleep-blurred vision, Wynn thought she saw a tree on fire in her yard. The tree’s impending demise would be yet another unexpected loss for her. Just last month, Shirley, her neighbor of thirty years, had stopped visiting after she was moved into a nursing home. And six months ago, despite a legion of dedicated customers and decades of service, the grocer down on the corner had closed his tiny shop. The new economy didn’t have any room for him, he had said.

She stared out the window for the ten thousandth time but didn’t, or couldn’t, easily see that she was looking at the branded expression of hate. She wasn’t made that way. So she stood awhile longer before she recognized the true nature of the spectacle before her.

Oh, my—Lord, help me.

(From Chapter Two, page 16, of No Truth Left To Tell.)

What exciting story are you working on next?

I am working on two new stories. One involves the same protagonist in No Truth Left To Tell, Adrien Rush, battling a sophisticated and brutal group of human traffickers. The second story is about a quiet Czech professor who becomes a war hero while fighting in the free Czech army based in London during WWII. After the war, he must escape again when the communists take all his property in 1948 and try to arrest him as a subversive. The velvet revolution creates the chance for professor to return to his native Bohemia after over forty years in exile. He must battle the old communists––many of whom who are now the new democrats––to recover his property and to discover the life that he might have led.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I write professionally and have for thirty years. Some form of storytelling, or at least advocacy through communication, is a part of what I do and who I am as an attorney. However, I was humbled by the process of writing fiction which I started in 2016. I only recently became comfortable accepting the label “writer” without it being tethered to the legal profession.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

I balance writing with teaching law school on a part-time basis and also practicing law. I write nearly every day even if for only an hour.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I wake up during the night with an idea or phrase relating to an ongoing writing project. I grab my iPhone on the nightstand, and I type in whatever has just surfaced from the creative recesses in my head. I email the typed version of a scribble to myself (often accompanied by a short grunt or other verbal confirmation of my latest inspiration and the swish of the apple email being both sent and received by me). My wife doesn’t always appreciate this ritual, but the dog at the foot of the bed seems to get it.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

An astronaut and a father. At least I accomplished the more important one.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Keep reading stories and sharing them. Sharing stories isn’t just an act of generosity, it’s also an exercise of self-preservation because we all need common experiences (real and imagined) to thrive.

Links:

Website | Book site

Thanks for stopping by today, Michael.

Interview with crime novelist Jonathan Dunne

Novelist Jonathan Dunne joins me today and we’re talking about his new crime fiction, The Black Hand.

During his virtual book tour, Jonathan will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

During the tour, the book is on sale for $0.99.

Bio:

Jonathan Dunne is a native of Dublin's north inner city. The Black Hand is his second novel in the crime genre. The Takeover - his first crime novel went on to wide acclaim and regularly featured in Amazon's bestseller lists.


He is also an avid MMA journalist who has penned articles for some of Ireland's biggest publications. He holds a Degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology and is a strong advocate of lifelong learning and education. After returning to complete his leaving certificate as an adult in Jonathan has went on to have four novels published.

Welcome, Jonathan. Please share a little bit about your current release.
The book is essentially a mystery. In the aftermath of a gang war, a mysterious figure steps into the void and takes over not only, the Irish underworld, but swathes of the criminal landscape in Europe.

There is essentially a chess game in play. My protagonist, Jacob Boylan, is considered Ireland’s most lethal criminal. He is living a quiet life abroad, so begins a persecution of his family in order to lure him from hiding. What occurs is an almighty battle between the Black Hand and Boylan.

Both are formidable in their fields and yet the question lingers, all through the book – who the Black Hand?

What inspired you to write this book?

The theme song to Peaky Blinders – believe it or not! Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand presented the omnipresent and unseen crime lord who pulls the strings while remaining deeply concealed.


Excerpt from The Black Hand:

Alfie Giles was considered one of Ireland’s most talented criminals. His capacity to avoid publicity was a rarity among the criminal fraternity. Alfie was that rare breed who was driven by money, and money alone. He detested loud-mouths and flashy criminals. Most criminals – he surmised – that ended up in the papers, wanted to be in the papers. Alfie was a top-class logistics man and his genius lay in the aftermath of a robbery. He was the man who took over once the job was done.

Three of Ireland’s most high-profile robberies had Alfie’s stamp all over them. Unlike most of his community, Alfie kept abreast of the latest developments in DNA detection and had a voracious appetite for learning when it came to technological advancements in security. At the tender age of forty, he had completed two degrees; one in mechanical engineering and the other in criminology. He completed at least two courses a year in security installation and cyber security.

Throughout his criminal career he had built a network of associates that were paid well and trusted implicitly. Whether it was steel works, scrap yards, or undertakers, Alfie kept them as close as a wallet nestled in his inside pocket.

Alfie was nondescript in every respect; his features were forgettable, as was his height, weight, and dress sense. His car was small, and his home was a three-bedroomed terrace house on the periphery of the north inner city of Dublin.

His criminal contacts were the elite of the criminal underworld. He never dealt with anyone involved in feuding, or who was a movie-star gangster. Quite simply, no criminal’s stock was higher than Alfie Giles. He was trusted, efficient, low-key, and quite simply, a genius in his field.

So, when a new outfit offered him a job – he politely agreed. However, they were stone cold murderers and they were slowly and methodically taking over the criminal landscape. Alfie knew they had butchered a dozen major criminals, so he was on-board almost immediately – at least, that’s what they thought.

Alfie had a contingency plan in place for this type of situation. He had helped many criminals flee, and the ones that followed his rules had never been found. Only once in his career had he broken his own rules, and that was for Jacob Boylan.

Alfie’s own flight required no logistics. It had been planned for years. When that day came, he wanted it to be effortless.

Alfie was ready. His new name was George Armstrong, and he had a bustling restaurant and car dealership in Warsaw, Poland. A plastic surgeon was prepared, but he deemed it unnecessary. His flight was in the guise of a holiday, and Alfie (now George) would travel on forged documentation by boat, train, and car, where he would detour across the vast terrain of Europe. In all, it would take one week. Alfie was diligent when it came to other people’s lives; even more so when it was his own.

In the meantime, he continued to work with the new outfit. His own research had alerted him to their sophistication; however, they were not in Alfie Giles’s league. He worked diligently for his new masters, but just before the job was due to go ahead, Alfie was gone.

His escape had been patient and meticulous. And one week to the day, he finally arrived in his Warsaw apartment.

On arrival, the barrel of a gun was placed to his head as he dropped his bags. Alfie was so stunned that speech deserted him.

‘Mr Giles, you have reneged on our agreement,’ said the voice in the shadows. ‘Your stock has fallen. Follow me, please.’

Alfie couldn’t comprehend the wretched scenario unfolding before his eyes. The street lamps cascaded through the living room, revealing two armed men with weapons ready.

‘Why did you betray us?’ asked the voice.

As Alfie tried to find his voice, he heard the weapon being cocked.

‘I was afraid,’ he replied nervously.

‘Why?’

‘You’ve…killed a lot of people.’

There was a chuckle from the other two men. It chilled Alfie to his marrow.

‘Mr Giles, we only remove people who break agreements. Like you’ve just done. If you had completed the task at hand, you wouldn’t be in this predicament.’

‘I’m sorry. Your organisation is unknown, and the stories…’ replied Alfie. ‘I’m a careful man. You’re too bloodthirsty for me. Can we make this quick?’

‘Make what quick?’ came the reply.

‘You’re here to kill me?’

The three men turned to a shadow sitting in the corner. Through a single ray of light, Alfie could see nothing but a black, gloved hand. The black hand gestured ever so slightly, and the three men turned to Alfie.

‘Finish the job. And you will live,’ came the order.

Alfie crumbled to the floor in relief. His breath came in short rasps and flashes appeared before his eyes. When the panic subsided, he was alone.

When he regained his senses, Alfie Giles was sure of two things: one, he had been outsmarted by a superior enemy; and two, that enemy had a name – The Black Hand.

What exciting story are you working on next?

The Florist is my next project. It’s a heart breaking story of an unwitting pawn. The story is the unravelling of a decent human who simply falls in love with the wrong woman. The ramifications of this are profound as we watch the kindness and humanity slowly fade, only to be replaced by a murderous desire for revenge.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

That’s a hard question – I still don’t believe it at times. Each step is a little victory. A new contract, a good review or a little acknowledgement goes a long way. I write because I love it. That should be enough for anyone.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?

No. I work in Insurance Regulation. My workday starts at 5am. By 5.30am I’m already on the computer. If ideas are spilling over – I’ll take a notepad on the commute and write for the entire journey. You can make the time any place, anywhere. No excuses. If you’re a writer – you should be writing.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I write with my heart rather than my head. You pour your heart onto the page and hope for genuine feeling. The reader has to feel the words. Emotion is transferable. Sorrow is transferable. Suffering is transferable and ultimately so is triumph.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I’d no plans. Too busy living life!

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

I would ask readers to take a chance on aspiring writers. There are truly beautiful novels lying in that bargain basement. Read, review and rant about them. We live and die by word of mouth.

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