I Said I'd What?
You seemed a little stressed last week, EA. Wanna talk?
Well, here’s the thing. Last summer - remember how innocent and happy we all were last summer! - the folks at Pen/Faulkner asked if I wanted to be part of their DC Reads program…
WERE YOU ASKED TO BE PART OF DC READS? I HAD NO IDEA. YOU SHOULD MENTION THAT MORE OFTEN.
…and I said yes, very enthusiastically, and they went over what they wanted me to do. One of those things was to give a presentation. It could be anything - a craft workshop, a walking tour, silently watching as I painstakingly arrange my Christmas village, a reading…
They were okay with the Christmas village thing?
They were more receptive to my other ideas, so I thought it would be cool to talk about the history of crime fiction in DC. And they gave me a big thumbs up, but they had a concern.
Which was?
Well, this was supposed to be about me. And instead my presentation was going to involve a whole bunch of other people.
Bro, you got to talk about yourself.
Bro, I’m so boring. Here’s my backstory. Basically, a hundred years ago, I thought it would be a good idea to wake up before my day job and write for a few hours. Then I eventually got published. The end.
That’s it?
Pretty much! Oh, well, one time a horse bit me. And the guy at the barn was like, “Your name’s Ed, and a horse bit you. That’s weird.” And I asked, “Why’s that weird?” And he said, “Because, you know, Mr. Ed? That old show?” And I said, “I’m bleeding.”
Did you get a shot after the horse bite?
No, I didn’t think I needed to but, the point is, aside from a sprinkling of encephalitis, I’m not a very interesting story.
So what I planned to do with this presentation was discuss how the history of DC crime fiction factors into When She Left, which is pretty much what the presentation is supposed to be about (the book was picked more than I was).
So how’s the research going?
I’ve read a lot of writers from the DC region, but not as many as I’d like from the 1200s or whatever, and I thought this would be a good chance to brush up on my knowledge and impress everyone with how smart I am, so I started doing research. And I can barely find any famous historic DC crime fiction writers.
Really?
A few, sure, but what the hell? There are so many DC writers, but crime fiction is its own little genre, and I don’t want to stuff writers into that box if they don’t exactly fit. Plus I’d originally thought to include Baltimore, which lets me bring in grandpappy Poe, but that’s not really DC at all.
So what are you going to do?
I’m still writing about the history of crime fiction in DC, but through a different lens. Rather than eras, I changed it to the BIG CATEGORIES of DC crime fiction. Political thrillers, street crime, and psychological thrillers. And then tie in how these genres and books influenced When She Left.
What is “street crime?”
I don’t know how else to categorize Pelecanos, but that’s him.
What does have to do with your own work? Especially When She Left?
I’ve said this before, but I’ve always felt that I made an unintentional mistake as a writer, both commercially and creatively (and, aspiring or debut writers reading this, pay attention) - I’ve never written toward a particular subgenre. My work, when defined, gets pushed into hardboiled or noir, but neither of those subgenres fits me.
So when I talk about When She Left for this presentation, I want to talk about the DC crime fiction I’ve read and admired, as well as its history in the city, but also how that writing influenced this book. I want to mention how the complicated turmoil of a traditional hardboiled protagonist influenced my own Lucky Wilson, or how the emotional angst of a psychological thriller led my young couple of Melissa and Jake on their perilous romance. I want to showcase the novels I’ve loved and the region that inspired them, and bring readers into this imaginative shared universe we all inhabit.
Which is one of the the things that, unintentionally, I’ve done well as a writer, including in this newsletter. I want to discuss my own writing, but I also want to show readers the writers and writing I admire, and how they’ve influenced me, and what all this means for our genre. I’m a writer, but I was reared as an academic and I write criticism. It’s never just about me.
(But I want you to like my writing more than anyone else, let’s be real, I’m not that altruistic.)
That presentation sounds like it could work. Or you could totally fuck it up.
There’s always a chance I can fuck it up! But remember that Sara Jones will be there to sing a few songs inspired by the themes.
She always makes you look good.
Yeah, I’m no idiot. I hope you can come see us Thursday night, February 20, at 7 pm at the Southwest Neighborhood Library. Learn more and register.
Thanks to everyone who reached out with advice on how to add a tipping link to this newsletter. I’m testing it out here, and I’ll talk more about it in a future newsletter. But basically…
I’ve never envisioned this as a subscription-based newsletter. For one thing, I think I’d need more hard-hitting stuff rather than random stuff about my career or how much I hate Trump or some books I really like. However, I also put work into this, and I think writers should receive compensation for their work. If you want to send a tip after you receive a newsletter, you absolutely can. If not, that’s absolutely fine. My hope is for this to always be free, because I want my writing to be as accessible as possible.
Tip me here! Or don’t! I still love you. https://tiptopjar.com/crimefictionworks
A Killer’s Code, by Isabella Maldonado. During a recent undercover sting gone bad, hit man Gustavo Toro died in the arms of FBI Special Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega. But Toro had secrets he refused to take to the grave. He left behind a video that promises to expose a mysterious mastermind who has been operating with impunity for decades. But there’s a catch. Dani’s team must follow Toro’s cryptic clues on a cross-country hunt for justice, and piecing together his past is more twisted than Dani could have imagined. But as Dani and her team race to gather the evidence, it’s clear this powerful adversary will stop at nothing to keep their secrets—including eliminating those who threaten to reveal them.
Ed’s Note: I’ve been a fan of Maldonado’s career for a while, from her earlier days with the Detective Cruz series to her ne wer work with Jeffery Deaver. Part of that is because Maldonado and I have lived and written about the same regions - Arizona and the DMV - and even did an event together when The Unrepentant was published. Check out all her work, but especially her latest, the critically acclaimed Daniela Vega series.
We Are Watching, by Alison Gaylin. Meg Russo was behind the wheel when it happened. She and her husband Justin were driving their daughter Lily to Ithaca College, the family celebrating the eighteen-year-old music prodigy’s future. Then a car swerved up beside them, the young men inside it behaving bizarrely—and Meg lost control of her own vehicle. The family road trip turned into a tragedy. Justin didn’t survive the accident. Four months later, Meg works to distract herself from her grief and guilt, reopening her small local bookstore. But soon after she returns to work, bizarre messages and visitors begin to arrive, with strangers threatening Meg and Lily in increasingly terrifying ways. They are obsessed with a young adult novel titled The Prophesy, which was published thirty years earlier. An online group of believers are convinced that it heralds the apocalypse, and social media posts link the book—and Meg’s reclusive musician father—to Satanism. These conspiracy theorists vow to seek revenge on The Prophesy’s author...Meg. As the threats turn violent, Meg begins to suspect that Justin’s death may not have been an accident. To find answers and save her daughter, her father, and herself, Meg must get to the root of these dangerous lies—and find a way to face the believers head-on … before it’s too late.
Ed’s Note: Alison Gaylin has appeared in these pages before, and with good reason. She’s one of those writers whose works stand apart from her others when they’re published - so many writers tend to fall into patterns (often through no fault of their own) where their books get sort of mashed together. Gaylin, like Abbott or Hillier or Lippman, is admirably, constantly pushing herself to break new bounds.
Head Cases, by John McMahon. FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve. When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer. Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?
Ed’s Note: John McMahon’s work is, regrettably, new-to-me. We met through a mutual friend (the wonderful science fiction writer Tom Sweterlitsch) and John’s work sounded amazing, and was accordingly nominated for the Edgar, Thriller, praised by the NYT, and more. I kept meaning to read him, but my TBR is relentless, but I’m tired of waiting and Head Cases (just out and optioned by HBO) seems like a perfect place to start.
The Note, by Alafair Burke. Growing up, May Hanover was a good girl, always. Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule-follower. Raised by a first-generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up, let alone fail. Her friends didn’t call her the Little Sheriff for nothing. But even good girls have secrets. And regrets. When it comes to her friendship with Lauren and Kelsey, she's had her fair share of both. Their bond—forged when May was just twelve years old—has withstood a tragic accident, individual scandals, heartbreak and loss. Now the three friends have reunited for the first time in years for a few days of sun and fun in the Hamptons. But a chance encounter with a pair of strangers leads to a drunken prank that goes horribly awry. When she finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation, May begins to wonder whether Lauren and Kelsey are keeping secrets from her, testing the limits of her loyalty to lifelong friends.
Ed’s Note: Writers and readers are aware of how powerful a writer Alafair Burke is. She’s prolific, been nominated for everything, is an outspoken advocate for everything good, and in her spare time (what) served as President of the Mystery Writers of America - the first woman of color ever elected to that position. Like Gaylin, her books each occupy a unique space, and The Note seems like it could be among her best work.
It's giveaway time! The winner of a copy of any of the four books above is:
kofo_____@verizon.net
Congrats, and I'll send you an email soon!
