FEATURED AUTHORS: CHARLES SALZBERG AND ROSS KLAVAN

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Third Degree 3 Authors 3 Novellas:

Cut Loose All Those Who Drag You Down:
A crooked reporter who fronts for the mob and who’s been married eight times gets a visit from his oldest friend, a disgraced and defrocked shrink. The man is in deep trouble and it’s clear somebody is going to pay with his life.

Beaned:
After smuggling cigarettes, maple syrup, and coffee, Aggie discovers a much more sinister plot to exploit what some consider a precious commodity: the trafficking of under-aged children for the purposes of sex.

The Fifth Column:
Months after America’s entry into World War II, a young reporter uncovers that the recently disbanded German-American Bund might still be active and is planning a number of dangerous actions on American soil.

Book Details:

Title: Third Degree 3 Authors 3 Novellas

Authors: Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara, Charles Salzberg

Genre: crime

Published by: Down & Out Books
 (October 5, 2020)

Print length: 320 pages

On tour with: Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours

INTERVIEW WITH TWO OF THE THREE AUTHORS OF THIRD DEGREE

Charles Salzberg



If you could live in any time period which would it be?
I guess it would be Paris in the 1920s, when all the ex-pat writers and artists were bloviating their way through evenings at local watering holes: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Morley Callaghan, James Joyce among them. I’ve always been fascinated by the period, read everything I could get my hands on, and even wrote a satirical short story about the period called Looking Back. The reason? I’d like to cut through the myths and legends about them and see them for who they really were. And besides, it would be fun.
 
If you could meet any author for coffee, who would you like to meet and what would you talk about?
I know this sounds self-serving, but I love meeting up with my co-writer and good friend, Ross Klavan. In fact, we actually do have a weekly lunch—even during self-isolation we Zoomed our weekly lunches. But I know this isn’t the answer this question is supposed to elicit, so I’ll try again. Most famous people, in my experience (as a former magazine journalist I did more than my fair share of celebrity interviews), don’t live up to the expectations you might have for them and so we’re probably better off not having coffee with them or a meal (even if they pick up the check). So, the only way to answer this is to tick off a few of my favorite writers and hope they were as interesting in real life as they are between the covers of their books. Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Djuna Barnes, Emily Dickinson and e.e. cummings. But as another, more realistic answer, as a result of Covid, I have a regular Monday evening Zoom with four other crime writers: Reed Farrel Coleman, Matt Goldman, Michael Wiley and Tom Straw, and I can’t think of any better people (including Ross in this) I’d like to have coffee with. In person.
 
What’s your all-time favorite city?
That’s easy. New York City, where I was born and have lived my entire life with the exception of four years of college in Syracuse and one year of law school in Boston (probably the worst year of my life).
 
What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
I have a friend who never leaves home without a notebook tucked in his pocket, so he can journal, and I’m sure that would be a good answer to steal, but I’m gonna go with honesty here. My first thought was to answer my phone, but I realize the real answer is my house keys.
 
What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
That I’m really very lazy and I hardly spend any time at the computer writing, and I can actually go days and sometimes weeks without writing something. Most who know me would say that’s ridiculous, because I’ve had almost forty books published over the years, not to mention scores of magazine articles and book reviews, but the explanation for that is that I’m an extremely fast typist, close to 90 words a minute, and I have an incredible facility to focus once I am at the keyboard. But as far as logging actual time in front of the computer with my hands on the keyboard, not so much.
 
What’s your favorite thing to do when there’s nothing to do?
Watch TV or take a walk in Riverside Park or Central Park, stopping every so often to do some reading.
 
What’s your favorite color?
Blue.
 
What drives you crazy?
People who lack empathy. And rudeness.
 
What do you collect?
Fine art, (little known fact, Ross Klavan’s wife, Mary Jones is a fantastic artist, and I’m fortunate enough to own several of her paintings) music boxes (though not lately), books (I have way too many, but I’m loath to throw them out,) and baseball memorabilia. During this Covid period I did something really crazy. I took down all the books from all my shelves, divided them into fiction and nonfiction, and then put them back alphabetized. Just the thought of it now elicits a “what the hell was I thinking?” But the result is that now I can find just about any book I own.

5 things you love about writing:
It was Dorothy Parker who said, “I hate writing. I love having written.” And I can certainly understand that sentiment. For me, I actually like writing (when it’s going well), but I hate having to get to the computer to do the actual writing. Once I’m there, however, I really do enjoy it. I don’t labor over a blank page. I always put something down and have never had so-called writer’s block. But what I like even more than writing is rewriting. That, for me, is when the fun really sets in—unless, of course, what I’ve written is crappy and I’m left with the daunting task of either making it better or throwing it out altogether.
 
5 favorite books:
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, Portnoy’s Complaint, Philip Roth, Seize the Day, Saul Bellow, In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer, and anything by Dashiell Hammett. There are so many more, but these are the ones that first come to mind.
 
Netflix or Amazon Prime?
Netflix. But it’s a close race, with Hulu a close third.
 
What’s your latest recommendation for:
Food: For ninety days during the self-isolation brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic the only food I ate, since restaurants were closed, was food I prepared myself, so I’d have to say doctoring up frozen pizzas from FreshDirect, because they allow me to be creative in what I use as toppings.
Music: The new Bob Dylan album (or anything by Dylan), Nancy Griffith, and anything you can find by Dave Van Ronk.
Movie: Movie theaters haven’t been open for so long, it’s hard to remember what I’ve seen that I would recommend. But I have been watching a lot of older films and some of my favorites are  Goodfellas (as far as I’m concerned the best movie ever made about the mob, yes, better than The Godfather movies, because it’s more realistic), The Hustler (Paul Newman), In Cold Blood (from the Capote book) and Easy Rider and JoJo Rabbit.
Book: I recently finished my friend Matt Goldman’s Dead West, which I loved, The Third Rainbow Girl by Emily Copley Eisenberg, Furious Hours by Casey Cep. Oh, and I recently reread In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song, and they both hold up.
Audiobook: I don’t listen to audio books, but I have been hooked on true crime podcasts, and I’d recommend three: Someone Knows Something (all the seasons are great, but especially the season with the Dee and Moore case), In the Dark, about the Curtis Flowers Case, and American Skyjacker.
TV: I’d say the Charles Manson series on Epix.
Netflix/Amazon Prime:
Netflix: Babylon Berlin and Narcos, Amazon Prime: Bosch and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (tied with Glow).
 
What books do you currently have published?
Second Story Man (nominated for a Shamus: I lost, but it did win the Beverly Hills Book Award)
Devil in the Hole (named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine)
Henry Swann series (in order)
Swann’s Last Song (nominated for a Shamus: I lost)
Swann Dives In
Swann’s Lake of Despair
Swann’s Way Out
Swann’s Down
Triple Shot
Three Strikes
Publisher: Five-Star, and Down & Out Books (The first three Swann novels were published by Five-Star, but Down & Out published the next two and has reprinted all of them in paperback, as well as Devil in the Hole and Second Story Man.)

ROSS KLAVAN

 
Where did your interest in writing originate?
As a little kid, somebody gave me an old portable typewriter. I couldn’t read or write yet, but I liked carrying it around, and I was positive that somehow it made me important. Maybe I hit the keys once or twice and enjoyed the sound. But also I think like a lot of people who write, writing was ultimately an escape for me. So was reading. As a kid, I had some great old lady school teachers—of course, they were probably really 25 at the time—but I remember them all as wearing wire rim glasses with their gray hair in a bun. They made it seem like reading and writing were just incredible things to do, with the imagination close to magic. I wrote and got some praise for it—which was unusual—so I figured it was a good thing to do. Then a little later, the parents of a good friend started to recommend things to read—hardboiled crime stories, war novels, science fiction, horror, books with violence and sex and everything else. Books for adults. And all I could think was: Wow. Where’s my typewriter? 

Do you ever get writer’s block?
Years ago, in my late 20’s, I sold a screenplay and moved to London (England) to finish the rewrite and work on a novel. For some reason, I was suddenly writing about something that really bothered me, guys I knew in the Army who got screwed and sent to Vietnam (years later this became the movie Tigerland). I was also working as a radio journalist and my first marriage was breaking up. I sold a short story to the BBC, which was considered a very prestigious outlet. After a couple of years I came back home and weirdly, almost immediately went into a serious writer’s block. I could do journalism but nothing else. This wasn’t just like “oh-I-don’t-feel-like-it” or “poor-me-I-can’t-think-of-anything,” it scared the shit out of me. I went to see a psychoanalyst and ended up on the couch for eight years. At the end of it, I was writing again but much differently. My unasked for advice is, if you’re really stuck and you know down deep that the best thing to do would be walk into traffic (you know who you are), go “talk to somebody.” If not, just about all writing problems are solved just by writing. Even if you can’t stand what you put on the page, even if you feel that way for days, it’ll eventually unravel, and you don’t have to know the reason why.

What are some of your favorite films?
How about the films Barry Lyndon, Sweet Smell of Success and 8 ½ for favorites right now. This list changes from day-to-day and sometimes even includes the films I’ve written. But those three, for now. All of them have a feel for life that’s absurd and funny and mordant and heated and icy all at the same time. Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon is also gorgeous. He found a special lens that allowed him to shoot in candlelight and, of course, that also meant that for every take they had to get the candles burning down to the same length. Sweet Smell of Success is beautiful black-and-white and written in this fantastic style where the dialogue is like street poetry. And 8 1/2 (along with Dr. Strangelove which I should have mentioned) . . . just funny, sad, intense visions of the world.
 
Do you have any mentors?

I never had a mentor. I don’t have an MFA. Probably too bad, it would have saved me some time. The one genuinely famous author that I knew pretty well was James T. Farrell, who wrote Studs Lonigan among other books. I met him through my aunt—they’d both been Socialists during the 1930’s. He was an incredible guy, disturbingly feisty and articulate. Jim had fished with Hemingway, drank with Dashiell Hammett (who he didn’t like) and talked to Trotsky. I’d come away from our conversations feeling like the world was a better place. He talked a lot about how you could never actually reach out and get to some kind of Final Reality, it was all approximation and story. And the first time he showed me his writing room, he said (very starkly) “I come in here every day and I test the limits of my sanity.” He wasn’t kidding. It took me a long time to genuinely understand what he was talking about.
 
What's the most surprising thing you've learned from writing?
The most surprising thing I’ve learned from writing—about writing—is how incredibly difficult it is. And I’m not talking about great writing—just writing something that doesn’t make you want to drink detergent. I do some teaching now (The Maslow Family Graduate Creative Writing Program at Wilkes University) and I have to get students to realize that writing—how we’re talking about it—and other forms of writing like blogs, emails, twitter offerings . . . it’s the difference between running a marathon and walking across the street. Both actions use the same muscles and sort of similar movements . . . but for Writing (the marathon) you’d better train and take it seriously and put yourself into it. Otherwise, you’ll collapse.
 
 

 

 Excerpt from ”The Fifth Column” by Charles Salzberg:

I met with the managing editor, Bob Sheldon, and then he handed me over to Jack Sanders, the chief of the metro desk. Both nice guys. Both came from the same mold that gave us Dave Barrett and Bob Doering, my Litchfield bosses. I walked out of there thinking I’d done pretty good. As much as I hated to admit it, I think they were impressed with my having gradu- ated from Yale. “We don’t get many Ivy Leaguers wanting to work here,” the managing editor said. “I’d be happy to be the first,” I replied. And that was true.    

That afternoon, it was the Herald Tribune’s turn and I didn’t think went quite as well. I could tell they were looking for someone a little older, a little more experienced. And I was sure my nerves showed, not especially what you want when you’re trying to impress someone and convince them you’re the right man for the job.

That morning, as I was leaving for my interviews, my aunt asked what I’d like for dinner. “I’m sure you could use a home- cooked meal,” she said, then started to probe me for my favor- ite foods.
“No, no, no,” I said. “I’m taking you out for dinner...”

“I appreciate it, Jakey, but you really don’t have to do that.” “Are you kidding? I want to do it. And believe it or not, they actually pay me for what I do at the paper. So, I’ve got money burning a hole in my pocket and what better way to spend it than taking my favorite aunt out to dinner. Just think about where you’d like to go. And do not, under any circumstances, make it one of the local luncheonettes. If I report back to my mom that that’s where I took you, she’d disown me.”

“You choose, Jakey. After all, you’re the guest.”

I got back to my aunt’s around 3:30. She was out, so I decided to catch a quick nap. I was beat, having been up before five that morning, meaning I got maybe three fitful hours of sleep. And even the excitement of being back in the big city didn’t keep my eyelids from drooping. And I had no trouble falling asleep, despite the sound of traffic outside the window.

I was awakened by the sound of Aunt Sonia unlocking the door. I looked at the clock. It was 5:30 p.m. I got up, straightened myself out, and staggered into the living room just as she was headed to the kitchen carrying two large paper bags filled with groceries.
“Remember,” I said, “we’re going out for dinner.”

“Are you sure, Jakey,” she said as I followed close at her heels into the kitchen.

“One-hundred percent sure. Here, let me help you put those things away.” She smiled. “You won’t know where to put them,” she said as she placed both bags down on the kitchen table.

“You think with all the time I spent here as a kid I don’t know where the milk, eggs, bread, flour, and everything else goes? And even if I didn’t, I’m a reporter, remember? I think I can figure it out.”

“I’m sorry, Jakey. I guess I can’t get the little kid out of my mind. I’ll put this bag away, you put away the other.”

“So, what’s new around here, Aunt Sonia?” I asked as I ferried eggs and milk to the icebox.

“New?”

“I mean, it’s not the same old Yorkville, is it?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, Jakey.”

“You do read the papers, don’t you? We’re at war with Germany, Italy, and Japan. This is Yorkville. It’s crawling with German-Americans, right?”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

“I really don’t see much of a difference,” she said, stowing away the last of the groceries in the cabinet next to the stove. I got the feeling this was a subject she was not interested in dis- cussing, which made it all the more appealing to me. Maybe that accounts for my going into journalism.

“There’s got to be a little tension, doesn’t there? I mean,  wasn’t there that big Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden a few years ago?”
“I don’t really pay much attention to the news, Jakey. Of course, I read everything your mother sends me that you wrote. But the news, well, it’s very upsetting.” She shook her head back and forth slowly.

“That’s putting it mildly,” I said as I pulled out a chair and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Have you decided where we’re going?” Aunt Sonia said. I could see she was still uncomfortable talking about anything having to do with the war. And then it hit me. Her son, my cousin Bobby, who was several years older than me, pushing thirty, in fact, recently enlisted and was now somewhere in Eu- rope. No wonder she was reluctant to talk about it.

“I thought the Heidelberg might be fun. I remember you taking me there as a kid. It was like one big party. I remember someone was at the piano playing these songs I’d never heard before. And this very strange music...”

She smiled. “Oom-pah music. And you were so cute. You got up and started swaying back and forth.”

My face got warm. “I don’t remember anything of the sort,” I said, embarrassed at the thought of doing something so attention-grabbing.

“You can ask your mother if you don’t believe me. But just let me change and freshen up and we’ll get going.”

***

Excerpt from ”Third Degree” by Ross Klavan, Tim O'Mara and Charles Salzberg.  Copyright 2020 by Ross Klavan, Tim O'Mara and Charles Salzberg. Reproduced with permission from Ross Klavan, Tim O'Mara and Charles Salzberg. All rights reserved.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ross Klavan has published two other noir novellas with Down and Out: “I Take Care Of Myself In Dreamland” and “Thumpgun Hitched” both in collections with Charles Salzberg and Tim O’Mara. His darkly comic novel Schmuck was published by Greenpoint Press in 2014. Klavan’s screenplay for the film Tigerland was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and was directed by Joel Schumacher, starring Colin Farrell. He’s written screenplays for InterMedia, Walden Media, Miramax, Paramount, A&E and TNT. As a performer, Klavan’s voice has been heard in dozens of feature films including Revolutionary Road, Sometimes in April, Casino, In and Out, and You Can Count On Me, as well as in numerous TV and radio commercials. In other lives, he was a reporter and anchorman for WINS Radio, RKO Network and LBC (London, England), and a member of the NYC alternative art group Four Walls. He lives in New York City.

Conect with Ross Klavan:
Goodreads  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook

 

 Tim O’Mara is the Barry-nominated (he didn’t win) author of the Raymond Donne mystery novels. He’s also the editor of the short crime story anthology Down to the River, published by Down & Out Books. Along with "Smoked and Jammed," "Beaned" completes the Aggie Trilogy.

Connect with Tim O'Mara:
Website   |  Goodreads  |  BookBub  |  Twitter  |  Facebook

Charles Salzberg, a former magazine journalist and nonfiction book writer, has been nominated for two Shamus Awards, for Swann's Last Song and Second Story Man. He is the author of 5 Henry Swann novels, Devil in the Hole, called one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine, Second Story Man, winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award, and his novellas "Twist of Fate" and "The Maybrick Affair," appeared in Triple Shot and Three Strikes. His short stories have appeared in Long Island Noir (Akashic), Mystery Tribune and the crime anthology Down to the River (edited by Tim O'Mara). He is a Founding Member of New York Writers Workshop and is on the board of MWA-NY, and PrisonWrites.

Connect with Charles Salzberg:

Website  |  Goodreads  |  BookBub  |  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook

 

Buy the book:

Amazon 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FEATURED AUTHOR: CHARLES SALZBERG

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Henry Swann is asked by his quirky partner, Goldblatt, to find a missing psychic who's swindled his ex-wife out of a small fortune, he just can't say no. Although he doesn't actually expect to get paid, he figures it might give him a chance to finally learn more about his partner's mysterious past. His search takes him into the controversial, arcane world of psychics, fortunetellers, and charlatans, while raising questions in his own mind about whether or not there is an after-life.



While working his partner's case, he's approached by a former employer, attorney Paul Rudder, to track down a missing witness who might be able to provide an alibi for his client, Nicky Diamond, a notorious mob hitman who's scheduled to go on trial in a week for murder he claims he didn't commit. Swann's search for the missing witness, who happens to be the defendant's girlfriend, takes him from Brooklyn to a small beach town across the bay from Mobile, Alabama. But what does she really know and will she even come back with him to testify for her boyfriend?

Book Details:


Title: Swann’s Down,

Author: Charles Salzberg

Genre: Detective/Crime
Series: Henry Swann Mystery, book 5

Publisher: Down & Out Books (May 20, 2019)

Print length: 300 pages

On tour with: Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours

LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH CHARLES SALZBERG


Things you need in order to write: all I need is my computer and the will to actually sit down at it and write.
Things that hamper your writing: just about everything. What I mean is that I am always distracted by “shiny” objects. In other words, I’ll use every possible excuse not to write.


Things you love about writing: what I like best is having written. But in terms of what I love about writing is seeing these letters magically appear on the page when I press down on a key. And then seeing them form words, then sentences, then paragraphs, then pages. And there’s nothing better than the feeling of thinking you’ve written a perfect sentence. Of course, as soon as I think that I begin to think it’s probably the worst sentence I’ve ever written.
Things you hate about writing: seeing that blank page.

Easiest thing about being a writer: writing.

Hardest thing about being a writer: writing.

Things you love about where you live: I live in New York City, and I’d never live anywhere else. I love the energy the city gives off. I love knowing that at any time of day or night there’s someone out on the street and there’s some restaurant and drug store that’s open.
Things that make you want to move: absolutely nothing. I don’t care how noisy or dirty or loud or crowded it gets, I’m here for the long haul.


Things you never want to run out of: ketchup.
Things you wish you’d never bought: all those clothes in the back of my closets and drawers that I never wear but am too lazy to throw out or give away.


Favorite foods: pasta; anything Mexican; hamburgers; lamb chops; fries.
Things that make you want to throw up: tongue, beets (although the latter I just retch a little).

Favorite music or song: very eclectic. Blues, classic rock, country, classical, or any combination of the aforesaid. Anything by the Beetles or the Stones or The Band.
Music that make your ears bleed: that kind of disco that mimics your heart beat.

Something you’re really good at: I’d like to say everything but then everyone who knows me would know I’m a liar. I’ve always been good at sports, remembering people’s names, and typing—I can type around 90 words a minute. And I have an excellent memory for the spoken word. If you say something, I will remember it forever, almost word for word. It’s a talent that came in very handy when I was a journalist for reasons I won’t go into here. I warn my friends, “Don’t say anything to me that you hope I’ll forget.”

Something you’re really bad at: most things requiring good balance: bicycle riding, roller skating, ice skating, and driving a car. For the latter, I learned but never got a license, and I think I’ve probably saved hundreds of lives because it.

Something you wish you could do: ride a bike.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do: I love learning new things, so I can’t imagine something I’ve learned to do that I wish I didn’t—except maybe washing dishes.

People you consider as heroes: anyone with a disability, no matter how large or small; anyone who lives life in a way that doesn’t harm anyone or themselves.

People with a big L on their foreheads: people who hate or belittle other people; people who are intolerant; bullies; people who think they know who you are but really haven’t the slightest idea.

Things you’d walk a mile for: I’d walk a mile for just about anything because I love walking, especially here in New York. But please don’t call it hiking! I associate that with climbing up, and that’s far too much work. I’d also walk a mile, more than a mile, actually, to help out a friend.
Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: boring people and people who are boors.

Things you always put in your books: information about something I didn’t know before I started writing the book, and that includes anything about myself. I always try to make my books about something and have them take place in worlds I’m not all that familiar with.

Things you never put in your books: if hardly ever counts, then it would be love scenes.

Things to say to an author: “I’ve read your books and I love every single word you’ve ever written.” And “When can I expect your next one?”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “Have I ever heard of you?”

“Have I ever read anything you’ve written?”

“I read your book and loaned it to three other people.” 

“I took your book out of the library (don’t get me wrong, I love libraries, but we actually want you to buy our books so we can write another one, not so we can get rich, which for a writer is pretty much impossible.) 

“On page 142 there’s a mistake . . .”

Favorite books: Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov, Seize the Day, by Saul Bellow, Portnoy’s Complaint, by Philip Roth, The Continental Op by Dashiell Hammett, Naked and the Dead and The Executioner’s Song, by Norman Mailer, In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote, anything by Margaret Drabble and Jean Rhys, Desperadoes by Ron Hansen.

Books you would ban: not a single one. Ever. No matter what was in it.

Most embarrassing moment: every single moment of the day . . . and that can even include sleeping hours.

Proudest moment: when I first saw my name in print . . . it was a magazine article in the Daily News Sunday magazine.

Best thing you’ve ever done: learned to say yes to everything. It’s the underlying reason behind every single thing I’ve accomplished, from being published to teaching to taking jobs I had no business taking.

Biggest mistake: saying no when I should have said yes. And giving in to my shyness and not asking for something I wanted.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: quit my job in the mailroom at New York Magazine, while having very little in the bank, not having another job lined up, and not having published a single thing.

Something you chickened out from doing: the page isn’t long enough to list the things I’ve chickened out of doing but what comes immediately to mind is being too shy to ask out a woman I found interesting and attractive, and not standing up for myself when I should have.

EXCERPT FROM SWANN'S DOWN

1
The Age of Aquarius

"We're partners, right?"
Nothing good can come from that question when it comes from the mouth of Goldblatt.
"I mean, all for one and one for all, am I right?" he quickly added in an attempt, I was sure, to seal the deal.
"I think you're confusing us with the three musketeers. May I point out there are only two of us, and I'm afraid that's not the only fallacy in your declaration. But you might as well finish what you've started."
We were having our weekly Friday lunchtime sit-down to discuss what Goldblatt likes to refer to as "business." I have another name for it: waste of time.
Our venue changes from week to week but the concept is always pretty much the same: a cheap diner-slash-coffee shop somewhere on the island of Manhattan. Today's eatery of choice (Goldblatt's choice, my destiny) is the Utopia Diner, on Amsterdam, near 72nd Street. And as for the business we'd just finished discussing, well, to be honest, there never is very much actual business to discuss and today was no exception.
At this particular moment in time, we were going through a bit of a dry spell, which always makes me a little nervous because no matter how much I banish it from my mind, the rent is due the first of every month and at least three times a day I seem to develop a hunger that must be quenched. Still, a good fifteen, twenty years away from Social Security, and with precious little dough in the bank--okay, let's be honest, no dough in the bank--and no 401-K to fall back on, I need to keep working. And, as much as I don't like to admit it, lately it's been my "partner," as he likes to refer to himself, as opposed to my preferred albatross, who's brought in the bulk of our clients.
We'd already finished eating--though technically, Goldblatt never actually finishes eating which means a meal can easily turn into an all-day affair, if I don't apply the brakes--and we were just waiting for the check to arrive. This is a crucial point of any meal with Goldblatt because it is the opening gambit in what has become our weekly routine of watching the check sit there in no-man's land somewhere between us until I inevitably give in, pick it up, and pay. Otherwise, I risk one of two things: either we'd be there all afternoon or, worst case scenario, Goldblatt will decide he's still hungry and threaten to order something else. Neither one of these options is the least bit appealing.
"I'll get right to the point," he said.
Just then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted the waiter, like a white knight, approaching with our check in hand. If I acted quick enough I might be able to get out of there before I can be sucked into something I don't want to have anything to do with.
"That would be nice," I said, reaching for my wallet. "What is your point?"
"I need to hire you."
I was stopped in my tracks before I got my wallet halfway out of my back pocket.
"Really? To do what?"
"I want you to find someone for me. Well, to be more precise it's not really for me. It's for my ex-wife."
Wait a minute! Goldblatt married? Goldblatt with a wife? Goldblatt a husband? This was a new one on me, something I'd never even considered.
"You…you've been married?" I stammered.
Truth is, I never pictured Goldblatt being in any relationship other than with, yes, as irritating as it might be, me. I mean the guy isn't exactly anyone's idea of Don Juan, although I suppose in theory there are women who might find him if not attractive in the conventional way at least interesting in a specimen-under-glass way. Or maybe as a project. Women love a project. They love a challenge. They love the idea that they have the opportunity to remake a man in their image. Maybe that was it. But whatever it was, my world was shaken to the core. And what would shake it even more would be to find that he was actually a father, too. But one shock per meal is more than enough, so there was no chance I was going to pursue that line of questioning.
"Unfortunately, the answer is yes. More than once, in fact."
"Holy Cow," I blurted out, channeling the Scooter. "You're kidding me?"
At this point the same bald, squat waiter who seems to serve us in every diner we patronize, reached our table and dropped the check right in front of me.
"This is not something a man usually kids about."
"How many times?"
He held up three fingers.
"Three times! You've been married three times?"
"Yeah."
I gulped.
"Are you married now?"
He shook his head. "Nah. I'm kinda between wives. Giving it a rest, if you know what I mean.
But chances are I'll be back in the saddle again soon enough."
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You've been married three times and now you're single but you would consider getting married again?"
"Man is not meant to be alone, Swannie. You might consider the possibility that your life would be enriched if you found your soulmate."
You're fortunate if you find one soul mate in life and I'd already had mine. She was yanked from my life as a result of a freak accident, a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't know if Goldblatt knew the circumstances of her bizarre accidental death, but I wouldn't have been surprised because he seems to know a lot of things he has no business knowing.
"Some men are meant to be alone, Goldblatt. I'm one of them and after three failed marriages maybe you should consider the possibility you are, too."
He smiled and puffed out his chest. "What can I say, Swann? I'm a friggin' babe magnet."
I would have laughed, should have laughed, but I was still processing the scary fact that he'd been married three times. That meant there were three women in the world who not only were willing to marry him but did marry him. I wanted to know more. Much more. Everything, in fact. But this was not the time and certainly not the place to delve into Goldblatt's mysterious, sordid past. Nevertheless, I promised myself I would revisit this topic in the not too distant future.
Still in shock, I avoided our weekly "who's paying for this meal" tango, grabbed the check and reached for my wallet...again.
"So, wanna know the story?" he asked.
"Which story would that be?"
"The story of why I want to hire you?"
"Desperately."
***
Excerpt from Swann's Down by Charles Salzberg.  Copyright 2019 by Charles Salzberg. Reproduced with permission from Charles Salzberg. All rights reserved.

OTHER BOOKS BY CHARLES SALZBERG

Second Story Man

Devil in the Hole 

Swann’s Last Song

Swann Dives In

Swann’s Lake of Despair

Swann’s Way Out

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Charles Salzberg is the author of the Shamus Award-nominated Henry Swann Detective series, Swann’s Last Song, Swann Dives In, Swann’s Lake of Despair, Swann’s Way Out, and Swann’s Down. He is also author of Devil in the Hole, which was named one of the best crime novels of 2013, and Second Story Man, which won the Beverly Hills Book Award for Crime Fiction in 2018. His novellas, Twist of Fate and The Maybrick Affair, were included in the collections Triple Shot and Three Strikes.

He is a former magazine journalist, whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, Esquire, Redbook, The New York Times Book Review, GQ and other periodicals; and he has written over two dozen nonfiction books including Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times, with Soupy Sales, and From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, an oral history of the NBA.

Charles was a Visiting Professor of Magazine at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and he teaches writing at the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. He is also on the MWA-NY Board.


Connect with Charles:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Buy the book:
Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

a Rafflecopter giveaway ;

FEATURED AUTHOR: CHARLES SALZBERG

ABOUT THE BOOK

Francis Hoyt, arrogant, athletic, brilliant, manipulative and ruthless, is a master burglar. He specializes in stealing high-end silver, breaking into homes that seem impenetrable. He’s never been caught in the act, although he has spent some time in prison on a related charge, time he used to hone his craft and make valuable connections.

One day, Charlie Floyd, brilliant, stubborn, an experienced investigator, who has recently retired from his job with the attorney general’s department for the state of Connecticut, receives a phone call from Manny Perez, a Cuban-American Miami police detective. Perez, who’s worked with Floyd previously, wants to enlist the former investigator in his efforts to put an end to Francis Hoyt’s criminal career. Floyd accepts the offer and they team up to bring Hoyt to justice.

As Floyd and Perez get closer to their prey, Hoyt finds out they’re after him and rather than backing down, he taunts them, daring them to bring him in. As the story develops, the stakes get higher and higher, until the three men confront each other in a stunning climax.

Book Details

Title: Second Story Man

Author: Charles Salzberg

Genre: Literary Crime/Suspense
Series: Henry Swann

Publisher: Down & Out Books (March 26, 2018)

Print length: 296 pages

INTERVIEW WITH CHARLES SALZBERG

Charles, what’s the story behind the title of your book?
The novel centers around three characters. First, and most important, because without him there’d be no story, is Francis Hoyt, a master burglar. He’s literally a “second story man,” who breaks into the homes of the wealthy. In winter, he’s based in Florida. In summer, he moves north, following his prey. He began his career breaking into homes at dinnertime, when he knew his victims would be home, along with their valuables, and most probably downstairs, dining. His “second story,” is that as a result of a bad decision, he’s spent some time in prison, but now that he’s out, he’s changed his modus operandi. Now, he works late at night, when his victims are asleep.

The two men after him, Charlie Floyd, a recently retired Connecticut state investigator, is in search of his “second story,” wondering what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. Manny Perez, a Cuban-American Miami police detective, is living his “second story,” in his adoptive country, now trying to make up for a mistake that got him temporarily suspended from the force.

How did you create the plot for Second Story Man?
I don’t write with an outline. In fact, I never know what’s going to happen from one page to the next. I start with an idea or a character—in this case it was Francis Hoyt, the thief, after reading about two master burglars, the “dinnertime bandit” and the “silver thief.” Once I had the character, I borrowed two other characters from an earlier novel, Devil in the Hole (which was based on a true crime, a man who murders his three kids, wife, mother and family dog, and disappears), shook everything up, and then saw what happens.

Are any of your characters inspired by real people?
In this book, only Francis Hoyt, who’s an amalgam of the “dinnertime bandit” and the “silver thief,” in terms of the way they worked. But everything about his character was totally invented. But I do sometimes use the names of people I know in my novels, and this is no exception. People seem to like the attention, even if it’s negative.

Is your book based on real events?
Partially. Some of the thefts I describe that happened before the book begins, are based on real events.

Sounds very intriguing. Where’s home for you?
Born and raised in New York City. And the most time I’ve spent away from it was four years of college and one year of law school. I get a little antsy when I’m away from the city for more than five or six days.


What do you love about where you live?
I could easily say everything, including all the things that non-New Yorkers (and sometimes New Yorkers) complain about, but that would be avoiding the question. I love the energy. I love the diversity. I love the various neighborhoods. I love the interesting people I meet and associate with every day (most of them having come from somewhere else). I love that it’s a city that never closes down. I once came home from a Jerry Lee Lewis concert around two-thirty in the morning, when everyone should be asleep, only to find my neighbor was on her way out. It’s a city where if you’re bored there’s something wrong with you. And, I love the anonymity. I can live in a building for ten, twenty years, and maybe know one or two neighbors, and then only to say hello. I love that your lifestyle is, for the most part, unjudged by my fellow New Yorkers.


If you had an extra $100 a week to spend on yourself, what would you buy?
I know this might sound a little ridiculous, but I really do have all I want (and need). But if a hundred bucks were burning a hole in my pocket I’d probably spend it on books and movies.

Excellent choice! 
What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned?
Two things, no good deed goes unpunished (thanks to Clare Booth Luce for that insight), and we are all our own worst enemies.

Who would you pick to write your biography?
There’s no way my life has the makings of anything anyone would want to read, which is perhaps why I’m drawn to writing. But if I had to choose, I’d pick my friend, T.J. Stiles, who writes wonderful biographies, including two of my favorites: one on Jesse James and the other on George Armstrong Custer.

What dumb things did you do during your college years?
My problem isn’t the dumb things I did it’s the dumb things I didn’t do. I was a shy kid, a year younger than anyone else in my class, because I skipped a grade in junior high, and so I led an incredibly boring and low-risk college life.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
   
Quitting a job in the mailroom of New York magazine after three months with no other job in sight, having sold not one word of what I’d written, to start my life as a freelance writer. I look back and ask myself, “What the hell was I thinking?”

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
See above answer.

What’s one thing that you wish you knew as a teenager that you know now?
That not everyone is judging you all the time like you think they are. The truth is, they’re probably not thinking about you at all.

What makes you bored?
I don’t think I’ve ever been bored in my life. There’s always a book to read, a newspaper to read, a movie to see, a TV program to watch, a magazine to catch up on. Or just being lost in my own “deep” thoughts. By the way, sometimes these thoughts are like, “What should I have for dinner tonight?”


What is your most embarrassing moment?
It would be impossible to answer this since I’m pretty much embarrassed every moment of my life.


What choices in life would you like to have a redo on?
I don’t think about that too much, because all the choices I’ve made have made me who I am, but I guess the choices would pretty much all center around relationships with women.

If someone gave you $5,000 and said you must solve a problem, what would you do with the money?
I can’t imagine any problem that could be solved by throwing $5,000 at it, but I would probably donate it to something like Meals on Wheels. My mother benefited from that program, and it’s more than just feeding the elderly or infirm. It’s about giving them daily contact with another human being, and having someone who actually keeps tabs on them. I might split it with visiting nurse services. Or, I’d give it to a friend in need.



What makes you nervous?
Pretty much everything, but certainly any level of success, since I think it’s always going to disappear.


What makes you happy?
Anything going right makes me happy. Seeing my friends and family happy, makes me happy. Being able to get up every morning and do whatever I want, makes me happy. Not having to wear a tie and jacket to work every day (or ever), makes me happy. See, it doesn’t take much.

What makes you scared?
Prejudice. And clowns.

What makes you excited?
Getting published. Having people enjoy my books. Seeing my students get published. Waking up every morning. Seeing friends.

Do you have another job outside of writing?
I teach writing.

Who are you?
I’m still working on the answer to this one.

If you could only save one thing from your house, what would it be?
Myself.

Would you rather be a lonely genius, or a sociable idiot?
Can I be both?

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
 "What if a much of a which of a wind should give the truth to summer’s lie.” A line from an e.e. cummings poem. It not only feels good to recite, but think about what it means.

And two more, both from Shakespeare: “Those were pearls that were his eyes.” And, “What fools these mortals be.”

What would you like people to say about you after you die?
“You know, I kinda miss him now that he’s gone.”

What’s your favorite line from a book?
I’ve got so many, but the one that comes to mind is: “I am an American, Chicago born – Chicago, that somber city – and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way: first to knock, first admitted; sometimes an innocent knock, sometimes a not so innocent. But a man's character is his fate, says Heraclitus, and in the end there isn't any way to disguise the nature of the knocks by acoustical work on the door or gloving the knuckles.” Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March.

What would your main character say about you?
“What a sucker.”

Who are your favorite authors?
Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Dashiell Hammett.    


What book are you currently reading and in what format?
I usually have two or three books going at the same time, and though I prefer reading paperback or hardcover to digital, I wind up reading both ways. Right now, I’m reading my friend, David Swinson’s Crime Song, Ranger Games, by Ben Blum, and The Friends of Eddie Coyle, by George V. Higgins. But I’ve got a stack of other books to catch up on, and when I go on vacation I always bring my Kindle and read them on that.

Do you have a routine for writing?
I wish I did. I’m horrible about that. I’ve never, ever missed a deadline, and that includes all those years working as a magazine journalist, but I am very undisciplined in terms of carving out particular times to write. I just do it when I feel like it. Fortunately, I’m a very fast typist—90 words a minute—and I can focus really well when I sit down to write.   

What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received about your writing?
When Devil in the Hole came out a writer friend of mine, Ken Wishnia, asked me to come speak to his college class. They all read the book. As soon as I got there one young woman stood up and said, “You know, I feel really guilty because after reading this book I felt sorry for the murderer.” That was the best thing anyone could have said, because I wanted to write a human character, someone who’d committed a horrendous crime, murdering his entire family, but could still be, on some level, someone you could feel for, not simply a monster. Monsters are stereotypical. People are much more complicated than that. And during the same class, another young woman stood up and said, “Your book is the first book I’ve read all the way through since junior high school.”

If you could be a ghostwriter for any famous author, whom would you pick?
I actually was a ghostwriter and I’d never do it again.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the next Henry Swann novel, tentatively called, Swann’s Down, which might be the last. Of course, I said that about the last one, too. The truth is, if I come up with an idea, I’ll probably write a sixth.

OTHER BOOKS BY CHARLES SALZBERG

Swann’s Last Song (Henry Swann #1)
Swann Dives In  (Henry Swann #2)
Swann’s Lake of Despair (Henry Swann #3)
Swann’s Way Out  (Henry Swann #4)


Devil in the Hole
Triple Shot

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charles Salzberg is a novelist, journalist, and acclaimed writing instructor. He is the author of the Henry Swann detective series, including Swann’s Last Song which was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel and Devil in the Hole, which was named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine. He has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College, the Writer’s Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, New York Magazine, and GQ. He lives in New York City.

Connect with Charles:
Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon