Tag Archives: Parker

Guest post: Tony Knighton – character arc or is crime fiction literature?

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Andrew Nette| 4 Comments

Today I’m thrilled to host a guest post by my friend, Tony Knighton, Philadelphia’s only fire fighting crime writer and, I mean, he really is a fire fighter. Tony has a new book out, Three Hours Past Midnight, via Crime Wave Press, also the publishers of my first novel, Ghost Money. Three Hours Past Midnight is Tony’s second book. His first, was a terrific collection of short stories titled Happy Hour and Other Philadelphia. Three Hours Past Midnight is the story of a professional thief who teams with an old partner eager for one last score – a safe in the home of a wealthy Philadelphia politician. But they are not the only ones set on the cash. It’s on my Kindle. Read Tony’s guest post and then pick up a copy of Three Hours Past Midnight for yourself.

Take it away, Tony.

Andrew has graciously invited me to post an essay about my latest work Three Hours Past Midnight from Crime Wave Press. A novel, it is set in my hometown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and features the un-named protagonist from an earlier story of mine, ‘Mister Wonderful’.

While speaking about the Richard Stark books and Stark’s master thief Parker, crime fiction writer Eryk Pruitt said, ‘The least interesting character in the Parker books is Parker’.… Read more

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Crime fiction, Noir fiction, Parker

Tagged , , , , , ,

Gunshine State launch, September 15, Brunswick Bound bookstore

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Andrew Nette| Leave a comment

Gunshine StateA quick heads up for Melbourne folk that I will be launching my second novel, Gunshine State, on Thursday 15 September at Brunswick Bound bookstore, 361 Sydney Road, Brunswick.

I am very excited to announce that my friend and Perth based crime writer, David Whish-Wilson, whose work I have reviewed extensively on this site and whose new novel, Old Scores is out later this year, will be on hand to launch my novel. Copies of the book will be available for purchase on the night.

Gunshine State is a heist thriller set in Queensland, Melbourne and Thailand. Think Richard Stark’s Parker, Garry Disher’s Wyatt, and Wallace Stroby’s Crissa Stone. Add a touch of Surfers Paradisesleaze and a very dangerous stopover in Asia. It will be out in e-book and paperback on September 12 from 280 Steps. You can read about the book, some of the great praise it has already gathered and how you can get your hands on it at the 280 Steps site here.

The launch will kick off at around 6.30pm and go until 8 – 8.30pm, after which we will kick on at one of Brunswick’s many local watering holes.

Everyone is welcome to attend and I hope to see you there.

And while I am on the subject of launching my book, any readers who have a website or blog and who want to review Gunshine State or are interested in me stopping by to do a guest post or author Q&A, don’t hesitate to give me a shout out in the comments section below, and I will get back to you.… Read more

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Australian crime fiction, Australian noir, David Whish-Wilson

Tagged , , , , ,

Interview: New Jersey crime writer, Wallace Stroby

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

stroby_asbury

Wallace Stroby was an award-winning journalist who quit his job as an editor at New Jersey’s Star-Ledger of Newark newspaper, to write crime fiction full time. A life long New Jersey native, he is the author of six books, of which his debut, The Barb Wire Kiss, was a finalist for the 2004 Barry Award for best first novel. His last three books, Cold Shot to the Heart, Kings of Midnight, Shoot the Woman First, feature the female professional criminal character, Crissa Stone. This is an edited version of an interview, which I conducted at Noir Con 2014 in Philadelphia, that originally appeared in issue 17 of Crime Factory. His latest Crissa Stone book The Devil’s Share, is out now.

Let’s start of with your recent books featuring the character of Crissa Stone. What was the inspiration behind writing these?

I always wanted to write a book from the point of a view of a career criminal. In my third novel, Gone ‘Til November, half of the book was from the point of view of an ageing black hit man but the main character was actually a woman, the only female sheriff’s deputy in a small town, a woman in a man’s world and I liked that idea. So coming off Gone ‘Til November I wanted to combine those two and do a story about a career criminal who was a woman in a man’s world.… Read more

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Fawcett Gold Medal Books, Garry Disher, Interviews, Neo Noir, Noir fiction, Parker, Pulp fiction, True crime, Wallace Stroby

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pulp Friday: The Name of the Game is Death

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Andrew Nette| 11 Comments

The Name of the Game is Death

Today’s Pulp Friday offering will be familiar to fans of hardboiled crime fiction, the 1972 edition of The Name of the Game Is Death, by Dan J Marlowe, published by Fawcett Gold Medal.

Although Marlowe is not well known today, aficionados acknowledge he had a major impact on the genre. His books are often compared to Jim Thompson and he influenced writers such as Steven King, and no doubt many others.

I first heard of The Name of the Game is Death during an interview I conducted last year with New Jersey-based Wallace Stroby for issue 17 of Crime Factory (that interview is available in full here). I asked Stroby about some of the lesser-known sixties pulp paperback crime writers who had influenced him, and he nominated Marlowe and, in particular, this book.

Originally published in 1962, The Name of the Game Is Death begins with three criminals pulling a bank heist in Phoenix, Arizona. One of the team is killed in the attempted getaway, another flees to Florida with the money, while the third, the narrator, plans to meet up with him later when police attention has died down. When the accomplice breaks contact, the narrator suspects something is up and travels to the small town from which the accomplice last contacted him, to see for himself what has happened.… Read more

→ 11 Comments

Posted in Fawcett Gold Medal Books, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, Vintage pulp paperback covers, Wallace Stroby

Tagged , , , , ,

Pulp Friday: The Smashers

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Andrew Nette| 2 Comments

The smashers“A novel of The Organisation – girls, horses, dope, murder.”

Regular readers will be familiar by now with my admiration for the late Donald Westlake. Westlake was the hard boiled writer’s hard-boiled crime writer, having penned numerous books over his career, including the wonderful Parker novels under the pseudonym of Richard Stark.

Today’s Pulp Friday is one of Westlake’s early efforts, The Smashers, aka The Cutie, aka The Mercenaries. This edition is the first Dell publication in 1960.

The Smashers was Westlake’s official fiction debut under his real name. His previous fiction efforts, like those of his peer Lawrence Block, were soft porn paperbacks written under other names (here’s a nice post on one of these titles Back Stage Love – “The Shocking expose of what goes on behind the scenes at a summer stock theatre”).

The Smashers is the story of Clay, the right hand man of New York mob boss Ed Ganolese. Clay gets a late night call from a junkie with a dead woman on his hands and the police on his tail. The junkie claims he’s innocent and because he’s connected to Ganolese, Clay has to adopt the role of a PI and find out who the real killer is.

It’s an early and interesting take on the criminal as protagonist that Westlake was subsequently to perfect with his Parker books.… Read more

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Parker, Pulp Friday, Pulp paperback cover art, Vintage pulp paperback covers

Tagged , , , , , ,