The Private Eye Writers of America Awards Jerry Kennealy the Eye Lifetime Achievement Award

The Private Eye Writers of America announced the winners of the annual Shamus Awards last month and Jerry Kennealy was honored with the Eye Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I have been a movie and music buff all my life, and when I was told that I was to be the recipient of the PWA Life Achievement Award, a Robert De Niro line sprang to my lips: ‘Me? You talkin’ to me?’,” said Kennealy. “It is truly a humbling experience to have my name added to the list of the prestigious former winners of this award, and I humbly thank all involved.”

A former private investigator himself, Jerry Kennealy introduced his popular PI Nick Polo in 1987 with Polo Solo and followed that entry with nine more over the course of ten years, two of which—Polo’s Wild Card (1991) and Special Delivery (1993)—were nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Novel. He then went on to write ten more novels, some thrillers and others featuring PIs, but all showcasing his range of talent as a crime novelist. Earlier this year, twenty years after the publication of the tenth Polo mystery, All That Glitters(1997), Down & Out Books published a new book in the series, Polo's Long Shot.

“I am so happy for Jerry,” said Eric Campbell, publisher of Down & Out Books. “I have read and enjoyed all of the early Nick Polo mysteries and when approached by Jerry to continue the series, I jumped at the opportunity. This award is a well-deserved recognition for a lifetime of work in the genre of crime fiction.”

Not only does Kennealy have more mysteries planned for Nick Polo, he’s recently started another series featuring San Francisco Detective Inspector Johnny O’Rorke, the first book of which, Screen Test, was published last year. The second in the series, Dirty Who, will be published in 2018 by Down & Out Books.

Announcing The Jon Bassoff Collection

Down & Out Books is thrilled to announce that we will be reissuing all five of Jon Bassoff's highly acclaimed novels on December 11th, 2017. The Jon Bassoff Collection includes Corrosion, Factory Town, The Disassembled Man, The Incurables, and The Blade This Time.

“I am so excited to see these books back in print,” said Bassoff. “The new covers are amazing and perfectly illustrate and pair with the stories being told.”

“This is an incredible collection of books,” said Eric Campbell, publisher of Down & Out Books. “I am thrilled that we can offer Jon the opportunity to introduce them to a new audience of readers, who I am confident will enjoy them as much as I did.”

“Sharp, original, fierce…”, “Beautifully bleak…”, “Absolutely mesmerizing…”, “Startling original and unsettling…” are just a few of the comments reviewers have showered on these titles, three of which have already been optioned for film adaptation.

The striking covers for the books in this collection were designed by award-winning artist Daniele Serra.

New in the Down & Out Bookstore in October

October 2nd: BOLT ACTION REMEDY, a Trevor Galloway Thriller by J.J. Hensley.

Former Pittsburgh narcotics detective Trevor Galloway has been hired to look into the year-old homicide of a prominent businessman who was gunned down on his estate in Central Pennsylvania. When Galloway arrives, he determines the murder could have only been committed by someone extremely skilled in two areas: Skiing and shooting. He believes the assailant should not be too difficult to identify given the great amount of skill and athleticism needed to pull off the attack. When he discovers the victim’s property is next door to a biathlon training camp, the situation becomes significantly more complicated.

Galloway makes plenty of enemies as he sifts through stories about lucrative land deals, possible drug connections, and uncovers evidence suggesting the homicide may have been elaborate suicide. As he attempts to navigate through an unfamiliar rural landscape, he does his best not to succumb to an old drug addiction, or become confused by one of his occasional hallucinations. Oh, and a Pittsburgh drug gang enforcer known as The Lithuanian—if he’s even real—is tracking Galloway and wants to take his eyes. Galloway would rather keep those.

October 12th: PASSPORT TO MURDER: Bouchercon Anthology 2017, edited by John McFetridge.

“[A] rich and varied anthology…” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Janet Hutchings, Chris Grabenstein, Gary Phillips, and Hilary Davidson headline a new world tour anthology of 22 stories from the heartland of America to Italy, Japan, Mexico, Cuba, England, and more.

Passport to Murder is published in conjunction with Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, held in 2017 in Toronto, Ontario. As with the convention itself, the anthology spreads a broad canopy across a wide variety of crime writers from across the country and around the world—including both veteran writers and the brightest up-and-coming talents in the field. All of the stories include some kind of travel ranging from a cross-America ride-sharing trip to tourists in Italy and Japan to a woman on the run in Mexico to murder in Cuba. And even a haunted hotel in Toronto.

All participants contributed their efforts to support our charity—Frontier College, winner of the UNESCO Literacy Prize in 1977—and by extension readers and writers everywhere.

October 19th: KILLING MALMON: 30 Authors, 1 Victim, edited by Dan and Kate Malmon.

Never before has killing someone benefitted such a good cause…

In 2014, Crimespree Magazine held an internet-based flash fiction contest. The rules were simple: somewhere in the story you had to “Kill Dan Malmon.” That was it. The story had to be brief, inventive, and somewhere, Malmon had to die. Now, thanks to Down & Out Books, those original stories, plus a few more, are being collected into one volume with all proceeds going to the MS Society. If you hate MS as much as we do, and if your feelings towards Dan Malmon are rather ambivalent anyway, then this is the volume for you.

Featuring stories by Hector Acosta, Eric Beetner, Dana Cameron, Sarah M. Chen, Matthew Clemens, Angel Luis Colón, Hilary Davidson, Cory Funk, Danny Gardner, Paul J. Garth, Rob Hart, Ed Kurtz, S.W. Lauden, Russel D. McLean, Jeff Macfee, Erin Mitchell, Erica Ruth Neubauer, Brad Parks, Thomas Pluck, Bryon Quertermous, Todd Robinson, Alex Segura, Jeff Shelby, Nathan Singer, Josh Stallings, Jay Stringer, R.D. Sullivan, Bryan VanMeter, Holly West and Dave White.

October 23rd: BROKEN GLASS WALTZES by Warren Moore.

Cincinnati, just before rock changed from spandex to flannel…

Kenny Rockford has the best gig in town, drumming for local heroes The Selekt. The pay’s OK, but the benefits are amazing. One benefit is Jean Cassidy, the girl at the club with a taste for the loud and fast. And they’re making beautiful music together—until Kenny learns about Jean’s husband.

From there on, it’s lust, murder and madness, at a tempo even Kenny may not be able to match.

Our Featured 99¢ Crime Novel for Early October

From October 1st through 15th, CLUTCHING AT STRAWS, the second Jake Diamond mystery by J.L. Abramo, may be purchased for just 99¢ on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and Kobo. Also available from the Down & Out Bookstore in both .mobi and .epub formats.

Lefty Wright had it all figured. In fact he was doing the math as he crawled into the deserted house through the kitchen window. Get to the bedroom, crack open the wall safe, grab the envelope, fifteen minutes. One thousand dollars a minute. Nice score.

What Lefty neglected to factor in were the unknowns. And when the police nab him red-handed and discover the dead body of a prominent Criminal Courts Judge stuffed beneath the bed, Lefty finds himself charged with first degree murder with no shoes, no one believing in his innocence, and one phone call. He calls Jake Diamond.

In his second outing, Diamond attempts to prove Lefty’s innocence while investigating a recent kidnapping and a fifteen year old homicide which may or may not be related to Lefty’s dilemma. From San Francisco to the avocado fields of central California to the sound stages of a film shoot in Denver, Diamond’s suspects seem to have one thing in common; they are in no condition to talk by the time Jake gets to them.

This Month's Featured Author: John Shepphird

In a continuing series of features from our authors, John Shepphird talks about the novella format.

What is it about the novella? Why do I keep coming back the format as both a reader, and an author? I say it’s that the novella allows authors to tell an escalating narrative with complete character arcs that’s technically a full meal but on the small-plate menu. Embracing this analogy, War and Peace (over 500K words) is a massive feast, while short stories are regulated to snacks.

When was the last time you started a novel, one that grabbed you, but then along the way you lost interest and didn’t finish the book? If that same novel were shorter, might you have stuck with it? If the author was less concerned about hitting an approximate 80,000 to 100,000 word count that generally defines a “novel” (and focused on boiling the story down to its true essentials) would the book have been more entertaining and held your interest?

If less is more, when is “less” more?

Noir author Les Edgerton in Pam Stack’s Authors on the Air podcast spoke of working in a bookstore and witnessing as customers held two books trying to make a decision. Many chose the largest and heaviest of the two—quantity over quality. This drove Les mad. Maybe there is something about a reader’s expectations of what makes up a book. Do they feel by choosing a novella they’re being slightly cheated, even at a lower price? Maybe that’s why small-plate tapas restaurants are relatively rare while massive-portion chains such as The Cheesecake Factory thrive.

Continue reading…

Down & Out Authors on the Net

• The podcast of Episode 9 of Writer Types hosted by Eric Beetner and S.W. Lauden was published. Guests include Attica Locke, Mark Haskell Smith, Frank Zafiro, Emma Viskic, Iain Ryan, Andrew Nette with a story by Gary Duncan.

• Gordon Brown, whose sequel to FALLING was published last month, talks about the "The Great Idea Robbery", the basis for FALLING TOO, on Criminal Minds.

Gordon also talked about his crime thrillers with Samey Books, home of Team Bookworm.

• Nick Kolakowski has five questions for Marie S. Crosswell, whose novella TEXAS, HOLD YOUR QUEENS was reissued by Shotgun Honey last month.

• S.W. Lauden interrogated Paul Heatley, author of the recently released crime novel FATBOY.

• J.J. Hensley was interviewed by the editors of Biathlon23 talking about his new thriller BOLT ACTION REMEDY.

J.J. also sat down with biathlete and Olympic hopeful Clare Egan to talk about her sport.

And the very busy author was featured on Pittsburgh's TribLive talking about being “too original”.

• S.W. Lauden held a roundtable discussion with the editor of and some of the contributors to the new anthology JUST TO WATCH THEM DIE: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY THE SONGS OF JOHNNY CASH.

• Paul D. Brazill has a short, sharp interview with crime novelist Tom Pitts, whose most recent thriller is the highly reviewed AMERICAN STATIC.

• Thomas Pluck was interviewed on Indie Crime Scene, where he talks about his new crime thriller BAD BOY BOOGIE.

• Sandra Ruttan writes about "Original Spin" on Do Some Damage: An Inside Look at Crime Fiction.

• Frank Zafiro and Lawrence Kelter were guests of Alexandra Amor, Mysteries with Character, talking about the collaborative process. Their most recent co-authored crime novel is THE LAST COLLAR.