1--What is the title of your latest release?
CAPE RAGE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Never play baseball in an elevator. Danny Barrett - the undercover cop in Cape Rage who brings down a crime family living on an island off the coast of Washington State - would never do that.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The first Danny Barrett book – The Sweet Goodbye – took place in the forests of Maine. I wanted a road trip, some open horizons, a little water. Ended up in Washington State.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I would. Although I’d keep him in front of me.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Tough. Resilient. Mysterious.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I like villains as much as I like main characters.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do both. Which means I overwork, but I can’t stop editing as I go along. Bad habit. Or good habit. I still can’t decide.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
When I’m writing? Dry roasted peanuts. When I’m not writing? Too many to start listing.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
Old wooden desk, lot of books and a great window. If I have a view, I have a great study. I’ve been looking at the back channel of a good river for the past twelve years. Through four seasons.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I’ve been on an old noir kick and falling in love with Dashiell Hammett all over again. I think his first book, Red Harvest, is as good as it gets.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I read Treasure Island as a boy and thought that would be a fun thing to do when I grew up, write pirate stories. I started writing stories shortly after I read Treasure Island. Later, I read Chandler and Hemingway (those two men hated each other, by the way) and thought – this must be how you do it if there are no pirates.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I have an agent, Gail Hochman, and she shopped the first Danny Barrett book around. The book is called The Sweet Goodbye and Berkley Books bought it. I got to work with Tom Colgan at Berkley, and he’s worked with some great mystery writers, including Ed McBain, who was a legend, so everything about that deal – Berkley, Tom, Gail – was exciting right from the start.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Noir. You may have guessed that already.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Too many to have just one, but I’m going to stick with the noir theme and say the first Cape Fear movie was probably Robert Mitchum’s greatest role, which makes it a great movie. The book is also by one of my favorite authors, John D MacDonald
15--What is your favorite season?
Autumn
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Quietly.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I loved Blacklist and am sad it’s finished. I thought the start of the last season was the strongest in years, and they could have – should have – kept it going. Dune 2 was wonderful. No surprise. A Canadian director. Those people always hit it out of the elevator.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I love Hawaiian pizza and cinnamon buns, so I probably shouldn’t be commenting on cuisine. Way above my palate. Unless that’s a fancy word for French cousins. I have plenty of those.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Look for something to do.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on the next Danny Barrett novel. He’s going to Florida and joining the circus in this one. That’s something Barrett would do – join a circus when all the circuses are shutting down. It should be a fun read when I’m done.
Danny Barrett is caught between a family of criminals and the psychopath who is tracking them in the latest novel of the series the New York Times calls, "Dynamite."
The FBI has a hundred undercover agents who can work in the city, but Danny Barrett is the one they call when they need someone to investigate crimes in the wilderness.
This case is a particularly difficult one. For more than a century the Danby family have ruled as kings in their corner of the Pacific Northwest. The Feds were mostly willing to look the other way while the family smuggled everything from liquor to cigarettes across the border, but lately things have taken a darker turn.
A recent bank robbery in Seattle looks like it may have been committed by the Danbys, but there's no way the FBI can get any locals to turn against them. Only Danny Barrett has what it takes to get inside the organization and shut them down.
But before Danny can do that he's going to have to contend with Henry Carter, a former in-law and current psychopath. The Danbys thought they left Henry for dead in the deepest part of the woods, but he's coming back. He'll go to hell to get his revenge, and he's willing to take the whole family with him.
Thriller Police Procedural | Thriller Crime [Berkley, On Sale: March 19, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593440384 / eISBN: 9780593440391]
A former broadcaster and newspaper crime columnist, Ron has won numerous awards for his writing, whether it be news columns, magazine features or an investigative series that once saw him buy handguns on the streets and back alleys of Canada’s capital city.
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