VBT: Off The Books

Dana King

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GENRE: Hard-boiled Private Investigator

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BLURB:

Nick Forte has lost his detective agency and makes ends meet doing background checks and

other paperwork. He pays for everything else through jobs he takes for cash and without any

written contract. What starts out as a simple investigation into a traffic accident exposes Forte to

people who have truly lost everything and have no viable hope of reclaiming their lives. That

doesn’t sit well with Forte, leading him and his friend Goose Satterwhite to take action that ends

more violently than anyone expected.

“The return of Chicago private detective Nick Forte, the tough protagonist of two Shamus Award

nominated novels, is well worth the wait. Nick’s latest escapade Off The Books—the first in

nearly six years—will surely earn additional praise for the acclaimed series.”

-J.L .Abramo, Shamus Award-winning author of Chasing Charlie Chan.

"Nick Forte reminds me of Robert B. Parker's Spenser: a PI with a finely tuned sense of justice

who doesn't take anyone's s***. Any fan of hardboiled detective fiction is in for a helluva ride."

--Chris Rhatigan, former publisher of All Due Respect Books

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EXCERPT

Excerpt Three:

I first saw him standing under the “employees only” sign near the exit to the truck service bays.

Early twenties, a little under average height, short blond hair. Caroline was unaware of him,

focused as she was on a three-way text conversation with her friends Maria and Arielle.

The next time the kid caught my attention he was half as far away, standing where the food

court opened into the convenience store. I only noticed him this time because I recognized him,

and he was the only Love’s employee on the floor. His name was Jimmy, and he was definitely

looking our direction.

I’m an old-school father with an only child. A daughter, no less. My primary purpose in life was

to make sure no one messed with her. Everything else—work, food, clothing, mortgage

payments, staying out of prison—comes after. Jimmy hadn’t done anything wrong, but the

Dadar had activated.

All fathers think their daughters are beautiful; I had empirical evidence. If the steady stream of

boys circling the periphery of her life looking for an in wasn’t enough, I once overheard another

kid in the band describe her to a friend as the “archetype of virginal beauty.” (What can I say?

Magnet school.)

The next time I caught sight of Jimmy he stood three feet behind Caroline, checking her out with

rapt attention. I sidled over, using my best stealth technique. He never saw me coming until I

leaned in close and spoke in my most quietly menacing voice. “She’s thirteen years old.”

Jimmy evaporated faster than a snowflake in a microwave..

I still got it.

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AUTHOR :

Off the Books is Dana King’s sixth Nick Forte private investigator novel. Two of the earlier books

(A Small Sacrifice and The Man in the Window) received Shamus Award nominations from the

Private Eye Writers of America. Dana also writes the Penns River series of police procedurals

set in a small Western Pennsylvania town, as well as one standalone novel, Wild Bill, which is

not a Western. His short fiction appears in numerous anthologies and web sites. He is a

frequent panelist at conferences and reads at Noirs at Bars from New York to North Carolina.

Website

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INTERVIEW 

 Did you use any of your own experience as inspiration?

Oh my, yes. Almost everything Nick Forte and his daughter Caroline do together is based on things

my daughter - often referred to as The Sole Heir – and I have done, sometimes literally. I even chose

the name Caroline because it was going to be my daughter’s middle name until her mother made a

late change.

 I also sometimes work in things I’ve seen or heard about I wish had come out differently. As the

author I can get Forte directly involved in some things and let them play out in the most satisfying,

dramatic, or personal, way. For instance, in Off the Books he observes a man putting something into

a woman’s drink while she’s in the restroom. I wouldn’t do what Forte does, but I’d like to think

someone would. 

 On average, how long does the writing process take?

 It used to take a year to a year and a half, but it’s considerably quicker since I retired from my day

job. Now I’d say it’s eight or nine months for the actual writing. It’s hard to be more precise because I

like to let each draft breathe before starting the next, as the process works better if what I meant to

say isn’t fresh in my mind; I also often work on other projects during the hiatus. The most important

thing to think during an edit is “What the hell was I getting at there?”  When did you realize you wanted a career in writing?

I don’t know that I ever really wanted a “career” in writing, if by that you mean to earn my living solely

as a writer. There was a brief moment when I thought I might be happy to be what used to be called a

“midlist” writer, but those don’t really exist anymore. I grew up working class and the security of a

regular paycheck allows me to sleep at night. Writing could supplement my regular income but I never

really wanted to be dependent on the whims of public taste or the million things that can change in

the industry that would have nothing to do with me except for their effect.

Now, when did I realize I wanted to be at least as much of a writer as I just described? About the time

I got my first agent. I knew even then that getting an agent was not a given, so I figured I must be

doing something right. The first Shamus Award nomination from the Private Eye Writers of America,

for A Small Sacrifice, really set the hook.  If you weren’t an author, what other career paths would you have taken?

All I ever wanted to be until I was in my middle thirties was a trumpet player. My Bachelor’s degree is

in Music Education, I played in an Army band for three years, and I have a Master in Trumpet

Performance. I had to give it up as a career when family responsibilities required more money than

my musical talent was capable of generating. At first writing served as a way to scratch my creative

itch, but it didn’t take long for me to become as immersed in writing as I had been in music.  Out of the characters that you created, who is your favorite?

There are actually two, and I chose them because deep down, they’re both me. James Ellroy once

said Raymond Chandler wrote about the kind of man he wanted to be, while Dashiell Hammett wrote

about the kind of man he was afraid he was. To me, Penns River Police Sergeant Ben “Doc” Dougherty is the man I hope I would be under similar circumstances, but Chicago private eye Nick

Forte is the man I’m afraid I would be. 

 What advice would you give to someone looking to be a writer?

Read. It’s not possible for a writer to read too much. You might focus on your genre, but don’t limit

yourself to it, as there are things you can learn from quite far afield. Writing advice books can be

great, but take them with a grain of salt, as the object is to create your voice and sensibilities, not

copy others’.

You also need to learn to read like a writer. How does a writer read? Civilians can enjoy a book with

only a superficial regard to the craft involved; writers must always be aware of it on some level. It’s

not enough to say you like Elmore Leonard’s dialog and would love to sound like that; you need to

investigate how he did it. Take your favorite writers, think about what they do that makes them your

favorites, how they do it, then process that through your unique set of talents. You’ll be surprised at

how much, and how quickly, you’ll learn.

  What kind of research (if any) was required for any of your books?

It’s hard to say because so much depends on the individual book. I took four months off from writing

to research the Western I’m near to finishing now. Off the Books didn’t take any more than a few

hours here and there as I was doing the writing. Of course, Off the Books is my sixth private eye

novel, so I already knew quite a bit about PIs. The same applies to my Penns River series of police

procedurals. I needed more research early in the series, but by the time the eighth book rolled around

I only had to look up specific things unique to that story. I’m close to writing a three-book arc that will

wrap up that series and will involve things I never looked much at before, so I’m already doing a little

research in that direction.

To me, the best way to do research is as part of my regular life. I’ve read countless books on police

work and cop memoirs so that I can work my knowledge in between the lines of the book. That’s a

much more effective way than beating people over the head with specifics.  How long after you finish a book do you start another one?

Just about right away, with maybe a week or two off to recharge my batteries. The time off I took for

the Western was unusual for me. I’ll start the next Forte book within a couple of weeks after finishing

the Western, and I’m only taking that time to polish the outline. Thet book is begging to be written and

I see no reason to make it wait any longer than it already has.

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 GIVEAWAY 

Dana King will award a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

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