My interpretation of that, and what I look for, is the author’s ability to induce that reading trance in which you live the story. My longtime editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren, has said that readers want to feel secure in the hands of the author. What kinds of stories are you drawn to? And what do you steer clear of? My main character in the Prey series, Lucas Davenport, even though he’s male, carries a good deal of Warshawski’s literary genetics. When I was teaching myself to write thrillers, I closely studied Sara Paretsky’s detective V. Right now, I’d favor James Lee Burke’s Robicheaux, although Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch is right up there. There would be several candidates for each. Who’s your favorite fictional detective? And the best villain? Right now I probably read 50 or so crime thrillers a year.
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Ross Thomas was my favorite - he really taught me, in detail, how to write thrillers. MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels, which are about as different as you can get. Later, starting in high school, I read all of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels and all of John D. I began reading “boy detective” novels when I was a child and never stopped.
Which books got you hooked on crime fiction? I like a good light, a good chair and a good book more than anything I can think of, except my wife, Michele. I read so much that I actually have had dedicated reading chairs for most of my life. I dislike much of the current strain of war thrillers, because I regard most of the heroes as murderous psychopaths I have too much respect for the American military to accept that portrayal. As a card-carrying liberal, I even have a sneaking soft spot for Newt Gingrich’s alternative Civil War histories, though I draw the line at his politics. I treasured the “Flashman” novels by George MacDonald Fraser, Derek Robinson’s novels about the British flying corps in World War I - “The Goshawk Squadron” is a minor masterpiece - and as a sometime Civil War buff, “Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara, which shows an astonishing depth of research. I like books that are both historically and technically aware. The last Bernie Gunther novel will be published next April - Kerr died this past spring - and I’m eagerly looking forward to it.ĭescribe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how). They brought me the closest of any books, including nonfiction histories, to understanding Germany during the Hitler years. The last (but one) of the Bernie Gunther novels by Philip Kerr. The author, most recently, of the Virgil Flowers novel “Holy Ghost” devotes specific spots to reading: “I like a good light, a good chair and a good book more than anything I can think of, except my wife.”
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