(the writer, not the other guys)
Let’s say you’re the author of the greatest mystery story ever told. Do you give away the big secret before the end, knowing that a lot of people won’t bother with the rest? Or do you ignore the constant carping and let everyone get to the ending on their own?
Just asking.
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It’s the summer of 1956 in the Los Angeles of our noir imaginations. A serial rapist posing as an undercover cop targets the city’s lovers’ lanes. What complicates finding him is that he’s black and the victims aren’t, and the “white” newspapers won’t run stories that could tarnish the city’s reputation. Meanwhile, racist cops are sure they’ve found their culprit in a former black officer who’d been fired from the LAPD for dating a white woman. Only one detective, a Latino, believes him innocent. But after falling in love with one of the victims, he has to work alone and on the q.t. to solve the case. Eventually, with a little help from Hollywood, the detective springs a trap that ensnares the rapist. It’s the best true story you ever heard—and it has just been published by St. Martin's Press. “...blistering true crime.... In a crowded field of fine true crime authors, Engel makes sure that all of the dots are connected and justice has its say.” –Publishers Weekly
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Ignore all carping.
Just finished reading LA ’56 and thoroughly enjoyed it. Every page had something interesting and it had great pacing. Very concise and entertaining.
Antonio: Thanks much.
Not to turn this into a congrats thread, but I also appreciated L.A. ’56, and noted so. I number my readers in pairs at best, but here’s hoping I made you a sale or two
http://friarsfires.blogspot.com/2013/05/three-different-books.html
Brett, thanks for the very kind words. I hadn’t seen the review before and am pleased to read it now. By the way, you should know that the first several drafts of the book were written, as you suggested, in the conventional past-tense author’s voice. But clearly, something was missing. Only when I decided to go present tense did the urgency of the story come alive for me as the book’s first reader.
You’re welcome.
That’s interesting to hear; it may be just a preference of mine then. After all, you’re the pro, and your way it sold