Friday, October 15, 2010

Reed Farrel Coleman

Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR's Maureen Corrigan, Reed Farrel Coleman is the former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. He has published twelve novels—two under his pen name Tony Spinosa—in three series, and one stand-alone with award-winning Irish author Ken Bruen. His books have been translated into seven languages.

Coleman is a three-time winner of the Shamus Award for Best Detective Novel of the Year. He has also received the Barry and Anthony Awards, and has been twice nominated for the Edgar® Award. His new novel is Innocent Monster, the 6th Moe Prager novel.

Last month I asked him what he was reading. His reply:
Gone ‘Til November by Wallace Stroby

A very much under-appreciated writer, Stroby delivers a powerful novel in the form of a dual narrative. Although I haven’t gotten far enough into the book to know for sure, it seems the two main characters—an African-American hit man from New Jersey and a white, female sheriff’s deputy from south Florida—are on a collision course. I doubt the end is going to be pretty or turn out very well for one of them. But no matter how it turns out, I’m enjoying Stroby’s sparse yet vivid prose and the evocation of two very different settings and situations. It’s a story told at street level and rightfully so, because behind the façade, that’s really where we all live.
Visit Reed Farrel Coleman's website.

Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager Mystery Series, the movie.

The Page 69 Test: Innocent Monster.

--Marshal Zeringue