Jeff Crook is a technical writer/editor for the U.S. Postal Service and the author of several fantasy books in the Dragonlance series including Conundrum and The Thieves' Guild.The newly released The Sleeping and the Dead is his first mystery.
Earlier this month I asked the author what he was reading. His reply:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I make it a habit to read, every year, a few of the classics. I had originally set my heart on A Tale of Two Cities, as I had several copies in my library and I hadn't read it since high school. But when I went to find one of them, I could find none of them. Apparently I had sold each copyVisit Jeff Crook's website.in a garage sale, believing I still had at least one on the shelf. I set out for the used bookstore and again failed to find a single copy. So I picked up Great Expectations, as I had never read that story, except once in junior high when I scanned the Cliff's Notes in order to complete a book report that was due the next day.
Charles Dickens is the original purveyor of the bitingly wry literary lightning bolt. This same wit, or tone of voice, is an identifying feature of the detective noir narrator.
I'm also reading Karate-do: My Way of Life by Gichin Funokoshi. It is the reading requirement for 8th Kyu in Okinawan kobudo. And because detective novel authors are supposed to be tough guys who can kick butt. With a big stick. Or nunchaku.
The Page 69 Test: The Sleeping and the Dead.
--Marshal Zeringue
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