each other as necessary. Darrow is a former professional volleyball player (in Italy), unsuccessful country-western singer/songwriter, import store owner, and assistant guru in a small, benign spiritual organization. Before bowing to the need for higher education, a much younger Darrow ran a punch press in a sheetmetal factory, drove a taxi, worked as a night janitor, shoveled asphalt on a road crew, and installed wood flooring. He missed being blown up by Mt. St. Helens by ten minutes, survived the 1985 Mexico City earthquake (8 on the Richter scale), and (so far) has successfully weathered his own internal disasters.
Darrow's new novel is The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth.
Recently I asked the author about what he was reading. Darrow's reply:
I’m currently reading Other Plans by Caimh McDonnell, an Irish comedian turned author. This is his latest and I’ve read them all,Visit Verlin Darrow's website.beginning with the Dublin Trilogy, which is actually four comic crime novels. He’s one of my favorite authors, rivaling Donald E. Westlake. A minor character in his first book was so well-loved that he started another series with this colorful figure. The plotting is tight, the characters are fascinating, the setting interests me, and I laugh out loud while I’m reading. What more could ask for?
Recently, I finished Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg, a complex police/fire fighter procedural with a keen sense of place—the dry canyons north of LA. I found it hard to put down as I continuously wanted to know what came next.
Lastly, I reread my first mystery—Blood and Wisdom—for the first time in years. I still liked it a lot, but I could see that I should’ve simplified the plot and some of the humor was off the mark. Oh well.
As you can gather, I favor genre novels. I actually think that a great deal of the literary works taught in schools are poorly written. (I know, I know. I’m a barbarian). But why should the reader have to work so hard?
My Book, The Movie: Murder for Liar.
The Page 69 Test: Murder for Liar.
The Page 69 Test: The Not Quite Enlightened Sleuth.
--Marshal Zeringue
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