Today I'm delighted to welcome
ROD REYNOLDS
to share his BEST OF CRIME ...
... AUTHORS
James
Ellroy. The same answer I always give! He's divisive for many readers due to
the style and content of his novels, and his last few haven't been that great -
but his run from 'The Big Nowhere' through to 'The Cold Six Thousand'
encompasses five books and fifteen years and I don't think any crime writer has
hit and maintained as high a bar as that body of work. The author that hooked me
on reading again, and made me want to be a writer.
... FILMS/MOVIES
Heat. The
Pacino/De Niro face off is the iconic scene, but just watch how Michael Mann
develops his characters, gives everyone a reason and a motivation for what they
do and makes you root for both sides even as they hurtle into each other. A
novel in film form. And that ending...
... TV DRAMAS
The Wire.
Not an original choice, but the series that paved the way for what television
has become. Opened the door again for complex, character-driven, niche-appeal,
long-form drama.
... FICTIONAL KILLERS
Pete
Bondurant from Ellroy's Underworld USA trilogy. A mob hitman, right wing nutjob
and self-admitted murderer of over 500 people. Not my cup of tea, in real life.
And yet somehow he's the hero of the first two books...
... FICTIONAL DETECTIVES
James Lee
Burke's Clete Purcell. Dave Robicheaux is the protagonist of the series, but
he's a bit too po-faced for me. His former partner in the New Orleans PD,
Purcell, is more like it - hard drinking, violent, quick to anger, slow to
consider consequences - but loyal, tough, fearless, and very funny. Burke uses
him sparingly, too, which is a lesson for all authors.
... MURDER WEAPONS
The B-movie
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is based on the same real life murders as my
debut novel, so I watched it for 'research'. It claims at the start that
everything depicted in it is true, only the names have been changed. In the
film, a young woman is murdered with her own trombone when the killer attaches
a knife to it, ties her to a tree, and stabs her to death by playing the
instrument. Needless to say, this did not happen.
... DEATH SCENES
That part
in the original Robocop where the villain falls into a vat of acid and then
gets hit by a car as he's dissolving was pretty shocking when I saw it as a
kid!
... BLOGS/WEBSITES
So many
great blogs out there - this one not least among them. For aspiring writers,
I'd always suggest getting on Twitter. The crime writing community on there is
big, active and very welcoming - it's definitely the best introduction to the
scene.
... WRITING TIPS
Read your
work aloud. It's the very best way to pick up on clunky dialogue, prose that
doesn't work and passages where the pace lags.
... WRITING SNACKS
Coffee. I try not to snack while I'm writing because I'm a terrible chocolate fiend, so I stick to coffee - although too much sends me a bit mad...
About ROD REYNOLDS
Rod Reynolds was born in
London and, after a successful career in advertising, working as a media buyer,
he decided to get serious about writing. He completed City
University's Crime Writing Masters course and his first novel, THE DARK INSIDE,
was published by Faber in 2015. The sequel, BLACK NIGHT FALLING, was published
in hardback and ebook in August 2016 and in paperback in March 2017. Rod lives
in London with his wife and two daughters.
Find Rod Reynolds on Twitter - @Rod_WR
About BLACK NIGHT FALLING
Publisher's description
And now I stood here, on a desolate airfield in the Arkansas
wilderness, a stone's throw from Texarkana. Darkness drawing in on me. Cross
country to see a man I never imagined seeing again. On the strength of one
desperate telephone call...'
Having left Texarkana for the safety of the West Coast,
reporter Charlie Yates finds himself drawn back to the South, to Hot Springs,
Arkansas, as an old acquaintance asks for his help. This time it's less of a
story Charlie's chasing, more of a desperate attempt to do the right thing
before it's too late.
Black Night Falling was published by in paperback by Faber on 2 March 2017.
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