SIGNS AND WONDERS INTERVIEW

At Rod Norman's SIGNS AND WONDERS site, the focus is often on interviewing crime novelists not just about their books, but about music and film and the nexus of those artistic forms with the craft of writing novels.

Today I'm interviewed by Rod in conjunction with the coming Feb. 16 release of my third novel, PRINT THE LEGEND.

It's a wind-ranging exchange that encompasses favorite and memorable concerts, favorite songwriters (Kris Kristofferson and the late, great Mickey Newbury), but also favorite TV series and films that did justice to the novels on which they were based. Charles Laughton's amazing adaptation of West Virginia Davis Grubb's classic debut novel, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER finds favor.

Rod also tends to ask for touts regarding singer/songwriters who might be new to listeners...such as Melissa McClelland who penned the noirish Passenger 24.

We also talk about favorite films... Mine includes Alan Rudolph's THE MODERNS about the 1920s Paris art scene. The film, which incorporates such historical figures as Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, was a major influence in shaping the second Hector Lassiter novel, TOROS & TORSOS. A few of the film's characters names actually crept into TOROS (one, a sinister art collector from THE MODERNS, the other a gallery owner). The film's soundtrack, composed by Mark Isham, is also a favorite and contains tracks I return to often while writing.

You can read Rod's interview here, along with his previous interview of Ken Bruen, here.