Interview with Dana King, Author of Resurrection Mall

Dana King owns two nominations for the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award, for A Small Sacrifice (2013) and again two years later for The Man in the Window. His novel Grind Joint was noted by Woody Haut in the L.A. Review of Books as one of the fifteen best noir reads of 2013. A short story, “Green Gables,” appeared in the anthology Blood, Guts, and Whiskey, edited by Todd Robinson. Other short fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Spinetingler, New Mystery Reader, A Twist of Noir, Mysterical-E, and Powder Burn Flash.

Dana lives in Maryland with The Beloved Spouse.

Find Dana King online …

Blog: http://danaking.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DanaKingBooks
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Dana-King/e/B005J5BU5K/
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2084473.Dana_King

Did you like mysteries and thrillers growing up?

Always. Sherlock Holmes, The Hardy Boys, Encyclopedia Brown, and the Thinking Machine are among my earliest reading memories.

What is the first story in that genre you wrote, whether it is published or unpublished?

I wrote a private eye short story in a high school creative writing class that the teacher spoke highly of, then let it drop for years. The first adult story I wrote was another PI, which evolved into my Nick Forte series.

What is your favorite part of writing in this genre?

That’s hard to say. There are a lot of things I like about writing crime. I think what I like best is the opportunity to write about the kinds of people I understand. Not necessarily the criminals, but the average people caught up in the story one way or another. My cops, for instance. They’re mostly just working class guys who found a job they like and are generally good at. Most of them grew up in or near Penns River and they have more or less trouble adjusting to what the town has become. I grew up there, too, and have some of the same problems when I go back.

Is there an author in this genre you most admire?

Again, picking one is tough, but it’s probably Dennis Lehane. He’s a brilliant writer and his heart’s in the right place. He has a way of exposing social issues in his writing that brings them right out into the open, but never in such a way that he detracts from the story. Well, rarely, anyway. There are a few moments in Moonlight Mile.

What is up next for you?

I’m working on another Penns River story. A mass shooting in a local department store provides an opportunity for a robber passing through town to take advantage of the local cops’ preoccupation with the other problem at hand.

Do you have anything to add?

I’m always aware of what a treat and a privilege it is to be part of the crime fiction community, but the week of a new release drives that point home. That probably sounds sappy to someone from the outside, but crime fiction writers are, in general, as fine a group of people as anyone I know. Myself, excluded, of course.