Ten years between books. There's got to be a story there. Could be the author took a solo sail around the world is a 27' ketch. Or maybe served a term or two as the head of the Federal Reserve as a personal favor to his old friend, the President. Something notable to excuse the wait the followers of Payton Sherwood's problematic private detective practice had to endure. Something to explain why the talent and promise and imagination of Russell Atwood went mute through a decade-long hibernation.Turns out he just wanted to do it right. Go figure.
"I believe if I had come out right away with a second book, and then a third book, and then a fourth book about Payton Sherwood -- I can honestly say I think my career would be over now. Instead, I have a second book and a sense I might have some longevity in the field as long as I keep producing something that readers can't get anywhere else."
Losers Live Longer is a throwback, one of the new old-fashioned hard-boiled detective stories so well discovered and presented by Hard Case Crime publishers. I say presented because the cover is so striking - evocative of the pulps, and swiveled off-axis so you have to look at it sideways. (You need the long orientation to fit her legs in.) You're not likely to miss it.
And you shouldn't. Payton Sherwood, Atwood's hapless detective, is short of everything except smart dialog, keen observations, and principles. Two-thirds of the way through the year, he's on track to have six clients, none of them significant. Then, in one day, he gets five, four of which he could do without, and a case that includes a fugitive financier, drugs, and kiddie porn, along with several good thrashings, some by his own clients.
Atwood's sense of time and place, and his descriptions of both, place the reader strongly in that time and place, immersing you in the story. When Sherwood runs from of his office without keys or shoes, locking himself out, he's not concerned, and the reader gets an image of this instant of New York without a single look around. The excerpt:
"But not to worry, this was the East Village. There'd be shoes. Time was you couldn't turn a corner in this neighborhood without coming across a tossed-out pair of two-tone loafers, or snakeskin cowboy boots, or zebra-striped high-tops, or glittery platform pumps. Things couldn't have changed that much.
This is the East Village, I told myself, there'll be shoes."
Atwood is a knowledgeable and devoted fan of the genre. His credentials include a lengthy stint as Managing Editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, where he met and worked with some of the legends of the mystery-writing and publishing world. His description of Sherwood could well be auto-biographical.
"He knows that this 'tough guy' mask he wears is a mask. That his self-deprecating remarks are a defense mechanism. He is aware of his place in history and knows he's an anacronism. Now here is the tricky part though: he's trapped in his own trip. Because he knows he's living a lie and that the healthy, sane thing for him to do is quit and start living a real life. But he can't quit, because "not-quitting" is built into the matrix of what he's pretending to be."
The association with Hard Case Crime, publishers of Losers, dates back to his friendship with Charles Ardai, the co-founder, and a former part-time employee at EQMM who Atwood describes as, "a nerdy guy and he loved talking about murder mysteries as much as I used to." Ardai encouraged him to do the sequel to East of A, (from the sound of it, nagged might be a more accurate description) and Hard Case was the perfect fit for Losers.
"Writing short," as Atwood calls it, produces a story that moves inexorably, and still provides setting and plot and dialog that keeps the reader focused, that provides no intermission where your interest can flag and words and sentences slip by unattended.
"I love books which, when I think I skim over a paragraph and turn the page early--only to find on the next page that all hell has broken loose and I'm forced to go back and read that paragraph I just skimmed--that's a writer I admire. Because not only is he giving you every ounce of the real deal, but he's so aware of where the reader's interest is just at the point of flagging and wham-o! -- comes out with some revelation."
Russell Atwood sees food as fuel, and doesn't pay it much heed. The reader had better as well, because you're likely to miss a meal when you forget to stop reading.
John Darrin is a consultant on radiological emergency preparedness for homeland security. His work has taken him all over the world, and includes many unique and first-ever projects. A widower, John lives full-time in his RV and travels the country on the Go Places / Meet People / Do Things Tour.
