Crissa Stone on film (sort of)

From the vaults: Pendragon Verlag's amazing full-cast book trailer for the German edition of the first Crissa Stone novel, KALTER SCHUSS INS HERZ (aka COLD SHOT TO THE HEART) from 2015. They've just published the second book in the series, KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, as GELD IST NICHT GENUG ("Money is Not Enough").

GONE 'TIL NOVEMBER audiobook on iTunes

The unabridged audiobook version of GONE 'TIL NOVEMBER, wonderfully read by actress Karen White, is now available for instant download on iTunes, as are the e-book editions of NOVEMBER, KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, COLD SHOT TO THE HEART, THE HEARTBREAK LOUNGE and THE BARBED-WIRE KISS. Links for all can be found here.

KINGS OF MIDNIGHT on Kirkus' Best of 2012

KINGS OF MIDNIGHT finds itself in some excellent company on Kirkus Reviews' year-end list of the Best Books of 2012. You can find the complete Fiction list here.

The Next Big Thing blogathon

I was quite chuffed (as the Brits say) to be recruited by the lovely and talented thriller writer Alexandra Sokoloff to take part in this week's edition of The Next Big Thing blog hop, a series of brief interviews with various authors about their current book or work-in-progress.



I was even more pleased to discover the company I was in, as I'm sharing this week's theme – strong women in crime fiction – with some strong and admirable women indeed: (above, from top) Christa Faust, Michelle Gagnon and Zoe Sharp.



By way of prologue, Ms. Sokoloff explains all here. And you can read this week's entries by clicking on the links below:



Christa Faust

Michelle Gagnon

Zoe Sharp



My contribution follows:



1.) What’s the title or working title of your new/next book?

The most recent is KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, published in April by St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur. It’s the second in my series about Crissa Stone, a professional thief and career criminal.

2) Where did the idea for the book come from?

Writing a series about a fictional thief, I wanted to connect her to a famous real-life robbery, in this case the 1978 Lufthansa heist at New York’s Kennedy Airport. A crew of local gangsters walked away with $8 million from the Lufthansa cargo terminal without firing a shot. At the time, it was the largest cash robbery ever on American soil. Most of the money was never recovered. Seemed time someone found it.  



3) What genre is your book?

Crime. Hard-boiled I guess, if you go for those sort of labels.



4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?  Or TV series?

Writing a continuing series, I never do that because it might mess me up in writing about the characters going forward. That said, I have broken that rule a few times. I imagined Sara Cross, the single mom and sheriff’s deputy in GONE ‘TIL NOVEMBER, as looking very much like Sarah Polley,

an actress I admire a lot. I was always impressed with her determined, slightly otherworldly quality. But when I met her briefly at a New York Film Critics Circle Awards dinner a few years back, she was actually quite cheerful and girly.



For Eddie “The Saint” Santiago in COLD SHOT TO THE HEART, I always envisioned the late character actor Al Lettieri,

who brought an authentically edgy and dangerous quality to his roles in THE GODFATHER, THE GETAWAY and MR. MAJESTYK.



5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A female professional thief and an old-school ex-mobster team up to recover millions in stolen money from a 1978 robbery.



6) Is/will your book be self-published or traditionally published?

St. Martin’s Press has published all five of my novels to date, and I’m under contract with them for a sixth.



7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

My writing process is always mixed up, with different sections being rewritten multiple times before moving on, so there’s no clean chronology of drafts. Between beginning the book and submitting it to my editor though, it was exactly one year – Aug. 1, 2010-Aug. 1, 2011.  



8) What other books within the genre would you compare this story to? 9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ll combine these two questions. There have been a lot of influences on the Crissa Stone books, some of which I addressed last year on the legendary Ed Gorman’s blog. You can find that piece here.



10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

It’s the second part of proposed trilogy (or beyond). The third book, SHOOT THE WOMAN FIRST, will be published by St. Martin's next year.



*****

For my part in keeping this ongoing blog hop extravaganza going, I've tagged first-time author Scott Adlerberg, thriller writer Alison Gaylin, Aussie novelist Andrew Nette and Philadelphia's own Dennis Tafoya. Look for their entries on their respective blogs next week.

Of ATMs and front-end loaders

Attempting to steal entire ATMs using construction equipment was a fairly rare crime when I wrote about it in the opening chapters of KINGS OF MIDNIGHT. Not so much now, apparently. However, it's a lot easier to pull off this sort of thing within the pages of a crime novel than it is in real life. You can read the story here.

Call me a liar, win free books

Assaulting nuns, lending DVDs to Bruce Springsteen and a unfortunate sky diving accident... find the lie I told in my Q&A at the Pulp Pusher site, and you'll have a chance at winning a signed copy of COLD SHOT TO THE HEART. The interview and full details can be found here. Contest is open until May 31, 2012.

Six top heist novels

It was a tough call, but over at the MysteryPeople blog, I chose six of my favorite heist novels of all time (with an appropriate emphasis on the novels of Donald E. Westlake).

Of felons and front-end loaders

Talking with veteran Philadelphia journalist and author Mary Walton about KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, Crissa Stone, ATMs and heavy equipment. You can find the link here.

Los Angeles Review of Books on KINGS OF MIDNIGHT

The Los Angeles Review of Books has a rave review of KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, written by Pulp Serenade's Cullen Gallagher:You can read the full review here.

Upcoming events

Some events coming together for the upcoming release of KINGS OF MIDNIGHT April 10. More to come soon:

THURS. APRIL 12, 7 p.m.-9 p.m: NEPTUNE PUBLIC LIBRARY, 25 Neptune Blvd., Neptune, N.J.

SAT. APRIL 14, 11 a.m.: EDISON PUBLIC LIBRARY, 340 Plainfield Ave., Edison, N.J. Guest speaker, Liberty States Fiction Writers Group: "Good Bad Guys and Bad Good Guys: Learning to Love Your Characters."

THURS. APRIL 19, 6:30-8 p.m.: THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP, 58 Warren Street, New York, NY. (212) 587-1011. Official launch party for KINGS OF MIDNIGHT.

SAT. APRIL 21, 4:30-5:30: BOOK TOWNE, 171 Main St., Manasquan, N.J. (732) 722-7255.

THURS. MAY 3, 7 p.m.: MOONSTONE MYSTERY BOOKSTORE:, 12 Bloomfield Ave., Flemington, N.J. 08822. (908) 788-9094.

OCT. 4-7: BOUCHERCON 2012, Cleveland Marriott Renaissance, Cleveland, Ohio.

NOV. 8-11: NOIRCON 2012, Society Hill Playhouse, Philadelphia, Pa.

More to come soon

Shipping soon

KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, the second Crissa Stone novel, available now for pre-order in hardcover (35% off) and Kindle editions, as well as via Nook.

Goodfellas and greed

Six armed men. Eight million in unmarked bills. At the time, it was the largest cash robbery in American history. Over at the official KINGS OF MIDNIGHT page, you can watch the History Channel's excellent behind-the-scenes documentary about the 1978 Lufthansa Heist at JFK Airport, featuring interviews with principals on both sides of the law (that robbery looms large in the backstory of KINGS). "Like" the page for additional updates and exclusive content.

Above: The black Ford Econoline van used in the robbery, after it was recovered by police.

The other side of noir

This can't end well: A hardcore noir night, photo courtesy of Cullen Gallagher, writer, reviewer, crime fiction aficionado and master of the brilliant web sites Pulp Serenade and Fires on the Plain. (And check out the framed Chuck Norris picture in the background),

Download a free excerpt from KINGS OF MIDNIGHT

Over at the official Facebook page today, you can read and/or download an exclusive excerpt from Chapter One of KINGS OF MIDNIGHT. "Like" the page for more updates and exclusive content.

The official KINGS OF MIDNIGHT Facebook page

KINGS OF MIDNIGHT now has its own Facebook page, with exclusive content and regular updates and previews. Today, some rare archival photos from the actual Lufthansa robbery at JFK airport in 1978 that provides a backdrop to the novel (and feel free to "Like" the page while you're there, if indeed you do. It's a little lonely there right now).

KINGS OF MIDNIGHT in New York magazine

New York Magazine includes KINGS OF MIDNIGHT in its Approval Matrix this week (click on image for larger size), right alongside Jeremy Lin and M.I.A.

Back to school

After many years, my alma mater is finally willing to acknowledge I went there once upon a time. The Rutgers Today website poses some questions to me about "How to Write a Crime Novel."

Publishers Weekly on KINGS OF MIDNIGHT

The first review of KINGS OF MIDNIGHT is in - from Publishers Weekly - and can be found here.
An excerpt: "As coolly efficient and professional as its heroine, this thriller evokes Donald Westlake’s Parker novels with lean storytelling that pauses only for meticulously detailed descriptions of criminals at work or in conflict."

In the mail today ....

Coming soon from St. Martin's/Minotaur and available for pre-order now.

KINGS OF MIDNIGHT: The short version

This is early jacket copy for KINGS OF MIDNIGHT, out in April from St. Martin's/Minotaur:


“Crime fiction’s best bad girl ever”* is back in Wallace Stroby’s new thriller, KINGS OF MIDNIGHT. Crissa Stone, the cool-headed professional thief from Stroby’s acclaimed COLD SHOT TO THE HEART, is looking for one more big score, enough to bribe her lover’s way out of prison and reclaim the young daughter she once gave up. Benny Roth is an old-school wiseguy, still on the run after the bloody fallout from the 1978 Lufthansa heist, in which six armed men walked out of Kennedy Airport with some $8 million in untraceable cash. That money’s been missing all these years, but now Benny thinks he knows where it is, and Crissa may be just the person to help him get it ... if a murderous gang boss with a score to settle doesn’t get there first.

* Kirkus Reviews