Dave Zeltserman's Blog, page 56
July 7, 2011
For fans of Small Crimes
Small Crimes was published in 2008 and made a bit of a stir when NPR picked it as one of the 5 best crime and mystery novels of that year, saying:
"This tale is told by one of fortune's fools: Joe Denton is a crooked ex-cop in Vermont who's just been released from jail after serving seven years for stabbing the local district attorney in the face. Since what's past is never truly past in crime noir, no sooner does Joe step out of the slammer than cosmic IOU's begin to rain down on his head. First, the disfigured DA cheerfully greets Joe outside the prison and announces that a local crime kingpin (and Joe's secret boss) is dying of cancer and has found religion. The kingpin's expected confession should send Joe straight back behind bars. Then, the local sheriff (also crooked) orders Joe to murder the DA before the crime kingpin can confess. The plot of Small Crimes ricochets out from this claustrophobic opening, and it's a thing of sordid beauty."
Small Crimes made other best of the year lists, and received other raves reviews from the Boston Globe, Sun-Sentinel, and others. It has since been translated to Italian (where it placed 3rd in last year's Bloody Mary awards) and French.
Fans of Small Crimes are going to want to read the Manny Vassey stories in 21 Tales!
July 6, 2011
For fans of Fast Lane
My first novel, Fast Lane, was first published in Italy by Meridiano Zero and later in 2003 by Point Blank Press in the US, and it ended up developing a loyal following among noir readers. In a lot of ways it's a very ambitious book, both a deconstruction of the hardboiled PI genre and a very wild psycho noir. Here's what Patrick Millikin at Poisoned Pen Bookstore wrote about it:
"In the last few years there have been a number of writers, such as Ken Bruen and Victor Gischler, who've taken the classic PI novel and tweaked the hell out of it, creating something fresh and unique. Add Dave Zeltserman to the list. Several pages into his debut, I knew that I was reading something special." Patrick Millikin, Poisoned Pen's Book News, Hardboiled Crime Club Selection
If you're a fan of Fast Lane, you want to read The Dover Affair in 21 Tales, which is one of Johnny Lane's earlier cases.
