Please
welcome author J. L. Abramo to the blog today. His new book, Coney Island Avenue, was recently
reviewed here
by guest reviewer John Stickney. My own review is coming in the near future. In
his guest post today, the author talks about his new book, the writing process,
and much more…
RESURRECTING
JIMMY PIGEON
"Mr.
Diamond, I came here to talk about my husband."
"Of
course you did, Evelyn," I said. I think my voice may have cracked.
"Have you thought about going to the police?"
"Finding
my husband is already of interest to the Los Angeles Police Department, Mr. Diamond.
I was hoping you could help me locate him before they do."
"Why
are the police interested in locating your husband?" I plowed on.
"They
suspect he killed his business partner."
"And
why would they think that?"
"My
husband's gun was found beside the body."
"Did
he do it?"
"I
don't believe so."
"But
the murder weapon was found at the scene, and it belonged to your husband. Any
theories about that?"
"My
husband kept the gun in his office. The victim was killed in the office
adjacent to his. The police have little else to go on."
"And?"
"They
seem unwillingly to grant that almost anyone could have taken the weapon and
killed my husband's associate."
There
you go, it could have been anyone. That should convince a jury.
"If
your husband is innocent, why is he dodging the authorities?"
"I
don't know. Perhaps he feels no one will believe him, he's always lacked
persuasive ability. That is why I need to find him. Before he gets himself
hurt. Someone suggested you could help."
Why
me.
"Why
me?" I asked, "There are plenty of very competent investigators in
Los Angeles. I could highly recommend a good friend of mine down there. Jimmy
Pigeon."
"I
came to you, Mr. Diamond, because my husband's business partner was Jimmy Pigeon."
I
managed to delay my reaction long enough to get the rough details from Evelyn
Harding and then quickly sent her on her way—assuring her I would stay in
touch. She was barely through the door before the surprise and shock of Jimmy
Pigeon's death hit me like a sucker punch. I opened the top desk drawer and
pulled out the ashtray and the bottle. This time it was the bottle of bourbon.
So
ends the first chapter of Catching Water in a Net, the first
novel in the Jake Diamond mystery series, where Jake discovers, from a total
stranger, that his friend and mentor, the man who brought him into the PI
business, is dead. And the book, winner of the St. Martin’s Press/Private Eye
Writers of America Award for Best First Private Eye Novel, becomes Jake Diamond’s
quest to find Jimmy Pigeon’s killer.
After
writing three Jake Diamond novels, I decided to take a detour and write a
stand-alone crime thriller set in the neighborhood where I grew up. The result was Gravesend.
Writing
the novel was a rewarding personal journey back to Gravesend, Brooklyn.
That
accomplished, it was time to start thinking about Jake again, a fourth in the
series; but without warning Jimmy Pigeon took center stage. Throughout Catching
Water in a Net, and again and again in the subsequent novels Clutching
at Straws and Counting to Infinity, Jake refers
to Jimmy— recalling lessons learned from Jimmy and often posing the question,
when an investigation hits a dead end, ‘What
would Jimmy do?’
 |
| Jimmy Pigeon/Artwork by Jason
Smith |
At
ThrillerFest in New York City, I sat on a panel entitled: Why Did You Kill Off My Favorite Character?
Speaking
for myself; killing off a character who the writer, and hopefully the reader,
has come to care about, is never an easy decision. And for me, it is never premeditated. There comes a
time in a story when something has to happen to raise the stakes, and sometimes
a sacrifice is required. And I am as
surprised as the reader when a good guy or good gal is killed. And I have often heard from readers of their
disappointment. (Fortunately, I have never been confronted with a reader like
Annie Wilkes in Stephen King’s Misery.) But what about a character who is killed off
before you even begin, who you never really meet, who you only learn about from
fond reminiscence? A character obviously
very important to the main protagonist of your series.
As
his name kept popping up, I wondered more and more often—who was Jimmy Pigeon?
And
here is the fun part. I could find answers to my nagging questions about Jimmy
Pigeon by simply turning back the clock.
Suddenly I was writing a prequel to the Jake Diamond series, which finds
Jimmy alive and at work as a Private Investigator in Santa Monica in 1994. And the result was the novel Chasing
Charlie Chan, published by Down & Out Books in 2013.
I
have no illusions of grandeur, but being able—as a writer—to bring a character
back from the grave, is pretty nifty. It
was a great exercise for me, and I believe it resonated with readers—with new
readers as well as those Jake Diamond fans who have at times also wondered
about Jimmy Pigeon. Jimmy who said—among
other things—When it comes to private
investigation, nine times out of ten the client is your worst enemy.
In
my latest novel, Coney Island Avenue, although
I do not resurrect any corpses, I do revisit many of the characters who
populated the pages of Gravesend.
About Coney Island Avenue
The
dog days of August in Brooklyn and the detectives of the 61st
Precinct are battling to keep all hell from breaking loose.
Lives
are taken in the name of greed, retribution, passion and the lust for power—and
the only worthy opponent of this senseless malevolence is the uncompromising
resolve to rise above it, rather than descend to its depths.
Shamus Award-winner J. L.
Abramo’s follow-up to his highly acclaimed novel Gravesend continues the dramatic account of the professional and
personal struggles that constitute everyday life for the dedicated men and
women of the Six-One—and of the saints and sinners who share their streets.
Coney
Island Avenue is a wild ride through Abramo’s native
land—Brooklyn, New York. An emotionally packed narrative of good and evil,
triumph and tragedy and—just below the surface—a universal tale of fathers,
mothers, sons and daughters.
J. L. Abramo ©2017
J. L. Abramo was born
in the seaside paradise of Brooklyn, New York on Raymond Chandler's fifty-ninth
birthday. Abramo is the author of Catching
Water in a Net, winner of the St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of
America prize for Best First Private Eye Novel; the subsequent Jake Diamond
novels Clutching at Straws, Counting to
Infinity and Circling the Runway, winner
of the Shamus Award; Chasing Charlie Chan,
a prequel to the Jake Diamond series; and the stand-alone thrillers Gravesend, Brooklyn Justice, and Coney
Island Avenue.
Abramo’s short fiction
has appeared in a number of anthologies including Murder Under the Oaks, winner of the Anthony Award.
For more about J.L.
Abramo and the work please visit:
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