In a post-Sopranos world, Italian-American stories have dried up like a Cucuzza left on the vine. An agent even told me she was sick of Italian mobster stories, and I agreed with her because in the hands of medium talents they descend into caricature; dumb, inarticulate brutes who our hero private eye—despite that he’s a…
I lucked into reading crime fiction at a pretty young age. I was eleven or twelve when my father passed along some of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct novels on one of my weekend visits with him. From there, I had no real guidance. As a compulsive movie watcher, I read books based on movies I…
Gravesend by William Boyle is a masterful work of neo-noir, expertly capturing the grit and desperation of a neighborhood in flux and spotlighting the neighbors who find themselves caught up in the crimes of the past. Everyone thinks they can write Italian-American characters because they watched The Sopranos, but most people are terrible at it.…
Character-driven and evocative, The Lonely Witness by William Boyle brings Brooklyn to life in a way only a native can and opens readers’ eyes to the harsh realities of crime and punishment on the city streets. When a writer has a good premise for a novel, they can develop that premise in various ways. Should plot construction—complete…
As the year comes to a close and all the time spent with the weird uncle during family gatherings reminds us to get our lives together, like two old work buddies who awkwardly run into each other in public and make empty promises to keep in touch, we keep up the tradition of making New…
