An Interview - Ed Lynskey

Ed Lynskey’s third P.I. Frank Johnson title, Pelham Fell Here, will be released this summer from Mundania Press. The previous titles were The Dirt-Brown Derby and The Blue Cheer.

Q1. What are you writing at the minute?

My work-in-progress is a post-Sopranos Mafia noir titled Skin the Game. It’s set in Washington, D.C. where the Mob never really took root in the Feds’ backyard. This family runs a boutique loan shark racket below the Feds’ radar. A deadbeat client doesn’t pay up and things unravel from there.

Q2. Can you give us an idea of Ed Lynskey’s typical up-to-the-armpits-in-ideas-and-time writing day?

I like to start out with the pre-dawn patrol when things are still quiet around the place. When I’m off on a new novel, I’ll work through until mid-morning and maybe again in the evening if there’s some time left.

Q3. What do you do when you’re not writing?

I do my damnedest to not think about what I’m writing. In the summer, we watch too much baseball. Walk my legs off to keep off the pounds. My other work involves writing, too, so there isn’t a real break in the action. Could it be some sort of writing is always at work in us?

Q4. Any advice for a greenhorn trying to break into the crime fiction scene?

My advice is probably worth the proverbial two cents. Stubbornness comes into play, I believe. A thick skin is good, too.

Q5. Which crime writer(s) have impressed you this year?

Craig Holden wrote a noir titled Matala I enjoyed reading. As for goldie-oldies, I’ve liked some noirs Gil Brewer wrote in the 1950s. Hard Case Crime and Stark House have brought the reprints.

Q6. What are you reading right now?

I just started a Reid Bennett police procedural by Ted Wood that came recommended on DorothyL list group. Mr. Wood is a Canadian writer and retired cop. So far, it’s been a good read.

Q7. Plans for the future?

As for future big projects, I’m casting about for a few ideas and will go from there. That’s not a very definitive answer. A lot of this seems fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants.

Q8. With regards to your writing career to date, would you do anything differently?

The only thing that comes to mind is writing more fiction earlier on than I did.

Q9. Anything you want to say that I haven’t asked you about?

Thanks for the opportunity to rattle off some words on your blog, Gerard.

Thank you, Ed Lynskey