Prodigal Sons: John Caine by Charles Knief

I've been trying to find Charles Knief since the start of this blog for my Prodigal Sons feature. I loved his 3 John Caine novels when the came out. They were all great mixes of Travis McGee and Spenser and I read them together with my first Lee Child novel. Charles didn't get the huge sales Lee did but John Caine will always be a favorite.
I found Charles on Facebook and he was happy to answer why he hasn't written about John Caine for some time and if John might return. Here's what he told me...

My life has been very, very busy since 2001. Part of it was the design and building of some very special homes in Rancho Mirage, California, made from special building materials, the first and only in California. I designed them, built them, poured all of my money into them, and then lost them due to the housing crash in 2008-2009, losing all my money, as well. That took four years of my life and it was a very creative, rewarding (except for the money) time. You can see some of them in my photos and Timeline, as ABC did a story on the houses.

To survive, I took a contract with the USMC at 29 Palms and worked for a year there, making great friends and doing something I felt was important. I wrote then, but have yet to complete the rewrite. Always said that Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center is one of the nastiest places in the world, but has the greatest people in it and I was lucky enough to become friends with many of them. The temp fluctuates from 20 to 120; there are dust storms, mud storms, rains storms, wind storms, insect storms, hail storms, ice storms, and then it's just plain HOT for half the year. I once saw a sandstorm in the middle of a rain storm. After I did fairly well there, I was asked to take a contract with AF's Space Command as a program manager, and I worked there until 30 November 2011, when the contract ended.

After that, I delved into many different things, none of which I can talk about right now, but all of which have been interesting. It looks like I'll keep on doing what I'm doing now until I get too old to cross the street or feed myself.

John Caine is in a novel I wrote in 2000, but have yet to complete, called THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT. He is a minor character there. The new novel, with no name, takes place in 1911-1912. It will be completed this year and I suppose I've got to find a new editor and agent, as both of them have died since I last wrote.

Thank you for your interest. I don't think about writing much these days, but lately the Muse awakens me at 0400. I've got some things going now that take up all my creativity and energy, but come February, they should be over and I'll complete my two unfinished, unedited novels and see who wants them.

Prodigal Sons: Alex Rasmussen (by David Daniel)

We tracked down David Daniel to get to know if there's a chance we'll be seeing Alex Rasmussen again any time soon. He answered this:

''Many thanks for your "missing persons" inquiry about Alex Rasmussen. Briefly, I've got three additional AR novels in development:

The Croak Factor, about a sinister killer who has taken several victims one rainy spring in Lowell, MA, and Rasmussen joins forces with the police to hunt him.

Chin Music, about a professional baseball player accused by one of Rasmussen's friends of raping her.

Rounded with a Sleep, in which an again stage actress is convinced she is being stalked and hires Rasmussen to investigate.

At the moment, however, my publisher (St. Martin's Press) is more interested in a more mainstream mystery/psychological thriller that I've got in progress, Dragonfly Summer. So, bottom line, Rasmussen in on an extended unpaid vacation. If you know of any publishing houses looking for new books, let me know.''

Prodigal Sons: Terry Orr (by Jim Fusilli)

Jim Fusilli wrote four well-received novels featuring novice PI Terry Orr but since Hard, Hard City in 2004 we haven't read about him. Sons of Spade asked Jim to give us the low-down...

1) We haven't seen Terry Orr since 2004... Will he return?
I'm not sure. I enjoyed doing the four Terry Orr novels, but I'm not certain that the P.I. field is the best place for my writing.


2) Why haven't you written about Terry for some time now?
After writing "Hard, Hard City," I decided I wanted to explore new ways to tell my stories. I decided to withdraw, experiment and re-learn the craft. I wrote and published a dozen or so short stories in different voices, eras, first person, third person, dark, humorous -- just to find my own, distinctive voice. I did a non-fiction book on Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys' album "Pet Sounds" and taught creative writing to undergraduate and graduate students at the State University of New York at Binghamton. (I'm also a journalist: I'm the rock and pop music critic of The Wall Street Journal.)

Two of those short stories are related to the Terry Orr series, by the way. One, which is posted on Amazon Shorts, is a kind of locked-room tale. The other, which appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, is set in the early 1980s and features two characters from the series, Luther Addison and Sharon Knight.


3) What's up next for you?
In June, Dutton will publish my first mystery for young adults. It's entitled "Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin." I think fans of the Terry Orr stories will recognize characters reminiscent of Bella and Daniel Wu. I've just completed the first draft of a mainstream novel set in the late 1940s in a town not unlike Hoboken, N.J., where I was born. It has elements of a crime novel, but it also incorporates my passion for music and Italian-American culture. It's very promising, I think. My "Pet Sounds" book is coming out next month in Japan, translated by Haruki Murakami, so I'm excited about that. I edited (and contributed a chapter to) the audio serial-thriller "The Chopin Manuscript," which featured Jeff Deaver, Lee Child, David Hewson, Lisa Scottoline and others. There's been discussion of a sequel that I'll edit as well.


For more info about this author visit: www.jimfusilli.com

Prodigal Sons: Thomas Black (by Earl Emerson)

I was planning to ask Earl Emerson if we'd be seeing Thomas Black again (last seen in 1998's Catfish Cafe). I visited his site and discovered this good news:

"Next up after PRIMAL THREAT is my first Thomas Black in ten years. I'm working on that now and we expect it to be published in early 2009, also with Ballantine."

Prodigal Sons: Harry James Denton (by Steven Womack)

Steven Womack (www.womackbooks.com) wrote some great novels featuring Harry James Denton in the nineties... We haven't seen Harry around since 'Murder Manual' in 1998. Sons of Spade tracked Steven down and got the low-down on the state of his character.

1) Will Harry James Denton return?

I hope so. After six books with Harry, he was a big part of my life. In the last book, Dirty Money, Harry left Nashville and went to Reno, Nevada to attend the birth of his daughter. At the end of the novel, he was on his way back to Nashville. I would like to pick up his story there and somehow integrate his child into his life and see where that goes.

The reason I haven't written that book is one based primarily in the rather cruel realities of the publishing business. I wrote six books in the Harry James Denton series, and every one of them either won or was nominated for a major mystery award--winning an Edgar and a Shamus. But for reasons I've never been able to fathom, the publisher never really got behind the books. When I went back to contract for the last two books--which became Murder Manual and Dirty Money--the publisher agreed to publish them in hardcover and make them monthly lead titles. Then when I turned in the manuscript to Murder Manual, my editor told me the suits had decided to not only renege on the hardcover deal, but to actually cut the print runs.

Basically, I could see the writing on the wall. Contemporary publishing is a numbers-based business, and my numbers weren't impressive enough. It's a "Catch-22" kind of arrangement: your numbers are bad so we won't promote you, but your numbers are bad because we haven't promoted you.

Of course, the majority of published authors probably have the same gripe.

I left the original publisher and asked my agent to move the series to another publisher. She started shopping the books around and all sorts of editors were interested, but when they saw my sales figures, the had to turn me down. Again, that's some catch, that Catch-22.

2) Why haven't you written about Harry for some time now?

See above...

3) What's up next for you?

I didn't want to start another mystery series; I'd been down that rough road twice before. So I had an idea for a suspense thriller based on the idea of a New York Times best-selling author who bases the plots of his novels on murders he commits himself. It's a long story, but the idea basically came about when I was anonymously accused of committing a murder myself. That book became By Blood Written. It was published in the summer of 2005 in hardcover by Severn House, a British publisher, and the paperback version was just last month published by HarperCollins.

I have another book making the rounds in New York right now. I also have an idea and am doing the research for a trilogy of books set in World War II--which would be a complete departure.

In the meantime, I continue teaching. I'm the Chair of the Watkins Film School here in Nashville, Tennessee, and I also teach Film Studies at Vanderbilt University. I'm also a parent, with two lovely young daughters.

Prodigal Son Nick Travers (by Ace Atkins)

As always here in the feature Prodigal Sons we try to find out what's been going on with characters we haven't seen in a while. Today we asked Ace Atkins what's been going on with blues historian and PI Nick Travers...

We wanted to know:
1) Will Nick Travers return?
2) Why haven't you written about Nick for some time now?
3) What's up next for you?


Ace answered us:

Thanks much for the interest in Nick. Yes, he hasn’t been around since 2004 and Dirty South.

I’m not sure if Nick will return. I’d like to see a new book with Nick – I think there are some great untold stories – but right now I don’t have any plans. I’m with a new publisher and moving in a new direction as a writer. I’ve finished two literary novels for G.P. Putnam’s Sons about infamous true crimes both in Tampa, Florida and Cuba with WHITE SHADOW and a forthcoming novel about the wickedest city in America of the 1940s and ‘50s in WICKED CITY out in April.

Both are crime books but free of the traditional mold I felt myself caught in with the Travers’ books.

Also I believe in 2004 that I’d reached a plateau with writing about Nick Travers and took him as far I could go – with the same excitement for myself and readers – in Crossroad Blues, Leavin’ Trunk Blues, Dark End of the Street and ultimately Dirty South.

I believe the four novels are absolutely related and represent a total journey for the character. But in the years since, I’ve thought about bringing him back at some time. The books can be tremendous fun to write.


For more info visit: www.aceatkins.com

Prodigal Son of Spade Pepper Keane

Today we ask author Mark Cohen about Prodigal Son of Spade Pepper Keane. His last novel (Blue Tick Revenge) appeared in 2005.

1) Will Pepper Keane return?
Yes, Pepper Keane will return. (More on this below).


2) Why haven't you written about him for some time now?
I have not written about PK in a while primarily because I resigned my cushy government job due to politics and had to start working again like most everyone else. At the same time we adopted two more children, thus making a total of three children from China. The younger two started kindergarten this year, so life is returning to a more normal schedule, leaving more time for writing.

3) What's up next for you?
I am working on my third Pepper Keane book, tentatively titled When the Cactus is in Bloom. This mystery starts with the unexplained murder of Pepper's Uncle Ray at his remote shack in southern Colorado. A draft of Chapter 1 is attached.

My agent has not started shopping When the Cactus is in Bloom; I don't want to shop it until I have completed my first draft.

For more info about this author check out www.pepperkeane.com

Prodigal Sons: John Francis Cuddy by Jeremiah Healy

We asked Jeremiah Healy about what's going on with John Francis Cuddy, one of the most popular PI's of the nineties:
1) Will John Cuddy return?


Thankfully, Cuddy has not yet "gone away." Readers who visit my website:
www.jeremiahhealy.com can order collections of my short stories featuring him (THE CONCISE CUDDY and CUDDY: PLUS ONE), and many of the backlist novels are available via: www.abe.com or www.abebooks.com

I also continue to write short stories featuring Cuddy for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery magazine as well as "solicited" anthologies (where the editor invites individual authors to contribute short stories, often on a theme, such as Jeffery [correct spelling] Deaver's HOT AND SULTRY NIGHTS).


2) Why haven't you written about Cuddy for some time now?

For novel-length works, the taste of the American public has changed. Thrillers have eclipsed private-eye novels and classic mysteries, UNLESS a substantial promotional budget is provided for those latter kinds of book. When my agent approached my publisher about a next contract for Cuddy, I insisted upon such promotion, but the publisher declined. Hence my movement (as "Terry Devane") to writing legal thrillers.

The GOOD news on the Cuddy front is that a long-time friend and executive producer of television series (MARTIAL LAW, THE NERO WOLFE MYSTERIES, DICK VAN DYKE'S DIAGNOSIS: MURDER) is "pitching" Cuddy as a television series. We would probably update Cuddy as a Military Police veteran from the Persian Gulf conflict rather than the Vietnam War, and we would likely replace Cuddy's visits to his wife at her gravesite by having an actress play the dead wife, whom only Cuddy can see (think MIKE HAMMER meets THE SIXTH SENSE).

However, if any publishers or television producers from OTHER countries are interested in translations of books or adaptations to the screen (cinema or television), please feel free to contact me via my website, and I'll put you in touch with the appropriate agent for me.

3) What's up next for you?

I'm currently writing a thriller, in which an unbalanced, former opposing client decides to avenge the suicides of her daughters by stalking and destroying the major Boston law firm she blames for their deaths.

I also have a screenplay intended for an independent film (few locations, low budget, and three excellent lead-acting roles) entitled THE BODYSHOP [American police jargon for the Homicide Unit]: In a medium-sized city, someone is killing the significant others of homicide detectives in its police department. Why would any murderer be so foolhardy?


Jeremiah Healy, a former Sheriff’s Officer and Military Police Lieutenant, is a graduate of Rutgers College and the Harvard Law School. Healy is also the creator of the John Francis Cuddy private-investigator series and (under the pseudonym “Terry Devane”) the Mairead O’Clare legal-thriller series, both set primarily in Boston. Healy has written eighteen novels and over sixty short stories, sixteen of which works have won or been nominated for the Shamus Award. He served as the President of the International Association of Crime Writers (“IACW”) from 2000-2004, and he was the International Guest of Honour at the 34th World Mystery Convention in Toronto during October, 2004. Currently, Healy is a member of the Mystery Writers of America’s National Board of Directors. For more information, please visit www.jeremiahhealy.com

Prodigal Son of Spade Milan Jacovich (by Les Roberts)

In this new feature we track down the writers of Sons of Spade we haven't seen them in awhile and try to find out what's the score. First up is Les Roberts who we asked 3 questions:
1) Will Milan Jacovich return?
2) Why haven't you written about him for some time now?
3) What's up next for you?

Les had to say:
Interesting questions. FIrst of all, Milan Jacovich WILL be back early next year in "King of the Holly Hop," published by Gray and Company. I'm currently writing a screenplay based on one of Milan's past adventures, "The Irish Sports Pages," which will be flmed mostly in Cleveland next year and will probably be released in early 2009.

I haven't written about Milan "for some time" because I was deeply involved with writing other things. After my first 13 Milan books and my six Saxon books, I wanted to tackle something that was NOT a "private eye" novel.

While co-writing the screenplay I'm also working hard on a novel NOT about Jacovich, set in 1985 in Youngstown, Ohio during a period when the mob absolutely ruled the area and made Youngstown into "An Open City." KIt's called "The Youngstown Tune-Up" (at the moment), and I hope to finish it before the first of the year (2008).