On Writing — Fiction As History

The Early Shanahan novels

Occasionally I receive comments from people who have read some of the early books in my Shanahan mystery series.   These notes usually come from people who live or have lived in Indianapolis. Rarely are the comments about the plot, though critics at the time were complimentary. Some are about the main characters – Deets Shanahan and his love, Maureen.  But most of the sentiment is about bringing back memories. The 11 novels in the series set in Indianapolis cover 25 years in the life of the Circle City beginning with The Stone Veil in 1980. History is an unforeseen, but happy consequence of fiction.

I haven’t been the only one.  In fact I wasn’t the first one or necessarily the most prolific.  The acclaimed Michael Z. Lewin not only originated the first series featuring a fictional Indianapolis P.I., but is also credited with popularizing the idea of a regional P.I. series. Many others followed.  My Deets Shanahan character also came after Lewin’s Albert Samson.

Michael Z. Lewin

Lewin and I are roughly the same vintage. However he began writing younger in his life.  Counting his Leroy Powder cop series, Lewin has used Indianapolis as a setting for 11 crime novels with a history going back to 1971 with his first Samson novel, Ask The Right Question, among those being re-released as I write.

Re-released

I have inadvertently been part of recording this city’s history when, as its first editor, I helped found NUVO Newsweekly, the longest serving alternative newspaper in the city’s history. Long after I was gone it continues to chronicle my hometown and is a powerful, on-going historical reference. However, I would suggest that fiction could go beyond the news as a historical document in many ways by creating the mood, the ambiance and an in-depth characterization of its neighborhoods, restaurants, transportation and particularly its inhabitants.

There are those, of course, who dismiss genre fiction, including the P.I. novel as something less than respectable. The Shanahan mysteries are definitely genre fiction, as are the Samson novels. We gain a sense of the place in time in a way that may not be academic, but in a fluid, experiential way.

Commentary — More Private Eyes On Screen, Please

One Of The Few New P.I. Movies

The conventional wisdom — and I buy into it — is that the American fascination with the private eye is merely the extension of its love affair with the cowboy. I say “merely.”  I don’t mean “merely” to lessen its value, but to say that the qualities we ascribed to our western heroes were, as we became a more urban society, appropriated by the private investigator:  Independence to the extent of being a loner and having an independent code of conduct not necessarily shared by society at large, certainly not by the authorities. In crime fiction, police are theoretically bound by the law and supported by network of various institutional professionals. The P.I. isn’t. The American P.I. is a loner.

How About A Whistler Film?

Nothing new here.  But I was reminded of this and a few other thoughts while watching A Walk Among the Tombstones the other evening.  I thoroughly enjoyed the film.  I was familiar the main character, Matthew Scudder from reading many of the 17 books in the series by Lawrence Block. Liam Neeson played the P.I. in the only Scudder film faithful to the original story. 

What leapt out at me was how many really good American P.I series novels are out there and how very few films (or TV movies) have used them and even fewer who created a corresponding set of movies based on those books.  I say “American” not out of an excess of patriotism, but having in mind the number of great crime films made from English, Scandinavian and other foreign films made from popular books — usually police procedurals – compared to the vast source material available from 20^th and 21^st Century American P.I. writers.

I understand that the new Bosch streaming video based on Michael Connelly’s popular and award-winning books is doing well. I’ll catch up soon.  But Bosch isn’t a private eye despite the fact that his self-imposed exile fits the profile.  And of course there are all the Hammett, Chandler, Westlake, (Robert B.) Parker, Spillane and the two MacDonalds movies from the past.  Working in reverse, there are also many books written based on successful movies and TV shows.  And there are some fine original, even groundbreaking crime fiction dramas made for TV now, right here in the U.S.  “The Wire” is a masterpiece. Others have followed.

The Tanner Series On TV?

But again, I’m talking a film, or a BBC-quality television production or a streaming video P.I. series based on a book series.  Seeing Matt Scudder on screen reminded me of the great P.I.s in books I devoured in the late eighties and early nineties and how much fun it would be to see them and no doubt the many I missed realized on the screen. I would love to see Neeson reprise Scudder fifteen or sixteen more times as he takes on other cases.  But there are others too.  

A couple of the fictional private eyes who sustained me as I began writing my own books and wanted to see what others were doing were Stephen Greenleaf’s John Marshall Tanner, and Robert Campbell’s “La La Land” mysteries featuring Whistler.

These are merely drops in the ocean.  The list from which great American fictional P.I.s might be taken is nearly endless.  And the number of books within any given series could range from three to more than 100.  I can’t list them all here.  There are two sites to visit to get an idea of the potential.  One is the Private Eye Writers of America PWA web site.  Check out the Shamus awardees over the years to get a sense of the best of the genre. The other site is The Thrilling Detective, a comprehensive consolidation of news and information about fictional private eyes.

If you are willing to go on record with your own views, let me know in the comment section about your favorite P.I series and the actor or actress you’d like to see in the role.

Book Notes — Blatant Self-Promotion: Is Indianapolis PI Deets Shanahan Back For His Last Case?

Killing Frost, Shanahan's Last Case

I would have preferred to wait a bit for the announcement.  However the publisher has the news out there already.  So I wanted blog readers and Facebook friends to know. A new book in the “Deets” Shanahan series will soon be available.  

This is the description of Killing Frost:

At seventy-two Deets Shanahan is still reeling from brain surgery. He is ready to “check out.”  But fate has other plans. As he waits for the arrival of a mysterious, unwanted, yet insistent new client, he spies a car pull in his driveway.  From his window, he sees a lady head toward his front door. This is the first time he sees her and the last time he sees her alive.

Her death leaves too many questions. What did she want with Shanahan? Why was she killed? And what can he, in his condition, do about it? Shanahan’s obsessive search for answers will uncover a disturbing trail of greed, lies, ambition, sibling rivalry and police corruption.

Twenty-five years ago Shanahan embarked on his first case. This case is likely his last, a touching story of age, infirmity — and love.

My first book in the series, Stone Veil, was welcomed by The New York Times saying the elderly detective made a “good first impression.” The Private Eye Writers of America agreed, nominating the book for that year’s Shamus Award in the “best first P.I. novel category. Killing Frost is the 11th in the Shanahan series, all of them set in my hometown, Indianapolis.

Over the years, the critics have been generous in their praise.

"Tierney's 'Deets' Shanahan series, Stone Veil, offers characters of depth and sensuality, and well-placed swipes of razor-sharp humor." — Publishers Weekly

"A series packed with new angles and delights." — Booklist

Severn House, which has published the last seven Shanahan books, has announced Killing Frost, in hardback, will be available in the U.K. on January 1 and in the U.S. on May 1. If you’d like to pre-order at Amazon, click here. For Barnes & Noble, click here.  I’m not sure when the other formats will be available. Reviews — the good ones, anyway — will be posted as they arrive. And I’m sure more blatant promotions will follow as the official release dates get closer.