Where do I begin?...

I have always been a big fan of detective/mystery stories. I suppose, like many, I first got hooked on Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe stories - The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, and all the rest. I felt like Chandler meant for Marlowe to be a stand-in for the reader: no backstory, no character arc, no relationships (until the end) —just a straight-up mystery to solve with grit and stubborn determination. The milieu of L.A. in the 30s, 40s and 50s was equally enticing. From Bay City (an alias for Santa Monica) to Laurel Canyon to Big Bear Lake, these were all places I was familiar with. I had often walked down Hollywood Boulevard and stared up at the Cahuenga Building.

Reading Chandler led me to James Ellroy, Dashiell Hammett and James McDonald, also giants of their era. Before long, I was hooked and my bookshelf was steadily filling with authors old and new, American and from countries around the globe. If I were to list them all, this would be a very long blog indeed.

But this little history only serves the story of how I came to write my own detective novel. It began with an idea and an image. The idea was to create a character that would be my younger self, a fanboy of detective fiction, and in particular, the hard-boiled detectives of early Los Angeles, who yearned to be a detective himself and walk in the footsteps of his heroes. The image in my head was of a man standing under an old street lamp in the evening fog, dressed in fedora and trench coat. And, beneath the coat, surfer shorts and flip flops!

I didn’t have a story in mind; no lurid murder or mysterious package left on the doorstep. But I would rely on the classic opening – a dame would walk into his office and ask for help, only the dame wouldn’t be who she appeared to be, and her story would be more story than truth.

I also headed the old axiom of write what you know. Well, I know Los Angeles, having lived here for fifty years, and if I hadn’t already been to the places I used in my story, then it was easy enough to go there and get a feel for the scenery and the vibe. I confess to playing golf, often and badly, and to drinking scotch, though not to the excess of my avatar. And, I have a strong affinity for all things Korean, having lived in Seoul for a number of years and returning with a Korean wife, I have embraced the food, culture, and people ever since.

And thus, was born SOL CANYON. I hope you’ve had a chance to read it, and if so, that you enjoyed it. I have a second, follow-up novel out now titled SOUTH BAY, which takes place in the beach cities around Hermosa Beach, a place of fond memories of the first few years I lived in the L.A. area.