The Crime Cafe

By: Debbi Mack
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  • Interviews and entertainment for crime fiction, suspense and thriller fans.
    © 2015 - 2021 Debbi Mack
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Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • Interview with Stephen Eoannou – S. 10, Ep. 11

    Interview with Stephen Eoannou – S. 10, Ep. 11
    Oct 27 2024
    This week’s guest on the Crime Cafe podcast is historical crime writer Stephen Eoannou. Check out our discussion about the creator of the Lone Ranger! Grab a PDF copy of the transcript here! Debbi: Hi, everyone. My guest today has published two novels with the third coming in May of next year. Along with novels, he has written at least one short screenplay. He lives and works in Buffalo, New York, which also provides the setting and inspiration for his work. It's my pleasure to have with me today, the award-winning author Stephen Eoannou. Stephen: There you go. Debbi: Did I get that right? Stephen: Yes. Debbi: Awesome. Fantastic. So thank you for being with us today. Stephen: Thank you for having me. Debbi: I'm pleased to have you on. I really enjoyed your book Rook, your debut novel. That was a very interesting story. What inspired you to write about this particular man from the FBI's Most Wanted List? Stephen: Yeah. I had finished my first book Muscle Cars, which is a short story collection, and I was picking around trying to find an idea for the next project, and I can remember it vividly. It was a Sunday morning. I was standing in my kitchen and I was reading the newspaper. It was spread out on the kitchen table, and I saw an article, and the title of the article in the Buffalo News was “The Strange Tale of a Buffalo Bank Robber Turned Writer”, and that immediately caught my eye, thinking this maybe is another career avenue for myself. But I started reading this article about Al Nussbaum. I had never heard of the man before, and by the end of the article, I knew that I wanted to write about him. I was standing in my kitchen and I was reading the newspaper. It was spread out on the kitchen table, and I saw an article, and the title of the article in the Buffalo News was “The Strange Tale of a Buffalo Bank Robber Turned Writer” I wasn't sure it was going to be a novel or a short story or what, but I knew I wanted to learn more about this man and write about him. And what fascinated me was not only was he this kind of cerebral bank robber who approached the robberies like chess matches - which he was an avid chess player - and he's quoted as saying that robbing banks is like chess for cash prizes, which I think is a great quote. He became a writer when he was in prison, and he was a penny-a-word guy, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock. He even was writing for Scholastic Books, if anyone's old enough to remember Scholastic Books. Debbi: Oh, I do Stephen: Yeah, me too. I still have a few of them. So the man who was doing time in Leavenworth was also writing Scholastic Books. He was just a fascinating character, and he was a Buffalo guy. I had kind of decided after I completed Muscle Cars that really Buffalo, New York was going to kind of be my literary turf I was going to carve out for myself. Kind of what William Kennedy did for Albany and Richard Russo did for upstate New York, the Catskill areas. That's what I was going to do. And so this just kind of fell in my lap and I just kind of really became intrigued with Al and his story. Debbi: Interesting. Very interesting that you were able to find this in the local paper, right? Stephen: Well, what it was his daughter, who's just an infant in the novel, she was trying to do a Kickstarter campaign to gather up all her father's short stories and anthologized them, and so the newspaper did a feature on it. And what was really great about this whole experience with Rook is that since the publication, I've become friends with her. She lives about two hours away. She's a retired attorney, not a defense attorney or criminal lawyer. We've had coffee a few times and she's come to a couple of my events when I'm in the Central New York region, telling me some fascinating stories about her dad that I wish I knew while I was working on the manuscript. Debbi: Interesting. Because this is a fictionalized account of a true story,
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  • Interview with Leonard “Kris” Krystalka – S. 10, Ep. 10

    Interview with Leonard “Kris” Krystalka – S. 10, Ep. 10
    Oct 13 2024
    This week’s episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with paleontologist and crime writer Leonard “Kris” Krystalka. Check out his reading from The Bone Field! Grab a PDF copy of the transcript here! Debbi: Hi everyone. My guest today is both a professional paleontologist and a novelist. He writes the Henry Przewalski - is that correct, I hope? Przewalski? Leonard: Literally, it reads as Przewalski but it's actually a Russian-Polish name, named for the discoverer of Przewalski's horse, that small kind of dwarfish horse that lives wild on the Asian steppes. So it's pronounced in the Russian sense. Debbi: Got it. All right. I'll try to remember that. It's my pleasure to have him with me today. It's Leonard Krystalka, who goes by Kris. Like Kris Kristofferson, may he rest in peace. Leonard: May he rest in peace. A terrific person. Debbi: Indeed. Yes. Leonard: Yes. Wonderful artist. Debbi: He was, yes. I want to thank you for being here so much. It's good to have you on. Tell us about Harry Przewalski. I almost screwed that up again. How much did you draw from your own experiences in creating him? Leonard: A great deal. I named Harry Przewalski as a homage to the study of the life of the past and the study of present biodiversity. So, Przewalski's horse is this miniature horse that roams wild on the steppes of Asia. It almost became extinct by over hunting, and in World War II, the German soldiers ate what is reputed to be some of the last Przewalski's horses in a zoo in Poland. But enough were saved to repopulate the wild steppes of Asia. Przewalski's horse is this miniature horse that roams wild on the steppes of Asia. It almost became extinct by over hunting, and in World War II, the German soldiers ate what is reputed to be some of the last Przewalski's horses in a zoo in Poland. Debbi: Interesting. Did you choose that name deliberately? Leonard: I did. I chose it deliberately, although it's hard to pronounce, and as a homage to the paleontological studies of the evolutionary history of life on Earth, the three billion year history of life on Earth. Debbi: That is so cool. How many books do you have in the series, and how many do you plan to write? Or do you have a plan for the series? Leonard: There are four books now in the Harry Przewalski series. There's THE BONE FIELD, DEATH SPOKE, THE CAMEL DRIVER, and the newest one just published this year called NATIVE BLOOD. I have a fifth novel, which is not in that series. It's a historical fiction of a murder that occurred in Lawrence, Kansas in 1871. A doctor accused of murdering his patient because he was having an affair with the patient's wife. The doctor was arrested and the resulting trial was equivalent to … imagine the OJ Simpson trial in 1871 in Kansas. You have sex, you have murder, you have adultery. It attracted reporters of every single newspaper in the country from San Francisco, from Chicago, from St. Louis, from New York, Washington, Detroit, and so forth. This is 1871 Kansas. It's only six years after the end of the Civil War. So the trial was a national sensation, and one of the Lawrence women becomes the heroine. She talks the editor of one of the Lawrence newspapers into hiring her as the first woman correspondent west of the Mississippi. She covers the trial and solves the murder. Debbi: Wow. Leonard: She also fights for women's rights. She fights for suffrage for women and blacks. Yeah, she's quite a woman. Debbi: And which book is this again? Leonard: This is called THE BODY ON THE BED. I could hold it up for viewers to see. Debbi: That's very cool. I noticed that book was outside the series. Leonard: Yeah, it is. I'm writing the sequel to that now. It's called The Body on the Bricks. She is the heroine of that book as well. But your original question was about the Przewalski series of which there are now four, and yes, there may well be a fifth. Debbi: Fantastic.
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  • Philip Marlowe in ‘Daring Young Dame on the Flying Trapeze’ – S. 10, Ep. 9

    Philip Marlowe in ‘Daring Young Dame on the Flying Trapeze’ – S. 10, Ep. 9
    Sep 29 2024
    This week's episode of the Crime Cafe features another story from The Adventures of Philip Marlowe. This episode comes to you ad-free. Relatively. :) The following is an unedited AI-generated transcript. Does an awesome job, huh? :) (00:00:12): Hi, everyone. (00:00:14): This is The Crime Café, your podcasting source of great crime suspense and thriller writing. (00:00:20): I'm your host, Debbi Mack. (00:00:22): Before I bring on my guest, (00:00:23): I'll just remind you that The Crime Café has two e-books for sale, (00:00:28): the nine-book box set and the short story anthology. (00:00:31): You can find the buy links for both on my website, debbiemack.com, under the Crime Café link. (00:00:38): If you'd like to (00:00:39): You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. (00:00:45): You'll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, (00:00:49): along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. (00:00:53): Unfortunately, our scheduled guest was unable to make it this week. (00:00:58): However, (00:00:58): I have instead another episode from the files of Philip Marlowe, (00:01:02): Private Eye, (00:01:04): Daring Young Dame on the Flying Trapeze. (00:01:06): Enjoy! (00:01:11): For the safety of your smile, use Pepsodent twice a day, see your dentist twice a year. (00:01:27): Lever Brothers Company presents the Pepsodent program, (00:01:30): The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, (00:01:32): starring Van Heflin. (00:01:40): Pepsodent presents Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's famous private detective. (00:01:45): You've seen him on the screen in Lady and the Lake, (00:01:47): Murder, (00:01:47): My Sweet, (00:01:48): The Brasher Doubloon, (00:01:49): and The Big Sleep. (00:01:50): Now Pepsodent brings you the adventures of Philip Marlowe on the air and starring (00:01:55): MGM's brilliant and dynamic young actor, (00:01:57): Van Heflin. (00:01:59): Pepsodent (00:02:15): There comes a certain time in the year when I don't want to see midget auto races. (00:02:19): I just want to see midgets. (00:02:21): When I prefer sawdust to stardust, and popcorn to all other kinds of corn available in Hollywood. (00:02:28): The circus was moving in on the grounds at Washington Boulevard and Hill Street, (00:02:32): and I was turning in my usual fine job as sidewalk supervisor. (00:02:37): It was exciting. (00:02:38): It brought back all the sounds and sensations and convictions of childhood. (00:02:43): And then someone had me firmly by the wrist, (00:02:45): and I turned to look into a pair of steady, (00:02:47): smoky, (00:02:48): dark eyes that could be dangerous. (00:02:51): Excuse me, sir, but you are a private detective? (00:02:54): I'm a detective, but I don't get much privacy. (00:02:57): Yeah, my name is Ralph Tassinari. (00:03:00): Who told you I was a detective? (00:03:01): My feet aren't that flat. (00:03:03): Do you know a gentleman named Al Sicanolfi? (00:03:06): Well, I know an Al Sicanolfi. (00:03:08): He pointed you out. (00:03:09): He asked me what was the big idea. (00:03:11): What was my angle hiring a private detective? (00:03:13): He gave me an idea. (00:03:14): When has Al Sicanolfi had any ideas to spare? (00:03:17): Mr. Marlowe, besides owning one-third of this very fine little circus, I am Tassinari. (00:03:23): Of Tassinari, the Swede, and Glorian. (00:03:26): Trafisto. (00:03:27): The most brilliant aerial act in the business. (00:03:29): I own this circus with Glorian and the Swede. (00:03:32): Well, where does Al Sicanolfi fit in here? (00:03:34): Now, the Swede gets drunk and gambles fantastic sums of money. (00:03:38): This circus is worth a quarter of a million dollars. (00:03:40): Already,
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