A Visit from Nick Petrie

INGRID THOFT

Last year I had the immense pleasure of sharing a couple of tour dates with the wonderful Nick Petrie.  The author of the Peter Ash series, heir apparent to Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, Nick is a terrific writer and friend.  One of the highlights of the Toronto Bouchercon was wandering the streets on an epic 3-hour walk with Nick, during which we discussed life, literature, and the mystifying number of vegan bakeries we passed.  

Nick's newest book in the Peter Ash Series, "Light It Up" will be out on January 16, and it's fantastic.  Nick was kind enough to chat with me recently, and he'll be here today to answer your questions.

INGRID THOFT:  “Light It Up” focuses on the legal cannabis industry in Colorado and the birth of a related security industry.  I was particularly interested in learning about the intersection of those security firms and veterans, a fact that dovetails perfectly with Peter Ash’s background.  Can you tell readers a little bit about that?  

NICK PETRIE:  I first learned about this in a series of article on the subject in the New York Times.  Because of federal banking rules, the recreational cannabis industry, now legal in six states, has little to no access to the banks.  They can’t write checks or accept credit cards.  They pay their suppliers, their employees – even their taxes – in cash. And their product is lightweight, portable, and very valuable.  

At the same time, small security companies are springing up, many owned and staffed by veterans, to help protect cannabis entrepreneurs from those challenges. I’ve talked to many veterans who really miss the sense of mission and camaradarie they had in the military, and this work checks a lot of those boxes – plus it provides badly needed jobs for veterans.  

From a crime writer’s point of view, this setup was irresistible.  Guns, drugs, and money – what could possibly go wrong?


IPT:  Is there a type of scene you particularly enjoy writing?  Action?  Dialogue?  Description of settings? 

Nick braving the Milwaukee cold

NP:  I love all of those kinds of scenes, but I think my favorite is the moment of gathering tension before the characters do something big and emotional.  That might be an act of violence, a personal confrontation, or a move toward some kind of discovery or revelation.  I really enjoy that moment when the emotion and tension are building, but still held in check.  For some reason, I often set these scenes in the dark, or in a car – or in a darkened car – where the characters are with each other, but not necessarily looking at each other.  Waiting.

Funny, I never seem to write these scenes on purpose – they just develop naturally.  At first I think I’m just killing time, but eventually I realize that something else is happening.  These scenes tend to use all the tools you mentioned above – setting and description, along with dialogue, to create that mood, which usually leads to action.  

IPT:  I loved seeing the names Jon Jordan and Ruth Jordan appear as character names.  Am I right in assuming this is in honor of our Crimespree friends?  How did that come about?

NP:  This is absolutely in honor of Jon and Ruth, the founders, editors, and publishers of "Crimespree Magazine," founders and head potentates of the Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee crime fiction conference, and multiple past co-chairs of Bouchercon.  One of the pleasures of being a writer is that you can toss in these little Easter eggs for people you love and admire.

  
I have the great luck of living in Milwaukee, just a few miles from Jon and Ruth.  Before my first book came out, they took me under their wing and gave me the best introduction to the crime fiction community anyone could ask for.  Unfortunately, as so often happens in crime fiction, Jon (the character, not the human) had to die.  But that was part of the fun.  I’m so glad and proud to be part of their community.

IPT:  What’s next for you and Peter Ash?

NP:  I’ve finished a good working draft of Peter #4, which is set in Memphis, and I’ll be diving into edits while on tour in mid-January.  Tour events are on my website, www.nickpetrie.com, and also on my Facebook page.  

Ingrid and Nick 

I’m also thinking quite a bit about Peter #5, which will be set in Iceland.  I already have a fair amount of early thinking done on it – which is very unusual for me – so I’m really looking forward to seeing that book unfold.  2018 is already getting quite full – I’ve been invited to the Tucson Festival of Books in March, I’ll be at Thrillerfest in New York in July, and of course Bouchercon in Florida in September.  Plus my son and I plan to go back to Iceland this summer, to circumnavigate the island in the name of literary research – we have a great time bumming around together.  Then there’s that book to write….

IPT:  Those pesky books!  Always needing to be written!

Not only will Nick be here to answer your questions today, but he's also giving away a copy of "Light It Up."  Just comment to enter!

Light It Up - click here to read an excerpt

In this action-packed thriller starring war veteran Peter Ash, a well-planned and flawlessly executed hijacking reveals the hidden dangers of Colorado's mellowest business, but Ash may find there’s more to this crime than meets the eye. 

Combat veteran Peter Ash leaves a simple life rebuilding hiking trails in Oregon to help his good friend Henry Nygaard, whose daughter runs a Denver security company that protects cash-rich cannabis entrepreneurs from modern-day highwaymen. Henry’s son-in-law and the company’s operations manager were carrying a large sum of client money when their vehicle vanished without a trace, leaving Henry’s daughter and her company vulnerable.

When Peter is riding shotgun on another cash run, the cargo he’s guarding comes under attack and he narrowly escapes with his life. As the assaults escalate, Peter has to wonder: for criminals this sophisticated, is it really just about the cash?

After finding himself on the defensive for too long, Peter marshals his resources and begins to dig for the truth in a scheme that is bigger—and far more lucrative—than he’d ever anticipated. With so much on the line, his enemy will not give up quietly...and now he has Peter directly in his sights.

Nick Petrie received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington and won a Hopwood Award for short fiction while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. His story “At the Laundromat” won the 2006 Short Story Contest in The Seattle Review, a national literary journal. His first novel, The Drifter, won the 2016 Thriller Award and the 2016 Barry Award for Best First Novel, and was nominated for 2016 Edgar and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel, as well as the 2016 Hammett Prize for Best Novel. He was named one of Apple’s 10 Writers to Read in 2017, and won the 2016 Literary Award from the Wisconsin Library Association.  His books in the Peter Ash series are The Drifter, Burning Bright and Light It Up. A husband and father, he has worked as a carpenter, remodeling contractor, and building inspector. He lives in Milwaukee.

Sophomore Slump?..never heard of it.

Ro: There are certain things I don't even like to say, for fear that saying them will make them happen. Like...well...use your imagination..certain diseases, for example, unhappy altercations between cars and men walking dogs late at night. You get the picture.

On a far less tragic, but still unhappy, note is one expression a new writer can't seem to get away from - Sophomore Slump. I'd heard of it for years, even before I started writing. One publisher I know went so far as to say that publishers should bind a blank book (for number two) and then just leapfrog ahead to number three. I can tell you that wasn't a very encouraging conversation since I'd just spent the best part of a year banging out book two in my Dirty Business mystery series.

I guess there's some truth to the myth of the Sophomore Slump...many writers spend ten years or more polishing their first books and are then expected to push out number two in record time - generally one year if they're mystery writers.

Needless to say, I was determined not to fall victim to the dreaded SS. It goes without saying that I tried to write the best book I could. I held on to that manuscript until the bitter end, rewriting and revising until my normally calm and gentle editor pried it from my bony fingers with a look that told me it was now or never. We agonized over the title, the cover, the different PMS colors for the cover, the ARCs. Everything that went smoothly for book one was more of an issue for book two.

Was Sophomore Slump a self-fulfilling prophecy? Did things screw up because people expected them to screw up?

Time will tell for The Big Dirt Nap. My pub. date is next week, and I've already had a pre-launch party to benefit the Chalula Community library, which my husband and I helped to found. (At the legendary Friar's Club in New York...went well, thank you.) Kirkus, PW and (yippee!) Crimespree have all given me good reviews. So, so far, so good...

Any words of wisdom or war stories from the rest of you seasoned travellers?

ROBERTA: Ro, you've done everything you can. Now let it go and move on. And enjoy the launch! I did have a sophomore slump and lived to survive it:). Although I loved a lot of things about my second book, A BURIED LIE, I lost patience with working on it at the end. The research was impeccable (I paid to play in an LPGA pro-am tournament), the characters developed nicely, but the plot had holes. Big ones. I think I learned a lesson on that one--at any rate, my sweet husband reminds me of it when I'm tempted to rush another ending.
And yes, many writers find writing the second book to be very different from the first. With that first one, there was no deadline, no editor, no real audience in mind. But for the Big Dirt Nap, let's all enjoy the party!

RHYS: I don't think it has much to do with the quality of the book, Rosemary. Collectors buy first in series, especially signed. People try a new series and some decide it's not right for them. The second is often not accompanied by the buzz of the first book. Having said that, the numbers went up on the second book in all my series. So think positively.

JAN: My second book, A Confidential Source, was the most successful, but then again, it was launched as first in a series, (a few name changes but initially written as a sequeal to Final Copy). So I think Rhys is right. It's not in the writing so much as the buzz. You're awesome at generating buzz, Ro, seemingly tireless in promotion. If anyone shouldn't second guess herself, it's you!! Congratulations. I predict another success!

HANK: In college, I gained five pounds my sophomore year. That was also the year I decided going to class wasn't that important. Now that's slump. That's--falling off the chair.
I loved writing my book 2, Face Time. You know why? I had learned so much in the writing and revisions of Prime Time that I wanted to see if I could put it to use. For instance, PT was 723 pages when the first draft was finished! And I had to edit it to 325. That was one of the most educational experiences I've ever had. I learned my crutch words, my weaknesses, my digressions. That sometimes I wasn't that funny. I learned it was all about advancing the plot. Face Time, when I typed The End of the first draft? Bingo. 325 pages.

RO: I have a great group of blog sisters to learn from! Anybody remember that song from Damn Yankees...A Little Brains, A Little Talent? I shall try to employ both - and not gain five pounds!

Come back on Wednesday to meet this week's guest blogger, Joanna Campbell Slan who writes the Kiki Lowenstein Scrapbooking mysteries