Hardboiled Journalist

Lauded by the great Ed Gorman

CharlesKelly — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 19:19:07 +0000

Sometimes my minor attempts to secure a place in the mystery writing/biography field reap rewards far beyond my expectations. That happened recently when the legendary mystery writer Ed Gorman, an incredibly prolific novelist and highly respected editor (who helped produce The Big Book of Noir), called Gunshots in Another Room a “masterpiece.” It doesn’t get any better than this. Read his review and then the comments. Incredible.

http://newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com/search?q=Gunshots+in+Another+rom

Lee Goldberg of Diagnosis: Murder Praises GUNSHOTS

CharlesKelly — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:52:18 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Lee Goldberg ever since I picked up one of his books with the mock-hardboiled title My Gun Has Bullets. Funniest title ever. His books, such as Watch Me Die, with a killingly amusing description of Travis McGee, are great. However, he’s best known to the public as a TV writer/producer with credits for Diagnosis: Murder, Monk, Hunter and Spenser: For Hire. Now Goldberg has issued a blush-inducing review of Gunshots in Another Room, my opus on hardboiled writer Dan J. Marlowe. Thanks, Lee!

Here it is: http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/a_writers_life/2013/03/booze-bullets-and-broads.html

Self-Publishing Can Work!

CharlesKelly — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:35:03 +0000

A very kind review of Gunshots in Another Room by Jessica Argyle on Keysnews.com, which originates in the Florida Keys, notes that the book is self-published but says it is quite professionally done. Jessica, author of an intriguing collection of short stories, Arrest Me (before I write again!), says the formatting, organization and editing of the book rival that of books published by traditional houses. This is gratifying, and a tribute to the cover designer, J.T. Lindroos, and to my editors and friends, Patrick Millikin and Ed Foster.

Here’s a link to Jessica’s review:

http://keysnews.com/node/45835

Los Angeles Review of Books calls Marlowe bio “Indispensable.”

CharlesKelly — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:07:09 +0000

Cullen Gallagher, who writes the celebrated blog Pulp Serenade and is an expert on all things pulp, noir and hardboiled, published a very nice review of Gunshots in Another Room: The Forgotten Life of Dan J. Marlowe on the Los Angeles Review of Books. The first part of his column deals with the work of Bill Pronzini, a giant in the field of mystery writing.

Here’s a link to Cullen’s column:

http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1387&fulltext=1&media=#article-text-cutpoint

Rough Edges favors Marlowe bio

CharlesKelly — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:57:22 +0000

James Reasoner, legendary Western writer and author of several of the Mike Shayne private-eye novellas, posts on his Rough Edges blog that Gunshots in Another Room: The Forgotten Life of Dan J. Marlowe is “a fascinating book and definitely one of the best things I’ve read this year.”

http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/2012/11/gunshots-in-another-room-forgotten-life.html?spref=fb

Finally, the Marlowe bio

CharlesKelly — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:52:34 +0000

After six years of research and writing, I’ve finally published the Dan Marlowe bio as an ebook on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and Kobo. Also, as a trade paperback on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It’s already been reviewed by Bill Crider on his blog, and mentioned on the Existential Ennui and James Reasoner blogs. Several people at the recent NoirCon in Philadelphia expressed interest. Marv Lachman, editor of the Reader’s Guide to The American Novel of Detection, even suggested that I enter it in the Edgar Awards. But, alas, the Edgars don’t accept self-published books.

Didn’t win, but had a great time

CharlesKelly — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 20:07:20 +0000

Hi, everybody. I didn’t win the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest with Grace Humiston and the Vanishing, but I had a great time. Congratulations to the General Fiction winner, Alan Averill, and kudos to his novel, The Beautiful Land. Also congrats to Young Adult Fiction winner Regina Sirois for her winning novel, On Little Wings. I got to hang out with Alan, Regina, finalists Rebecca Phillips, Brian Reeves, and Casey Griffin, and various spouses and friends, in Seattle for the awards dinner weekend. A bunch of wonderful folks, and we had a lot of fun. Thom Kephart of Amazon, who coordinated the whole thing, made it all look easy. All contests should be run this well. My fellow finalists were all very talented, and I’m sure they will find publishing success in the future. I loved the whole ABNA experience, and I highly recommend it to all novelists.

Thanks for supporting GRACE HUMISTON

CharlesKelly — Thu, 31 May 2012 14:13:56 +0000

Thanks so much to all of you who voted for my novel Grace Humiston and the Vanishing in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. The best part of the competition was finding out how many friends and well-wishers I have out there who are willing to rally to help me. The voting is over now, and the winner will be revealed at an awards dinner in Seattle on June 16. Amazon will fly me up there along with the other finalists.

This has been a wonderful ride, regardless of the outcome. I’ll let everybody know soon after the awards whether I won or not.

But, in reality, I have already won. Having you as my friends is better than a literary victory: it’s a life victory.

FATALE Features Marlowe

CharlesKelly — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:37:41 +0000

The late hard-boiled mystery writer Dan Marlowe is getting a lot of attention this week. That’s good, because in a few months I’m going to publish a biography: Gunshots in Another Room: The Forgotten Life of Dan J. Marlowe. As I mentioned below, the Los Angeles Review of Books has published my article about him, called “The Wrong Marlowe.” And the latest issue of the graphic novel Fatale (Fatale No. 3) is carrying a shorter article I did on Marlowe. Fatale is the brainchild of writer Ed Brubaker, who has “rock star” status in the world of comics, and rightfully so. Here’s the cover of Fatale No. 3:

And here are the first two pages of the article (art by Sean Phillips).

The Wrong Marlowe

CharlesKelly — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 15:25:55 +0000

The online Los Angeles Review of Books is bringing excellent book reviews back to the American public. The site caters to a wide array of tastes, and even employs a Noir Editor, Boris Dralyuk. A couple of months ago, Boris commissioned an article from me on Dan J. Marlowe, focusing on the years Marlowe spent in Los Angeles near the end of his life, living off and on with his bank robber friend Al Nussbaum. The article ran March 10, 2012. Here’s the link: http://lareviewofbooks.org/