This week on BOOKCHAT we welcome Michael McGarrity, prolific author of crime novels. Before becoming a full-time writer, Michael spent twenty-five years in the field of criminal justice, working as a patrol officer, deputy sheriff, and community relations officer. He clearly learned plenty about the dark side of humanity; his seventeen novels include numerous bestsellers which have established him as one of the U.S.’s leading crime writers. He lives in Santa Fe.
When were you happiest?
Happiness in my life doesn’t have a past tense.
What’s your guiltiest pleasure?
That’s none of your business.
What’s the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Arrogance.
What’s the trait you most deplore in others?
Arrogance.
What’s the most important lesson life has taught you?
Avoid people who want you to fail.
What book(s) are you reading now?
“The Spy and the Traitor,” “A Woman of No Importance,” and “Underland: A Deep Time Journey.”
What books might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
Gabriel Garcia Marques, “Memories of my Melancholy Whores.” Too many others to mention.
Which writers working today do you admire most? Why?
Again, too many to mention. I stand in awe of many contemporary authors. I also dislike a bunch and wish I was more like combative Norman Mailer who was willing to engage in public criticism of writers of formula fiction. Alas, I demure. Too much bullying going on right now.
Which genres do you read? Which do you avoid? Why?
Non-fiction, history and biography. It expands my understanding of the world and the human experience. I avoid mystery and crime fiction. The voices of other writers in the genre interfere with my narrative voice.
What book(s) “should” you have read but haven’t, or what “classic” couldn’t you finish?
Too many to list. Let’s start will most of Shakespeare. I suffer from a land-grant college education.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
How about four? Raymond Chandler, Luis Alberto Urrea, Earnest Hemingway and Isabel Allende.
Tell us about your latest book in no more than 50 words.
HEAD WOUNDS brings to a startling conclusion the Kevin Kerney crime novels with a narrative that savagely explores the violence of the Borderlands drug wars and its devastating impact on victims and villains alike. It is also a story of the search for redemption. How many writers voluntarily end a successful series?
Where can we find this book?
Everywhere as of 11/10.
