Welcome to the virtual book tour for Death in the Family, a new crime thriller from Lanny Larcinese. Today he’s giving us some more insight into him and his writing. You can also enjoy an excerpt from the book and then enter to win in the giveaway. Be sure to follow the tour for even more!
Describe your book in one sentence or fewer than 25 words.
A vulnerable but talented young man succeeds by beating the mob at its own game.
What was the inspiration behind this book?
The book began as a story of a young man’s unrequited love from his mother, an ex-nun married to a low-level mob wannabe. I’m a romantic, the premise touched me.
What kind of research did you have to do for it?
Tons: Explosives; U.S. Marines; paraplegia; convent; Alcoholics Anonymous; streets; house construction; airports access; FBI; etc. Some involved visiting neighborhoods, talking to knowledgeable people. Most done online.
Which character was your favorite to write?
Antwyne Claxton, one-time high school nemesis of protagonist Donny Lentini and a former thug become reformed and Donny’s best friend. His journey from deprivation to redemption and loyal friend after having been vanquished is heroic.
To which character did you relate the most?
To the main character, Donny Lentini, a talented young man but with a hole in his heart and under the delusion he could earn his way into love. Though the story is crime and mystery, his vulnerability is the theme that drives the plot, just as it does in real life.
What was one of your favorite scenes?
The interactions between Donny and mob guys, especially as he begins to get their number. Also between him and Antwyne. Also, his relationships with his father. Three love scenes too– between Donny and his love, Pepper Garcia. All these really touched me. There are crimes & the mob, but the story is really a relationship story.
Why should we read your book?
It has many more layers than the typical crime story: deep relationships ( unfulfilled as well as deeply rewarding); Oedipal theme; vengeance; redemption; justice; heartbreak; love.
On what are you currently working?
Work in progress is a novel called, “Fire in the Belly,” inspired by an actual incident in which the 1985 Philadelphia police dropped a satchel charge on the headquarters of the black, militant, and otherwise strange cult, MOVE. Fourteen people burned to death, including six children, and 62 row houses allowed to burn to the ground.
What does your upcoming release schedule look like?
Death in the Family – release:1/1/2020
What is your writing routine?
Very unroutine. Am thinking about the story all day, though not necessarily at the keyboard. Prolific notes all over the Sunday Times Magazine, random pieces of paper, notepads; will get out of bed at midnight and go to the keyboard if a scene or an adjective or an image pops into my head. Not recommended as a palliative for insomnia though the heart can sing over just the right word.
What is the best writing advice you ever received?
“Just write your damned book.”
Donny Lentini is a talented young man hungry for his mother’s love. To please her, he becomes guardian angel to his mob-wannabe father. When the father is murdered and found with his hands hacked off, Donny is dealt a set of cards in a game called vengeance. The pot is stacked high with chips; the ante, his soul and the lives of loved-ones. With the help of friends—ex-con, defrocked Jesuit Bill Conlon along with former high-school nemesis, Antwyne Claxton—he digs for whether the murder had anything to do with the mob’s lust for a real estate parcel owned by the family of Donny’s lover. He’s new at this game. He doesn’t cheat, but plays his cards well. And he gets what he wants.
Read an excerpt:
There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk . One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.” I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What is it with you?” he said. “You win four, five pots every Friday.” Dad kicked my shin under There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk . One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.” I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What is it with you?” he said. “You win four, five pots every Friday.” Dad kicked my shin under the table.
Available on Amazon
Lanny Larcinese ‘s short work has appeared in magazines and has won a handful of local prizes. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s a native mid-westerner transplanted to the City of Brotherly Love where he has been writing fiction for seven years. When not writing, he lets his daughter, Amanda, charm him out of his socks, and works at impressing Jackie, his long-time companion who keeps him honest and laughing—in addition to being his first-line writing critic. He also spends more time than he should on Facebook but feels suitably guilty for it.
https://www.facebook.com/lanny.larcinese
Lanny Larcinese will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
Add mine, too, Andi. Thanks for sharing your following with me.
Great interview
Thank you Edgar. Writers love talking about what we do (probably to compensate for all those hours, ‘days, and months at the keyboard!)
My family loves reading so hearing about another great book I appreciate. Thanks for sharing and also for the giveaway.
Thank you Edgar. It’s always my hope to lessen the mystique of the novel-writing process.
Sounds like a good book.
I hope you enjoy it, Rita. My work is complex — not hard to follow, but layered with inner landscape stuff that goes on beneath the plot.
Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions?
I don’t Bernie, except to try to be better all the way around. I happen to love my life as it is, but that’s not to say I can’t be better. And you?
I enjoyed the interview! Thank you for hosting.
Thank you Caryl. Writers like to get away from the keyboard and actually…you know…communicate with the world! We also like to talk about how the sausage gets made. Best to you for the new year!
Happy Friday, thanks for sharing the great post!
Thank you, Victoria. Without readers, writers are writing into the wind.
Who are some of your favorite authors still currently writing?
Well, Bernie, you might guess they’re crime writers: Richard Price; Peter Blauner; Jeffrey Deaver; C.J. Box; Shawn Cosby; Eric Beetner, et al. And yours?