Ed Lynskey
Interviewed by: Lauretta Pierce
A. Nothing exciting like in the old Dewar's ad profiling its hip customers. I do freelance
work at my home office. My wife and I live several miles from the Pentagon. I started
out writing poems and reviews, then turned to trying my hand at novels. Dirt-Brown
happens to be the first book I ever attempted to write.
A. I'm not sure if I can recall the germ for the original idea. I grew up in Fauquier County,
part of the Middleburg, Virginia, fox hunt country and crowd. You know, those elite
riders in their colorful getups mounted on high-dollar horses chasing cross-country after
the hounds and foxes. Before the tsunami of suburban development engulfed that rural
area, you could drive down any road on a Sunday afternoon and see the rich horse folk
out for their fun. Every fenceline featured a horse jump.
Now I've never even ridden on a mule, so my observations and impressions are all
detached. But I went to school with these folks' kids. I attended church with them. I
heard stories. I even worked for one family.
So, casting around for an idea to produce a detective novel, I'm sure it was only
inevitable that I'd use their rarified milieu as a setting. It's been suggested Dirt-Brown
takes place in Dick Francis' horse country, but quite frankly I've never read one of his
novels.
A. I didn't consciously sit down and break out all of Frank's flaws, characteristics, likes,
dislikes, and all that stuff. I'd read the entire PI series by such mystery writers as Wade
Miller, Dennis Lynds, Stephen Greenleaf, Dorothy Uhnak, Bart Spicer, Ed Lacy, and
some of George Pelecanos, Ross Macdonald, Arthur Lyon, Walter Mosley, and Bill
Pronzini. Perhaps that reading helped to meld the Frank Johnson makeup. I don't know.
I believed he should be a personable, dependable cuss. Readers (including myself) like a
strong, relentless protagonist they can identify with or root for throughout all the pages.
A few readers and reviewers have sworn at Frank, but most have sworn by him.
A. Mary Taliaferro is a total fabrication. I've never met anyone quite like her. Without
giving away any spoilers on the plot, I'll just say she's a tragic figure, perhaps a product
of her environment. And like all tragic figures, she evokes strong reactions from the
readers I've heard from after they finish Dirt-Brown.
A. Frank drives out of his normal orbit in Dirt-Brown and he needs a sidekick. Thornbird
serves that role. Also from the horse country, he's one of the natives Frank befriends,
though admittedly their relationship is an edgy, strained one.
A. I published my first short story in 1978. It appeared in a community college literary
magazine.
A. My current tally shows a dozen novel manuscripts that may or may not see print. The PI
Frank Johnson were the first ones I cut my teeth on. The second title in the series, The
Blue Cheer, will come out in March. The initial reviews on The Blue Cheer
have been generally favorable. Publishers Weekly cited its "first rate writing" and just
yesterday I saw it had scored a starred, boxed review in Booklist. The two other PI
Frank Johnson titles under publication contract are Pelham Fell Here and Troglodytes.
A. Good question. I've written two noirs and a science fiction novel, The Quetzal Motel
(Mundania Press, 2008).
A. Right now I'm doing the final edits on one of the noirs, Lake Charles. This noir is set in
1979 in a fictitious small town in the Tennessee mountains. Unlike most noirs typically
dark and bleak, Lake Charles has a redemptive outcome. Beyond that, I've an outline for
a thriller project.
A. The only goal I have for The Dirt-Brown Derby is for readers to enjoy its story. I guess
like other PI novels, Dirt-Brown shows everything doesn't cleave along all black and
all white lines. Characters starting with Frank have their good points and their not-so-
good points.
The Dirt Brown Derby
February 15, 2007
Q. Who is Ed Lynskey?
Q. How did you come about the idea to write the novel The Dirt Brown Derby?
Q. How did you come about Frank Johnson's character?
Q. How did you come about Mrs. Taliaferro's character?
Q. How did you come about Thornbird's character?
Q. How long have you been writing?
Q. How many books have you written?
Q. Do you write in other genres other than mystery/suspense?
Q. Are you currently writing another novel?
Q. What message would you like readers to receive from reading The Dirt Brown Derby?