We are delighted to welcome author Harry Longstreet to Omnimystery News today.
Harry's debut mystery, the first in a series featuring the GYB [Got Your Back] Agency, is Falling Birds (July 2015 trade paperback and ebook format) and we recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him talking about it.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about the principals of the GYB Agency.
Photo provided courtesy of
Harry Longstreet
Harry Longstreet: Tracy, ex-military … Jake, ex-mobster … Dave ex-cop washout … Grodsky, infamous paparazzo. Diverse extroverts, human hangups and interesting, often complex relationships.
OMN: How did you go about finding the right voices for this diverse group of characters?
HL: Three male leads, one female, and two strong supporting characters that are female. Genders chosen to fit the story and to provide a lot of male/female interaction. I'm guessing readers couldn't care less about opposite gender from the writer.
OMN: Into which genre would you place the book?
HL: Crime suspense thriller with a lot of humor. It is what it is.
OMN: Tell us something about the book that isn't mentioned in the synopsis.
HL: Some interesting historical nuggets about Southern California and Los Angeles … food descriptions that will have you drooling … some inside show business tidbits.
OMN: How much of your own experience have you included?
HL: Only in a fantasy sense. Some dialogue is surely the best of what I've heard over the years but the characters are fiction and a lot more fun for that.
OMN: Tell us how you came up with the storyline?
HL: Some of the story comes from 25 years writing scripts. Stuff that didn't make the cut or was rejected or changed for the worse. Some is fresh but all is seat of the pants writing with a good knowledge of where I want the story to go.
OMN: How did you go about researching the plot points of the story? And did you come across any particularly challenging topics?
HL: First hand or internet research. Learning about European organized crime was the most challenging.
OMN: How important it the setting to the story?
HL: It is real with no liberties taken. The settings usually work to help both character and/or plot.
OMN: If we could send you anywhere in the world to research the setting for a book, where would it be?
HL: Western Europe, because I've spent a lot of time there and have a lot of favorite places.
OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your book?
HL: I'm not a paparazzo but I am a fine art photographer always seeking humanist images which makes me sneaky like Grodsky, my paparazzo.
OMN: What is the best advice you've received as an author?
HL: Don't stare at the page, write something … and have some fun.
OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a crime novelist and thus I am also …".
HL: A daydreamer who often fantasizes as being a crime fighter, detective etc.
OMN: How involved were you with the cover design?
HL: My daughter is an art director, did a great job, and came cheap.
OMN: You were a screenwriter before turning your hand to novels. What were some of the challenges in doing so?
HL: A lot of differences between the two but because of my background that line has blurred quite a bit … this may have hurt the book or made it more facile. Who knows …
OMN: Have any specific authors influenced how and what you write today?
HL: Dumas made me a reader … early crime stuff Perry Mason, Michael Shayne … later Travis McGee then came Elmore Leonard, Robert Parker, Ken Bruen, William Murray, Donald Westlake, Ross Thomas … it goes on and on.
OMN: When selecting a book to read for pleasure today, what do you look for?
HL: Equal opportunity fan of crime fiction … hard core, whimsical, funny … just good writing a must.
OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any topic.
HL: Favorite ice cream: Mora … Favorite soup: Onion at Restaurant Marche … Favorite disappointment: Seattle Mariners … Favorite Film: Le Bonn Annee (1973, LeLouch) … Favorite person: my wife!
OMN: What's next for you?
HL: The next installment of this series is a work in progress … Blood in the Water.
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Harry Longstreet retired after twenty-five years as a writer, producer and director of filmed entertainment, primarily for television. He has received two Writers Guild of America nominations for script writing, as well as a Humanitas Nomination and a Genesis Award for an after-school special he co-wrote and directed. His award winning humanist photography has appeared in one-man shows and over two-hundred National and International Juried Exhibitions.
For more information about the author, please visit his website at HarryLongstreet.com and his author page on Goodreads, or find him on Facebook.
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Falling Birds by Harry Longstreet
A GYB [Got Your Back] Novel
Publisher: Harry Longstreet
GYB [Got Your Back] is an agency specializing in protection and investigative services. The three principals of the Los Angeles firm are Tracy-ex-military, Jake ex-mobster, Dave ex-cop washout, and their bizarre contract confederate, Grodsky, an infamous paparazzo.
The agency works to protect a "Jeans Queen" designer from a psychopathic stalker. At the same time, Jake is the subject of a contract hit ordered by a dying mob boss he is responsible for putting in prison and Grodsky searches for the killer of a film star he once loved.
— Falling Birds by Harry Longstreet
