Big Mojo
by Jack Getze
This was my first experience with Austin Carr and I really liked the character. He’s smart, a smart ass at times, but also tries to be a good father…~Lilac Reviews
This book will take you on a wild ride with twist and turns that the Austin Carr takes you on will make you wonder what will happen next. Filled with fun, wit,and humor this fast paced page-turner will keep you reading until the murder is solved.
~Shelley’s Book Case
~Shelley’s Book Case
Big Mojo
(Austin Carr Mystery)
(Volume 3)
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Down & Out Books (September 17, 2014)
ISBN-13: 978-1937495763
Synopsis
Wall Street’s miasmal garbage washes up on the Jersey Shore when a small time broker falls in love: Is he attracted to the beautiful lady — or her brother’s inside information? Held spellbound by a steamy, auburn-haired woman with a questionable past and a get-rich-quick, insider trading scheme, Austin Carr knocks down a beehive of bad-acting Bonacellis, including the ill-tempered Mr. Vic Bonacelli, who wants his redhead back, and local mob lieutenant Mama Bones Bonacelli, architect of a strange and excruciating death trap for the fast-talking stockbroker she calls smarty pants. To survive, Austin must unravel threads of jealousy, revenge and new affections, discovering the fate of a pseudo ruby called the Big Mojo, and close the lid on a pending United States of America vs. Austin Carr insider trading case. Can Austin and his Jersey Shore mouthpiece possibly out maneuver the savvy U.S. District Attorney from Manhattan? Does anything matter for Austin again if Mama Bones flips that switch?
Former Los Angeles Times reporter Jack Getze is Fiction Editor for Anthony nominated Spinetingler Magazine, one of the internet’s oldest websites for noir, crime, and horror short stories. Through the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Syndicate, his news and feature stories were published in over five-hundred newspapers and periodicals worldwide. His two screwball mysteries, BIG NUMBERS and BIG MONEY, are being reissued by DOWN & OUT BOOKS, with the new BIG MOJO to follow. His short stories have appeared in A Twist of Noir and Beat to a Pulp. Getze is an Active Member of Mystery Writers of America’s New York Chapter.
http://austincarrscrimediary.blogspot.com
Interview
Where are you from?
I was born in New Orleans and then spent two years in
Oceanside, California before moving to the northeastern suburbs of Los Angeles
when I was three. Alhambra and the bordering towns of San Gabriel and Pasadena
is where I grew up, where I lived until the age of 34. Starting with my
alphabetically attached locker mates (Garcia, Getze, Gomez, Gonzales), I've
always enjoyed many friends in the Mexican-American community, and love the
culture, music and food especially. I remember risking suspension by ditching
school in the seventh grade to lunch on fresh-baked flour tortillas filled with
refried beans and cheese.
Tell us your latest
news?
Down & Out Books
will publish the fourth full-length Austin Carr Mystery later this year. BIG
SHOES takes place a few weeks after the short story, BIG MOUTH, and forever
changes Austin's and Mama Bones' lives. Angelina Mama Bones Bonacelli becomes a
bigger part of Austin's story -- and a bigger boss in the local organized crime
family.
When and why did you
begin writing?
I was a bad student, refusing to do much homework. More like
any homework. Trying to keep me on
the graduation list, my senior guidance counselor found a class with no
homework -- journalism. We put out the school paper every week. I loved it and
really found my niche. I'd have three or four bylines every issue. I'd written
a few short stories before that for English class, but never thought of being a
writer until that journalism class.
When did you first
consider yourself a writer?
After high school and a year pumping gas and shooting pool
at night, I earned a copyboy job for the old Los Angeles Herald-Examiner's business
news department and had to really go to work. I filled paste pots, cleaned
desks, distributed stories off the wire services and even ran across the street
to the liquor store every afternoon for our headline writer, a man who needed
fortification to fit the news into perfectly counted, attention grabbing words.
One day the business editor pulled me aside just before noon, said he had two
lunch dates and he was taking the one at the bar. He said I would have to
handle his second lunch date, which was actually no lunch at all, just meeting the
president of some yacht company who expected to be interviewed. "Ask the
guy a few questions and write a little feature story," my boss told me. So
I did, and the story ran next day with my first ever professional byline. I was
19 and felt like a writer.
What inspired you to
write your first book?
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway. I read the
book right after high school and was impressed with the story. I wondered if
something similar could happen here in the 1960s, as there was much turmoil, demonstrating,
etc. Sometime in 1966 or 1967 I began writing my first novel about young people
starting a revolution in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles. Luckily, I
realized what I was doing fairly early on -- copying Hemingway -- and gave up
on that story to begin one of my own. Kinda. That second one was a lot like the
movie Chinatown. :)
Do you have a
specific writing style?
I want my readers to be mesmerized by the characters, their
speech and actions -- not my words or storytelling techniques. Natural,
conversational words and sentences; easy reading. Clarity promotes
understanding. When I rewrite and rewrite, I'm trying to make the story flow so
smoothly and easily, the reader won't notice the writing. I want the words to
almost disappear.
How did you come up
with the title?
Nothing very special I'm afraid. I've been a fan of Raymond
Chandler and his novel The Big Sleep for more than forty years, so when I wrote
the first Austin Carr, I chose Big Numbers as a title, and when my agent wanted
another, I figured to use Big in every book. Because of the love potion Mama
Bones tries on Austin in this third book, I wanted the title to have something to
do with magic, or spell, or voodoo. Big Mojo sounded best to my ears.
Is there a message in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Yes, that love is the big mojo in our lives, the thing that
makes life's struggles worth enduring. Nothing is more important than family
and friends. And if anyone reading this is short of either, get busy searching.
What would you like
my readers to know?
I love to hear from the people who read my books. Criticism
makes me a better writer, so I encourage and solicit readers' questions,
comments and angry rants. Austin Carr is less than a hero, and not for
everybody, but he's getting better from book to book. Let me know what you
think by friending me on Facebook or Goodreads, or leave a comment on my blog.
And thanks for listening.
Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jack.getze
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18050373-big-numbers
“Gordon Gekko meets Janet Evanovich in this wry and winning caper–Jack Getze does it again!”
~Hank Phillippi Ryan
Agatha, Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Award winning author of TRUTH BE TOLD
Purchase Links:
Amazon
B&NMore by Jack Getze
Tour Participants
January 5 – Kelly P’s Blog – Interview
January 6 – Tea and A Book – Review, Giveaway
January 7 – A Blue Million Books - Interview
January 8 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – Guest Post, Giveaway
January 8 – Lilac Reviews Review, Giveaway
January 9 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review, Giveaway
January 10 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – Interview
January 11 – Christa Reads and Writes – Review
January 12 – Back Porchervations – Review
January 13 – deal sharing aunt – Interview
January 14 – dru’s book musings – Guest Post, Giveaway
January 15 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – Review, Giveaway
January 16 – readalot – Review
January 17 – Serenity Doesn’t Come Easy Review, Interview, Giveaway
January 18 – rantin’ ravin’ and reading – Review, Giveaway
January 19 – StoreyBook Reviews – Guest Post, Giveaway
January 20 – Michele Lynn Seigfried’s Blog – Review
January 21 – Jane Reads – Review, Giveaway
January 22 – Read Your Writes – Spotlight
Thanks for having on today, Auntie!
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