Published Novel "The Dark Veil"

One of my greatest literary influences has always been Dashiell Hammett, the the former Pinkerton operative who more or less invented the hard boiled detective novel.  Critics and scholars have traditionally looked down upon him as no more than a "genre writer" and have never been willing to accord him his rightful place in American literature.  But, in my opinion at least, Hammett really is one of the great writers of the twentieth century.  His first novel Red Harvest broke new ground, not only for its hard boiled style, but even more importantly for the portrayal of its protagonist as utterly ruthless and pragmatic in the manner he sets about his task.  The Continental Op doesn't play by the rules; he has a job to do and he accomplishes it without regard to conventional morality.  As far as he is concerned, the end completely justifies the means no matter how many lawbreakers must die in the process.

A few years ago, I stumbled on the original serialized version of The Maltese Falcon that first appeared in Black Mask magazine.  It differed substantially from the final edition that was later published in book form by Knopf.  In the serialized version the writing was rawer and less polished, and so it was easier to understand exactly what Hammett was attempting.  There is no introspection here, no attempt to convey to the reader what is occurring in the minds of the characters.  Instead, there is only action, physical description and dialog.  To the extent that the Sam Spade is defined only by what he does, the detective story is transformed into an unlikely existential novel.

In writing my own noir novel, The Dark Veil, I tried the same approach.  Rather than telling the reader what the protagonist Quinn was thinking at any given moment, I instead allowed the reader to infer his thoughts simply by following his course of action and by listening to what he had to say thus ideally the reader to become a participant in the plot rather than merely a passive spectator.

I hope you will order my novel and take a chance on an unknown author.  I can't promise the book is as good as Hammett's work, but I did try my utmost to write to the best of my ability.

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