James Neal Harvey on the Strand Magazine blog!
Ever wonder what leads crime authors to work with such harrowing material? In James Neal Harvey's case, the fascination with the darker side of life started early on.
When I was a kid, my family lived in a quiet neighborhood in Danbury, and a young woman whose home was nearby went to that same Candlewood Lake for a swim. Pieces of her body were found among the rocks on the west side of the lake. She’d been raped and hideously mutilated. The killer was never caught.
A year after that, the owner of a small grocery store closed up on Christmas Eve and went down into his basement office to tot up his receipts. An 18-year-old tough named Pooch McCarthy forced his way into the shop and shot the grocer and stole his money.
The justice system was different in those days. McCarthy was convicted, and instead of enjoying 25 years of appeals, in June he was taken to Wethersfield State Prison and given the juice
Those events, and others, greatly stimulated my interest.
You can read the rest of Harvey's essay, which chronicles his career as an author, at Strand Magazine's blog, The Mystery Center.
To see the excellent crime writing which that career has produced--including his latest novel, The Big Hit--check out Harvey's author page on MysteriousPress.com.
