The Joys of Binge Reading

Andy Straka is an award-winning mystery author whose latest book, Split City, features identical twins who are also former pro bowling champions. When one of them is called upon by the small Midwest town sheriff to identify the other’s body in the morgue, as you can imagine, all hell breaks loose.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today in Binge Reading Andy talks about the similarities between his own life and the characters in his story. He too is an identical twin who spent a lot of his youth in the local bowling alley.

As usual, we have a great giveaway of free books to offer you–this time a selection of clean and uplifting historical romance. Details of where to download them are in the show notes or on the Binge Reading Facebook page at www.thejoysof binge reading.com or https://www.facebook.com/JennyAtBingeReading

https://books.bookfunnel.com/escape_into_history/1lcyxeuzfl

Don’t forget exclusive bonus content on the Binge Reading on Patreon page – like hearing Andy’s answers to the Five Quickfire Questions. You can hear those by becoming a Binge Reading on Patreon supporter for the cost of less than a cup of coffee a month.

We would love to have you as a supporter. It takes a lot of work to put this together every week and although my time is not paid, it would be great to get a little extra benefit for supporting our sound crew, the people who transcribe the page, and our podcast hosts. Details at www.patreon.com/thejoysofbingereading

Links to be found in this episode

The Weird World of Extreme Ironing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone

Twin Cities: ttps://www.amazon.com/New-Hampshire-Vs-Vermont-Sibling/dp/0965250202)

Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone

Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2052.The_Big_Sleep

Falconry: https://www.n-a-f-a.com/page/What_is_Falconry

Dashiel Hammett: The Maltese Falcon: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29999.The_Maltese_Falcon

Jeffrey Deaver: https://www.jefferydeaver.com/

Mary Kay Andrews: https://marykayandrews.com/

Brian Freeman: The Deep Deep Snow, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52282213-the-deep-deep-snow

Claire Huffacker: The Cowboy and The Cossack, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220812.

Lee Goldberg, Gated Prey http://leegoldberg.com/books/

Leif Enger Virgil Wander https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39027388-virgil-wander

AND Peace Like A River: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227571.Peace_Like_a_River

Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Sympathizer, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1229277604

William Gibson: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/10003/william-gibson/

James Lee Burke: https://www.jamesleeburke.com/

Dave Robicheaux: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Robicheaux

Anthony Doerr: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cloud-Cuckoo-Land/Anthony-Doerr/9781982168438

C.J. Box: https://www.cjbox.net/

Amazon’s new Jack Reacher series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSycMV-_Csw

Where to find Andy Straka

Website: https://www.andystraka.com/
Email: andy@andystraka.com

What follows is a “near as” transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

But now, here’s Andy.

Introducing mystery author Andy Straka Mystery Author – and falconer -Andy Straka with one of his birds

Jenny Wheeler: Hello there Andy, and welcome to the show. It’s great to have you with us.

Andy Straka: Thanks Jenny. I appreciate you having me on.

Jenny Wheeler: You are an award-winning and bestselling author whose latest book, Split City, is book one in a new series called Jesus Spares. It’s about identical twin brothers who have both been professional bowlers. I understand there is a big injection of personal biography into that backstory. Tell us about that.

Andy Straka: I grew up in upstate New York, which is where this book is set. It’s not autobiographical in any way, but I am an identical twin and when I was young my mother and father took my identical twin and I bowling almost every Sunday after church.

My parents were both bowlers. That changed a little bit when we got into our teens, it kind of fell away, but it was a part of my childhood that was a cherished memory.

Believe it or not, when the pandemic started a couple of years ago, I was hard at work on more of an international thriller, co-authored with another gentleman. I called him up and said, I need to take a break from this book, it’s too close to reality with everything going on right now. Part of the reason I wanted to do that is I felt the need to tell this story.

This idea came into my head. I wanted to do a traditional mystery that was based character-wise on reality.

Twin City country – with added fiction

It is set in an actual area, the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York where we’re from here in the US, but the town itself, Partridgeberry County and Twin Strikes, none of that exists. It’s all fictional. And I wanted to do an amateur sleuth. I didn’t want to have a professional detective or anybody with any kind of professional background. I didn’t want that level of reality.

It was actually great therapy for me to write this book. I’ve had fun writing it. I hope people have enjoyed reading it, and from the feedback I get from readers that seems to be the case. I’m having a blast with the characters. I’m working on the sequel right now.

We’re talking to the publisher, and I have to meet some deadlines in this quarter in order to have it out this year. It may get pushed into the first quarter of next year, but that’s the background on it and it’s been a lot of fun.

Jenny Wheeler: Was it a bit of a tonic for you getting through the pandemic? Is that how you see it?

Andy Straka: Yes. I needed something that was an escape, and I can’t help but wonder if many readers are in the same boat these days. We have so much drama going on. All we’ve got to do is turn on our television or click our internet. It’s splashed into our faces everywhere, it seems.

‘Agatha Christie meets Big Lebowski’

Sometimes I just want to sit with a book – whether it be a physical book or an e-book. I can go either way myself but I know some people feel strongly either one with one or the other. But to be able to escape, to say, okay I’m in a different world now, I’m enjoying these characters, I want to know more about them, I want to have fun with them, and especially I’m enjoying the narrative voice and whatever is going on.

Jenny Wheeler: I’m talking to you from New Zealand, and in New Zealand, when we talk about bowls the thing that comes to mind, certainly for people of my generation, is lawn bowls and older people playing bowls outside on various smooth greens, dressed in almost uniforms, white costumes, like the cricketers use.

It’s not that sort of bowls you’re talking about at all is it? I don’t know if you even have that sort of bowls in the States. It’s a different sort of bowling entirely, so tell us a bit about the bowling in this book.

Andy Straka: This book is American ten pin bowling. That is the majority of the bowling alleys in this country. Billy Gills, who is the protagonist in the book, is a former pro bowler. He is pretty much washed up, except he occasionally tries to get into a tournament, and he runs the bowling alley, which is Split City. To describe this book in a nutshell I tell people that I like to think of it as Agatha Christie meets The Big Lebowski, if you’re familiar with that, and also meets Cheers.

A sense of community

I know that dates me a little bit but I wanted it to create a sense of community, a place where people come together. In this book there is a local church, and they meet once a month in the bowling alley. They have an event and bring people in from out of town and other areas for a recreational thing. It’s a fellowship and there’s a little talk and so forth.

Essentially, that’s known as Jesus Spares. My idea for the mystery series is that because this is a small town, it’s not like there are murders that happen every day, but all of these stories will in some way be related to those events that happen, whether it’s people from out of town or people in the region who come for this event. That is the idea behind it.

Jenny Wheeler: It’s lightly inspirational, but not overtly religious, I think that would be fair to say, wouldn’t it?

Andy Straka: Yes. I’m sorry, circling back, I didn’t quite answer your question. The ten-pin bowling alley is a facility with a lane. Of course, there is the professional bowling tour here in the US where some of the top bowlers earn fairly good money but professional bowling was in its heyday 30-40 years ago. It’s not so much anymore, but it’s made something of a comeback.

The PBA as it’s known it’s still quite popular, particularly in the Midwest of the United States. Nowadays it is actually one of the most popular or largest sports in America. I think the estimates are something like 60 to 70 million people went bowling last year in bowling alleys, but it’s mostly recreational – families, people getting together.

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100%;}.formkit-form[data-uid="d471e51619"][min-width~="600"] [data-style="minimal"]{padding:40px;}.formkit-form[data-uid="d471e51619"][min-width~="600"] .formkit-fields[data-stacked="false"]{margin-left:-5px;margin-right:-5px;}.formkit-form[data-uid="d471e51619"][min-width~="600"] .formkit-fields[data-stacked="false"] .formkit-field,.formkit-form[data-uid="d471e51619"][min-width~="600"] .formkit-fields[data-stacked="false"] .formkit-submit{margin:0 5px 15px 5px;}.formkit-form[data-uid="d471e51619"][min-width~="600"] .formkit-fields[data-stacked="false"] .formkit-field{-webkit-flex:100 1 auto;-ms-flex:100 1 auto;flex:100 1 auto;}.formkit-form[data-uid="d471e51619"][min-width~="600"] .formkit-fields[data-stacked="false"] .formkit-submit{-webkit-flex:1 1 auto;-ms-flex:1 1 auto;flex:1 1 auto;} Bowling used to be at the center

There are leagues and so forth that are formed. They are nowhere near as popular as they were back in my parents’ day. There is quite a good nonfiction, kind of a serious book by a sociologist that came out about 20 years ago called Bowling Alone. (By Robert D Putnam) He documents the restructuring of American community and uses the bowling leagues as sort of a metaphor, an analysis of that, because back in my parents’ day, for example, a much larger percentage of people were involved in these leagues and these communities.

That fell off quite dramatically in the eighties and nineties, and he saw that as an indication of changes in community. I’m not a sociologist. I refer other people to the book. I’ve read parts of it. It’s an interesting thing. What I’m looking to do with this book is in some ways to resurrect that feeling I got from my childhood of a community where people in a small town come together.

Jenny Wheeler: That’s interesting. More recent events indicate perhaps that the community is not quite so glued together as it was when you were growing up.

Andy Straka: In the book, you mean?

Jenny Wheeler: I mean that your book takes us back to a time when the community was more glued together, but this book you mentioned, Bowling Alone, indicates that perhaps the decline in popularity was because communities became less cohesive.

Keeping humor alive in the mystery

Andy Straka: Yes, exactly. I think it’s to the point now – and part of this of course is due to social media and some of the technology we’re using right now – where there are people who live in suburban neighborhoods who don’t even know their neighbors. That would not have been the case back in my parents’ day.

This book doesn’t put its head in the sand and not recognize that. It is modern day, there’s technology and so forth, but it is in a small town. Some of the characters are quite different and there are some different things going on. That is something I’ve had a lot of fun with, and I’m looking forward myself to seeing these characters evolve and getting to know them a little better.

Jenny Wheeler: There is a very humorous tone to it. You’re saying about bowls being a sport and you mentioned a sport there which I had never heard of. At the beginning I thought, he must be joking – extreme ironing as a sport. I looked it up and it really does exist. Tell us about that.

Andy Straka: I don’t know all that much about it. I should say, my identical twin brother is an economist. He has a PhD in Economics. He is a very prestigious executive with one of the big banks here in America. I wanted to make this character nothing like him, but I wanted him to have some financial success. This is Bo Gills.

Billy and Bo both leave professional bowling. Bo leaves prematurely because he has an idea for these strange funky bowling shoes, and they take off. They’re known as TreadBos, and they become the Air Jordan sneakers of the bowling world. He builds a little factory in this Partridgeberry County and his TreadBo shoes become this big, big thing. He’s also very quirky and very different. He has some money; he travels a lot. He’s a little bit of a womanizer.

Extreme sports at their weirdest

But he also does some strange things, one of which is extreme ironing. People could look it up on the internet. It’s a phenomenon where people, sort of as a prank, sort of as a sport, will attempt to iron a shirt or something on an ironing board while standing on their head or riding on horseback or standing on the edge of a cliff, climbing a mountain or whatever you can think of. It is a thing.

Jenny Wheeler: It’s wonderful because you do combine that humor with intense emotion. The book opens with a very graphic scene of Billy being asked to go to the morgue by the local sheriff to identify a body the sheriff thinks is his brother. Because they’re identical twins, that has a special poignancy. I don’t think there’s anybody who wouldn’t identify with that scene and feel for Billy. We won’t let on what happens, but what inspired you to open the book that way?

Andy Straka: That’s the first thought that occurred to me when I had the idea for the book. I didn’t know where it was going to go or how it was going to end up. At first I thought it might go in one direction and it ended up going in a completely different direction, to my surprise. I thought it was a good way to open a mystery right up front with something that was unusual, and also something that, at an emotional level, I could personally relate to. I could imagine myself being called into such a place and looking down at a body that looks like myself, and all the emotions.

The detective who is also a falconer

I tried to capture that as well as I could in the book to give readers a sense of what it’s like to be a twin, to see someone else in the flesh who looks like you. Even at my age now–and I have a couple of grandchildren–my twin and I talk all the time.

We don’t see each other physically as often as I would like, especially since the pandemic but we usually talk two or three times a week on average. In any event, hearing his voice or seeing his face on a screen or whatever it might be, it’s hard for me to communicate with people what that feeling is like. I wanted to try to do that as best I could with this dramatic scene.

Jenny Wheeler: I think you do. It’s terrific.

I wanted to make sure that we got to talk about your other series too, because once again, you have a unique take on things. You’ve got a Shamus award-winning series built around a former cop called Frank Pavlicek.

He has got a particular sport or leisure interest he pursues and that’s falconry. Falconry appears in a number of these books. There are five Frank Pavlicek books and The K Street Hunting Society is the most recent of those. What made you decide to pick on falconry as something to add into the book?

Enthralled by Raymond Chandler

Andy Straka: That’s an interesting story, to some degree. When I was in college, many years ago, I was introduced for the first time to the private detective novel. Believe it or not, it was in a class on Modern American literature. It included a lot of luminaries of literary fiction and lo and behold, there was a little mass market paperback book among the stack of these very prestigious literary novels.

I was curious, as a 19, 20-year-old sophomore in college from a small town. What is this? It was Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep, and I was enthralled. Of all the books I read in college as an English major, that stuck with me the most. Something about the voice. I resonated with it.

I wanted to write. I actually played sports in college. I played college basketball, very small college, but I was very involved in that, and I also wrote. I had published a couple of short stories in college in the campus literary journal, nothing too prestigious. I didn’t have the confidence to feel that I could make it as a writer, and I didn’t want to go on and pursue more academic training, so I went into business.

I did that for 13 years altogether but my wife, bless her soul, came to me after our second child was born and said, I’m going to be going back working full-time. Well, she had been working full-time, I shouldn’t say that, but she had gone through her training while I was working.

I was working in the medical field as well. I worked for some large pharmaceutical companies. She said, why don’t you take a year or two off? You have always talked about writing a book, which I had, and it was almost like, put up or shut up, buddy. If it doesn’t work out, go back to what you’ve been doing.

Writing as a ‘stay-at-home’ Dad

I could be a stay-at-home Dad part-time with our then two-year-old daughter – who has recently become engaged to be married at the age of 38, so it shows how long ago that was. Anyway, she laid down the challenge and I never went back.

I started writing, I started working. I didn’t know whether I could finish a novel. I tried some different genres. I tried some different things. I actually tried some medical thriller kind of things, but it didn’t really take. As soon as I had the idea to write a private eye novel, I said, okay, I know this voice. I can write this.

But then of course, if you’re familiar at all with the private detective genre – the long story, the history of it, which continues to this day – it’s a little bit daunting in terms of, what can you do, something that’s different, that’s unique about the character. There’s everything from soup to nuts and everything from Raymond Chandler to Sue Grafton and everywhere in between. There is so much out there. Now we have things from all different multi cultures, which is fantastic. It is amazing how the genre keeps evolving.

For my little piece of it, I had this idea. My wife had gotten into birdwatching and I’d always been fascinated with hawks and eagles and falcons, and every time I would see one I’d get out the binoculars and look.

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Andy Straka – Murder Sees Double