A Writer's Life

Wit, Grit and Panache

The blurb machine at Crime Fiction Dossier has generated a kudo for THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE.

"Combining humor and suspense together in a mystery novel is no easy feat, and few writers can accomplish it with the skill of Lee Goldberg. The Man With the Iron-On Badge is an affectionate ode to the classic Private Eye novel, told with wit and grit, and a touch of panache." -Crime Fiction Dossier

"Wit, Grit and Panache." Sounds like a great title for a lousy TV series, doesn't it? I can see it now...

"Jack Wit is a cop who doesn't play by the rules, a rogue, a rebel, a loose cannon...Samantha Grit is a beautiful, sexy, undercover operative with degrees in psychology, criminology, and kicking ass... Largo Panache is a mysterious stranger, a thief who can steal anything from anyone anywhere... together they fight crime across the globe. They are WIT, GRIT AND PANACHE."

Another Day, Another BADGE Review

If you're a regular visitor here, then you're familiar with Chadwick H. Saxelid, a frequent commenter on my posts and a man whose unusual name I have borrowed (with his permission, of course) for a murder victim in DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE DOUBLE LIFE (coming in November 2006). Today, he reviews THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on his blog. He says, in part:

Lee Goldberg's The Man With the Iron-On Badge is a fun little page turner that, on more than one occasion, reminded me of Parnell Hall's Stanley Hastings series.  Like Stanley Hastings, what Harvey Mapes thinks he knows about private detective work comes entirely from television shows and crime novels.  (Goldberg's novel references so many different television shows and/or books that it almost qualifies as an exercise in metafiction.)  Unlike Stanley, when Harvey gets in over his head he finds an inner reserve of strength and character that he never even knew existed within him.  (Stanley usually makes an ass out of himself, or he just gets lucky.)

But Mapes amateurish fumbling and on-the-case training are just sly misdirections on Goldberg's part.  While the reader is distracted by Mapes's growth from junk food guzzling slacker to junk food guzzling detective, all the clues are artfully dropped.  Another trick is how The Man With the Iron-On Badge manages to spoof private detective story cliches while letting Mapes discover that the reality of amateur detecting isn't all that different from what is on TV or in books, after all.

Thanks, Chadwick. Now I'm sorry I killed you.

BADGE is So Good

Gerald So, an editor at the Thrilling Detective website, recommended THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE on his blog yesterday. He wrote, in part:

Goldberg's clever premise allows him to present a refreshingly un-macho hero to whom any fan of the P.I. mystique can relate. Facing the hard realities behind private eye genre cliches, Harvey believably discovers truths about the case and about himself.

Gerald is big fan of Robert Parker's Spenser, and runs the Spenser discussion group, so I was especially pleased that he enjoyed the book. I was also thrilled to discover that Harvey Mapes got his own listing in Thrilling Detective's list of literary PIs.

Some Really Nice Things to Say

The I Love a Good Mystery Blog has some really nice things to say about THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE.

Imagine sitting down with someone who has a wild story to tell, and manages it to tell it with great humour.  This person quickly becomes a friend, and lets you in on all the fun details of his adventure.  Sound good?  If so, get yourself a copy of Lee Goldberg's book, THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE...

...I tore through this book and just couldn't put it down.  With a terrific style that makes the reader feel part of the action, Goldberg has managed to create a very funny book that doesn't skimp on plot, dialogue or surprise twists.

Thanks -- you made my day. It's rainy here in L.A. and for some reason, writing today has been like chiseling at granite with a cotton ball (that labored metaphor is a perfect example how badly it's been going).

A Valentine for BADGE

I got a very nice review for THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE yesterday from, of all places, Love Romances.com.  I must admit this site was new to me. The review says, in part:

Lee Goldberg is an acclaimed writer of fiction and non-fiction as well as a TV scriptwriter.  His works come across as  funny and thrilling, but THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE may well be his  best novel ever.  His humor goes from light to rolling on the floor  laughing and may cause the people around you to wonder just what you are  reading. 

Goldberg has created a perfect character in Harvey Mapes.  He is a man who finds himself looking for more in his life, and takes the leap to find it.  When he finds himself in trouble he doesn’t run away, he goes headlong into the abyss to find out the truth behind the past.  The oversexed security guard will make readers smile and cringe before laughing out loud at his antics.

This novel comes from one of the writers of MONK,  if you think the television show is funny, this is the book for you!

What a wonderful and unexpected valentine...              

A Good Omen for the New Year

Book critic Oline Codgill of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has given me my first review of the new year... here's an early peek at her Jan. 1st column and her review of THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE:

Anyone who has watched television during the past 10 years probably has at least more than a passing knowledge of Lee Goldberg's work. As an author, Goldberg's name may not come easily to mind. But as a writer/producer, Goldberg's credits include Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Nero Wolfe, Hunter, Spenser: for Hire and The Cosby Mysteries. He has also written a couple of comic mysteries and the thriller The Walk.

Credits aside, it's always what can you do for me today. And Goldberg does quite a lot in the amusingly hard-boiled The Man With the Iron-on Badge. In this novel about a Los Angeles security guard for a wealthy, gated community, Goldberg delivers a clever riff on the traditional private eye novel, resplendent with witty and dark turns.

Twenty-nine-year-old Harvey Mapes is approached by one of the residents, Cyril Parkus, to follow his wife. The spouse, Lauren, is so perfect that even Harvey wonders how much of her is real.

He has little illusion about his job -- "I'm there to give the illusion of security. I don't have a gun, a badge, or even a working stapler." But this undercover assignment will give Harvey a new view of his work. Not knowing anything about following someone, Harvey immerses himself in detective lore -- watching a Mannix marathon on TV Land, reading detective novels by Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, Robert Crais -- and tries to pass himself as John D. MacDonald, the best-selling author of detective fiction who's doing research. Of course, it would help that he knew what the D. stood for in MacDonald's name; or realized that everyone he talks to knows who MacDonald was.

When the path he pursues following Lauren takes a dark, twisted turn, Harvey refuses to give up. Along the way he will learn about the lives of others and about himself.

Goldberg's penchant for complexity keeps the story on a twisted keel, and with his background, The Man With the Iron-on Badge should make a lively movie of the week.

Thanks, Oline!

A Christmas Present from the Chicago Tribune

Yesterday,  Santa left a nice review for MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE from the Chicago Tribune under my tree:

Lee Goldberg, who novelized the Dick Van Dyke character in TV's "Diagnosis Murder" series into an interesting human being, now bravely marches into territory already staked out by some fierce competition--Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block, the early Harlan Coben--and comes out virtually unscathed in what appears to be the start of a series about an overeducated and oversexed Southern California security guard named Harvey Mapes.

Hired by one of the residents of the gated community where he works to follow the man's wife, Mapes rises to the occasion--often. He also finds himself in deeper and darker water than the community's oversize pool offers.

BADGE a Bestseller

Someone just sent me this list of December bestsellers from the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association:

Hardcovers

1. CONSENT TO KILL by Vince Flynn

2. SPECTRES IN THE SMOKE by Tony Broadbent

3. THE LINCOLN LAWYER by Michael Connelly

4. GRAVE SIGHT by Charlaine Harris

5. THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE by Lee Goldberg

6. SHROUD OF THE THWACKER by Chris Elliott

7. DELETE ALL SUSPECTS by Donna Andrews

8. FALL OF THE PHILANDERER by Carola Dunn

9. DERMAPHORIA by Craig Clevenger

10. THE FIREMAKER by Peter May

FYI, the number one paperback on the list is SOLOMAN AND LORD by my buddy Paul Levine, so he's buying when we have lunch next week.

UPDATE 12-22-05: I have reason to doubt whether this list is accurate. The email I received reproduced an Independant Mystery Bookseller Association bestseller list that was reprinted in the December newsletter of the Aliens and Alibis Bookstore. However, the December IMBA bestseller list doesn't actually come out until January...so where did this list come from?

I've contacted Aliens and Alibis, and they aren't sure where they got the list that they published. I've enlisted some friends of mine at various mystery book stores to help me figure out whether this is an early IMBA list, another individual bookstore's bestseller list, or whether it's a Christmas shopping list someone dropped on the sidewalk somewhere. I'll let you know what I discover.

"Pamela Anderson, here I come!"

The Contra Costa Times, the largest newspaper in the San Francisco East Bay, has reviewed THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE....three weeks after my signing up there. Oh well, better late than never!

Hero Harvey Mapes is one of those Everyman kind of guys. Yep, he's more than a few levels down the ol' status totem pole. In fact, he might be one of the few guys in the world deemed unemployable by the car wash.

"What?" you say. "Can't even get a job at a car wash? That's impossible." Tut-tut. Where do you think overnight security guards come from? 7-Eleven? Perhaps you believe the urban legend that they are dropped off by the Great Pumpkin?

Yes, Harvey is an overnight security guard. But a guy with some brains, good instincts, stick-to-it-ness and an encyclopedic knowledge of TV detectives: Think everything from Frank Cannon to Magnum. "Iron-on Badge" is the story of Harvey's transition from security guard to MAN.

Writer Lee Goldberg is a local success story. Walnut Creek native. Northgate High School grad. Former freelancer for the Contra Costa Times, UPI, Newsweek. He's written for numerous television shows: "Monk," "Spenser for Hire," "Martial Law," "Hunter" and -- boy, he must have done something right in his past lives -- five episodes of "Baywatch."

"Iron-on Badge" is his latest book. It is a fun read, and it proves that as a fellow Contra Costa Times columnist, I have something to look forward to. Pamela Anderson, here I come! Woo-hoo!

Thanks, Joe!

Author, comic, blogger and international sex symbol Joe Konrath surprised me by giving my new book THE MAN WITH THE IRON-ON BADGE a plug on Amazon:

This isn't satire or parody, even though it is laugh aloud funny. Goldberg has written a cleverly plotted mystery-- one that also happens to be a tribute to mysteries in general, pulps and TV private eyes in particular.

If you're a fan of the genre, you'll find a lot to like here. In-jokes abound, and Harvey Mapes is one of the most likeable PIs in years. But don't expect Naked Gun type antics. There is blood. There is sex. There is tragedy. And there are even some bittersweet moments to go along with the many belly laughs.

The Man with the Iron On Badge flaunts convention while also being a part of that very same convention, and the result is a cross between Dave Barry and Donald Westlake. It's a one-sitting read, and more than worth the price of admission.

Thanks, Joe!