Theresa Schwegel’s latest book, A Person of Interest, reinforces her position as one of today's top authors of hard-boiled police procedurals.
A Person of Interest is set in Chicago – her hometown – where detective Craig McHugh is working undercover to bust a powerful Chinese gang that traffics in heroin. Meanwhile, his teenage daughter, Ivy, is caught with a small amount of ecstasy, and his wife, convinced he's having an affair, begins flirting with Ivy's boyfriend.
Schwegel deftly weaves these three subplots together. Her vivid characterizations of a family in crisis elevate the story beyond the crime thriller and into the realm of the literary novel.
Her first book, Officer Down, was an auspicious debut and won an Edgar for Best First Novel.
Although her stories are stand-alones, Schwegel hopes to be able to reintroduce some of her characters in later books, as Ed McBain did in his 87th precint novels.
In an interview in the November issue of Mystery Scene magazine she says, “I’ve developed such a relationship with these characters that I realize that some of them might be best to tell certain stories.”
Mystery Scene attributes her "taut pacing and hard-driving action” to her training as a screenwriter. “In screenwriting," says Schwegel, “you really have to be selective. You can’t write about the furniture. Every single thing on the page has a purpose and a place.”
In an earlier interview, Schwegel shares that she is a great fan of Ross Macdonald’s writing. What is it that she likes about him?
“First, the no-frills style: he’s one of those writers who manages to pinpoint a character in their entirety in the matter of a single sentence. Second, voice: when I read Macdonald, the crime is hardly the point. For me, Lew Archer and the people he bounces around are what make the story work.”
Here’s some good news for all Ross Macdonald fans. Crippen & Landrau, one of the smaller mystery presses, will be releasing The Archer Files: The Complete Short Stories of Lew Archer, Private Investigator, Including the Newly Discovered Case Notes.