From Boston To LA: Crime Writer Dennis Lehane Drinks In Some Sunshine

Carolyn Kellogg at the Los Angeles Times offers a piece on Dennis Lehane's move to LA from Boston and the crime writer's novels, films and TV work.

Dennis Lehane is one of Boston's best-known writers. Born and raised in the community of Dorchester (or, as he would pronounce it, "Dorchestah"), he's got a Bostonian no-nonsense, tough-guy edge, and his books, including "Mystic River" and the six-book Kenzie-Gennaro mystery series, are set on the city's streets.

And yet here he is eating lunch by the ocean in Santa Monica. Massachusetts remains snowbound, while here we can see the Pacific glittering blue, tourists passing, mercury pushing 80 on a postcard-perfect Southern California day. The great Boston writer is now an Angeleno.  

Lehane lists a couple of factors in moving cross-country with his family: His wife likes the warm weather, their young kids have a great quality of life, and he has a ton of work in Hollywood. Recent completed projects include "The Drop" (James Gandolfini's last film) and a consulting producer role on "Boardwalk Empire." Ben Affleck, who directed and starred in an adaptation of Lehane's "Gone Baby Gone," is slated to do the same with his Prohibition-era drama "Live by Night."

Which brings us to Lehane's newest novel, "World Gone By" (William Morrow: 320 pp., $27.99), a continuation of the "Live by Night" story. In it, Joe Coughlin, the gangster son of a Boston police captain, has set up shop in 1940s Tampa, Fla. Rum-running has grown into corruption and graft that looks almost respectable.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-dennis-lehane-20150308-story.html

I reviewed Lehane's Live By Night for the Philadelphia Inquirer and you can read the review via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/11/live-by-night-dennis-lehanes-prohibtion.html

Dennis Lehane's 'Live By Night' Voted Best 2013 Novel By Mystery Writers Of America

 

Dennis Lehane's fine crime thriller Live By Night received the 2013 Edgar Allan Poe reward for best novel by the Mystery Writers of America.

You can read the Mystery Writers of America's press release on all of the winners via the below link:

http://www.theedgars.com/2013EdgarWinners.pdf

And you can read my Philadelphia Inquirer review of of Live By Night via the below link:

http://home.comcast.net/~pauldavisoncrime/pwpimages/LiveByNightCrimeNovelPhiladelphiaInquirerReview.jpg
   

My Philadelphia Inquirer Review Of Dennis Lehane's 'Live By Night'

The Philadelphia Inquirer published my review of Dennis Lehane's new crime thriller Live By Night today.

Dennis Lehane's new crime thriller opens with a gripping scene.

"Some years later, on a tugboat in the Gulf of Mexico, Joe Coughlin's feet were placed in a tub of cement," Lehane writes. "Twelve gunmen stood waiting until they got far enough out to sea to throw him overboard, while Joe listened to the engine chug and watched the water churn white at the stern. And it occurred to him that almost everything of note that had happened in his life - good and bad - had been set in motion that morning he first crossed paths with Emma Gould."

Hard to top that for getting your attention.

You can read the rest of the review below:

Note: You can click on the above to enlarge.