The Noir World of Gerald Petievich

 

It was in 1985 that I first encountered the work of Gerald Petievich. It was in London’s Leicester Square watching a matinee of the newly released film TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA. It was a movie directed [and co-written] by William Friedkin. I sat transfixed at the screen throughout the film, and right through to the closing credits with the pulse pounding 1980s techno-rock score of Wang Chung.

When the curtain came down, I didn’t leave the cinema, but sat in my seat and watched the film again. On my second viewing I noticed on the opening credits that TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA was based on a novel by Gerald Petievich [who also co-wrote the screenplay], and so began my enthusiasm for the work of this former US Secret Service agent – turned novelist and screenwriter.

It would prove difficult to track down his novels and to even learn anything about Gerald Petievich in England. He was as mysterious as his Secret Service past. I knew no one else who had read his work apart from award-winning author, reviewer, literary commentator and Shots Magazine’s columnist Mike Ripley. In fact Ripley recently commented about his admiration for the work of Petievich in his latest column -

 “I discovered the novels of former U.S. Treasury agent Petievich about forty years ago, just as I was embarking on my own foray into crime-writing. They were tough, cleverly plotted and utterly gripping thrillers which I greatly admired although until a recent conversation with Ali Karim, I had never met anyone else in this country who had read them.”

Read More from Mike Ripley’s latest Revival HERE

I discovered more about the enigmatic Gerald Petievich from a two-part interview with writer / literary commentator Wallace Stroby - conducted on May 13, 1988, shortly after the release of his sixth novel, SHAKEDOWN.

Of which Elmore Leonard commented “Shakedown is a gem. Stopped writing to read it, something I have sworn I would never do, but couldn’t help it.”

As there is so little written about the work [and life] of Gerald Petievich, especially as he rarely grants interviews - Stroby’s feature [though over 35 years old] is enlightening and insightful with some very rare photos – and can be accessed from the links below -

Part One: A conversation with Gerald Petievich, May 1988 Part One

Part Two: A conversation with Gerald Petievich, May 1988 Part Two

Earlier this year, I was energised to hear that Gerald Petievich would be making a rare public appearance at the 2025 Bouchercon in New Orleans. I alerted my very dear friend and editor / publisher Mike Stotter that we had to meet him. I wanted to shake Petievich’s hand and tell him how much I had enjoyed his work – which truth be told had enriched my life, with exciting tales that reeked of authenticity.

But it would be during Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Press Anniversary Party, held on Bourbon Street that Mike and I finally met with Gerald Petievich. I transformed into ‘Fan-Boy’ mode, and was excited to hear that he had a new book out [13 Hillcrest Drive], after a long gap in his publishing history.   

So once back in the UK and after writing my New Orleans Diary for The Rap Sheet – I got to Petievich’s latest novel - so what were my thoughts regarding the new book, 13 HILLCREST DRIVE?

It’s an egregious felony that author Gerald Petievich is not more widely read. He remains a cult crime-fiction author, spoken about in whispers [and the occasional scream] by readers who seek out the most disturbing hard-boiled noir. His writing is slippery in that it weaves intricate plots effortlessly about the greasy lives [and nefarious deeds] of the criminal[s], into the lives of the men and women who pursue justice and redemption in a very dangerous world. Petievich’s latest work [not unlike its precursors] provoke deep-thought as his fiction poses harsh moral and ethical dilemmas for his characters that the reader unpacks as the narrative unspools to the violent climax.

His latest police procedural backdrops Hollywood California both the geography, as well as the darker edges of the film industry.

In Petievichs’s cynical world-view, “good” and “evil” are not two opposite edges on a graduated line; but as human nature bends the line - it becomes curved, so the edges interlock to shape a distorted circle.

The novel commences with former Military Veteran [from Afghanistan] Detective Michael ‘Legs’ Casey of the Hollywood Station, Los Angeles Police Department [LAPD], working the stolen-car beat in penance for a past indiscretion, related to drinking. He’s nicknamed ‘Legs’ due to his running [to successfully apprehend a criminal] over three city blocks.

Read the full review HERE

Gerald Petievich agreed to talk to Shots Magazine about his work for his European [and Worldwide] Readers, in a fascinating exchange -

Ali: Thank you for speaking to your British Readers.

Gerald: It’s my pleasure to be speaking with you today.

AK: In the past I had a devil of a job tracking down your books in England - Money Men, One-Shot Deal and To Die in Beverly Hills were [published by New English Library]. Can you tell us a little about your experience[s] in Publishing, especially in Europe where I consider you somewhat of a cult writer?

GP: In the UK my novels, including Earth Angels were published by Chatto & Windus or New English Library. Chatto released the books in hardcover editions. Gallimard was my French publisher. In Italy, Sonzogno published The Sentinel and Mondadori published most of the early novels.  Wilhelm Heyne was my publisher in Germany.  In the Netherlands, my novels were published as ‘Manhattan Special’ crime novels.

AK: …and I see Rare Bird Publishing of Los Angeles are your new publisher, though I noticed you have the rights back to much of your back catalogue…would you care to comment on what you consider your favourite novels? And what should a new reader to Gerald Petievich grab first?

GP: My preferred work is Earth Angels, initially conceived as a mainstream novel. Although the narrative ultimately adopted a darker tone, I believe it conveys my perspective on the desensitizing impact of policework.  For readers unfamiliar with my work, I suggest reading Shakedown, which reviewers have said has the best story.

AK: As we’ve provided links [via Wallace Stroby] to much of your background in Military Intelligence and the US Secret Service in our introduction, so would you be prepared to tell us a little about Gerald Petievich before he became a writer?  

GP: I studied Russian Language in college and later graduated from the Defense Language Institute after studying German.  All I can say about my service in West Germany in the late 1960s is that John Le Carre’s novel The Spy who Came in From the Cold is a perfect novel that perfectly captured time and place. 

In 1970, I joined the US Secret Service as a special agent. My initial responsibilities included investigating counterfeiters in Southern California, an area affected by counterfeit currency. This assignment required working undercover, posing as a buyer, and apprehending suspects until eventually locating and arresting the individual responsible for printing counterfeit money. Through this work, I became familiar with the Los Angeles underworld. 

In 1974, I was assigned to Paris, France, where I served as a law-enforcement attaché at the US Embassy and collaborated with Interpol on cases involving international counterfeiting. While investigating counterfeit US treasury bonds being exchanged in Europe, I received information regarding a US crime figure traveling from Africa to London with fourteen million dollars in counterfeit bonds. I contacted a colleague at Scotland Yard and relayed the tip. Shortly after, he informed me that the suspect had just left Heathrow airport on a commercial flight. He indicated that he could request the plane's return to the airport, but if the bonds were not found, we would be held accountable. I confirmed the validity of the information, and he subsequently arranged for the aircraft to return to Heathrow, where fourteen million dollars in counterfeit bonds were recovered. The suspect later disclosed that the bonds originated from a counterfeiter whom I had previously arrested while working undercover in Los Angeles.

AK: It was the film adaptation of your 1984 novel TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA that brought your work into the hands of many readers. Can you tell us how the film rights ended up with William Friedkin?

GP: My film agent at the time shopped To Live and Die In LA to some movie producers and one of them, whose name escapes me now, referred the work to Friedkin. I met with him. He seemed very interested, and we signed an option agreement for the film rights to the novel. He planned to make the movie after finishing a pirate movie he was scheduled to direct. But the pirate movie deal fell through and Friedkin decided to make the movie as soon as possible.

AK: There were some incongruous insertions such as the opening scene with the terrorist, as well as the car chase [among others] by the Director, so could you tell us a little about working with William Friedkin? As I heard he took sole credit for the original screenplay but upon release, the screenplay was credited to William Friedkin and Gerald Petievich [and based on the novel by Gerald Petievich]

GP: The opening scene with the terrorist was not part of the novel; Friedkin added it on a whim. His challenging personality made typical collaboration impossible. The Writers Guild of America ultimately awarded him co-credit.  Considering the business that is filmmaking, I was pleased that the movie ended up remaining fairly close to the novel’s general storyline.

AK: …and how do you feel about TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA being lauded in Europe and in the art house circuit, contrasting starkly with its 1980s feel [complete with synthesiser soundtrack by British Pop Group Wang Chung] with amorality and blurring of good vs evil?

GP: The film’s pervasive cynicism and graphic violence were considered innovative for its era. Its distinct 1980s aesthetic was influenced by the director’s admiration for the television series Miami Vice, which enjoyed widespread popularity at the time. The British band Wang Chung provided a memorable musical motif for the printing scenes, a contribution that has since become iconic within the film’s legacy. Notably, Wang Chung’s score replaced that of an earlier group initially commissioned to compose the music.

AK: And what about your other experiences with Hollywood with Money Men [aka Boiling Point] and The Sentinel as well as any film interest in 13 HILLCREST DRIVE?

GP: My debut novel, Money Men, was initially optioned for film after actor James Woods introduced it to producer James B. Harris (The Killing and Paths of Glory) and expressed interest in playing the lead role. Subsequently, Harris contacted me and I executed a film option agreement. Reflecting common practices in the film industry, the option was renewed annually over a ten-year period until 1990, when Mr. Harris officially acquired the rights and commenced production in Hollywood. The film’s title was changed to Boiling Point, with Wesley Snipes cast in the leading role and Dennis Hopper as the antagonist. Harris undertook both the screenplay adaptation and direction, marking his directorial debut. 

Michael Douglas acquired the movie rights to The Sentinel, a political thriller, while at Paramount Studios. Hiring a screenwriter who changed the plot significantly, at age 62 Douglas starred in the film as a youthful White House Detail Secret Service agent involved in a romantic affair with the attractive First Lady.  

Carolco Pictures acquired the rights to my political thriller Paramour and hired me to write the screenplay. After I was paid and finished the script, Director Ridley Scott left the project and Carolco was later sold. The Paramour project is still in turnaround.  

So far, my new novel 13 Hillcrest Drive has earned positive feedback from Hollywood insiders, although one producers saw risk in funding a film about celebrities and the underside of the entertainment industry.

AK: Talking about new novel 13 HILLCREST DRIVE which landed earlier this year, with a close to two decade gap in your publishing history…would you care to tell us what you’ve been up to during this publishing gap?

GP: My publishing gap stemmed from many years of sixty-hour weeks and a career that left little time for personal pursuits. I spent the last few years dabbling in movie and TV projects becoming a fair tennis player, bullfight aficionado, and casino craps player. For the first time, I got involved in charity work. Having checked off my bucket list, I’m now focused solely on crafting novels.

AK: I noticed the great Robert Crais has been a champion of your work, and I believe he was involved in urging you to turn your novel The Sentinel into a film, would you care to comment?

GP: Years ago, I happened to have lunch with Robert Crais shortly after I had finished a novel.  During a general discussion of books, he suggested I wrote a novel about a White House Secret Service agent who was romantically involved with a first lady. I knew immediately the premise was enough to make a novel. Taking his advice, I began working on an outline, suffering with it for months to make it believable, but not tawdry. Before writing novels, Crais was an accomplished television writer. When it comes to ideas for novels, the idea can come from anywhere. The idea for my novel Shakedown, came to me when I was working undercover as a buyer of counterfeit money.  The seller told me he just been released from prison after serving eight years for extortion. He told me all about his experience as a member of a successful blackmailing ring. I knew immediately I could write a novel about it and began making notes as soon as I got home that night.

AK: I heard you are a voracious reader, so apart from the works of Bob Crais, who else do you read? And would you care to mention the writers [and their work] that influenced you to take up the pen?

GP: I read mystery writers like Crais, Thomas Harris, and Michael Connelly, but also non-fiction—biographies, history, psychology, and current affairs to fill my subconscious mind with unique examples of human behaviour. Recently, I finished Kai Bird’s The Good Spy and am currently reading Scott Anderson’s King of Kings about the Iranian revolution. As a child, I explored all genres at the Public Library, especially enjoying Hemingway and Robert Ruark's novels about Africa. My seventh-grade teacher recommended James Jones’ From Here to Eternity, still my favourite novel and an inspiration for my own writing.  I also like Henning Mankell’s work. Before my first novel, I studied John le Carré, Charles Willeford, Joseph Wambaugh, Graham Greene, Frederick Forsyth, Lawrence Sanders, Mario Puzo, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming, Daphne du Maurier, James M. Cain, Mickey Spillane, Jim Thompson, Alastair McLean, Richard Condon and others. 

AK: …and I heard while you were a young bloke working Europe, you enjoyed the ten novel series by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo, would you care to tell us a little about what you find special about these novels?

GP: At the beginning of my mystery writing career, I admired the distinctive style of Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo, and the way they created atmosphere. Sjowall and Wahloo were journalists and had a police reporter's unvarnished, keen view of police investigative work. One of their mystery novels begins with their hero, Detective Martin Beck, playing chess with a colleague who is babysitting. Beck doesn't like chess but continues to play because it's snowing and he doesn't want to go out in the cold. The authors always managed to create a palpable sense of place while capturing the political climate and ups and downs of police work. Their unique and irreverent point of view was always evident, but never dogmatic. I met Maj Sjowall at a writers conference in Spain in the 1980s and we talked about her work. Smart and as delightfully irreverent as her novels. She told me that when writing, she and Per Wahloo never took their mysteries too seriously.  

AK: I adored your latest novel, from its premise and characters that made the narrative such a dark but engaging read – can you tell us a little about both the inception and also the execution that became 13 HILLCREST DRIVE?

GP: 13 Hillcrest Drive is my ‘Hollywood novel,’ one I’ve been making notes on for years. I’ve led an unusual life in that I’ve not only been able to experience the underworld as a law-enforcement officer an undercover agent, but I’ve also been a working Hollywood screenwriter, technical advisor and producer. My cop colleagues who had the same experience, such as Joe Wambaugh, call it learning about the ‘overworld.’ I can attest to the fact that both the underworld and the Hollywood ‘overworld’ are broadening. The desperation and anger at the bottom of both worlds, is different. In the overworld, the desperation stems from ego. There are lots of poseurs and few and talented actors, directors and producers. But in the U.S. at least, film is the most powerful art. I found a vehicle to fashion a novel with this point of view when a well-known Hollywood private investigator mentioned to me that every celebrity in Hollywood, at one time or another in their career, is forced to pay blackmail. At that moment, I knew I had what I needed to create my Hollywood novel. Having written the first draft, I thought I’d missed the mark. The novel wasn’t ready. It was flat. Then I recalled a friend telling me about his experience with psychoanalysis. Re-shaping what he’d told me to fit the novel, I realized I’d written the final draft.

AK: My editor Mike Stotter and I found one of the highlights of Bouchercon New Orleans was meeting you during Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Press Anniversary Party – so can you tell us what you got up to in The Big Easy?

GP: There is nowhere in the world to find more mystery readers gathered together in one spot than at a Bouchercon. Nothing is better for the soul of a mystery novelist than spending time with mystery readers. Attending my first Bouchercon in 1982, readers confessed to me that they would buy a book at the Bouchercon store and then take it to their hotel room because they couldn’t wait to read the first scene. They were as obsessed with story as much as I. The fear that a reader might begin my book, get bored and put it down, remains palpable. I was a member of a Bouchercon panel on screenwriting and saw that there is still more interest in finding some connection to get a producer to screenplay, than in creating a surefire story.  I was very pleased to meet you and Mike at the Mysterious Press Anniversary party. You two reminded me of my pals at Scotland Yard who knew the ropes of the business better than anyone - and weren’t afraid to risk calling back a commercial airliner in flight.

AK: And finally what’s next for Gerald Petievich?

GP: I’m working on another Beverly Hills novel featuring police detectives featuring the characters I introduced in 13 Hillcrest Drive, Detective Legs Casey and his partner Katrina Sutherland. This time they’ll be investigating the murder of a Hollywood movie celebrity that gets complicated when one of the witnesses is an attractive woman with whom Casey once had an affair, and a clue points toward the most elusive mobster in L.A. …  

AK: Thank you so much for your time, because, Gerald – You, the MAN.

GP: Thanks to you and Mike, top blokes, and to your loyal readers at Shots Magazine.

If you have not read Gerry Petievich’s work, I’d urge you to seek out his exciting and truly authentic police thrillers, but a warning – they are tough character driven narratives and as noir as they get.

Bibliography

13 Hillcrest Drive (2025)    

The Sentinel (2003)

Paramour (1991)

Shakedown (1989) 

Earth Angels (1989)

Quality of the Informant (1985)    

To Live and Die in L.A. (1984)

One-Shot Deal (1983)        

To Die in Beverly Hills (1983)

Money Men (1981) 

Shots Magazine would like to thanks Delia Bennett of Los Angeles based “Rare Bird Publishing” and Emma Petievich for their help in organising this interview – AND – of course the legendary Gerald Petievich for his time, writing, insight and for his service in US Law Enforcement and Military Intelligence in Europe.

More information available HERE > https://petievich.com/

And HERE > https://rarebirdlit.com/about-rare-bird/

And Shots Magazine wish to also thank Connie Perry and Heather Graham and their teams at Bouchercon New Orleans for organising such a great convention.

….…and an addendum below….there was an alternative ending shot for William Friedkin’s film version of Gerald Petievich’s TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA…..but never used…..and it [with another deleted scene] is available below –

Photos taken at Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Press 50^th Anniversary Party Friday 5^th September 2025, Maison Bourbon, 641 Bourbon Street, New Orleans © 2025 A Karim and with thanks to Emma Petievich.  

The Bear Necessities: C.B. Bernard talks to Shots Magazine

 

Book reviewers can tell you how exciting it is to discover a novel that is ‘different’, that engages the mind and makes one contemplate, provoke thought. Recently I was persuaded to pick up a book entitled ‘Ordinary Bear’ by an American Author I’d never heard of – namely Chris C.B. Bernard.

My friends and colleagues Jeff Peirce of The Rap Sheet, and George Easter publisher of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine were extolling the novel’s virtues during Bouchercon in New Orleans, earlier this Month. George went one step further, he thrust a copy into my hands and said “…read up to page 38, and if you don’t like it pass it to someone else….” Anyway, serendipitously I took a front row seat at a book reviewing panel that George was moderating entitled “Crime Rave: Mystery Reviewers Talk About Their Favorite Crime Fiction” with renowned book reviewers / literary commentators Meredith Anthony, Oline Cogdill, Larry Gandle, and Jeff Pierce. At one point, George Easter held up a copy of Ordinary Bear indicating it was one of his recent favourite reads. George gestured to a bloke seated next to me and said “…and the author Chris Bernard has joined us here at Bouchercon…..” I blinked and grabbed my [gifted] copy of Ordinary Bear, and asked [in a conspiratorial whisper] the author if he’d be so kind as sign it for me, which he did.

On my return to the UK, Ordinary Bear was one of my early post-Bouchercon reads.

My thoughts?

This extraordinary novel is sadly currently not published in Europe, but was released earlier this year in America. I picked up a copy during the recent New Orleans Bouchercon thanks to the book receiving a Deadly Pleasures Barry Award, and excellent word of mouth in America.

I was energised by this novel, an unexpected treat, full of heart but a very tough and hard hitting literary thriller. Ordinary Bear provoked deep reflection and contemplation as the pages turned and the tale was told.

Ostensibly, its theme is redemption but the narrative is far more than purely a journey for the main character Farley to find inner-peace. The narrative weaves the former army veteran from working as an oil-field detective in Nanuqmiut [a small village in Alaska], to the homeless tented camps in contemporary Portland, Oregon. 

Read the Full Review HERE

I concluded my review with the following paragraph –

Rarely does one receive such a wonderfully realised literary thriller, one that is sleek like a ricocheting bullet – but one that makes the reader contemplate life-and-death, fear-and-love, cause-and-effect in a world that perplexes us further with each passing day.

Hugely recommended even if one has to order from America. 

One of my top reads of 2025, so far [and I read a lot of books].

As this novel was deeply thought provoking, I had a few questions for the author, and Chris Bernard cheerfully answered my queries with thoughtful [as well insightful] responses – which we present below for our readers – Ali Karim

Ali: Welcome to Great Britain’s Shots Magazine

Chris: Thank you for inviting me.

AK: It was great to meet you [albeit briefly] during Bouchercon New Orleans, so can you tell our readers a little about yourself?

CB: Your reputation precedes you, Ali, so what fun to end up sitting next to you at a Bouchercon panel.

Readers of my books will notice that place plays a key role. That’s because it’s so important to me as well. America’s a big country. I’ve moved back and forth across it six times and lived in nine states, and something tells me I’m not done yet. For the last six years, I’ve lived on the Rhode Island coast, in New England, but spent much of my adult life before that in Alaska and Oregon.

When I’m not writing, reading, or talking about books, I’m usually on the ocean—I love boats and have even built one—or walking with my dog and wife.

AK:…you make me blush….anyway… How important are books and reading to you, and are you a crime fiction reader? And what work did you read that made you consider penning your own fiction?

CB: I was the weird kid who always knew what he wanted to be. In my case, a writer—and since it took me a while to succeed at it, I guess I was that weird adult, too.

Books can change lives, right? As a kid, books were how I travelled. Books were how I learned. Books kept me company and entertained me. Books taught me empathy and perspective, and helped me realize that the things I felt and the things that scared me were not unique to me—that many of them were universal. And that’s a comforting thing for a kid to learn.

As a lifelong reader, I try to be open to all kinds of books. I find the concept of genre limiting. Write the best book you can and I’ll read it. Just don’t bore me. But a survey of my shelves would probably reveal a disproportionate share of crime fiction, literary fiction (whatever the hell that is), outdoors and climate writing, and books by Irish novelists.

All of which is to say that no one book made me want to write; every book made me want to write. Books have given me so much. I just wanted to give something back. Every novelist wants to be a bestseller, but I’d settle for having something I wrote connect with even one reader as intensely as I’ve connected with so many other writers’ books.

AK: …and your favourite writers and why they are your favourites, and their key work?

CB: This may sound like a dodge, but I think books are like wine. Different types or varietals suit different occasions, so the answer to your question would depend on my mood.

That said, some writers are automatic buys for me when something new of theirs hits the shelves. I’ve read everything by the American writer Robert Stone, and I’ll continue to read everything by the Australian writer Tim Winton, the Irish writer Kevin Barry, and English writer Sarah Hall. There’s a guy from the American Pacific Northwest called Bruce Holbert, whose books are difficult to characterize but never disappoint. His novels Whiskey—about two brothers on the run with a kidnapped bear—and Lonesome Animals, about a tormented sheriff called out of retirement to hunt a serial killer, are astonishments. 

Winton’s got a book, The Riders, about a guy searching for his missing wife with his traumatized daughter. Like Ron Hansen’s Atticus, it’s the kind of book that reframed for me what a mystery can look like or what it can be. And, of course, you can probably find traces of all of these writers’ DNA in Ordinary Bear.

But maybe you’re asking about crime writers? Man, I’m not even sure how you would go about making a list, there’s just too many great ones. I loved Robert Wilson’s Bruce Medway series set in Africa, as well as anything Denise Mina, Tana French, or Louise Penny write. I recently read and loved Urban Waite’s The Terror of Living, Bill Beverly’s Dodgers, and Gin Phillips’ Fierce Kingdom. My buddy John Straley writes excellent detective novels set in Southeast Alaska, which bring the place to life for me. And I’ve got shelves filled with Chandler, Leonard, and Greene.

How about Paz Pardo’s The Shamshine Blind, because it’s classic detective noir set in an inventively wild alternate universe—or Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union for the same reason?

AK: And was this your first Bouchercon? And can you tell us what you got up to in New Orleans?

CB: Ordinary Bear is my first crime novel but my third book, so I’ve made the rounds of writers conferences, book festivals, and literary conventions over the years. But this was my first Bouchercon, and what a revelation to find such a supportive community of writers, readers, and industry folks all lifting each other up and celebrating each other’s work and successes. I spent much of the long weekend in leisurely conversations about books with people like yourself, one of my favourite ways to pass time. I also got to meet up with some online friends in person for the first time, and sat in on some great panel discussions.

The Southern crime writing panel with S.A. Cosby, Ace Atkins, Henry Wise, Scott Blackburn, and Mark Westmoreland fascinated me. My three books have all been set in Oregon, Alaska, or both, so the south itself is a mystery to my sensibilities. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to so many southern writers.

The team behind Deadly Pleasures magazine and Mystery Mike Bursaw were generous enough to invite me to a dinner with some other writers and readers, where I enjoyed the company, conversation, and cocktails in equal measure. And I got to spend some time with your friend Jeff Pierce from The Rap Sheet, who has been very kind to Ordinary Bear.  

In addition, my wife and I made time to hit some of our favourite NOLA haunts for oysters and beignets, for drinks at The Hotel Monteleone—which has a rich literary history—and to listen to live music.

AK: It was winning the Barry Award 2025 at the National WW2 Museum for Ordinary Bear that brought your work onto my Radar, so can you tell us a little what it meant to you as a writer?

CB: It meant the world to me, Ali. Look, I’m pretty thick-skinned. As a writer, you have to be—the world of publishing can sometimes feel like a machine engineered to efficiently crush the human soul. I can take bad reviews and rejections, and I’m going to get up every morning and write no matter what. But it was a gift to be nominated for Best First Mystery Novel and an absolute shock to win.  

What made it especially meaningful is that, a decade earlier, my wife and I spent a day at the National WW2 Museum with some close friends, and I’d been deeply moved by the exhibits. So taking the stage and speaking to the audience there felt particularly gratifying. Not to mention looking out into that audience and seeing so many writers whose work I admire.

I’m not going to lie and tell you I don’t read my reviews, because I do. But I don’t write for critics, I write for readers, and that’s what made this award such a thrill—it’s a reader vote, and I’m grateful.

AK: Though ostensibly a Crime Novel, Ordinary Bear has a literary air, so can you tell us a little about its genesis and the writing process as well as journey to publication.

CB: Blackstone Publishing gave me a two-book deal when they bought my debut novel, Small Animals Caught in Traps. I wrote Ordinary Bear after I turned in that first manuscript.

Last year, while on a panel at the New Hampshire Book Festival with Sarah Stewart Taylor, Margot Douahiy, and Edwin Hill—all fantastic mystery writers—someone in the audience asked if we knew the endings of our books when we started writing them. I told them that I didn’t even know the beginning of Ordinary Bear. It’s such a difficult book to discuss without giving spoilers, but there’s a scene—you know the one—that came to me first. Not only did I have to write my way out of that scene, but I also had to write my way into it.

As you know, the entire book changes after that—tenor, tone, setting, all of it—so the first 20 pages or so are a bit of a feint. As a novelist, the challenge then became stitching those two parts of the book together without leaving a seam high enough for readers to trip over.  

I don’t think I sat down to write a mystery so much as to send Farley, the lead character, on a kind of odyssey. Like in Dante’s Inferno, but instead of Virgil, a different character guides him through each circle of the particular hell in which he finds himself, each damned in his or her own way. As the story began to take shape, I saw the opportunity to mirror a detective story as Farley sets out to try to save the kidnapped girl, but also to have some fun with it by putting him through some things along the way.

AK: I felt one of the major strengths of Ordinary Bear was how distinctly painted were the minor characters like Lady McDeath, like Edge [aka George Edgeworthy], Wayne and the cross-dressing former Army Veteran – turned bartender, Dolly, to name just a few. So tell me how you managed to control such an unusual array of background characters and make them so distinct in the readers mind?

CB: It wouldn’t make for an interesting story if Farley only encountered buttoned up accountants and people who have their shit together, right? Anyone who’s ever spent time in Portland, Oregon, will know what I mean when I say that it’s a city that punches above its weight in characters. I don’t know whether Portland draws them like pilgrims to Mecca or if it manufactures them, but they thrive there. That’s part of why I set the book there.

Farley is hurting. He’s bereft with grief, crippled by guilt, physically damaged, and actively trying to punish himself by sleeping on the streets. When he sets out to find the missing girl, his physical well-being diminishes as he gets deeper into his odyssey. At the same time, each character he meets opens his mind a little, awakening his empathy and reminding him that, as all-consuming as his grief and guilt are, they’re universal human emotions. Everybody’s hurt in some way, all of us.

The trick with writing characters like that is to highlight but don’t limit them to their quirks. Show what makes them human and readers will connect—and if readers connect with characters, they’ll remember them.

AK: You are a big bloke, but perhaps not as hulking as your main character Farley, so where did this protagonist come from?

CB: I don’t want to give too much away, but an extended metaphor runs throughout the book, a kind of relationship between Farley and the bear of the title. Polar bears are marine mammals. They spend most of their lives on ice. But as climate change melts the ice, they find themselves increasingly, jarringly out of place on land, mingling with humans. This leads to more negative interactions.

Not to draw a line in ink that’s too dark here, but Farley’s a huge bear of a man forced to leave the Arctic village where he lives for the urban streets of Portland, where he definitely does not belong. And in the end, when he absolves the bear for the impact it has had on his life because it was just doing what bears do, he’s absolving himself, in a way.

I liked the idea of kind of flipping a Jack Reacher story on its head. A giant ex-military type who lives out of a bag and helps someone in need, except he kindda sucks at it. Despite his size and obvious proclivity for violence, Farley makes it as far as he does in his search for the missing girl only because of all these characters who help him along the way.

AK: I see you have been writing a whiles before Ordinary Bear, can you tell us a little about your writing?

CB: As I said, Ordinary Bear is my third book and second novel, but my first crime novel. Small Animals Caught in Traps is set in a rain-soaked runt of a town in rural Oregon and follows an ex-boxer-turned-fly-fishing-guide grieving the loss of his wife as he tries like hell to help his daughter find her way in the world, even as he loses his own.

Obviously, I tend to skew dark in my fiction, but there’s always humour. Humour is critical—not just in fiction, but in life. As a novelist, if you’re going to write dark, you can use humour to give readers room to breathe. Like a bell between rounds of a fight. You can also use it as a jab to distract them so they don’t see the haymaker punch coming.

AK: And the backdrops in Alaska and Portland are vividly drawn, so I assume you are familiar with the Pacific Northwest of America?

CB: In 1999, I moved from Massachusetts to Alaska and fell immediately in love with the place. Not long after, I caught wind of an ancestor who’d done the same thing during the Gold Rush a hundred years earlier. Having failed as a miner, he became an explorer at a time when the Arctic still had a lot of blank spots on the map and lived a remarkable life, spending two decades exploring, shipwrecked, or frozen over in the Arctic. My first book, Chasing Alaska: A Portrait of the Last Frontier Then and Now, tells the parallel stories of his exploration and my own to show the Alaska we both knew and loved and how it changed over the century between us.

After I left Alaska, my wife and I lived in Oregon—twice—for more than a decade. As I said, place matters to me. The landscape of the Pacific Northwest resonates at the same frequency as my heart. But Rhode Island is beautiful, too—woods and waters—and we’ve built a good life here, for now.

AK: So what’s next for Chris Bernard….as I noticed there could be a possibility for a sequel, or am I mistaken?

CB: At the moment, I have no plans for a sequel, but never say “never,” right? My next book veers away from crime fiction because I needed a change in the months after I turned in Ordinary Bear, and because I like to challenge myself. But after that one, I plan to get back to it—the community of crime writers and readers feels too much like home for me not to want to return.

AK: Thank you for your time

CB: This was a lot of fun. Thanks for the opportunity, Ali, and thanks for all you do for writers and readers.

Shots Magazine thanks Chris Bernard for his time and insight – more information about Ordinary Bear and his work can be found HERE and HERE and in the video interview below from “Must Read Fiction”

AND for information about next year’s World Crime and Mystery Convention  [Bouchercon] click HERE

 

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine :Barry Award Winners 2025

 

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced the winners for the Barry Awards at Bouchercon in New Orleans. Winners are voted on by readers of Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.

Best Mystery Novel: 

The Waiting, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) 

Best First Mystery Crime Novel: 

Ordinary Bear, by C.B. Bernard (Blackstone) 

Best Paperback Original Mystery Novel: 

Double Barrel Bluff, by Lou Berney (Morrow Paperbacks) 

Best Action Thriller:

Hero, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press) 

2025 David Thompson Special Service Award Winners

 

Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich Awards Banquet at Left Coast Crime 2012 Sacramento

Photo by Clark Lohr from leftcoastcrime.org

Bouchercon, the world’s largest mystery writers and fans conference, congratulates Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich, the 2025 winners of the David Thompson Memorial Special Service award, for their extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field.

“We’re insanely thrilled to receive the David Thompson Award and humbled to join the starry ranks of past honorees!” Stan and Lucinda reacted when notified of the award.

Mystery/crime fiction enthusiasts, Lucinda and Stan have been key leaders in the landscape for more than twenty years. Their first mystery convention was Bouchercon 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska and they have since served in a variety of Bouchercon volunteer positions. Stan joined the Bouchercon national board serving as Treasurer and Rules Committee Chair. Later Stan and Lucinda were Chairs of the volunteer subcommittee for two Bouchercon conventions, and Anthony Awards Chairs in Long Beach in 2014 and in Dallas in 2019.

Lucinda and Stan are also the driving force behind the mystery conference, Left Coast Crime. Stan, a retired lawyer, is President of the Left Coast Crime Conference, Inc. Lucinda, a former educator, is the organization’s Secretary. They’ve been managing the Lefty Awards since 2011.

"Stan and Lucinda exemplify the dedication and expertise of those in a special category: key volunteers,” says Cheryl Head, Bouchercon Board Chair. “We couldn’t be successful without them.”

The David Thompson Award will be presented to Stan and Lucinda at the Opening Ceremonies of Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed in New Orleans, September 3-7, 2025.

The David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award is given by the Bouchercon Board to honour the memory and contributions to the crime fiction community of David Thompson, a much beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010.

Past winners selected by the Bouchercon National Board of Directors for their “extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field” are:

2024 - Crime Writers of Color

2023 - Sarah Paretsky

2022 - Les and Leslie Blatt

2021 - Janet Rudolph

2020 - Al Abramson

2019 - Don and Jenn Longmuir

2018 - Lesa Holstine

2017 - George Easter

2016 - Otto Penzler

2015 - Bill and Toby Gottfried

2014 - Judy Bobalik

2013 - Marv Lachman

2012 - Len and June Moffatt

2011 - Ali Karim

For more information about Bouchercon and the David Thompson Award: visit website: www.bouchercon.com