Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Other Stories

But I certainly enjoyed writing the scene and picturing him taking the plunge. Getting paid for it was just a bonus.

Thanks again for writing!

Feloniously yours,

Laurie Gunsel

367 Calabria Road

Passaic, New Jersey 07055

Dear Laurie Gunsel:

I can’t tell you what a kick it was to get your letter! Wow! A busy lady like yourself answering fan mail. I’m amazed.

Since I last wrote, I’ve finished the superb Dead in the Water and started The Gang’s All Here, in which the intrepid Cass goes up against the Mafia on Martha’s Vineyard. An interesting choice of locales, and, having never been there myself, I certainly enjoyed all the New England seaside ambiance with which you highlighted your story. I’d never have thought to set a Mafia story on Martha’s Vineyard. What creativity and contrast! A great read.

A question, though: in the scene in which Enzio Lombardi is pushed out of the lobster boat by Sewell, gets entangled in the lobster traps, and is left to drown and be eaten by lobsters, I thought I detected a note of satisfaction-dare I say glee?-in the narration, which would be the voice of you personally, I gather. So then I had to wonder. I went back and looked at the window scene in Bullet Proof again, and, to my unliterary eye, there seems to be a marked resemblance between the preppy boyfriend in that book and Enzio the mob guy in The Gang’s All Here. They don’t look alike, but I notice that they’re both “pretentious” dressers and that they have prominent ears. An interesting coincidence, I say to myself. Either the talented Ms. Gunsel has a thing about ears, or else we are seeing the same guy meet his demise yet again. So I decided to presume upon your good nature and ask.

Congratulations on making the B. Dalton bestseller list. I noticed your name on the list on my last visit to the mall, and cheered you silently as I passed the mystery section.

Sincerely yours,

Monty Vincent

Laurie Gunsel

Mr. Monty Vincent

367 Calabria Road

Passaic, New Jersey 07055

Dear Mr. Vincent:

Thanks for writing. I’m glad the Cass Cairncross series has kept you interested. I’m fond of her myself. After all, I suppose she makes my house payments. She’s certainly fictional (I should be so sylphlike!) but at times, she seems quite real-like a roommate who has gone on vacation, but may be back any time now. Not that I’ve ever had a roommate-not another woman, that is. And judging from my one unfortunate experience with a live-in guy, maybe I’ll just stick to cats. Diesel is quite agreeable, and never wants to watch pro football when Murphy Brown is on, so we get along fine. I wonder if Cass would be a good roommate. She’s obsessively neat, and having a detective around the house would certainly diminish one’s privacy.

You are quite a detective yourself, Mr. Vincent. Not even my editor Joni, who has known me for years, spotted the resemblance between Enzio in The Gang’s All Here and Bradley, the preppy boyfriend in Bullet Proof. But then, she received the manuscripts several years apart, whereas you are speeding through the books at the rate I wish I could write them! Okay, Monty, you got me. I confess. Bradley and Enzio are the same guy. He’s not in the earlier books, because I didn’t know I hated him back then.

So how come he’s real? There are many ways to create characters, and one is to take hostages from life, because people never recognize themselves. Of course you change most of the details about the person, but you leave the one little mannerism that drives you crazy, so that deep inside you (the author) know who the character is, and it makes the narrative so much more-sincere, I guess. (I am never more sincere than when I am plotting the demise of Bradley/Enzio in a novel.)

I used to worry that he might read my books and know which character was him, but apparently that hasn’t happened. He probably doesn’t even bother to buy my books-when did he ever care what I thought? And I assure you that a conceited lout like him wouldn’t see himself as a gangster, or even as the preppy boyfriend. (That window scene was appropriate. He and Diesel cordially loathed each other. I think I kept the right one.) He probably likes his Windsor ears.

Sorry. I didn’t mean to burble to you on the fine points of characterization. I’m so used to being interviewed that sometimes I go on automatic pilot. Anyhow, if you ever do a book review for a fanzine, please don’t mention that Bradley/Enzio have roots in real life. That’s something I don’t tell interviewers. Besides, the last thing I need is for him to come after me with a subpoena.

As to setting the Mafia book on Martha’s Vineyard-I’m not sure that was terribly creative of me, except in terms of tax management. You see, I took a vacation that year at the Cape, and if I set the book there, the whole thing was deductible. And I didn’t see any guys there wearing white ties and answering to the name of Vinnie, so maybe the Mob doesn’t vacation there after all, but it made a good setting, and I knew I could describe it accurately. Glad you approved.

So, tell me something about you, Mr. Vincent. Writers always wonder who we’re talking to when we send a book out into the world. It’s nice to know someone out there is listening.

With all best wishes,

Laurie Gunsel

and

Cass Cairncross

367 Calabria Road

Passaic, New Jersey 07055

Dear Ms. Gunsel:

What a great letter! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my foolish questions. I was absolutely delighted with your explanations about the characters and the Martha’s Vineyard setting. Knowing little facts like that adds a whole new dimension to the book when you learn the background. I reread both books, and enjoyed them all over again. Paperback, of course. My first editions are in plastic covers, stored safely away like the treasures they are.

So Enzio and the Preppy are based on a real guy. This explains what a ring of truth there is in your characterization. But how sad that such a gracious and talented lady like yourself should have to put up with a jerk like that. But you show admirable spunk in getting the rage out of your system, instead of weeping quietly into a lace hankie about how wronged you were. Cass must get her style from you.

Great line about Martha’s Vineyard! I’m not surprised you didn’t see any “Vinnies” in white ties. Those are strictly the legmen in the operation, and I think Martha’s Vineyard is a little beyond them in taste, if not in price. They’d be happier in Atlantic City, I think. But your big shots in the Armani suits and the Italian silk ties- them you would find on Martha’s Vineyard, but you’d never notice them, because they have money and they know how to fit in with the society types. When you have to hobnob with senators and company presidents, it doesn’t pay to look like a cheap hood. Of course, in fiction we have to be able to spot the bad guys, so you very rightly gave your readers the gangsters they expected. What a storyteller!

I was also impressed with your knowledge of medical matters in The Gang’s All Here. The scene of poor Enzio in the lobster trap still makes me shudder. One thing you might look into, though, is the bit about the Kevlar body armor. Remember when Cass gets shot in the back, and it doesn’t even slow her down because she’s wearing the Kevlar vest? Actually, she’d feel a little more discomfort than that. Depending on the distance and the caliber of the weapon, the impact would probably knock her down, and she’d have anything from a bad bruise to a cracked rib to show for the experience. Check with some of your Atlanta policemen on this. I’m sure they’d be honored to help you with your literary research.

You asked me to tell you a little about myself. There’s not much to tell, I’m afraid. I’m a grandfather-got two beautiful little grandkids living in Rockaway, but, alas, I don’t get to see them very often. I’m retired now, and