Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, recently spoke with Kevin Wade about his debut novel, Johnny Careless. Not only are we sharing that conversation, but we have some coverage from Celadon Books Newsletter. First, there are still signed copies of Johnny Careless available through the Webstore. http://bit.ly/4aC8S82
Here’s the note from Celadon Books Newsletter.
“Kevin Wade knows how to craft a killer tale — he’s a veteran screenwriter and the showrunner of the hit police procedural series Blue Bloods. With his new novel, Wade delivers a first-rate crime narrative that’s “fresh and wildly entertaining, [with] characters so real you expect them to walk through the door” (Patricia Cornwell, New York Times bestselling author). Johnny Careless focuses on the mysterious murder of Johnny Chambliss, a privileged man nicknamed “Johnny Careless” for his reckless approach to life. When Johnny’s corpse is found in the Bayville waters off Long Island’s North Shore, Jeep Mullane — Chambliss’s childhood friend and the local police chief — plunges into the case. Johnny’s rich, cagey relatives and perplexing ex-wife make the investigation harder than it should be. And since Jeep grew up modestly in an area of staggering wealth, his search for the truth is just as much a story about the haves and have-nots as it is a thrilling murder mystery.”
The description of Johnny Careless is below.
“A fast-moving classic crime novel” (John Sandford) crafted by the veteran screenwriter and showrunner for the acclaimed police procedural series Blue Bloods, Johnny Careless is Kevin Wade’s razor-sharp debut novel.
Police Chief Jeep Mullane has been bounced back home to Long Island’s North Shore by a heartbreaking case that both earned him his NYPD detective’s shield and burned him out of the Job. Now heading up a small local police department, he finds himself navigating the same geography he did growing up there as the son of an NYPD cop. Jeep is a “have-not” among the glittering “haves,” a sharp-witted, down-to-earth man in a territory defined and ruled by multigenerational wealth and power and the daunting tribal codes and customs that come with it.
When the corpse of Jeep’s childhood friend Johnny Chambliss—born into privilege and known as “Johnny Careless” for his reckless, golden-boy antics—surfaces in the Bayville waters, past collides with present, and Jeep is pulled into a treacherous web. He is challenged by Johnny’s wealthy and secretive family and his beautiful, enigmatic ex-wife as he untangles a knotted mystery fraught with theft, corrupt local moguls, and decades-old secrets, all while grappling with his own deep-seated grief for his lost pal.
A fast-paced story, Johnny Careless “combines grit and wit in a way that conjures Donald Westlake or Robert Parker in full stride” (Carl Hiassen).
Kevin Wade is a playwright, screenwriter, and television writer and producer whose credits include the stage plays Key Exchange, Mr. & Mrs., and Cruise Control, and the screenplays for Working Girl (seven Academy Award nominations), True Colors, Mr. Baseball, Junior, Meet Joe Black, and Maid in Manhattan. For television, he created the ABC television drama Cashmere Mafiaand in 2010 joined the rookie CBS drama Blue Bloods as a writer. Starting with the second season and for the rest of the show’s fourteen year-run, Wade served as its showrunner, executive producer, and back-seat driver.
Enjoy the conversation with Kevin Wade.