5. Ernest Hemingway is a significant character in the Hector Lassiter series and noted former Key West resident: Aside from the obvious moments where he was mentioned by name, how many allusions or nods to Hemingway did you catch in the course of Forever’s Just Pretend?
6. The Hector Lassiter series frequently toes the blurry line of meta-fiction. Beau Stryder makes a couple of asides that reference a certain pop-culture confidence man and gambler of some note. Did you catch that allusion? If so, what popular 1950s TV Western series or character is it hinted Beau played a pivotal role in inspiring?
7. Now that you know the arc of Brinke Devlin’s character, apart from driving Hector to write crime fiction, in what other ways do you now see her as having affected the course of Hector’s life and/or art?
8. Beau Devlin is the man who raised Hector from childhood. Are there any ways in which Beau’s unusual avocation shaped Hector’s eventual career that you can identify?
9. As noted earlier, no historic figures are featured in Forever’s Just Pretend, but the Florida land boom of the 1920s is a prominent plot point. The Key West Clubber is also based on a historic cycle of actual crimes, though they have been moved by several hundred miles. Do you know what historic murders inspired the Clubber?
10. As the Lassiter novels are now being presented in chronological order—and presuming you’ve already read Toros & Torsos—how do you see Brinke’s newly revealed Key West adventure informing T&T and its Key West-set events and rather unusual love story?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig McDonald is an award-winning author and journalist. The Hector Lassiter series has been published to international acclaim in numerous languages. McDonald’s debut novel was nominated for Edgar, Anthony and Gumshoe awards in the U.S. and the 2011 Sélection du prix polar Saint-Maur en Poche in France.
The Lassiter series has been enthusiastically endorsed by a who’s who of crime fiction authors including: Michael Connelly, Laura Lippmann, Daniel Woodrell, James Crumley, James Sallis, Diana Gabaldon, and Ken Bruen, among many others.
Hector Lassiter also centers short stories that appear in three crime fiction anthologies, The Deadly Bride & 19 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, (Carroll & Graf) and Danger City II (Contemporary Press).
Craig McDonald is also the author of two highly praised non-fiction volumes on the subject of mystery and crime fiction writing, Art in the Blood and Rogue Males, nominated for the Macavity Award.
To learn more about Craig, visit www.craigmcdonaldbooks.com and www. betimesbooks.com
Follow Craig McDonald on Twitter @HECTORLASSITER and on FaceBook:
www.facebook.com/craigmcdonaldnovelist
Forever’s Just Pretend: A Hector Lassiter novel (Hector Lassiter series Book 2) Page 25