SLEUTHS JUST WANNA' HAVE FUN'S MICHAEL BRACKEN, MARK THIELMAN, LAURA OLES, ANDREW HEARN, & WILLIAM DYLAN POWELL

A few months back Michael Bracken released his collection Sleuths Just Wanna' Have with original private eye tales set in the eighties, linked to a moment in the culture. I will be moderating a panel about the book and crime fiction in the eighties with Michael as well as some of the contributors Laura Oles, Andre Hearn, Mark Thielman, and William Dylan Powell this Saturday, July 18th, 1pm at Vintage Bookstore and Wine Bar. Here is an idea ofat you'll be getting below.

SCOTT MONTGOMERY: You've edited anthologies with stories set in sixties and seventies. Did you notice anything different about the stories as a whole?

 MICHAEL BRACKEN: Overall, the authors took a lighter approach this time, but that was by design.

S.M.: I believe this this is the first time in these collections where every writer had fully experienced the decade themselves. Did you notice that impacting the stories in any way?

 M.B..: I suspect, though I can’t prove it, that the contributors relied more on their experiences than on in-depth research. I was born in the 1950s, so when I edited Groovy Gumshoes and More Groovy Gumshoes (both about private eyes in the 1960s) and Private Dicks and Disco Balls (about private eyes in the 1970s), I couldn’t rely on my childhood memories of those decades. I had to do a fair bit of research to ensure the veracity of the stories. For the 1980s, though, I was an adult and my memories of what was happening at that time are sharper. Heck, I remember exactly where I was when I watched Live Aid. (The green room at a science fiction convention in St. Louis). Many of the contributors likely also have sharp memories of the 1980s.

S.M.: You mentioned designing a lighter touch. a than the with other collections of decade inspired anthologies. Why is that?

 M.B.: One of the things I associate with the 1980s is Cyndi Lauper and her song “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” so I toyed with her song title and came up with Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun. I then asked the contributors to create lighter stories than I’ve asked for in my other anthologies, and I think they all had fun creating light-hearted private eye stories.

S.M.: Authors, what made you pick the parti of the eighties to write about?

MARK THIELMAN: The Lake Placid Olympics were special—Do you believe in miracles? They were a signature event of the 1980s and would fit solidly within the anthology call for 1980s stories. I think that the Olympics work for mysteries because they bring a diverse group of people together so you might have an array of motives. Finally, there is a locked room element that allows for detection. (Did you know that the Olympic Village became a prison after the games were over?)

ANDREW HEARN: I chose to write about Halley's Comet, so the time of my story was fixed as 1986.  That's when Halley's Comet made its return to Earth, which occurs roughly every 76 years.  I was 15 and a sci-fi geek, so I was very excited to see Halley's Comet.  My dad bought me my first telescope, but the view was less than stellar (if you'll pardon an astronomy pun) due to a combination of the comet's position relative to Earth and the light-polluted skies of Fort Worth.  Anyway, I developed a lifelong interest in space due in large part to Halley's Comet.  Today, many of my stories have astronomical angles, such as "Totality" which appeared in Dark of the Day: Tales of the Eclipse, edited by Kay George.  "Totality" will appear later this year in Otto Penzler's Best Mystery Stories of the Year, edited by John Grisham.

WILLIAM DYLAN POWELL: Well, my contribution to the anthology is called "Satanic Panic." Just as all that big hullabaloo was happening in the early-mid 1980s we moved to a very conservative Christian sort of Old South values town called Tyler up in red dirt country. So I was coming of age with the allure of heavy metal music and MTV and Dungeons & Dragons and all that and here I was surrounded by a phalanx of very concerned adults convinced that this town would be the last stand against Satan and his attempts to corrupt our pure Texas youth. By the time I was in college in the early 1990s, that had all blown over like a thunderstorm. I was always fascinated that this huge moral panic of my early teen years evaporated into thin air seemingly so quickly.

 LAURA OLES: Leona Helmsley’s infamous quote, “Only little people pay taxes,” always stuck with me—her arrogance seeped through every word. When time came to pick an event from this era, I knew her court case would be the perfect backdrop for “The Queen of Mean.”

S.M.: Who do you see as quintessential eighties crime and private eye writers?

M.B.: This is a tough question to answer because during the 1980s I was reading many of the classic PI writers—Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and the like—and my exposure to 1980s private eyes came mostly from television. I watched Magnum, PI, Moonlighting, Remington Steel, Simon & Simon, and so many others.

M.T,: I like Robert Parker. I'm a huge fan of Brother Cadfael. I'm not sure that Ellis Peters is quintessential 80's crime and private eye, but she makes my list. I also like Nelson DeMille but I'm the biggest fan of the John Corey novels (and they're 90s and 00s.)

L.O..: I immediately think of Sara Paretsky and her V.I. Warshawski series.  Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone is another favorite of mine.

W.D.P.: You know, looking back for me the eighties was the Golden Decade of Private Eye Television writing. Magnum PI, Simon & Simon, Riptide, the Equalizer, the Mike Hammer TV adaptation. I think hoards of TV creators and writers of the day were on absolute fire like Stephen J. Cannel, Frank Lupo, Glen A. Larson and Donald P. Bellisario. Reuben Leder and Chris Abbott on Magnum PI. Michael Gleason on Remington Steele. I feel like in the 1980s there was an intersection of private investigation still being a topic of fascination with people, and the creators being willing and able to invest real time and talent into these shows that really gave those writers a tailwind—even if it might not have always seemed like it at the time. 

 Actually James Lee Burke was just then breaking out with books like The Lost Get-Back Boogie and The Neon Rain and Heaven’s Prisoners. Not private eye stories, but PI-adjacent. My mother’s side of the family are all Cajuns from Louisiana and so those books were really taking off with my family and friends at the time. I always think of James Lee Burke when I think of eighties and nineties genre fiction.  

A.H.: I wasn't reading crime fiction in the 80s, so I'm not a good person for this question as far as the printed word goes.  I was a hardcore nerd, and my go-tos were Star Trek, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings.  That said, I never missed an episode of Magnum, P.I., Simon & Simon, or Remington Steele.  Other favorites were Riptide and, of course, Charlie's Angels.  Favorite angel was Jaclyn Smith, by the way . . . 

Based on that, my writers are:

* Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson (who also created Battlestar Galactica) - Magnum, P.I.

* Stephen J. Cannell - The Rockford Files, Riptide, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street and many others shows.

S.M.: Michael, are you planning any more decade-themed private eye anthologies?

 M.B.: Flannel Fedoras, about private eyes in the 1990s, will be released next year. After that, I might go back to the 1940s and the 1950s.

S.M.: What would you like to have come back from the eighties?.

M.T.: MTV—that played songs. Are penny loafers out? I still have mine but that may say everything you need to know about me. If they're out, I'd like them back. There are parts of me I'd like to have come back from the 80s—waistline, stamina, etc. 

L.O.: I’d love to go back to that time when we weren’t so connected by phones and technology.  I’d also say our music was pretty fabulous—but thankfully, many of our favorites are still touring decades later.  Stevie Nicks got me through some stuff in the 80’s, and I was lucky enough to see her in concert last year.  She’s still got it.  I also miss Aquanet.  IKYYK.

A.H.: I think Michael's title says it all: Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun.  The 80s were fun.  We didn't take ourselves so seriously.  We knew things could be bad, but we weren't endlessly doom-scrolling through oceans of negativity.  I know it's cliche for oldsters to decry the ills of social media, but in the 80s, a phone was just a phone.  You used it talk to someone, to get information.  How are you doing?  Where's the party?  Then you hung up, and you did your thing.  It wasn't necessary to be so . . . connected . . . to everything and everybody all the time.  That information hasn't brought us closer together or particularly enriched our lives, as far as I can see.

W.D.P.: I realize how old this makes me sound but the lack of pervasive technology. In my personal life, I can’t imagine growing up in a world in which everything I do is captured in perpetuity on a digital environment—whether I’m doing the capturing or someone else is. Personal technology is starting to stress me out a little so I’m attempting to move backward in time with paper journals and for-real print books (most of the time) and trying not to burn hours of my day on social media. Some days go better than others. I’ve even started writing the odd letter again, but we’ll see how long that lasts.  

 M.B. My youth.