Now for one of our truly all-time favorite Coastal Alabama Writers, Tom Franklin.  Although not necessarily classified as suspense, it reminds us of some hardboiled noir fiction.  So close enough for an excuse to interview him:

Doc: Tell us about “Crooked Letter”?
TF: Crooked Letter (or Crooked Letter Crooked Letter) or some other title, possibly, is abt a small-town black cop and the mechanic who may or may not have killed a girl 25 yrs before.  Now, in 2007, another girl has disappeared.

Doc: Out of “Poachers”, were any based on true stories?
TF: The opening essay is true.  In the story “Poachers,” I used most of the game warden stories I’d heard over the years, so those are true in a mythic, uncle-telling-a-story kind of way.  Also, there’s “truth” in every story, in one way or another.  The most “true” is “A Tiny History” which is based on events from my past.  I worked at a plant very much like the one in “Grit.”  And so on.  None are blatantly true, except the essay.

Doc: Do you anticipate any more novels set in Lower Alabama?
TF: I do anticipate more novels in LA.  The one I’m puzzling over now, just an idea, is set there.  Crooked Letter (or whatever it ends up being called) is in Mississippi but only because I love that title.  But sometimes, even if you love something, you gotta murder it.  Faulkner said that. 

Doc: Any future appearances in Mobile or Baldwin counties?
TF: As for future appearances in Mobile or Baldwin Counties, nothing’s planned.  I hope I’ll do a book tour for the new one, but it’s too far to plan it now.  I sure hope to get back down there, though.

Doc: If you haven’t yet, read “Poachers”, “Hell at the Breach”, or “Smonk” do so ASAP.

 Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?q=+inauthor:%22Tom+Franklin%22

http://www.harpercollins.com/authors/19243/Tom_Franklin/index.aspx