News & Reviews

WORD: JA Konrath spins another liquor soaked tale in ‘Fuzzy Navel’

Longtime novelist JA Konrath, an Anthony and Macavity Award finalist, told WORD’N’BASS.com that he decided to throw in some new angles with the latest installation of his Jack Daniels mystery "Fuzzy Navel" (Hyperion). "Lately I've been reading a lot of thrillers that seem to have forgotten how to thrill," Konrath said. "So I tried to do a book that begins with a bang and just keeps picking up speed, like a bobsled, or a runaway train."

Fuzzy Navel follows Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels of the Chicago Police Department as she battles a group of vigilantes on a murderous spree who have decided to take down a cop and the people she cares about. Like many of Konrath’s prior novels, Fuzzy Navel is best suited for readers who like their mysteries with a shot of humor -- and maybe a shot of gin.

JA Konrath decided to do things differently with his fifth Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels thriller, released in hardcover back in July. Fuzzy Navel has some interesting structural changes that condense time and space. Instead of chapters, Konrath begins sections with a time stamp. The whole book takes place in an eight hour period, and every minute is accounted for.

"I began with a really bad situation, then made it worse," said Konrath. "A criminal from Jack's past breaks into her house, waiting for her to return. Meanwhile, Jack is working a sniper case, where three vigilantes are shooting up Chicago. The snipers follow her home, and now Jack is trapped in the house with a psycho, and she can't get away because her house is surrounded by more psychos."

Clocking in at 271 pages, Konrath’s tight pacing and time-stamp approach instead of  chapter pauses encourages the reader to devour Fuzzy Navel in one sitting. Toss in a shocking ending, some bad jokes, and a bit of insane violence, and JA may have indeed written a runaway train of a novel, perfect to read on the beach or right before bed.

If you're a mystery fan, check it out. And if you're a writer, be sure to stop by his website. Konrath is giving away a 750 page e-book crammed full of everything he's learned about writing and publishing. It's free, and so are five other e-books, including the first Jack Daniels book, "Whiskey Sour."

JA Konrath authored four previous Jack Daniels mysteries: Dirty Martini, Rusty Nail, Bloody Mary, and Whiskey Sour. He lives in the suburbs of Chicago.

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