Author Interview: Peter Leonard (All He Saw Was the Girl)

Today I have Peter Leonard, author of All He Saw Was The Girl visiting My Reading Room.  Make sure to check out his interview and the excerpt from this great new book.

What's the first sentence of All He Saw Was the Girl?

McCabe watched Chip offer the long-haired guy a cigarette, the guy surprising him, taking the pack of Marlboros out of Chip's hand.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I wrote ads for twenty-five years, and it became extremely boring. I started writing fiction in 2006, finished Quiver a year later and I got a two-book deal with St. Martin's Press in the U.S, and Faber & Faber in the UK.

If you had to pick one book that turned you on to reading, which would it be?
Hemingway short stories, and Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.

What are some of your hobbies?

I play tennis, cook, collect wine, read. I go to concerts and movies. I love college football and basketball, and professional baseball. I have season tickets to the Detroit Tigers home games. I also love to go to interesting places. 

If you had to pick a favorite character in All He Saw Was the Girl who would it be?

McCabe is the main character, and he's my favorite.  There's a lot of me in McCabe.

Describe what All He Saw Was the Girl is about.

I think the copy on the back cover sums it up pretty well. Rome: McCabe and Chip, two american exchange students are about to become embroiled with a violent street gang, a beautiful Italian girl, and a flawed kidnapping plan. Detroit: Sharon Vanelli's affair with Joey Palermo, a Mafia enforcer, is about to be discovered by her husband, Ray, a secret service agent.

If you could take one trip, no expense spared, where would it be to?

Patagonia in southern Argentina. It looks spectacular. It's definitely on on list of places to go.


What do you have in the works right now?

I've written a sequel to Voices of the Dead, and I just finished another novel based on my time hanging out with Detroit Police Homicide.


SYNOPSIS:

Rome:

McCabe and Chip, two American exchange students, are about to become embroiled with a violent street gang, a beautiful Italian girl, and a flawed kidnapping plan.

Detroit:
Sharon Vanelli’s affair with Joey Palermo, a Mafia enforcer, is about to be discovered by her husband, Ray, a secret service agent.

Brilliantly plotted and shot through with wry humor, ALL HE SAW WAS THE GIRL sees these two narratives collide in the backstreets of Italy’s oldest city.

 

AUTHOR BIO:

Peter Leonard’s debut novel, QUIVER was published to international acclaim in 2008, and was followed by TRUST ME in 2009, and VOICES OF THE DEAD in 2012.

AUTHOR SITES:  Web Site 

Amazon link    B&N link

Partners In Crime Tours: All He Saw Was The Girl by Peter Leonard tour page.

Excerpt:

Sharon was thinking, who was this guy lived in a five-thousand-square-foot house – not that his taste was any good – on Lake St. Clair, had nothing but leisure time or so it seemed? He called her four, five times a day, said, “How you doing?” And Sharon would say, “Same as I was when you called fifteen minutes ago.” “Baby, I miss you. Tell them you’re sick, we’ll go to the casino.” Or he’d be at the track or a Tigers day game, he’d say, “I gotta see you. Take the afternoon off, I’ll send a car.” She’d been going out with him for three weeks and it was getting serious. They’d meet at noon, check into a hotel a couple times a week and spend two hours in bed, screwing and drinking champagne. It was something, best sex she’d ever had in her life. He did things to her nobody had ever done before. She’d say, where’d you learn that? And he’d say, you inspire me, beautiful. The only bad thing, he called her Sharona, or my Sharona. Everything else was great so she let it go. They’d take his boat out on Lake St. Clair and she’d sunbathe topless. Something she’d never done in her life and never imagined herself doing. She felt invigorated, liberated. He always told her she looked good, complimented her outfit. Showered her with gifts, bought her clothes and jewelry. She felt like a teenager again. They’d meet and talk and touch each other and kiss. She was happy for the first time in years. She had to be careful. Ray, the next time he came home, might notice something and get suspicious.Why’re you so happy? she could hear him saying – like there was something wrong with it. But this relationship with Joey also made her nervous. Things were happening too fast. She was falling for him and she barely knew him, and she was married.