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Happy Monday, and welcome to the third installment of the ongoing Overlook holiday giveaway bonanza! Last week two lucky readers scored literary prize packs featuring the complete Charles Portis paperback backlist and a pair of beautiful design books by Milton Glaser and Eva Zeisel. Congratulations to Friday’s winner Carl Scott, and a big thanks to all those who have entered so far. Are you a

As devotees of the Winged Elephant know, Peter Quinn read from THE MAN WHO NEVER RETURNED last Thursday night at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House. We were lucky enough to have some bloggers report back from the scene.

Here's some of the post from From the Balcony, A Publisher's Blog...

In a fulsome introduction, the representative of Ireland House noted that Peter Quinn's last opus, Looking for Jimmy, about Irish America, was a huge hit with students of NYU. "The one copy is always in demand and we are endlessly copying chapters for students," she said. Opening his reading, Peter Quinn spluttered in disgust: "Just one copy. And you're breaking the law by photocopying it. My attorney is present and I saw him take notes at that." He was only kidding, I think. Here he is signing copies. Fintan Dunne, the detective Peter created, rides again in the new novel. Read it.

Quinn, never at a loss for words, talked colorfully and candidly about his work, his writing process, and the judge’s disappearance, more than he actually read. Quinn suggested, perhaps seriously, that readings such as his were archaic. They certainly do provide a vehicle for engaging with an auteur and his work, and the evening provided that in spades.

‘The Man Who Never Returned” took shape, Quinn said, during a conversation he had a few years back with Paul Browne, deputy commissioner of public information for the NYPD and a fellow Manhattan College alum. Quinn added later that his writing was driven by character, not plot, and his characters emerge from conversations he has and those he readily imagines. This process emerges for him, in part, because, he said, “you are always writing about yourself,” even in historical novels, which, he suggested, draw on the author’s experience and personal history. He is famously in love with the historical research his books require, but said to be averse to the writing part. Novel writing is not only autobiographical, he wryly noted, “but psychotic.”

A rainy fall Thursday in New York City--sounds like the perfect time to head over to NYU's beautiful Glucksman Ireland House to hear Peter Quinn read from and discuss his acclaimed new book, THE MAN WHO NEVER RETURNED.

This event is made possible by the New York Council for the humanities and is free for all with an NYU ID (all others are asked to make a $10 donation at the door).

Thanks for supporting Glucksman Ireland House along with Peter and we hope you enjoy hearing about The Man Who Never Returned as much as the rest of his standing-room-only audiences have this summer and fall!

The Wall Street Journal introduced its Greater New York section earlier this year, and we've enjoyed it greatly as a companion to our other classic New York papers--the Times, the Post, the Daily News. Our author Peter Quinn always seemed like a great fit for the section, and Steve Kurutz agreed, featuring Peter and his new book, The Man Who Never Returned, in his weekly Q&A with a New York personality.

Click here to go to the site and read the full article, but a few of our favorite questions and answers below!

The book does a wonderful job of evoking mid-1950s New York, with references to Wanamaker's department store and the Herald Tribune.

That's the city I grew up in. I'm old enough to have been on the Third Avenue El. That city is gone. Of course, that's part of the magic and pain of living in New York—it's always going away.

So are New Yorkers forced to be less sentimental?

New Yorkers are incredibly sentimental. They're never quite happy in the city that is. They want the city that was. When I was a kid, my parents talked about the city at the end of the war. Now people are saying it was such a great city in the '70s. It was so alive and creative. Yes, but the crime was also so bad that you couldn't ride the subways.

...

How did your years as a speechwriter for two governors and five Time Warner chairmen influence your fiction?

It helped me write for the ear. I went through two mergers at Time Warner. I got to observe human behavior in extremis. It's all in my books.

You retired as a speechwriter in 2007. Without a day job, have you become more productive as a novelist?

The day I retired I took my dog down to the train station to say goodbye to the people I rode the 6:18 train with. Since then I haven't got up at 5:30 once. I get done in 12 hours what I used to get done in two. It's hard to write all day, although James Patterson seems to be very productive. He sat behind me in English class at Manhattan College. I tell people, "Jim and I together have sold 150 million books, worldwide. James Patterson has sold 149,996,000. I sold the rest."

For more information on Peter Quinn, check out our archives here on the Winged Elephant or his website, which has gotten praise from reviewers and bloggers alike. And if you're looking for a smart, fun, and unpredictable thriller, check out The Man Who Never Returned and let us know what you think!

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By: John Mark Boling, on 7/26/2010
Blog: The Winged Elephant (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  Peter Quinn, mystery, thrillers, true crime, historical novels, the man who never returned, Add a tag

This is the original Missing Person poster for the Honorable Joseph F. Crater, gone missing on August 6, 1930. The story of Judge Crater is one of the most interesting unsolved cases in New York--the New York State Supreme Court Justice was last seen leaving a restaurant near Times Square, and simply disappeared.

80 years later, the case is still alive in the public consciousness (here's a quick primer for those who are unfamiliar with Judge Crater). Beloved Overlook author Peter Quinn has taken this story and woven together true crime and historical fiction in The Man Who Never Returned (coming August 5, 2010). Private investigator Fintan Dunne, the hero of The Hour of the Cat, is hired in 1955 to solve the crime.

Here's a picture of Peter Quinn holding one of the first copies of his new book fresh off the presses.

Early Praise for The Man Who Never Returned:

"Quinn delivers a satisfying solution to the real-life mystery of Joseph Crater... Quinn not only makes the existence of clues at such a late date plausible but also concocts an explanation that's both logical and surprising. The depth and complexity of the lead character is a big plus." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Freely mixing history, mystery, and novelistic license, Quinn offers a noirish tale... Quinn’s rich, insightful, evocative descriptions of New York, both in Crater’s time and in 1955, will certainly please fans of historical crime novels." --Booklist

"This hybrid of mystery and history builds a compelling case." --Kirkus

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By: John Mark Boling, on 5/24/2010
Blog: The Winged Elephant (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  the man who never returned, Peter Quinn, Looking for Jimmy, banished children of eve, Hour of the Cat, Add a tag

Attention BEA Attendees! Peter Quinn, author of the forthcoming novel The Man Who Never Returned, will autograph advance reading copies on Wednesday, May 26, 1pm, at the BEA Autographing Area, Table 9.

Novelist, political historian, and foremost chronicler of New York City, Peter Quinn is the author of Banished Children of Eve, Hour of the Cat, and a collection of essays, Looking for Jimmy: In Search of Irish America.

Quinn co-wrote the script for the 1987 television documentary “McSorley’s New York,” which was awarded a New York-area Emmy for “Outstanding Historical Programming.” He has participated as a guest commentator in several PBS documentaries, including “The Irish in America;” “New York: A Documentary Film;” “The Life and Times of Stephen Foster,” as well as the Academy Award-nominated film, “The Passion of Sister Rose.” He was an advisor on Martin Scorcese’s film “Gangs of New York.” He helped conceive and script the six-part documentary “The Road to the White House,” which aired on TG4, in Ireland, in 2009.

Along with his book writing, Quinn was the editor of The Recorder: The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society from 1986 to 1993. He has published articles and reviews in The New York Times, Commonweal, America, American Heritage, The Catholic Historical Review, The Philadelphia Enquirer, The L.A. Times, Eiré-Ireland, and in numerous other newspapers and journals. At present, Quinn is on the advisory boards of the American Irish Historical Society, NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House, the Tenement Museum and the New York City Landmark Conservancy.

In 1979, Quinn was appointed to the staff of Governor Hugh Carey as chief speechwriter. He continued in that role under Governor Mario Cuomo, helping craft the Governor’s 1984 Democratic Convention speech and his address on religion and politics at Notre Dame University.

Peter Quinn joined Time Inc. as the chief speechwriter in 1985 and retired as corporate editorial director for Time Warner at the end of 2007. He received a B.A. from Manhattan College in 1969, an M.A. in history from Fordham University in 1974 and completed all the requirements for a doctorate except the dissertation. He was awarded a Ph.D., honoris causa, by Manhattan College in 2002.

0 Comments on Meet Peter Quinn, Author of THE MAN WHO NEVER RETURNED, at Book Expo America on May 26 as of 1/1/1900

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