New Scott Phillips on the way
The "Master of Western Noir" returns
Last week, I was on a Left Coast Crime panel with Scott Phillips and had the opportunity to talk to him later about his upcoming Bill Ogden novel, The Devil Raises His Own.
Here’s a line about the book that the publisher came up with: “The Devil Raises His Own is at once a stripped-down noir thriller and a panoramic look at Los Angeles at the beginning of motion pictures—a Boogie Nights set in the era of D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin from one of the best crime novelists working today.”
Of course they want to give you some comps and to provide a kind of vibe so that you know what you’re in for — Boogie Nights, Charlie Chaplin. Who doesn’t like those things? And calling Scott Phillips “one of the best crime novelists working today”? Well, no shit. But it’s the first part of that overfull sentence (as marketing statements tend to be) that really nails it, I think. Stripped-down noir thriller. Panoramic look. Yes, that’s Scott Phillips. In Cottonwood and Hop Alley, he was able to get down to the personal and particular with Bill Ogden, as well as a number of supporting characters. (Or “characters in supporting roles,” as Hollywood says.) And those novels also gave you that big, majestic feel of the era, the place — of the world. Those two Bill Ogden books were straightforward and complicated, specific and abstract, horrifying and beautiful. And I can’t wait to see what is in store for us with The Devil Raises His Own, out this August.
