| Jon Talton | Jon Talton | <div class="ExternalClass37BC829D04514D969D6FD4C599289018"><h2><a href="https://phoenix.overdrive.com/phoenix-phoenixpl/content/media/3784637" target="_blank">The Bomb Shelter</a> by Jon Talton<br></h2><p><br></p><div>Fourth-generation Arizonan Jon Talton is the author of 13 novels and one work of history. These include the Phoenix-based David Mapstone Mysteries, the Cincinnati Casebooks, and the thriller <em>Deadline Ma</em>n. He’s starting a new series following a 1930s Phoenix private detective, with the first novel, <em>City of Dark Corners</em>, due in the spring of 2021. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The Mapstone mystery <em>Dry Heat </em>was named the best work of fiction for 2005 by Arizona Highways magazine. <em>High Country Nocturne </em>won the 2016 Spotted Owl Award from the Friends of Mystery. His first novel, <em>Concrete Desert</em>, was called “more intelligent and rewarding than most contemporary mysteries” by the <em>Washington Post</em>. The New York Journal of Books called <em>South Phoenix Rules</em>, “A haunting noir story vividly rendered by Talton’s white-hot prose…original…impressively unyielding.” </div><div><br></div><div>Talton is a veteran journalist, having worked in San Diego, Denver, Dayton, Cincinnati, Charlotte, as well as being a columnist for the <em>Arizona Republic</em>. At the <em>Dayton Daily News</em>, he led a team that produced the nation’s first computer-assisted investigation into OSHA. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. The section he led at the <em>Charlotte Observer</em> was named Best in Business nationally by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and won several Society of Newspaper Designers awards. He is now a columnist for the <em>Seattle Times</em>. He also writes the Phoenix-centric blog Rogue Columnist and is frequently quoted as a Phoenix historian. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Before journalism, Talton spent five years as an EMT-paramedic, much of it in the inner city of Phoenix. He was also an instructor in theater at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Talton studied theater and history at Arizona State University and history at Miami University of Ohio. He completed a Knight fellowship at the University of Southern California. </div><div><br></div><h3>What prompted you to write this book? </h3><div>It was a fictionalization of the lethal 1976 bombing of <em>Arizona Republic</em> reporter Don Bolles, using my character David Mapstone and the Mapstone mystery ensemble of regular characters. Based on extensive interviews with detectives who worked the case, I wanted to use fiction to provide a likely explanation for what actually happened in real life. </div><div><br></div><h3>What attracted you to this genre: romance, mystery, non-fiction, etc.? </h3><div>I enjoyed reading mysteries by the likes of Raymond Chandler when I was younger. As naive as it sounds, I wanted to "sell out," write a mystery that would make a ton of money, then leave journalism and write "serious fiction." Alas, I never made that much money. As for non-fiction, I was trained as a historian. </div><div><br></div><h3>Are any of the characters in your book based on real people and if so, who? </h3><div>Phoenix is the realest character in the Mapstone novels, my equivalent of Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles. Sheriff Peralta was based on a friend, who has passed away. When I showed him the Concrete Desert manuscript, he said, "I love this, it's fantastic! But I hate this guy Peralta." </div><div><br></div><h3>What type of research did you do to write your book? </h3><div>Often I do minimal research because I know my cities and their locations and history well. But, as stated above, I did extensive research for <em>The Bomb Shelter</em>. This included hours of interviews with the detectives who investigated the Don Bolles murder. </div><div><br></div><h3>What book are you currently reading? </h3><div>Like David Mapstone, I love history. I'm reading S. C. Gwynne's superb <em>Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson</em>. </div><div><br></div><h3>Are you writing anything now? If so, when will it come out? </h3><div>I have another book due in two years. But the pandemic has thrown the publishing industry into chaos. </div><div><br></div><h3>If you weren't a writer, what would you do? </h3><div>If I were smart, I would be a CPA. But I always wanted to serve. So I might have remained a paramedic or stayed as a college instructor (maybe a full professor by now). I considered getting my Ph.D in history but my graduate adviser warned me that I wrote too clearly to be an academic historian (true story). </div><div><br></div><h3>Do you use your local library? If so, which library is it and what do you do there? </h3><div>In Phoenix, I patronize the Burton Barr Central Library, designed by my friend Will Bruder. In Seattle, I use the Seattle Central Library (I wrote The Pain Nurse at a table on the sixth floor). <br></div><p><br></p></div> |
