Craig McDonald

Novelist Tony Black interviewed Craig McDonald for Shots Magazine about the Edgar nomination for McDonald's debut Head Games, the current state of U.S. crime fiction, the craft of interviewing, and the sequel to Head Games, Toros & Torsos.

One exchange from the Q & A:

What writers have had the greatest influence on your own work?

Hemingway. Probably Lester Dent because my grandfather used to get me Bantam reprints of the Doc Savage pulps as they appeared. I read the entire run of the series in reprint. His basement was full of old Gold Medals and crime novels…Richard S. Prather, Marlowe, and Nick Carters. Hemingway is probably my most profound influence. After that I’d have to say Ellroy, Crumley and Sallis. I remember being very captivated by William Lindsay Gresham at one point. I’d probably have to cite Cornell Woolrich above Chandler and Hammett as an influence. I read Chandler and Hammett in college and drifted away from them pretty quickly, but stayed with Woolrich.

Read the full Q & A.

The Page 69 Test: Craig McDonald's Head Games.

--Marshal Zeringue