Roy Chaney

Roy Chaney has worked as a military journalist, photographer, newspaper editor, and as an investigator for the federal government. The Ragged End of Nowhere is his debut novel.

Two exchanges from Rebecca Chastain's interview with Chaney at Number One Novels:

NON: How did you get the idea for your novel?

RC: There were a number of ideas that seemed to coalesce into The Ragged End of Nowhere. The French Foreign Legion plays a role in the story because I’ve always been intrigued by the facts and the legends that surround that fighting force. It seems odd to me that they still exist—they seem to belong to a time long past. Another spark was a business card given to me by an ex-CIA man at a dinner party in Las Vegas a number of years ago. He was working as a business consultant at that time, and on the back of the card was written: “There’s always one more son of a bitch than you counted on.” Apparently he thought that was all that needed to be said about why his consulting services were needed. Those are two of many ideas and images that came together to form the foundation of the novel.

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NON: Finally, if you had to pick one author as your favorite, who would it be?

RC: I could pick one hundred favorite authors, but I can’t pick one. My reading habits tend to be a little eclectic, but when it comes to mysteries and thrillers I still like the usual suspects: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Ian Fleming, Ross Macdonald, John D. MacDonald. Some of the more contemporary mystery authors I’ve been reading include Michael Connolly, Ian Rankin, Lee Child. Don Winslow’s recent book, The Dawn Patrol, was a great find, particularly because, having lived along the coast of California myself, the idea of a surfing P.I seems perfect to me. The Bust trilogy that Jason Starr and Ken Bruen wrote for Hardcase Crime is a lot of way-out fun, and for some old Vegas flavor the Rat Pack novels of Robert J. Randisi are...[read on]

Read an excerpt from The Ragged End of Nowhere, and learn more about the novel at the publisher's website.

The Ragged End of Nowhere won the the 2008 Tony Hillerman Prize for best debut mystery set in the American Southwest.

The Page 69 Test: The Ragged End of Nowhere.

--Marshal Zeringue