Stefanie Pintoff

Stefanie Pintoff is the author of a historical mystery series where early criminal science meets the dark side of old New York. Her debut novel, In the Shadow of Gotham, won the Edgar® Award for Best First Novel and the St. Martin’s Press / Mystery Writers of America Best First Crime Novel Award, while also earning nominations for the Agatha and RT Reviewer’s Choice Awards. Her second in the series, A Curtain Falls, released in May 2010.

From her Q & A with J. Sydney Jones:

What things about New York make it unique and a good physical setting in your books?

Like many of Europe’s great cities, it’s impossible to walk through New York’s many neighborhoods without being aware of its unique architecture. From brownstones to cobblestone streets to the grand theaters of Broadway – not to mention the occasional colonial house tucked between modern apartment buildings – physical relics of early New York remain. They gesture toward a history and time period that’s no longer readily accessible.

Did you consciously set out to use your New York at the turn of the twentieth century as a “character” in your books, or did this grow naturally out of the initial story or stories?

There was never a question but that New York City would be a central character in my books. I’m one of those people who became a New Yorker the moment I set foot here – and I find the city and its history endlessly fascinating.

How do you incorporate location in your fiction? Do you pay overt attention to it in certain scenes, or is it a background inspiration for you?

Because I’m writing about early 1900s New York, I’m always conscious that my setting is both like – and unlike – present-day NYC. I try to incorporate scenes that capture that sensation for readers. For example, in...[read on]

The Page 69 Test: In the Shadow of Gotham.

The Page 69 Test: A Curtain Falls.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Stefanie Pintoff & Ginger.

--Marshal Zeringue