Bouchercon, “the world’s premiere annual crime writing event,” kicks off a week from today in Dallas, and I will be in attendance! Hope to see you there. https://www.bouchercon2019.com/
Charlesgate Confidential is out in paperback TODAY
Get your copy now:
Watch this space for more exciting announcements coming soon (I hope)!
Hey, it’s 2019
It’s been a while! I’ve done another revamp of this here blog in preparation for life after Charlesgate Confidential, but for now I have some catching up to do.
- The paperback edition will be released in September 2019!
- A new column called The Hard Case Crime Files kicks off with a review of Charlesgate Confidential. “Von Doviak’s prose itself is very punchy, and very hard not to engulf in one sitting…You have your thrills, your crime, your stylish action set pieces, and best of all, you get a contained, satisfying single read.”
- Anthony R. Cardno writes “Charlesgate Confidential is an excellent addition to the Hard Case Crime line, and a great example of how the genre can be reimagined for modern audiences, renovated like the titular building to accommodate new voices and styles while retaining what makes it classic and dependable.”
- Finally, if you are attending Bouchercon this fall and have received an Anthony Awards ballot, please consider nominating Charlesgate Confidential for best first novel!
Best of 2018 recognition for “Charlesgate Confidential”
The Wall Street Journal names Charlesgate Confidential one of its best mysteries of 2018! Tom Nolan writes: “Mr. Von Doviak’s enthusiasm, skill and flexibility of style in the unfurling of this tripartite tale triples a reader’s satisfaction and awe.”
Crime Fiction Lover includes Charlesgate Confidential on its list of best debuts of 2018. “Von Doviak’s plotting skills and attention to detail brings each era alive for you in a book that won a five star review on this site in September.”
Open Letters Review also names Charlesgate Confidential one of its top mysteries of the year. “An amount of skill and panache that raises hope for a long and active writing career.”
On the road in October
I hope you’ll come and see me if you’re in or near one of the above cities!
I talked Charlesgate Confidential with DigBoston in advance of my Harvard Coop signing.
BookReporter says “Von Doviak captures perfectly the dialogue, mood and mores of each of the eras that comprise his tale. There is also a fine bit of symmetry at the end on a number of levels, providing a perfect conclusion to a caper that never overstays its welcome.”
Unlawful Acts says “every page is a greased pan of pure reading pleasure… Charlesgate Confidential just plain works, and I felt constantly caught between my desire to race through it and my desire to savor it in little bites and save it up for days like a child’s dessert.”
Did you know Charlesgate Confidential is “the feel-good hit of the autumn“?
Reviews, book tour and more
People (and pets) are loving Charlesgate Confidential!
Criminal Element says “Charlesgate Confidential is what happens when storytelling skills meet a love for pulp and a knack for dialogue. Von Doviak knows what he’s doing, and the way this novel unfolds is proof of that…Entertaining, humorous, and packed with snappy dialogue, Charlesgate Confidential is a superb addition to Hard Case Crime’s catalog and a recommended read that proves pulp is alive and as good as ever.”
Morning Star Online says “Von Doviak’s first novel, mysterious and playful, is a great entertainment.”
The Dreamcage says “It’s no secret. I think Charlesgate Confidential is the single (or should that be triple) best crime novel I have read in a long, long time…full of twists and turns, with a level of intelligence to the writing that hooked me from the start.”
The book tour is underway and my next stop is Murder by the Book in Houston, TX! Join me at 1 PM on Saturday, September 29th and pick up your signed copy.
Although I try to keep up with this blog, your best bets for late-breaking news are my Facebook author page and my Twitter account.
“Charlesgate Confidential” is now in stores!
It’s all true! Stephen King wouldn’t steer you wrong.
I did a Q&A with MysteryPeople ahead of my BookPeople event this Saturday, Sept. 22 at 6 pm.
For CrimeReads, I wrote about how George V. Higgins invented the Boston crime novel.
For the Strand Magazine, I rounded up five of the best recent Boston crime novels.
More to come!
Austin American-Statesman interview
Joe Gross interviewed me for the Austin American-Statesman.
Crime Fiction Lover gives Charlesgate Confidential five stars. “It’s an ambitious structure but the author really makes it work. One of the book’s delights is the way events in one chapter inform the next even though there are decades between them. It only succeeds through the author’s incredible attention to detail, an attention that extends throughout the book.”
The Wall Street Journal Reviews “Charlesgate Confidential”
So this is exciting: A rave review in the Wall Street Journal!
You may need a subscription to read it, so here are some choice excerpts:
No one could say of Charlesgate Confidential (Hard Case Crime, 383 pages, $22.99), the impressive debut novel by film critic Scott Von Doviak, that it lacks gumption. This inventive chronicle of an audacious Boston art theft and its prolonged aftermath unfolds in alternating chapters on three different chronological tracks—1946, 1986 and 2014. Piecing the story and its large cast together can seem like solving a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle in the mirror. But the challenge is a worthy one, and the finished product is immensely enjoyable…Mr. Von Doviak finds the appropriate tone for every occasion in this unpredictable novel, whose moods range from hard-boiled to slapstick to gothic. Even the author’s afterword is entertaining, ending with the sentence: “Please tell all your friends to buy this book.” Consider it done.
In other news, I spoke to Joe Gross on the Austin American-Statesman‘s podcast, I Love You So Much. My segment starts around 22:55.
But my most treasured endorsement so far comes courtesy of The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Society. Not safe for work!
Charlesgate Roundup
Charlesgate Confidential is the Austin-American Statesman’s “Statesman Selects” choice for September! “BookPeople is proud to partner with the Austin American-Statesman for their monthly Statesman Selects program. Each month, BookPeople will highlight the Statesman’s top recommended read for Austin. September’s pick is CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL by Scott Von Doviak. The author will be here September 22nd at 6PM.”
In addition, Charlesgate Confidential is one of MysteryPeople’s 3 Picks for September.
I am also thrilled to be included in the stellar line-up for this year’s Texas Book Festival.
Much more to come. Watch this space!
Blog Von Doviak 