Interview of Stephen G. Eoannou

Last week I reviewed the first book in the Nicholas Bishop private eye series After Pearl. Today author Stephen G. Eoannou is back with an interview. Don't forget to enter the giveaway if you didn't last week! Check out a review and the giveaway HERE.

Jodi: Your first two books took place during the 1930s. For After Pearl, you moved into a whole new decade – the 1940s and the War Years. What’s the appeal of this new time period?

Stephen: The Thirties through the war years is my favorite period. I love setting my novels during this era. I know exactly why I’m drawn to that fifteen-year stretch, too. My parents grew up then, and I grew up listening to their stories. The New Genesee restaurant that’s in all my novels was my paternal grandfather’s restaurant on the corner of Genesee and Oak Streets in Buffalo. My dad grew up in the apartment above it. He was a great storyteller, especially after a few drinks and if my mom wasn’t around. In my novel Yesteryear, for instance, the restaurant, the brothel down the street, a boxer’s diamond rings, a dog thief named Lefty, a drunken Jimmy Slattery are all stories my dad told. It was great fun weaving his stories with Fran Striker’s story in Yesteryear.

With After Pearl, alcoholic Nicholas Bishop (aka ‘Nicky the Weasel’) was inspired by one of my mom’s friends, Mickey the Bug. A drunken Mick was hit by a cab just before he was to be shipped out to The Pacific. His injuries were so severe, he was never deployed. He was discharged and sent home after he healed. My mom was convinced Mickey stepped in front of that taxi on purpose so he wouldn’t be sent into combat. For some reason, I thought of that story when I was thinking about writing my first mystery. I hadn’t thought about Mick in thirty years, but there he was when I needed him. Norman Mailer said writing is a spooky art, and it was spooky that I thought of Mickey out of the blue like that. But once I did, I knew the series would be set in the Forties and my alcoholic private eye would walk with a cane.

Jodi: You have so much history woven into your books. Did you have to do extensive research or were you already a history buff?

Stephen: I did extensive research for Yesteryear, my novel based on Buffalonian Fran Striker’s life. He created The Lone Ranger. I researched Striker’s life, the early days of radio, and, of course, The Lone Ranger. I was very lucky that Striker’s estate donated his papers to my alma mater, SUNY Buffalo. There were thirty cartons of his letters, telegrams, radio scripts, and memorabilia that I had access to. I didn’t go through all thirty of them. I just focused on those boxes from the early Thirties.

I didn’t do as much research on my novel Rook, which is based on Al Nussbaum’s life. Al was a notorious bank robber turned writer. That novel is set in the early 1960’s, so I read all the newspaper and magazine articles about Al from that period that I could find. I also used The Freedom of Information Act to get Al’s FBI and prison records. Those were fascinating to read. I was amazed how much remained redacted after sixty years.

With After Pearl, I already knew a lot about Buffalo during the war years, so I probably did the least amount of research for that novel. I did read up on hotel detectives, art, and art crimes, though.

Jodi: What made you decide to focus on your hometown of Buffalo, NY?

Stephen: It’s funny. I never intended to write about Buffalo. After my short story collection, Muscle Cars, was published, I realized all those stories were Buffalo related, even if I never mentioned the city. I thought that was interesting but didn’t think much of it at the time.

Then I stumbled across Al Nussbaum’s story in the paper one morning, and I knew I wanted to write about him. Half of that novel is set in Buffalo, and I had a great time writing about the city, describing the architecture and landmarks. Something clicked. It felt right to be writing about my hometown. I know this place. I could go sit in the bars and hotels I was writing about to get inspiration and daydream. I could go to the library and History Museum if I needed to research anything. It was after I completed Rook that I made the decision that Buffalo was going to be the literary turf I was going to explore. I want to do for Buffalo what William Kennedy did for Albany. If Los Angeles can have Philip Marlowe, New York City Matt Scudder, and San Francisco Sam Spade, why can’t Buffalo have its own private eye? Thus, Nicholas Bishop was born.

Jodi: You've done a great job making Buffalo intriguing. Having put in my time writing for a

newspaper, I'm dying to see the newspaper building you described in After Pearl. All your books have a noir feel to them. Do you have a favorite book, author or movie from that style? Weirdly, I just rewatched The Maltese Falcon.

Stephen: I just rewatched The Maltese Falcon, too! That’s by far my favorite noir film and my second all-time favorite movie behind Casablanca. The first time I watched The Maltese Falcon I was a kid and watched it with my dad. I remember loving everything about that movie—the characters, the dialog, the story and all the lies—but hating the ending! I felt ripped off as much as The Fat Man did when I realized the statue was a fake. My dad thought that was hilarious. I was too young to understand the genius of that ending then. But the movie led me to the book and Dashiell Hammett’s work. Then Hammett led me to Raymond Chandler. So, I would say those two are my favorites because they were the first couple noir writers I read. All of a sudden, my beloved Hardy Boy books seemed childish in comparison and I left Frank and Joe and the rest of the gang behind for Spade and Marlowe.

Jodi: funny, I took the same journey but I left Nancy Drew behind! I find writing in the noir style is a tough balancing act or getting the tough guy feel without veering into caricature. How you keep your writing feeling authentic? I picture you reading the dialogue aloud to see if it hits the right note while your dog looks at you with a “Huh?” look on his face.

Stephen: My first creative writing teacher at SUNY Buffalo was Carlene Polite. I was a sophomore. She was the first person to encourage my writing and believe in me. She always said, ‘Don’t write bad Humphrey Bogart’, meaning don’t slip into caricature and cliché. I thought of Carlene a lot when I was writing After Pearl and kept asking myself, “Is this bad Humphrey Bogart? Is this cliché?” What I tried to do was take a very damaged, very not hardboiled detective and place him in a very hardboiled world. That helped, I hope, with avoiding cliches.

It’s funny you mentioned reading aloud while writing. With Muscle Cars and Rook, I only read aloud when editing. Starting with Yesteryear, I read aloud as I write now. It helps me hear the sour notes, clunky dialogue, and awkward sentences. My dog looks at me with annoyance as my mumblings interrupt her naps.

Jodi: Have you always been a writer? Are you strictly a writer or a writer/something else, like so many of us are in an attempt to keep the electricity bill paid?

Stephen: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I read John Irving’s The Hotel New Hampshire in high school and then got serious about writing in college. None of the writers I’ve met since then support themselves solely through their writing. They’re teachers, editors, cops, ghostwriters, and work at a hundred other things so they can keep the lights on. I’m no different. I taught for a while and then for the last thirty years have been selling software. I joke that I wrote and edited Muscle Cars at Marriott bars up and down the east coast, and that’s not too far off. For years I’ve gotten up at five am and write until seven when I have to walk the dog and go to my day job. Those two hours are invariably the best part of my day. It’s funny, the people at work who know I write think writing’s my side gig. But I always considered software as my side hustle and writing as my main vocation. Don’t tell my boss that.

Jodi: Your secret is safe with me. Will we be seeing more of Nicholas Bishop?

Stephen: Yes! After Pearl is the first in The Nicholas Bishop Mystery Series published by SFWP and distributed globally through IPG. The second novel, The Falling Woman, will be published in the Spring of 2027. That story picks up a few months after After Pearl concludes. Bishop and his partner Gia are hired with the impossible task of determining the reason behind a very public suicide. Ghosts from Bishop’s past—his mother and his mentor Teddy Thurston—also return to disrupt Bishop’s life and threaten his very fragile sobriety. It was great fun returning to these characters and telling their backstories and watching them grow. I’ve already started drafting the third novel, which has the working title The Fifth Rose. Between marketing After Pearl, editing The Falling Woman, and developing The Fifth Rose, I’ll be spending a lot of time with Bishop, Gia, and his little, one-eyed dog named Jake even though she’s female. It’s okay. They’re pretty good company. Even Bishop when he’s sober.

Jodi: I'm already excited and don't know how I can wait until 2027. thanks for your time and good luck with After Pearl.