What inspires a man to write about a ne’er-do-well pseudo-gumshoe who makes his living doing favors for people in a cigar bar? Well, at the time, I was unemployed, and getting by doing favors for people at a local cigar bar in Tampa… It just kind of hit me out of the blue, I guess.
Smoking Ash is, in reality, a letter of appreciation for the hometown I love, despite the fact that Tampa gets a bad rap every time it ends up on the news. Setting the scene at The Tampa Humidor just seemed like the perfect fit, at the time.
As for my main character? Lester Calvin is, in all honesty, the most fun character I have ever written. I knew, from the first page, that I would be working with this guy for a long time. He never seems to disappoint — even when he does. Once described as “equal parts Raymond Chandler and The Big Lebowski,” Lester is suave, goofy, smart, clueless, oh-so sexy, and oh-so in over his head. I am certain you will like him as much as I do.
Smoking Ash is the first in a series, and introduces the reader to the world Lester lives in — a world where the good guys aren’t always so good, the bad guys aren’t always so bad, and everything can be reasoned through with the help of a good cigar.