CANR
WORK TITLE: THE WAREHOUSE
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Hart, Robert W.
BIRTHDATE: 1982
WEBSITE: http://robwhart.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME: CANR 386
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 12, 1948, in Bromborough, England; married; children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:University of Waterloo, B.F.A., 1974; York University, M.F.A., 1979.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. MysteriousPress.com, former associate publisher; LitReactor website, class director. Previously, worked as political reporter, communications director for the office of a politician, and commissioner for the city of New York.
AVOCATIONS:Cooking and crosswords.
MEMBER:Writers Union of Canada, Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada.
AWARDS:Derringer Award nomination; honorable mention, The Best American Mystery Stories 2015.
WRITINGS
Short stories have been published in Shotgun Honey, Crime Factory, All Due Respect, Thuglit, Needle, Kwik Krimes, Helix Literary Magazine, and Joyland. Contributor of nonfiction to LitReactor, Salon, Daily Beast, Mulholland Books, Criminal Element, and Powell’s bookstore blog, and Nailed. Contributor to anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories, 2018.
The Warehouse has been optioned for film by Ron Howard.
SIDELIGHTS
Rob Hart, associate publisher at MysteriousPress and the class director at LitReactor, is a former journalist and the author of short fiction, novels, and essays. His short stories have appeared in Shotgun Honey, Crime Factory, All Due Respect, Thuglit, Needle, Kwik Krimes, Helix Literary Magazine, and Joyland. His essays have appeared in LitReactor, Salon, Daily Beast, Mulholland Books, Criminal Element, and Nailed.
In The Last Safe Place: A Zombie Novella, Hart mixes elements from noir and zombie fiction to tell the story of a New York cop who, with his critically ill wife and a few others, has hunkered down on New York City’s Governor’s Island after the zombie apocalypse. Here, Sarge and his people barely survive, growing what crops they can and confronting illness, hunger, and the constant fear of attack.
On the D.R. Sylvester Fiction Web site, the novella received praise as “a unique take” on the tropes of zombie fiction. Leah Rhyne, writing in Leahrhyne.com, also expressed admiration for the book’s fresh approach, pointing out that “there’s enough human drama and crime to make the story pop.”
Hart’s first novel, New Yorked, features hard-drinking private detective Ashley McKenna, who blunders through the sleazy neighborhoods of New York City trying to find out who murdered his ex-girlfriend Chell. Ash is sleeping off a booze-induced blackout when Chell’s desperate call for help reaches him on his phone. But Chell is already dead by the time McKenna gets the message, and the detective is consumed by guilt and rage as he searches for clues in the city’s gritty bars and clubs.
Reviewers expressed admiration for the novel’s intense atmospherics. Writing in Booklist, Don Crinklaw observed that Hart paints New York’s underbelly as “a creepy place dominated by creatures of the night.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted the novel’s “strong sense of place,” and praised New Yorked as an “edgy debut” with “relentless pacing.” In Xpress Reviews, Michael Pucci called Hart’s plot needlessly “convoluted,” but enjoyed New Yorked as “a bloody valentine to a New York fast disappearing.”
A contributor to Out of the Gutter hailed New Yorked for its fresh and engaging exploitation of noir clichés. The author “actually gets the city,” this reviewer commented, concluding that “ New Yorked is a novel about self-discovery, dealing with loss, and the role of violence in our lives. It’s also about how New York has changed and is still changing.” Making a similar point in My Bookish Ways, Angel Luis Colon stated: “The City isn’t just a backdrop; it serves as the alternate love interest … an organism that’s host to millions … Alive and sparkling, alluring and incredibly unkind.”
New Yorked ‘s sequel, City of Rose, finds Ash in Portland, Oregon, where he has gone to recover from the trauma of Chell’s death. He finds work at a vegan strip club and intends to live quietly and keep out of trouble. But trouble has a way of finding him: the young daughter of one of the club’s dancers is kidnapped, and the mother begs Ash to help get the girl back. Though he intends to stay out of it, Ash receives a threat that makes him worry about the mother’s safety, and that of the club’s other dancers as well.
Looking for the missing girl in a city he barely knows, McKenna discovers a shady plot that links one of Portland’s leading power brokers with a bloody drug cartel. And in order to return the child to her mother, McKenna may have to break his promise to himself to turn his back on violence. In Kirkus Reviews, a commentator described City of Rose as a novel “to warm the hard-bitten cockles of a noir fan’s heart.”
In South Village, Ash has left Portland and moved to a hippie commune in the Georgia woods. He is hoping for some peace and quiet, but he is again sucked into a murder investigation. Ash looks into the death of Crusty Pete, another resident at the commune, who may have run afoul of a violent activist group. Meanwhile, Ash struggles to control his alcoholism.
A reviewer in Publishers Weekly described South Village as “lively” and its ending as “unexpected but satisfying.” “Hart delivers a suspenseful, gritty third book in the ‘Ash McKenna’ series,” commented Russell Michalak in Xpress Reviews.
Ash has moved again in The Woman from Prague. He has been staying in the title city for a few months, but he must leave soon due to visa restrictions. Before he heads off to his next destination, Ash meets a mysterious man named Roman, who offers protection in exchange for a favor that involves intercepting a package. When the drop-off turns into an attack, Ash and the carrier of the package, a spy named Samantha, decide to work together to protect themselves. In an interview with a writer on the Mysteristas website, Hart commented on the setting of the volume, stating: “A few years ago I visited Prague and within ten minutes of being there, I knew I wanted to set a book there. It’s an incredible city, and being able to revisit it, even through a novel, was a ton of fun.”
Referring to Ash and Samantha, Crinklaw, the Booklist critic, remarked: “Their constant verbal jousting is as much fun as the fight scenes.” “Noir fans will be enthralled,” predicted a contributor to Publishers Weekly. Susan Bethany, writer in Reviewer’s Bookwatch, suggested: “An original and deftly crafted read from cover to cover, The Woman From Prague is another simply riveting novel of international suspense from a master of the crime noir genre.”
Potter’s Field is the final installment in the “Ash McKenna” series. It finds Ash confronting his past in Staten Island. He quickly finds himself in danger again after agreeing to help a drug-dealing drag queen named Ginny find an associate who has gone missing. In an interview with a contributor to the Mystery People website, Hart discussed the setting of the book. He stated: “I live on Staten Island and writing Potter’s Field made me realize how much I appreciate it, and this felt like I was doubling down on that. Especially since Staten Island hasn’t always had the greatest portrayals in arts and media. It’s so much more than a giant garbage dump and loud Italians.” Regarding the book’s place in the series as a whole, Hart told Oline H. Cogdill, writer on the Mystery Scene website: “Ash’s story was meant to be fun, but it was also meant to be therapy—New Yorked was about whether I wanted to leave the city where I was born. City of Rose was about becoming a dad. South Village was about how I relate to the world around me. The Woman From Prague was about how I relate to myself. And Potter’s Field is about taking that final step and accepting: yes, I am a grown-up now. I excised the demons I needed to excise and I’m ready for my next adventure.”
“Hart has … enough vulnerability in his protagonist to make the reader sorry to see the last of Ash,” asserted a writer in Publishers Weekly. A contributor to the Real Book Spy website suggested: “While it’s sad to see Ash McKenna go, Rob Hart sends him off with a bang.” The same contributor concluded: “Potter’s Field is a gripping thriller that wraps up one of the genre’s most underrated series.”
In his 2019 standalone novel, The Warehouse, Hart tells a story set in the dystopian near-future. Zinnia and Paxton both work for a retail monopoly called Cloud, which is similar to Amazon. Zinnia is a well-trained spy working undercover, while Paxton reluctantly began working for the company after it stole his invention.
A Kirkus Reviews critic asserted: “Hart has written a hell of a prosecution of modern commerce and the nature of work, all contained in the matrix of a Cory Doctorow-esque postmodern thriller.” The same critic described the book as “a terrific puzzle.”
Comprised of sixteen short stories, Take-Out: And Other Tales of Culinary Crime includes tales about viral food phenomenons, taco trucks, bagels, food competition shows, and food connoisseurs. Hart discussed the idea behind the book in an interview with a contributor to the Lit Reactor website. He stated: “It started as a joke. Someone noticed a food theme in my short stories and asked when the ‘food noir’ collection was coming out. I like crime fiction, and I like to eat. Plus, crime and food are intersections where passions collide. Every time I thought I’d written as many food stories as I could, I’d get another idea. And here we are.”
A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented: “The varied settings and storylines effectively showcase Hart’s versatility.” Alex Calamela, critic on the Criminal Element website, asserted: “Take-Out by Rob Hart is a delicious collection of entertaining stories that will keep any reader asking for seconds.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Children’s Literature Review, Volume 21, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990.
Twentieth-Century Children’s Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1995.
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2015, Don Crinklaw, review of New Yorked, p. 41; May 1, 2017, Don Crinklaw, review of The Woman from Prague, p. 31.
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2015, review of New Yorked; December 1, 2015, review of City of Rose; June 15, 2017, review of The Woman from Prague; June 15, 2019, review of The Warehouse.
Publishers Weekly, April 13, 2015, review of New Yorked, p. 59; August 15, 2016, review of South Village, p. 53; May 15, 2017, review of The Woman from Prague, p. 39; May 7, 2018, review of Potter’s Field, p. 49; November 19, 2018, review of Take-Out and Other Tales of Culinary Crime, p. 77.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch, September, 2017, Susan Bethany, review of The Woman from Prague.
Xpress Reviews, June 5, 2015, Michael Pucci, review of New Yorked; November 4, 2016, Russell Michalak, review of South Village.
ONLINE
Criminal Element, http://www.criminalelement.com/ (January 23, 2019), Alex Calamela, review of Take-Out.
Dead End Follies, http://www.deadendfollies.com/ (June 8, 2015), review of New Yorked.
D.R. Sylvester Fiction, http://dryslvesterfiction.com/ (June 23, 2015), D.R. Sylvester, review of The Last Safe Place: A Zombie Novella.
Entropy, https://entropymag.org/ (May 4, 2016), James Pate, author interview.
Leah Rhyne website, http://www.leahrhyne.com/ (December 14, 2012), review of The Last Safe Place.
LitReactor, https:// litreactor.com/ (December 21, 2015), Keith Rawson, author interview; (January 15, 2019), author interview.
My Bookish Ways, http: //www.mybookishways.com/ (June 1, 2015), Angel Luis Colon, review of New Yorked.
Mysteristas, https://mysteristas.wordpress.com/ (June 16, 2017), author interview.
Mystery People, https://mysterypeople.wordpress.com/ (July 24, 2018), author interview.
Mystery Scene, https://www.mysteryscenemag.com/ (July 24, 2019), Oline H. Cogdill, author interview.
Out of the Gutter, http://www.outofthegutteronline.com/ (June 14, 2015), review of New Yorked.
Pulp Fire, http://pulpfire.com/ (June 18, 2015), review of New Yorked.
Real Book Spy, https://therealbookspy.com/ (May 13, 2018), review of Potter’s Field.
Reviews and Editing by Elizabeth A. White, http://www.elizabethawhite.com/ (July 9, 2015), Elizabeth A. White, review of New Yorked.
Rob Hart website, http://robwhart.com (July 24, 2019).
Staten Island Advanced Online, https://www.silive.com/ (May 1, 2018), Victoria Priola, author interview.
Rob Hart is the author of the Ash McKenna series, published by Polis Books, which wrapped up in July 2018 with Potter’s Field. Other entries include: New Yorked, which was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Novel, as well as City of Rose, South Village, and The Woman from Prague. He also wrote the short story collection Take-Out, and co-wrote Scott Free with James Patterson.
In August 2019, his first standalone novel, The Warehouse, will be released by Crown. The Warehouse has sold in 21 countries and has been optioned for film by Ron Howard.
Rob is the former publisher for MysteriousPress.com and the current class director at LitReactor. He has also worked as a political reporter, the communications director for a politician, and a commissioner for the city of New York.
Rob’s short stories have appeared in publications like Shotgun Honey, Crime Factory, All Due Respect, Thuglit, Needle, Helix Literary Magazine, Mystery Tribune, and Joyland. He’s received a Derringer Award nomination for best flash fiction story, and his short story “Take-Out” appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2018. He also received honorable mention in both Best American Mystery Stories 2015 and 2017.
Non-fiction articles have been featured at sites like LitReactor, Salon, The Daily Beast, Criminal Element, The Literary Hub, Birth.Movies.Death, and Electric Literature.
He lives in Staten Island, N.Y., with his wife and daughter.
Rob Hart
Rob Hart is the associate publisher at MysteriousPress.com and the class director at LitReactor.
Previously, he has been a political reporter, the communications director for a politician, and a commissioner for the city of New York.
Rob is the author of The Last Safe Place: A Zombie Novella. His short stories have appeared in Shotgun Honey, Crime Factory, All Due Respect, Thuglit, Needle, Kwik Krimes, Helix Literary Magazine, and Joyland. Hes received both a Derringer Award nomination and honorable mention in The Best American Mystery Stories 2015.
Non-fiction articles have been featured at LitReactor, Salon, The Daily Beast, Mulholland Books, Criminal Element, the Powells bookstore blog, and Nailed.
His debut novel, New Yorked, is now available from Polis Books. The sequel, City of Rose, will follow in early 2016.
He lives in New York City, and is represented by Bree Ogden of Red Sofa Literary.
Genres: Mystery
New Books
June 2019
(paperback)
Potter's Field
(Ash McKenna, book 5)
August 2019
(hardback)
The Warehouse
Series
Ash McKenna
1. New Yorked (2015)
2. City of Rose (2016)
3. South Village (2016)
4. The Woman From Prague (2017)
5. Potter's Field (2018)
Ash McKenna and Pete Fernandez Joint (with Alex Segura)
Bad Beat (2016)
Novels
The Warehouse (2019)
Collections
Take-Out (2019)
Novellas
Peaked (2017)
Series contributed to
BookShots (with James Patterson)
Scott Free (2017)
Rob Hart is the author of the short story collection TAKE-OUT and the Ash McKenna series, which wrapped up with POTTER'S FIELD in July 2018. He is also the co-author of SCOTT FREE with James Patterson. His next book, THE WAREHOUSE, has sold in more than 20 countries and been optioned for film by Ron Howard. He lives in New York City. Find him online at @robwhart and www.robwhart.com.
Rob Hart is the author of the Ash McKenna crime series and the short-story collection Take- Out. He also co-wrote Scott Free with James Patterson. He’s worked as a book publisher, a political reporter, and a communications director for a politician and was a commissioner for the city of New York. He lives on Staten Island with his wife and daughter.
Rob Hart is the associate publisher at MysteriousPress.com and the class director at LitReactor. Previously, he has been a political reporter, the communications director for a politician, and a commissioner for the city of New York.
Rob is the author of The Last Safe Place: A Zombie Novella, and his short stories have appeared in publications like Thuglit, NEEDLE, Shotgun Honey, All Due Respect, and Helix Literary Magazine. He is the author of four Ash McKenna novels: NEW YORKED, CITY OF ROSE, SOUTH VILLAGE, and THE WOMAN FROM PRAGUE.
He lives in New York City. You can follow him at @robwhart or find more at his website, www.robwhart.com.
QUOTED: "I live on Staten Island and writing Potter’s Field made me realize how much I appreciate it, and this felt like I was doubling down on that. Especially since Staten Island hasn’t always had the greatest portrayals in arts and media. It’s so much more than a giant garbage dump and loud Italians."
INTERVIEW WITH ROB HART
July 24, 2018 mysterypeoplescott1 Comment
Rob Hart has put his hero, unlicensed private detective Ash McKenna, through the wringer both physically and emotionally. He hasn’t even let him stay put in one city — he has had to leave New York, Portland, a commune in Georgia, and then Prague in each book. In Potter’s Field, Ash returns to his Big Apple home, hoping to get his life together and find peace, but not until his former boss drag queen crime boss.
MysteryPeople Scott: What made you want to have Ash in only five books?
Rob Hart: This may sound ridiculous but Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt series was five books, and I got it in my head that five was a good number. But as I was laying out the arc of Ash’s story, it made a lot of sense—three wasn’t enough, five was just right. And as much as I love writing him I needed to have an endpoint. The series is about a kid growing up and finding his moral compass, and it doesn’t work if he never finds it.
MPS: This is the final book, so, did Potter’s Field end up how you thought it would or did it change as you developed the character for the series?
RH: I was actually pretty locked-in early on, in that I knew he would come back to New York in the final book. But I didn’t realize how much of the fifth book would end up on Staten Island—nearly the entire thing, with a brief jaunt into Manhattan. I live on Staten Island and writing Potter’s Field made me realize how much I appreciate it, and this felt like I was doubling down on that. Especially since Staten Island hasn’t always had the greatest portrayals in arts and media. It’s so much more than a giant garbage dump and loud Italians.
MPS: You deal with Staten Island’s drug scene in this book, what did you want to convey about that world?
RH: The problem is much bigger than the individual user. If anything, I think users are unfairly demonized. The opioid crisis can be traced back to pharmaceutical companies that knew opioids were incredibly addictive, but did their best to hide that so they could maximize profits. And now a whole generation of people are hooked on heroin because of a bunch of rich craven assholes. I think there needs to be a lot more thought and compassion for what this crisis looks like on the ground level.
MPS: Do you feel New York has changed since Ash left or it is more seen through the eyes of someone who has changed?
RH: It has and it hasn’t. New York is a city of constant change—as much as the people who live here want it to remain the same, that’s not the nature of it. You just have to hold on and go along with it. If anything, that’s the feeling I wanted to get at. In New Yorked, the first book, Ash was one of those people who rages against every old business that closes, so by the fifth book, I wanted him to find that place of serenity, accepting the things he cannot change.
MPS: Ash runs into a couple other detectives as he searches for someone to apprentice with. Were you hinting at any new projects down the road with him?
RH: My publisher keeps reminding me that Dennis Lehane took a ten-year break on the Kenzie and Gennaro books. I am not opposed to writing more Ash, but definitely not for the foreseeable future. I needed those grown-up, real-deal private detectives to ground Ash’s journey and give him a reference point. The series, as a whole, is the origin story of a private detective, but he’s never even met one before.
MPS: How did it feel to finish Ash’s story, at least for now?
RH: Bittersweet. Ash’s voice is like an old pair of sneakers: comfortable to slip on, fits great, and you can walk for miles. But wear them for too long and they’ll break down and fall apart. I’m happy to be moving on to new things, but I’ll keep the shoes in the closet, just in case.
QUOTED: "Ash’s story was meant to be fun, but it was also meant to be therapy—New Yorked was about whether I wanted to leave the city where I was born. City of Rose was about becoming a dad. South Village was about how I relate to the world around me. The Woman From Prague was about how I relate to myself. And Potter’s Field is about taking that final step and accepting: yes, I am a grown-up now. I excised the demons I needed to excise and I’m ready for my next adventure."
Rob Hart on Ending a Series
Oline H. Cogdill
Rob Hart is the author of the Ash McKenna series, including New Yorked, City of Rose, South Village, The Woman From Prague, and Potter’s Field, published by Polis Books. He also co-wrote Scott Free with James Patterson. His next novel, The Warehouse, will be released in 2019 and has been optioned for film by Ron Howard. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.
Hart’s final Ash McKenna novel, Potter’s Field, comes out in a few weeks. In this essay, Hart discusses capping a crime series: how to do it, why to do it, and under what circumstances a character could be brought back.
How to Say Goodbye to Pretend People
by Rob Hart
On my desk, in my home office, is a set of bookends. Blocks of wood, weathered and rough, cut from something larger. According to the website where I bought them: lumber salvaged from the home of Ray Bradbury.
They were supposed to arrive with a certificate of authenticity signed by his daughter, Alexandra. I can’t remember if the certificate arrived or not. I certainly can’t find it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t here. My filing system consists of putting things in a pile until I forget about them.
Fahrenheit 451 was a formative book for me. It was the first book that knocked me on my ass and said: “This. This is what books can do.”
So when I saw the bookends on sale, I bought them, and when they arrived, I used them to hold up the things that I wrote.
I think a lot of authors do this, right? We have stray piles of contributor copies and comp books we get from our publisher, but those are earmarked for giveaways or houseguests.
One copy of everything I’ve got words in—from novels to lit journals to the honorable mention page of Best American Mystery Stories—goes into that display between the Bradbury bookends.
And just now I placed Potter’s Field, the fifth and final Ash McKenna novel, into that display. It’s the last time Ash—series character, amateur private detective, good-hearted kid with some bad habits—will go in there.
Which isn’t completely true. In a year, Potter’s Field will come out in paperback. In January, Ash makes a very brief appearance in a short story that’ll appear in Take-Out, my food noir collection. So I’m fibbing for dramatic purposes, but just give me this, okay?
Because it’s the end of Ash’s story. The last adventure of a character I figured would be one and done, and then decided I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. So I got it in my head I should follow him through five books, because the Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston was five books.
Seriously, that was my entire thought process. I love those Joe Pitt books.
The number was less important than the fact that Ash needed an ending. He’s not an evergreen character like Bosch or Reacher or Rhyme. From the beginning, even when I thought New Yorked was a standalone, I was writing a story about a kid carrying a lot of anger and looking for his moral compass. The story only works if, one day, he finds it.
Even when you know it’s coming, saying goodbye is hard. You get to this point where you feel like you’re the character, or the character is you, or something equally pretentious, and then you have to lock him up in a corner of your head and throw away the key.
Not that my publisher, Jason, isn’t trying. There was a 10-year gap between Dennis Lehane’s last two Kenzie and Gennaro books—which he has helpfully pointed out a dozen times. And we live in the age of the reboot. There’s a Karate Kid show on YouTube now.
I’m not saying this is my last ride with Ash. Except, right now it is.
It’s not about wanting to move on to different projects. It’s not about wanting to flex a new set of writing muscles. It’s those things, too, but it’s also the feeling like I got what I needed.
Ash’s story was meant to be fun, but it was also meant to be therapy—New Yorked was about whether I wanted to leave the city where I was born. City of Rose was about becoming a dad. South Village was about how I relate to the world around me. The Woman From Prague was about how I relate to myself.
And Potter’s Field is about taking that final step and accepting: yes, I am a grown-up now.
I excised the demons I needed to excise and I’m ready for my next adventure: taking a baseball bat to the knees of capitalism and big business in The Warehouse, coming sometime in the back half of 2019 from Crown.
So, when do you know it’s time to say goodbye to a series character?
And I’m not sure I have a very good answer, which is why I’m stalling.
Certainly, you want to go out on top, before people are tired, and I don’t think people are tired of Ash yet. Better to go now than after the reviewers and the readers turn against me.
There’s an element, too, where it’s less about knowing it’s time to go, and more about deciding it’s time. Ash’s voice is like a comfortable pair of shoes. I can slip it on and off with ease, but I can’t wear it forever.
Another reason I wrote Ash was because I wanted to write the origin story of a private detective. See what pushes a person into that life. Once, I suggested to Jason that yes, I’ll do a sixth book, but it’ll be Ash at the end of his career—an old man in postapocalyptic New York, working his last case.
After a long pause, he replied, “At least it won’t be boring.”
But I’m glad to be done. I’m happy to know I told the story I wanted to tell, on my terms, and best of all, I got to finish it, which is a luxury not all artists get—shows and series and movie universes get canceled all the time. You’re not safe just because you have an endgame.
I’m also glad because writing a series is hard, both on a writer and a reader. By book five, I’ve got to remember stuff I did in book one, and know that it’s all linking together. That the arcs make sense. And while the first book is a big, exciting thing, by the time you get to the fifth, you feel like you’re inviting people to a Tupperware party.
I’m going to miss Ash. I miss Ash already. Which is a little funny, because I made him up! But still, I do.
It’s nice to sit here and look at the five books in the series, lined up the way they are, held up by tactile pieces of history, these chunks of wood from the home of the man who put me on this path in the first place.
You could call this moment a beginning, with The Warehouse, or an end, with Ash, but I prefer to think of it as the everything in between. That wide-open space where a made-up character can live or be discovered or born again, depending on the reader.
Rob Hart photo by Anna Ty Bergman
QUOTED: "It started as a joke. Someone noticed a food theme in my short stories and asked when the 'food noir' collection was coming out. I like crime fiction, and I like to eat. Plus, crime and food are intersections where passions collide. Every time I thought I'd written as many food stories as I could, I'd get another idea. And here we are."
Rob Hart Crowdsources An Interview for His Food Noir Collection And Settles The 'Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich' Debate
Interview by Rob Hart January 15, 2019
It started as a joke. Someone noticed a food theme in my short stories and asked when the "food noir" collection was coming out.
I like crime fiction, and I like to eat. Plus, crime and food are intersections where passions collide. Every time I thought I'd written as many food stories as I could, I'd get another idea. And here we are. Take-Out has sixteen stories in it. Three have never been published before. Two made honorable mention in Best American Mystery Stories, and one made the final cut. One got nominated for a Derringer Award. Another, the first time I read it at an event, it got accepted for publication by Thuglit before I left the microphone.
I've done this before and it's always pretty fun: I crowdsourced an interview, asking people to hit me with questions on Twitter and Facebook. Here are the results. As you can see, some of my friends are very kind and intelligent, and some are complete blockheads, so it runs the gamut.
What was the best meal you've ever had and why?
This is really tough. I loved La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise when I was in Prague. It’s a Michelin-starred restaurant where the favorable exchange rate meant it was pricey, but not too pricey. They had a carrot in mustard ice cream that I still think about sometimes. Sushi Nakazawa ruined me for regular sushi for a few months—it’s owned by a protege of Jiro Ono (from Jiro Dreams of Sushi) and took me like two fucking years to get a reservation. It was also stupid expensive, but it was special because my wife and I were celebrating the sale of The Warehouse.
There’s a meme going around of two people living on opposite sides of the earth who placed pieces of bread on the ground and created an earth sandwich. Which signifies to me it is time to expand our definition of sandwich.
How quickly after developing an idea do you decide it is best suited for a short story, novella, or novel?
This is interesting! Because I’m not sure I have a great answer? I always sort of know whether something is a story idea or a novel idea as soon as I have it. The novel ideas tend to be linked more to bigger themes—with The Warehouse: I want to write a book about why capitalism is bad. Whereas short story ideas tend to be a little lighter and more specific: with “Creampuff”, I wanted to write a story about a bouncer at a bakery. I sort of know in my gut whether an idea is big enough to support a novel or a short. And I never really thought of expanding the shorts in Take-Out into anything longer. I think I gave them all the appropriate amount of runway.
How has being a parent affected you as a writer?
A few ways! 1. I’m better with managing my time. 2. I’m more optimistic about the state of the world and the future (which is getting tested pretty fucking hard lately!). 3. I think it’s made me more compassionate and thoughtful but that’s up for other people to decide probably.
Can you talk about the process of choosing the stories, and your general attraction to "food noir"?
It was less choosing and a little more cheating—I think I had like 11 or 12 stories, and I wrote three new ones, but that still left me one or two short for the word count I wanted to hit. There’s one story I specifically went back to and added a food element, so I could get away with including it, and one story that was a bit of a stretch but I point that out in the introduction. And… I guess the general attraction is I really like food. Since putting this to bed I’ve gotten three or four more decent ideas so I guess I’m just wired for it.
What's Ron Howard really like? That was a joke. I want to know what Clint Howard is really like. Love him.
I have not met or spoken to either Howard brother, but the people I have spoken to at Imagine Entertainment are just lovely people. I will admit it has crossed my mind: if The Warehouse actually gets made, who will Clint Howard play?!
What's with you and Todd Robinson? Are you guys dating or something?
To call it "dating" would really cheapen what we have together.
What foods are on your bucket list? What are your favorite food scenes in fiction? (Any medium)
I feel like a fucking charlatan now because I can’t point to a specific book or movie and be like “that food scene was awesome!” So, sorry. As for bucket list—I’ve always been fascinated by the ortolan bunting, which is a small, beautiful bird that’s drowned in a container of brandy, then roasted and eaten whole. Traditionally the diner eats with a shroud over their head to shield themself from the eyes of god during such a decadent and disgraceful act. It’s a French dish and the ortolan bunting is very rare now—because people kept drowning them in brandy and eating them. It’s currently illegal for restaurants to sell the dish in France. I honestly do not know if I have the guts to eat it but as far as bucket list items go, that sounds like a pretty good one.
What's on the menu when you're outlining a story or novel idea? What about when you're pounding out a first draft? Editing a manuscript?
Like, what am I eating while I do those things? I’m not a big snacker, especially since I’ve been trying to be more cognizant of what I eat. If I am snacking it’s usually something on the healthier end: popcorn, fresh fruit, lots of black coffee.
With The Warehouse do you feel like you have moved on from the crime genre and if so would you consider a return in the future?
The Warehouse includes a corporate spy, a security guard, a drug ring, a large overarching mystery… I don’t feel like I left the crime genre. I feel like I added a little bit of speculation and near-future sci-fi. It’s certainly more a thriller than my previous books, but I also believe that, like, 90 percent of novels are crime fiction. The Great Gatsby can be crime fiction. It’s about a bootlegger and the story ends with his murder. So, yeah, I don’t feel like I left, I’m just being greedy and I want more narrative toys to play with.
What food inspires you the most to get the words down (coffee doesn't count)?
That’s an interesting question! I can’t say there’s a link between food and productivity for me. I can say that certain food experiences have driven me to write stories I really love. “Have You Eaten?”, which is the last story in Take-Out, was inspired by the few days I spent wandering around the hawker markets in Singapore. And it’s one of my favorites in the collection because it pretty much sums up the reason I put it together. So I would say, in terms of inspiration, it’s less about food and more about the experience.
Favorite go-to recipe. Or just favorite overall.
Right now, since I’m working with a trainer and watching what I eat, I have one go-to meal that I can make once and split into three portions. And it’s pretty easy. One package of Perdue ground chicken (8 percent fat), a can of petite diced tomatoes, and a can of Goya beans. Onion and garlic, salt, fish sauce, soy sauce, chipotle tabasco. High protein, low carbs, keeps well, heats up well. That’s my dinner most nights. If I really want to impress someone I’ll make a red sauce. For someone who is not Italian I make a pretty fucking good red sauce.
Did you do an "anthology edit" to create thematic links between the stories? I ask because there are a few instances across the stories where characters comment on the same things (dangerous food truck operators, etc.).
I did! With the food truck operators I think that was just a running joke already, but I did go back and make it so the mob boss in “How to Make the Perfect New York Bagel” is the same guy in “The Gift of the Wiseguy.” Originally, he was a different character in “Bagel”, but I liked the idea of linking those two stories up. So… sometimes it’s on purpose and sometimes it’s an accident. Fun thing about the “anthology edit”: I had to be careful about turns of phrase or repeating details, too. Seeing 16 of your own stories lined up next to each other really reinforces how sometimes a writer can lean too much into a bag of tricks.
What do you put on your beard to make it so soft and lustrous?
I am to understand that there are all sorts of oils and conditioners a man could put in his beard. Those things are for weak men with weak beards. I put nothing in my beard. It is powerful enough in its natural state.
When someone says a certain food "tastes like shit," is that 100 percent proof that the person has eaten poop?
Sure.
What is the deal with the love/hate relationship with ketchup? I agree it should never be put on a hot dog, but how can I tell other people what to eat? Some people say never eat ketchup, but I like it on some stuff.
I dunno man. I think people just like to fight about stuff because it’s a thing to do (see below). That said, while I’m fine with ketchup on a hot dog I think you’re a fucking monster if you put it on your eggs. So… we are all beautiful snowflakes with our own unique likes and dislikes?
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
This sparked a lot of debate on Twitter and I’ve personally been thinking about it a lot lately. I used to say that, no, it’s not a sandwich, because the bread is one piece and not two. Rather, it’s closer in spirit to a taco. But that would make a crepe a French taco, right? And what about burritos? Obviously the wrap is one continuous piece, but what if you’re in one of those places that’s staffed by fucking monsters who slice the burrito in half before they serve it to you? Is it a sandwich then? There’s a meme going around of two people living on opposite sides of the earth who placed pieces of bread on the ground and created an earth sandwich. Which signifies to me it is time to expand our definition of sandwich. I feel like, rather than getting hung up on semantics, maybe let’s just concentrate on eating delicious food.
Go to take-out dish? And why?
Mamoun’s. Their shawarma is the most perfect take-out meal because it is not too small that it won’t satisfy you and not too big that it’ll make you feel grossly full. It’s the goldilocks of sandwiches (there, debate closed). And it has vegetables so it feels like you didn’t make a terrible food decision. I’m not just saying this because I’m pals with the owner—I have been a fan of Mamoun’s since I had my first falafel there at the age of, I think, 17.
What is the literary equivalent to the "is a hot dog a sandwich" debate?
This is the best question. Sorry, everyone else. As established above I think the whole sandwich vs. no sandwich thing is less a legitimate debate and more a way for people to be angry with each other on the Internet. I guess the genre vs. literary debate fits pretty well here, because in a lot of ways, it’s a manufactured argument that doesn’t really impact anything. I feel like, rather than getting hung up on semantics, maybe let’s just concentrate on reading delicious books.
Flatbreads: Legit platform for culinary experimentation, or overpriced bullshit that wishes it were pizza?
Legit platform for overpriced bullshit.
What's your chili recipe?
I was going to make a smart-ass comment but truthfully my chili recipe (which is more of a philosophical guide) is going live at Crimespree Magazine soon. So... keep your eyes peeled for that, fucko.
Why did the barmaid champagne?
I don't know and I will not even go to Google to figure it out.
P.S. Want to win some take-out on me? I'm giving away three GrubHub gift certificates. Check out my website to find out how to enter...
West Brighton author Rob Hart lands movie deal with Ron Howard
Posted May 1, 2018
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Gallery: West Brighton author Rob Hart lands movie deal, 'The Warehouse' set to release in 2019
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By Victoria Priola | vpriola@siadvance.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Rob Hart is going from S.I. to the silver screen.
Imagine Entertainment chief Brian Grazer won the screen rights to Hart's upcoming novel, "The Warehouse," Monday, dropping Oscar winner Ron Howard's name as director. A bidding war resulted in a "high six-figure deal," according to Deadline.com's Mike Fleming Jr.
Hart told SILive "the book is in great hands" with the director of films like "Apollo 13," "Splash," "A Beautiful Mind" and the upcoming "Solo: A Star Wars Story."
"This is incredible. I've been a fan of Ron Howard since I was a kid," the borough-based author told SILive. "I'm still not entirely convinced this isn't some elaborate prank or a coma dream. But seriously, I'm thrilled."
The former Advance reporter's new book --edited by Julian Pavia, who handled massive successes like "Ready Player One" and "The Martian" -- has already been optioned in more than a dozen countries.
"I will have so many versions of this book I can't read ... I'm beside myself. It's nuts," said Hart, who lives in West Brighton with his wife, Amanda Straniere, development manager at the Staten Island Museum, and their daughter, Abby.
On another S.I. note, Hart's agent, Josh Getzler, is the former owner of the Staten Island Yankees.
"And the Advance named him Sportsman of the Year in 2000," Hart said. "He got into publishing after he and his dad sold the team. He has done a hell of a job for me."
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hart wrote the Ash McKenna noir series (Polis Books) and co-authored "Scott Free" with James Patterson. "The Warehouse" will be his first standalone novel.
Set for release in 2019, the title was recently auctioned to the Random House imprint The Crown Publishing Group, and later racked up big buzz at the London Book Fair. (TheBookseller.com even reported that Hart had "a number of UK publishers on tenterhooks.")
Here's the synopsis of "The Warehouse," set to release sometime next year: "In a near-future America ravaged by political strife and climate change, an online retail giant named Cloud brands itself a global savior but hides a dark truth. Two of its employees, one in security and the other a spy, meet and fall in love. However, their relationship is soon threatened by the deadly nature of the spy's mission and the all-powerful mega-corporation they both work for."
In a blog post titled "Welcome to The Warehouse," the author writes: "'The Warehouse' is about a thing that makes me angry: big businesses and how they treat their workers. It's also a book I was afraid to write, because I thought I wasn't smart enough or a good enough writer. I'm glad I pushed past that and I am very excited for people to read it."
Interview with Crime Writer Rob Hart
written by James Pate May 4, 2016
With the recent publication of his novels New Yorked and City of Rose (Polis Books), Rob Hart has emerged as an incredibly talented crime writer (which is saying a lot, since there’s a renaissance in noir writing going on at the moment). Both novels have an astute, satirical eye, and keen sense of place, but what really stands out is the character of Ash McKenna. He has the tough outer shell of Ellroy’s protagonists, but beneath that surface he’s a psychological wreck, due largely to his father’s tragic death. Altogether, McKenna seems like a noir character for our age: confused, frustrated, and by turns bracingly bleak and quietly hopeful. I interviewed Rob Hart this April, asking him about McKenna, New York, and his decision to have McKenna, the ultimate New Yorker, turn nomadic in the later novels.
James Pate: One of the elements that I really liked about New Yorked is the way in which your novel not only maps New York geographically, but also maps it in terms of time — for example, fragments of 70s New York exists (and crash into) the highly gentrified New York of today. And your character Ash McKenna, I imagine, would probably feel more at home in the New York of the Ramones and CBGB than the New York of Starbucks and sky-high rents. As you were writing New Yorked, how much of this mapping was deliberate, and how much was simply the natural outcome of trying to describe New York as it exists today?
Rob Hart: When I wrote the book I was working through whether I wanted to stay or move, so a lot of the mapping came from a personal place. I was born in New York and I love it, but this town will wear on you. I was born in 1982, so I grew up on the tail end of the Bad Old Days. It didn’t impact me in a way that it did my parents, but there are things I remember about it. And it sucked.
Now it’s a lot safer, but it sucks in a different way. One of my favorite bars is getting torn down for a luxury apartment tower. The city has a very unique identity, and it’s losing that.
Identity was another reason I wrote it: I wanted to write about the way New York City looked like to me. In part because everyone’s story is different, and in part to preserve it.
Ash is one of those people who wishes the city would go back to those days, definitely, and I know a lot of people who feel like that too. Though I question the wisdom of that. It used to be really insanely dangerous.
It’s a tradeoff. A shitty tradeoff–safety or identity–but it’s a tradeoff.
JP: That’s a good point about identity: Ash McKenna strikes me as a New Yorker down to his bones and gristle (tough, but good-hearted at the end of the day). I thought he was one of the most compelling characters in a crime novel I’ve come across in a while. He’s as full of potential fury as some of Ellroy’s leg-breakers, and yet truly wounded due to his father’s death, and Chell’s murder. That mixture of rage and vulnerability is unusual, I think. How did you go about creating such a fascinating character?
RH: I like PI characters a lot, and we usually meet them when they’re older and jaded. I thought it would be fun to write an origin story. Ash is 24 in New Yorked and will one day probably be a private investigator but isn’t there yet.
Your mid-20s is a weird time. You’re legally an adult, and you have all this autonomy, and a lot of people rebel against that. Which is why we get adult kickball leagues and Transformer movies.
A lot of people in the mid-20s also think they have the world figured out and they don’t. They don’t know shit. I’m in my 30s and I still don’t know shit but at least I can recognize that fact.
This is all to say I wanted Ash to not have his life together, but feel like he did. That way when I upended it, there’d be a lot of ground to cover. This whole series is about him growing up and finding his moral compass.
JP: In terms of Ash McKenna developing as a character – I think a lot of readers, myself included, were surprised to see the second McKenna novel taking place in Portland. Many noir writers tend to be associated with specific cities or regions (Laura Lippman with the Mid-Atlantic, Dennis Lehane with Boston, etc.). It seems like a bold and surprising move to have McKenna’s next story take place in Portland. I think the risk pays off: it’s enjoyable seeing McKenna navigate through less-than-familiar territory (such as a vegan strip club, no less).
But what were your initial reasons for making such an unexpected move? Were you purposely trying to play against expectations by not having the next novel set in New York? And what’s in McKenna’s future? From what I’ve read online, it sounds like he’s headed to hippiedom next…
RH: Ash was originally meant to be one and done. But there were some other books I wanted to write, and I didn’t know how to differentiate them from New Yorked. Then I realized I could just make all the books a series about Ash, and the whole thing clicked. It keeps it fresh for me–I like the challenge of doing a new location each time–and my hope is that it keeps it fresh for the reader. And for Ash it seemed important to take him out of his comfort zone.
The next stop, after City of Rose, is a hippie commune, which is based on a place my friend used to manage in the Georgia woods. I was a little afraid of that one–it’s loosely based on a real place but otherwise is made up out of thin air, and it gets a little weird–but I’m very happy with how it turned out. That’s called South Village, and comes out this October. I just started the fourth one, which will be set in Eastern Europe. I’m signed with Polis for books three and four. I’m hoping to finish off the series with a fifth book that brings Ash back to New York.
JP: I’m really looking forward to seeing Ash in a hippie commune. I can imagine that really would be out of his comfort zone! One last question: if you had to choose six or so indispensable noir novels – books that you just can’t see yourself living without – what would they be? What books made you want to be a writer? Which ones have a continuing influence on you?
RH: Here are six books that are very important to me:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. First book that really socked me across the jaw.
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. First book that made me really seriously want to write (because I didn’t know books could do that).
In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer. Best book about New York City I’ve ever read, and also the best book I’ve ever read.
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. First book that sucked me into crime fiction.
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. I am constantly giving this collection as a gift to people.
The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch. Made me rethink a lot of things, both as a person and as a writer.
QUOTED: "A few years ago I visited Prague and within ten minutes of being there, I knew I wanted to set a book there. It’s an incredible city, and being able to revisit it, even through a novel, was a ton of fun."
Interview: Rob Hart
Please welcome Rob Hart, author of the Ash McKenna novels. Take it away, Rob!
What’s your idea of a perfect day?
I’m constantly swamped with work stuff, so any day where I feel like I made some headway is pretty good. Alternately, any day where I get to spend time with my wife and daughter and then realize I haven’t checked my phone in a while–that’s pretty nice, too.
Do you have a signature accessory, color, fragrance, phrase/expression, or meal?
Accessory: Swiss army knife.
Color: Black.
Fragrance: Hell no.
Phrase/Expression: Swear words mostly.
Meal: I make a mean chili.
Which books/authors inspired or influenced you the most?
This is such a hard question because I could do this for days. I would say the book that stuck with me most from when I was a kid was Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The book that made me want to be a writer was Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk. The book I most often give as a gift is The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. And my favorite book is In the City of Shy Hunters by Tom Spanbauer.
Do you listen to music when you write?
Music without words–ambient or electronic or classical. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Dan Romer. He’s an old pal who does film scores. Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of his most recognizable. His score for Tomorrow We Disappear is incredible. Dan makes really good writing music.
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If your latest book were chocolate, what kind would it be and why?
This is a really interesting question because I have no idea how to answer it. I’ll say a really fancypants milk chocolate, but I’m biased because I’m not a big fan of dark chocolate. Anything that’s fun to eat without being so light it feels cheap.
What made you interested in writing this particular story?
A few years ago I visited Prague and within ten minutes of being there, I knew I wanted to set a book there. It’s an incredible city, and being able to revisit it, even through a novel, was a ton of fun.
What themes do you regularly (re)visit in your writing?
Given the series is very much about a character finding his moral compass, I tend to gravitate toward violence, the consequences of it, moral right versus legal right. Mostly, pain, and the ramifications. Humans are the only species that cope with pain by trying to put it on other people.
Tell us about your main character.
Ash McKenna is an amateur private investigator. He’s a good kid who means well but sometimes makes a mess of things. In each book, he grows. And whereas the first three Ash books are very internal–there’s a lot of him struggling with the decisions he’d made–The Woman from Prague is very external. More him just trying to survive a bad situation. It was a lot of fun to write a book where I could turn him loose.
Describe your protagonist as a mash-up of three famous people or characters.
Jack Reacher
Henry Thompson (from the series by Charlie Huston)
Jack Taylor (from Ken Bruen’s books)
If you could host a mystery-author dinner party, who are the six writers (living or otherwise) you’d include?
I’m going with all dead folks, because I might learn something I wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to learn. So: Charles Williams, Donald Westlake, Dorothy Hughes, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Cornell Woolrich.
What’s next for you?
Working on the fifth and final Ash McKenna book. The working title is Potter’s Field and it’s due sometime in 2018, probably summertime. After that, I’ve got some ideas…
*****
Rob Hart is the author of New Yorked, nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Novel, as well as City of Rose, South Village, and coming in July, The Woman from Prague. He is also the publisher at MysteriousPress.com and the class director at LitReactor. His short stories have appeared in publications like Thuglit, Needle, Joyland, and Helix Literary Magazine. Non-fiction has appeared at The Daily Beast, Salon, The Literary Hub, and Electric Literature. Scott Free, a novella he co-wrote will James Patterson, will be available in 2017. You can find him online at @robwhart and http://www.robwhart.com.
QUOTED: "Hart has written a hell of a prosecution of modern commerce and the nature of work, all contained in the matrix of a Cory Doctorow-esque postmodern thriller."
"a terrific puzzle."
Hart, Rob: THE WAREHOUSE
Kirkus Reviews. (June 15, 2019):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hart, Rob THE WAREHOUSE Crown (Adult Fiction) $27.00 8, 20 ISBN: 978-1-9848-2379-3
When does the line between utopia and dystopia begin to merge? When you owe your soul to the company store.
Hart (Take Out, 2019, etc.) is best known for his private eye novels about Ash McKenna and a novella co-written with James Patterson (Scott Free, 2017), but he's tapped a real vein of the zeitgeist with this stand-alone thriller about the future of work that reads like a combination of Dave Eggers' tech nightmare, The Circle (2013), the public's basic impression of an Amazon fulfillment center, and Parzival's infiltration of IOI in Ready Player One (2011). In the near future, following a series of mass murders at retail outlets, traditional commerce is dead. Every need has been ported over to Cloud, a worldwide fulfillment facility where anyone who wants to survive works--those who don't either give in eventually or are a customer--in something of a feudal society where algorithms decide your role. Cloud is the brainchild of Gibson Wells, a mad genius who is dying of pancreatic cancer but whose role in the story is assured by his broadcasts to his millions of employees. Our two leads are Paxton, a former prison guard whose entrepreneurial invention was co-opted by Cloud and who has reluctantly taken a security job with his enemy's empire, and Zinnia, a secretive operative with deadly skills whose role on the product-picking floor is only a means to an end. While touching on income inequality, drug addiction, and corporate espionage, Hart creates a compelling and intriguing thriller that holds up a black mirror to our own frightening state of affairs. Hart dedicates the book to a real victim, Maria Fernandes, who worked part time at three different jobs and accidentally suffocated on gas fumes while sleeping in her car in 2014. That's a profound inspiration, and Hart has written a hell of a prosecution of modern commerce and the nature of work, all contained in the matrix of a Cory Doctorow-esque postmodern thriller that might not turn out the way you hoped.
Part video game, part Sinclair Lewis, part Michael Crichton; it adds up to a terrific puzzle.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hart, Rob: THE WAREHOUSE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2019. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A588726951/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3be65619. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A588726951
QUOTED: "The varied settings and story lines effectively showcase Hart's versatility."
Take-Out and Other Tales of Culinary Crime
Publishers Weekly. 265.47 (Nov. 19, 2018): p77.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Rob Hart. Polis, $16 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-943818-42-6
Hart's first story collection offers 16 winning food-themed tales, three previously unpublished. Whether his leads are operating a taco truck ("Confessions of a Taco Truck Owner") or running a family business thar has lost customers to trendier competitors ("How to Make the Perfect New York Bagel"), Hart (the Ash McKenna series) brings their worlds to life through effective use of character and mood. Highlights include the grim "Butcher's Block," which presents a sadistic variant on Food Network cooking competition shows, and the satirical "Foodies," which takes an enjoyably vicious dig at food snobs, for whom dining at the latest hot place even trumps their basic humanity. In "Creampuff," someone has invented the new cronut, the Creamele, a baked French pastry with frozen ice cream inside. This latest "it" food induces people to line up at 4 a.m. to buy one, but the focus is on the bakery's bouncer, who ends up with his throat slit. The varied settings and story lines effectively showcase Hart's versatility. Agent: Josh Getzler, HSG Agency. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Take-Out and Other Tales of Culinary Crime." Publishers Weekly, 19 Nov. 2018, p. 77. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A564341886/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=09128019. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A564341886
QUOTED: "Hart has ... enough vulnerability in his protagonist to make the reader sorry to see the last of Ash."
Potter's Field
Publishers Weekly. 265.19 (May 7, 2018): p49.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Potter's Field
Rob Hart. Polis, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1943818-93-8
Hart's fifth Ash McKenna novel (after 2017's The Woman from Prague) brings the series to a satisfying close. After a long period of travel, the screw-up, former drug addict, and tough guy with a white knight complex reluctantly returns to his Staten Island roots. Can he get it together, or is he headed back to old, bad habits and self-destructive ways? Ash struggles to nail down the basics of a more stable life, but he can't resist Ginny, a drag queen turned heroin kingpin, who hires him to find a missing associate named Spencer Chavez. Through sometimes bumbling but also courageous and resourceful efforts, he wriggles into the seamy side of Staten Island's ugly heroin scene while tracking the missing Chavez. He gets his bearings enough to realize that he's over his head; a few gripping action sequences demonstrate the high-stakes violence of a drug dealer's turf war. Hart has a fine command of wiseguy comments, a modern take on the noir crime idiom, and enough vulnerability in his protagonist to make the reader sorry to see the last of Ash. Agent: Bree Ogden, D4EO Literary Agency. (July)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Potter's Field." Publishers Weekly, 7 May 2018, p. 49. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A538858672/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=712ea34b. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A538858672
Hart, Rob: THE WOMAN FROM PRAGUE
Kirkus Reviews. (June 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Hart, Rob THE WOMAN FROM PRAGUE Polis Books (Adult Fiction) $25.00 7, 11 ISBN: 978-1-943818-47-1
Ashley McKenna, the jack-of-many-trades who's not exactly a private eye, expands his portfolio in an adventure that casts him as not exactly a spy.Ash is working as a "blunt instrument" for Stanislav, an old friend's cousin who runs Crash Hop, Prague's answer to Airbnb, when a man calling himself Roman turns up flanked by a pair of enforcers and asks Ash to follow Hemera Global Bank employee Samantha Sobolik till she picks up a mysterious package, grab the package, and turn it over to him. When Ash demurs, Roman trots out a long list of Ash's earlier peccadilloes (South Village, 2016, etc.) and threatens to reveal them to the authorities. When Ash still refuses, Roman offers to kill his mother, whose Staten Island address he helpfully provides. That information supplies enough motivation to get Ash moving but not enough to keep him in Roman's pocket. Shortly after he's nearly killed by Chernya Dyra, the former Spetszaz agent Samantha meets on the Charles Bridge at 4 a.m., Ash finds himself tagging along with Sam: if he's not entirely on her side, he's not entirely committed to robbing or betraying her, either. Since Ash is no stranger to violent episodes that are not so much mysterious as surreal, and since he has few qualms about killing his own enemies, there'll be lots of action, none of it (spoiler alert) involving Ash's mother, in the service of a diabolical plot that's at once so simple, so incredible, and so logical that it's the best feature of this uneven fourth installment. "At least now there's some momentum," the hero reflects in a rare quiet moment after a beating leaves him aching and nursing a broken nose. Whatever you think of his here-today-gone-tomorrow fortunes, you have to admire that Zenlike attitude toward the work that isn't even his chosen career.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Hart, Rob: THE WOMAN FROM PRAGUE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495427964/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=6d5f5f6b. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495427964
QUOTED: "Their constant verbal jousting is as much fun as the fight scenes."
The Woman from Prague
Don Crinklaw
Booklist. 113.17 (May 1, 2017): p31.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Woman from Prague. By Rob Hart. July 2017.304p. Polis, $25 (9781943818471); e-book (9781943818709).
Here's a spy thriller in all the genre's old-school glory. There's a haunted hero longing for purification and something "to take the place of my vices." A shadowy figure who wears a sweater with a high thread count, compares the spy business to a chess game, and says, "There's more going on here than you could possibly understand." And, yes, there's a blond. Series hero Ash McKenna is cooling down in Prague when the man with the sweater recruits him to follow the blond--her name is Samantha--and intercept a package exchange on a bridge. The exchange quickly turns into a hit, and Ash and Samantha find themselves at once pursued and pursuers. Ash struggles to understand the layers of deceit; Samantha seems to know, but she isn't saying. Her mysteriousness, along with her knowledge of Krav Maga (the Israeli self-defense technique) and her deadpan put-downs of Ash, allow her to steal the book. Their constant verbal jousting is as much fun as the fight scenes. The explanations she offers toward the end don't explain everything, but that's fine. We want to keep her mysterious and see her again soon.--Don Crinklaw
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Crinklaw, Don. "The Woman from Prague." Booklist, 1 May 2017, p. 31. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495034946/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e1611626. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495034946
QUOTED: "Noir fans will be enthralled."
The Woman from Prague
Publishers Weekly. 264.20 (May 15, 2017): p39+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Woman from Prague
Rob Hart. Polis, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-1943818-47-1
Set in Prague, Hart's Kafkaesque fourth novel featuring amateur PI Ash McKenna (after 2016's South Village) has great pace, a fascinating relationship between the central characters, and superb atmosphere. Driven from his New York City home by his personal demons, Ash has nearly come to the end of his three-month visa in Prague when he encounters a latter-day Mephistopheles calling himself Roman and claiming to be an emissary of a shadowy unnamed U.S. government agency. By threatening Ash's mother, Roman compels Ash to retrieve a thumb drive or small laptop from a brash Czech spook, Samantha Sobolik, supposedly a U.S. bank employee. The job explodes in their faces, hurling Ash and Sam headlong into murky international intrigue and corruption. Born out of the hard-boiled wisecracking tradition and able to swing his fists as well as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Ash just wants to make someone's life better, keep his mother safe, and pay homage to his father, a firefighter who died heroically on 9/11. Noir fans will be enthralled. Agent: Bree Ogden, D4E0 Literary Agency, (July)
Caption: In Rob Hart's noirish fourth Ash McKenna novel, The Woman from Prague, amateur PI McKenna gets involved in espionage in Prague (reviewed on p. 39).
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Woman from Prague." Publishers Weekly, 15 May 2017, p. 39+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A492435616/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4ebec4cb. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A492435616
QUOTED: "lively" "unexpected but satisfying."
South Village
Publishers Weekly. 263.33 (Aug. 15, 2016): p53.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
South Village
Rob Hart. Polis (PGW, dist.), $14.95 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-943818-17-4
In Hart's lively third outing for occasional PI Ash McKenna (after City of Rose), Crusty Pete, a member of the rural Georgia commune South Bridge, is dead, killed when a rope bridge breaks under him. It looks like an accident, but Ash is not so sure. Preoccupied with his guilt over questionable past actions of his own and feeling that Pete's death is none of his business anyway, he concentrates on cooking for the commune and preparing to flee as soon as his passport comes through. But events toss him about, bringing in a mysterious cipher, a vague conspiracy, another death, and a black-ops raid from the FBI. Well-realized and interesting characters range from ex-Marine Aesop, who knows everything, to Tibo, the founder of the commune, to Sunny and Moony, attractive ladies who run a little Skype sex business from their trailer. The story zigs and zags and then heads off in yet another direction, keeping one step ahead of the reader until it ends up in an unexpected but satisfying spot; Agent: Bree Ogden, D4EO Literary Agency (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"South Village." Publishers Weekly, 15 Aug. 2016, p. 53. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A461444534/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=40813512. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A461444534
QUOTED: "An original and deftly crafted read from cover to cover, The Woman From Prague is another simply riveting novel of international suspense from a master of the crime noir genre."
The Woman From Prague
Susan Bethany
Reviewer's Bookwatch. (Sept. 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
The Woman From Prague
Rob Hart
Polis Books
www.polisbooks.com
9781943818471, $25.00, HC, 320pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna's time on his visa is about to expire. Having fled the demons that haunted him in the U.S., Ash has been laying low in Prague for nearly three months. Now, it's time to move on. But as he contemplates his next stop, a man named Roman appears, claiming to work for the U.S. government, and possessing intimate knowledge of Ash's many sins. Sins nobody should know. Roman offers to protect him--in exchange for a favor.
It sounds simple: a bank employee named Samantha Sobolik is set to receive a package containing covert information in a handoff on the Charles Bridge. Ash must intercept the package, and deliver the contents to Roman. When Ash refuses Roman threatens to kill his mother. Out of options and too far away to protect her, Ash agrees.
But when Ash gets to the bridge, he discovers that the handoff is actually a hit. Ash ends up battling a mysterious and deadly assassin in a fight he barely survives. As it turns out, the job is far more complicated and dangerous than anyone thought. Ash finds himself in a strange city, outmatched, hunted, and trapped in a dangerous game where nobody is what they seem--including Samantha.
Critique: An original and deftly crafted read from cover to cover, "The Woman From Prague" is another simply riveting novel of international suspense from a master of the crime noir genre. While unreservedly recommended, especially for community library Mystery/Suspense collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "The Woman From Prague" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $5.99). Librarians should be aware that "The Woman From Prague" is available as a complete and unabridged audio book (Brilliance Audio, 9781543639537, $19.99).
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bethany, Susan. "The Woman From Prague." Reviewer's Bookwatch, Sept. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A511455012/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5118ed7a. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A511455012
QUOTED: "Hart delivers a suspenseful, gritty third book in the Ash McKenna series."
Hart, Rob. South Village
Russell Michalak
Xpress Reviews. (Nov. 4, 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Hart, Rob. South Village. Polis. Oct. 2016. 288p. ISBN 9781943818174. pap. $14.95; ebk. ISBN 9781943818396. MYS
Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna made a few poor life decisions when he lived in New York City, so he moved to Portland, OR (as recounted in the Anthony Award-nominated City of Rose). Despite his best attempts to move on from his old life, a traumatic turn of events occurred that reminded him of his past. So, again, he moved--this time to his friends' hippie commune in rural Georgia. Upon Ash's arrival, one of the residents, Crusty Pete, is found dead under a rope bridge. While most commune dwellers feel it was an accident, Ash suspects Pete was murdered. In probing this death, Ash is surprised to discover there is a growing faction of activists in the commune who are eager to use violent means to achieve their goals. Ash attempts to keep his personal problem--alcoholism--under control while he tracks down the dissidents to stop them from causing more destruction.
Verdict Hart delivers a suspenseful, gritty third book in the Ash McKenna series that admirers of the Southern grit lit tradition of Daniel Woodrell will enjoy. Readers of David Joy's Where All Light Tends To Go will appreciate the rural setting in this novel, which can be read as a stand-alone.--Russell Michalak, Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Michalak, Russell. "Hart, Rob. South Village." Xpress Reviews, 4 Nov. 2016. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A471850489/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2a27e851. Accessed 11 July 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A471850489
QUOTED: "Take-Out by Rob Hart is a delicious collection of entertaining stories that will keep any reader asking for seconds."
Book Review: Take-Out by Rob Hart
By Alex Calamela
January 23, 2019
Take-Out
Rob Hart
January 15, 2019
Take-Out by Rob Hart is a collection of short stories all set in the culinary world and all flavored with a hearty dose of crime.
Take-Out: And Other Tales of Culinary Crime is a collection of 16 crime-fiction short stories by the acclaimed fiction author, Rob Hart. Hart’s short stories have appeared in places like Thuglit, Shotgun Honey and Helix Literary Magazine and have earned him a nomination for the Derringer Award as well as several spots in Best American Mystery Stories. He’s also the author of the Ash McKenna series, which consists of five novels beginning with New Yorked.
Full disclosure: I might be biased here — Hart completely won me over when he concluded his introduction with a declaration that my hometown, Staten Island, is home to the best pizzeria in New York — but even truthful-pizza-claims notwithstanding, Take-Out, is an excellent collection of suspenseful crime dramas. The characters in each story vary in race, gender, and social situation, but the reader is easily transported into each new situation and mindset. I was able to move from one story to the next often without a beat between page turns.
If I had one qualm with the story collection, it would be that there were a few stories that left me flipping back through the pages asking myself, “Where was the tie to food?” Sometimes it was slight, but I would eventually get it, like the ice-cream truck front in “Knock Off,” but other times I would finish a story and wonder, “what did I miss?” or “was that it?” It was a little difficult to identify the culinary crime theme in “Learning Experience,” but it could have been without one and I wouldn’t have cared. It was probably my favorite story in the bunch. Hart admits in his introduction to using the backdrop of bars and restaurants to tie some of these stories to the theme, so it’s up to the reader to determine how upset they’ll be over it. I’ve never before read any of the mostly already published collection (three are previously unpublished), and the culinary theme is what drew me to read, but I definitely stayed for the story-telling.
That’s not to say I didn’t also thoroughly enjoy the stories with an obvious and serious tie to food: “Foodies,” where the diners are hoping to get an experience no one else has had; “Creampuff,” about a bakery bouncer who made an impression on everyone he made wait, and was ended by those he kept out; and “Take-Out,” where backroom gambling leaves one man in debt and needing to make special deliveries. Maybe it’s because I’m in New York every day; maybe it’s because I worked in a pizzeria for a time; maybe it’s because I’m married to a foodie and am well acquainted with long lines and food photography, but Hart’s characters and situations were believable. Sure, some of them ended up a bit extreme — like the cooking competition Hunger Games-style in “Butcher’s Block” — but the scenarios and the lead-up are all familiar, like the old-school bagel shop in “How to Make the Perfect New York Bagel.”
Hart is a native New Yorker, which is extremely lucky for the reader. So many of the stories very explicitly take place in New York City, and others can just be assumed to have taken place there. Hart’s familiarity with the city itself, with the types of bars and restaurants that his stories take place in, and with the food scene helps him to make NYC a character in itself. In “Last Request,” for example, a small-town jailhouse worker tries to fulfill the last request of a death row inmate, and the idea of New York City represents an idyllic version of herself — it’s a place where she imagines would help her to escape her life and to be her best self.
The characters in the sixteen stories are all diverse. Rather than offering sixteen stories from one similar perspective, there was an attempt to vary the point of view in the different stories. “How to Make the Perfect New York Bagel,” is a story told from the point of view of an older Jewish man; “Lake Paradox,” is told from the perspective of a younger Hispanic man; “Swipe Left” follows a half Ethiopian and half Puerto Rican young woman. And it wasn’t just reading stories with characters of different genders and races, although that was such a huge plus for me, but it was also the different points of views that elevated the experience. Maybe it’s a personal preference, but I’d rather have a variety in a short story collection, from first-person accounts to third-person narratives even sprinkled with the odd, but very satisfying, second person point of view (“Bhut Jolokia”).
All in all, as a very picky reader when it comes to short story collections, and who went into this sincerely hoping for the best since she loves food and crime-fiction, I am so very happy to say that I was not disappointed. Take-Out by Rob Hart is a delicious collection of entertaining stories that will keep any reader asking for seconds. It’s a book I’d recommend any crime-fiction fan add to their collection for some light-hearted reading in between dark novels. Plus, an added bonus is that a collection of food-based crime-fiction is an excellent talking piece for anyone’s bookshelves often browsed by visitors.
QUOTED: "While it’s sad to see Ash McKenna go, Rob Hart sends him off with a bang."
"Potter’s Field is a gripping thriller that wraps up one of the genre’s most underrated series."
May 13, 2018 The Real Book Spy
A Book Spy Review: ‘Potter’s Field’ by Rob Hart
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Ash McKenna is finally ready to face his past in Rob Hart’s stunning series finale.
Thug-for-hire McKenna has been running from New York, a place he has a lot of history with. Now, he’s ready to go back. . . but things don’t go according to plan.
A former drug addict with more than a few demons in his closet, all McKenna wants is to return to Staten Island with a clean slate. He’s done running and hopes to finally settle down and settle in. Instead, his return goes sideways almost immediately when Ginny Tonic, a drag queen drug kingpin, enlists his help with locating a child who started running with Ginny’s crew.
McKenna has some serious history with Ginny, none of it good. The idea of working for her isn’t even remotely appealing to Ash, especially when he’s trying to clean up his life and stay out of trouble. However, as they say, money talks, and if that’s the case, then the ten grand Ginny offers to pay for his services shouts. Not only does McKenna need the money, but he’s recently decided that, after playing detective without being licensed, he now wants to become a private investigator, which means he needs clients. Reluctantly, Ash accepts Ginny’s offer and sets out to find the missing Spencer Chavez.
It doesn’t take long for McKenna’s investigation to go sideways when his pursuit of Chavez lands him smack-dab in the middle of a turf war between two rival drug dealers. The Staten Island drug scene is set to implode, with dirty heroin making the rounds. When opposing crews aren’t offing each other, users are overdosing on the dirty drugs. The city’s a mess, and it’s up to McKenna to put out the fires. . . even if it means he might get burned in the process.
If you’re not reading Rob Hart’s stuff, you should be. Through four prior books, Hart has put McKenna — and readers — through the ringer. Ash is a unique character who falls somewhere between hero and anti-hero, with plenty of good and bad qualities. Hart’s slowly worked to redeem his character over time, all the while examining the difficulties of running from one’s past. Can people really change? And if so, at what cost?
While it’s sad to see Ash McKenna go, Rob Hart sends him off with a bang. . . Potter’s Field is a gripping thriller that wraps up one of the genre’s most underrated series.
(Note: Rob Hart’s next book is a standalone novel called The Warehouse, which was recently auctioned to The Crown Publishing Group, an imprint of Random House, and has since been optioned for film, with Rob Howard attached to direct. With all the buzz around Hart, we’ll be sure to cover everything he’s doing, so make sure to check back for more updates.)
Book Details
Author: Rob Hart
Series: Ash McKenna #5
Pages: 304 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 1943818932
Publisher: Polis Books
Release Date: July 10, 2018
Book Spy Rating: 7.5/10