My last time with his work, was an edited anthology of short stories based around one of his character creations - Hollis PI
There's an author biography for Phillips on the Goodreads site......
GARY PHILLIPS lives in Los Angeles and is best known for his novels and short stories featuring PI Ivan Monk. He has worked a lot of different gigs in his time: a graveyard shift security guard, a printer, a union organizer, co-director of the MultiCultural Collaborative (a nonprofit set-up to improve race relations after the ’92 LA riots) and as political director of a city council campaign. He writes on politics and pop culture for such as the Los Angeles Times, LA Watts Times, Rap Pages, the San Francisco Examiner Examiner, Freestyle and Black Scholar. He occasionally loses money at the poker table, watches his kids play sports, and finds that walking the dog is a fine excuse to light up a stogie.
The man himself was also kind enough to suffer a few of my questions with good grace back in 2015
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH GARY PHILLIPS
In his portfolio there's four books plus a short story collection with series character Ivan Monk, a few with Martha Chainey as the lead and more than half a dozen standalones, plus a load of graphic novel work, which I've not gotten into.
Gary Phillips has his website here.
Perdition U.S.A (1996)
When three young black men--a petty thief, a crack dealer, and a college student--are gunned down within blocks of one another, Ivan Monk sets out to find a link between these seemingly random killings and uncovers a deadly racial conspiracy."It takes a certain kind of hard-boiled hero... Ivan Monk is that hero." - Walter Mosley
Bangers (2003)
On The Streets Of L.A. Us against them. That's the law of the cop world. In L.A.'s toughest 'hoods, you gotta bang with the best of the roughnecks. And the best are the five members of TRASH, an elite team of street cops unafraid to go up against the city's worst gangbangers, even if it means bending the rules, planting a piece, or looking the other way for a fellow cop.
The Most Dangerous Person Can Be A Cop...
The crime-infested Venice Heights section is a place Detective Sergeant Rafael "Saint" Santian understands. It's where he grew up, and part of him never left. But the situation is getting out of control. One of the most lethal gangs is making moves, while a politically ambitious assistant D.A. is looking to snare Saint and his men. Meanwhile hidden hands are lighting a torch that will bring up the heat, turning cop against cop as the line gets blurred between gangsta and law enforcer in a city where everyone's riding on the edge...
When three young black men--a petty thief, a crack dealer, and a college student--are gunned down within blocks of one another, Ivan Monk sets out to find a link between these seemingly random killings and uncovers a deadly racial conspiracy.
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It sounds as though there's a real feel for L.A. here, Col. I hope you'll enjoy the books when you get to them.
ReplyDeleteMargot thanks. I've enjoyed LA many times in my reading before......Michael Connelly, James Ellroy being the two that immediately spring to mind.
DeleteAnother great Phillips/LA read is his sports noir novel The Jook. I also really liked Phillips' latest heist anthology, Suspects, edited w/ Richard Brewer.
ReplyDeleteLarry, I read that one back in 2010 before I started scribbling thoughts on my reading. I don't think I still have it now. I seem to remember the ending is on a football field? Maybe?(false memory perhaps?) Cheers for the tip-off, I'll check out Suspects.
DeleteGood timing. I thought I already had something by this author, and I remember your earlier posts about his writing. I will put him on the book sale list. At this point in the year I try to aim for finding books there, and if I don't succeed, move on to other avenues after the sale.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read as many of him books as I would have liked but I could say that about hundreds of authors. I hope you find something in the sale Tracy.
DeleteThe title and cover pic make Perdition USA a must-read, no? I may have to hunt that one down . . .
ReplyDeleteLess sure on the novel about psycho sausages, though.
It is an eye catching cover John. Good luck with finding it.
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