Latest Books Divorce by Moonlight with Vincent Zandri

The Big Thrill Discusses DIVORCE BY MOONLIGHT with Vincent Zandri

LOVE STINKS! BUT LOVE CAN ALSO KILL!

When Moonlight and his sort of loyal sidekick, 1977 Fat Elvis, come upon a pretty young lady while fishing off of Moonlight’s riverside deck, Elvis decides to serenade her with a song and dance. But when he trips and falls into the river it quickly becomes apparent the Faux King can’t swim. That sets in motion a rescue by both Moonlight and the girl that will end up landing the head-case PI and Fat Elvis in hot water.

Vincent Zandri

New York Times bestselling author Vincent Zandri recently sat down with The Big Thrill to discuss his latest mystery, DIVORCE BY MOONLIGHT.

Can you pinpoint a moment or incident that sparked the idea for this book?

It just sort of came to me. I imagined Moonlight and his sidekick, Fat Elvis, fishing off of Moonlight’s back deck when a ravishing brunette dressed only in her black panties and bra shows up in a canoe. The story took off from there.

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

It only took me about a month to write it. I write one clean draft then hand it to my editor. Too much editing sucks the life and originality out of a thriller. Plus, I know Moonlight so well, he’s like my alter ego by now.

Were there any particular books, movies, or songs that were knocking around in your head while you were writing this one?

I’m always listening to early punk rock or the Beatles and Moonlight does too. He loves The Ramones.

When you first created your protagonist for this book, did you see an empty space in crime lit that you wanted to fill? What can you share about the inspiration for that character?

Moonlight has that little piece of bullet lodged in his brain which means he can die at any time. I guess he’s sort of like Mannix in that sense. In any case, he’s not afraid of dying or getting the shit kicked out of himself if that’s what it takes to get the bad guys. He lives everyday like it’s his last. I guess that’s why he’s won both the Thriller and the Shamus Awards.

Vincent Zandri is the New York Times and the USA Today bestselling ITW Thriller and PWA Shamus Award winning author of more than 130 novels and novellas including the Dick Moonlight PI series. Called one of the most “prolific” writers of his generation, Zandri is a freelance journalist and the host of the Writer’s Life Podcast on YouTube. For a FREE thriller visit his official website, www.vinzandri.com.

DIVORCE BY MOONLIGHT with Vincent Zandri