I’m sorry. I’ll talk about my sex life, my doubts and fears, my hopes and dreams, but how I read the newspaper is none of your goddamned business.
Which of your books are you most proud of and why?
Oh, who knows. I’ll say that A Drop of the Hard Stuff seems to me to be right up there with the best of them. But choosing among others strikes me as beside the point. In a sense, the Scudder series can be seen as one extended novel, now running to 17 volumes.
But, you know, I tend to like my own cooking. I’ve just made 40 early books, many of them originally pseudonymous, available again in ebook form. Avarice is part of the motivation — I want the royalties — but ego has a lot to do with it as well. I want y’all reading my books.
Do you feel territorial about the benches (with plaques for your characters) you have donated or do you like seeing others sitting on them?
Ah, the Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr benches in Bryant Park. You’d be surprised how infrequently I think of them.
Lastly, your character Even Tanner has always been one of my favorites - in some ways straddling the divide between Bernie Rhodenbarr and Matt Scudder. You've published only one Evan Tanner book since 1970 - why did you abandon the character then, why did you resurrect him nearly 30 years later and, after another 12 year hiatus, might we see more of Tanner?
Asking me why I did or didn’t do anything is generally pointless. How do I know? And asking me what I’ll do in the future is even less rewarding. I’ve remarked that Tanner seems to have the life cycle of a cicada; 28 years passed between Me Tanner, You Jane and Tanner On Ice, so I suppose a ninth Tanner book might be forthcoming in 2026. Then again, maybe not.
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