I had the pleasure of helping my friend Duane Swierczynski launch his new novel Severance Package last Thursday, at a party held for him at The Mysterious Bookshop on Warren Street. Duane (pictured above, sighting land) was in good form, holding forth on the genesis of this, his third novel (following The Blonde and The Wheel Man). Turns out that at least some of the time when he was working at his now-surrendered job–editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia City Paper–he was visited with homicidal thoughts. Well, who among us has not? Afterwards, we departed for a restaurant around the corner for burgers and beer. It was a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to read the book. Here’s Duane’s account of the evening.
Duane and writer Ron Geraci (The Bachelor Chronicles; You, the Smart Patient: An Insider’s Guide to Getting the Best Treatment)
Fordham University student Pam Pettit; blogger, distinguished LaSalle alum, and champion of the return of Edgar Allen Poe‘s corpse to Philadelphia Ed Pettit; and St. Martin’s editor Michael Homler
Mystery novelist Dave White (When One Man Dies; The Evil That Men Do); mystery critic and blogger (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind) Sarah Weinman.
Me, Marvel Comics executive editor Axel Alonso (as close to Spider Man as I’ll ever get); artist Jeff Wong