S. 8, Ep. 25: Interview with Crime Writer Mark Schorr

The Crime Cafe

This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer and psychotherapist Mark Schorr. Check out our discussion about his novels, as well as his other unique activities and interests, such as engaging in government-run ESP experiments. Got your attention yet? :) Stay tuned! Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi (00:54): But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. I’ve included an affiliate link on this blog. Download a copy of the PDF transcript of this episode here. Debbi: Hi everyone. My guest today has the most interesting background. He has worked as a bookstore manager, private investigator, nightclub bouncer, newspaper reporter, freelance writer, and is currently a licensed psychotherapist. Along with the diverse interests he has, which include - well, I'll get into that later - he is also an Edgar-nominated author of 11 mysteries, mystery thrillers, I should say, with titles in France, Spain, and Japan, and three books under option for adaptation. That's impressive. My guest today is Mark Schorr. Hi Mark. How are you doing today? Mark: Good, Debbi. Nice to see you. Thank you for having me. Debbi: Well, it's great to see you too. Among your novels, you have a series about Red Diamond, Private Eye. That caught my eye right away. I love the name. Mark: I thought it might when I saw your stuff with Philip Marlowe. Raymond Chandler is an idol of mine in terms of as a writer. Not as a person, but as a writer and my first dog we named Marlowe. The first three books, the idea is this cab driver has a miserable life and his escape is reading, reading the hardboiled fiction, and then he has a trauma and he comes to believe that he is Red Diamond, this ace private eye, and gets involved in all sorts of misadventures. Debbi: Oh, wow. That's interesting. Does that happen in the first book, the misadventure or does it happen ...? Mark: The first book is the trauma, and he starts getting involved in misadventures and then it continues for two more. There is Red Diamond, Private Eye, Ace of Diamonds and Diamond Rock. All featured the character. Simon Jaffe is his cab driver name, but Red Diamond is his P.I. name. Debbi: I love it. That's so cool. I was going to ask you if you came up with the name after watching Murder by Death, which I think had the character Sam Diamond in it. Mark: No, I just like the idea of Diamond. That is hard and Red was my nickname when I was a kid, way back when and had reddish hair. The interesting thing is I found out subsequently there's a writer named Gerry Petievich who did To Live and Die in L.A.