Brad Parks Visits One More Page Books! |

Last night, patrons of One More Page Books in Arlington, VA were blessed with the presence of Brad Parks, crime fiction writer extraordinare!

Brad Parks’ debut, Faces of the Gone, won the Nero Award for Best American Mystery and the Shamus Award for Best First Mystery. In doing so, Parks became the first author in the combined 60-year history of the Nero and the Shamus to win both awards for the same book. Library Journal called Faces of the Gone “the most hilariously funny and deadly serious mystery debut since Janet Evanovich’s One for the Money.” Yahoo.com called Brad “the literary love child of (Janet) Evanovich and (Harlan) Coben.” Brad’s second book featuring investigative reporter Carter Ross, Eyes of the Innocent, was released February 1, 2011. Michael Connelly cheered, “Eyes of the Innocent is the complete package. With wonderful prose, witty observations and a relentless drive, this book held me hostage until the last page.” The third and fourth books in the series are also written and awaiting publication. Parks is a Dartmouth College graduate who spent a dozen years as a reporter for The Washington Post and The Newark Star-Ledger and is now a full-time novelist. He lives with his wife and two small children in Virginia. (Taken from the author’s web site)

Brad started out with a reading of his second book, Eyes of the Innocent. Following is a sampling of that reading:

I apologize in advance for the quality of the recording. I went right to the event from work and I didn’t have my video camera on me. Instead, I used the movie feature on my digital camera.

Brad then answered questions from the audience. He spoke of his writing process (he writes at least 1,000 words a day, every day) and how different (or not!) life is in his new home in a small, Southern Town than what it was in New Jersey. He learned a lot from his writing process for his first book; it took over a year to complete. Without any looming deadlines, Parks was allowed to make excuses not to write. But when given a deadline for his second book (his wife was expecting their second child at the time and the book was due to his publisher within days of the due date), Parks was forced to be much more structured and dedicated to writing the book. His first book, he feels, suffered due to the lack of a structure in his schedule.

A visit from Brad Parks isn’t complete with a sampling of his outstanding singing voice. Brad actually sang twice, I was so enamored by his voice I completely forgot to tape the first round. Instead, following is the song Parks ended the event with, Somewhere Over the Rainbow:

After signing books, the evening came to a close with discussions on Brad’s next visit when his third book is released. There was talk of wine being served; by printing this it guarantees this will happen 🙂 It was a wonderful evening, by far one of the best author events I have ever attended!

*Update: Brad saves the day! Click here to listen to Brad singing “Hey There” from The Pajama Game, the first song he sang to his adoring crowd.

Are you a fan of Brad Parks’ main character, the handsome & witty Carter Ross? He’s made it to Round Three of the World’s Favorite Amateur Sleuth Competition! Vote for him now!