Big Money (An Austin Carr Mystery) - Softcover

Getze, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1937495671 ISBN 13: 9781937495671

Publisher: Down & Out Books, 2013

Synopsis

Three women are mad enough to kill him. Only one is a murderer. Left in charge of a third-rate Jersey Shore investment firm, suspended stockbroker Austin Carr becomes the prize in a war between two crime crews, a powerful state investigator and Mama Bones Bonacelli, his boss's wacky mother. Barely staying alive with mobsters, gorgeous cops, and a hit man he calls The Creeper chasing him, Carr stumbles into the secret world of a beautiful but desperate woman -- a murderer who chooses Austin as her next victim.

About this title

From the Author:

Actually, no. You are going hear from the main character in TFA's mystery series, me -- Austin Carr. See, I've always wanted to personally harass this bozo author Jack Getze who made my life one disaster after another. Finally, thanks to Dru's Book Musings (where an amalgamation of the novel and this interview first appeared), I have been given the opportunity. Look out, Getze, whom his family and I call The Famous Author (TFA) because he is so NOT famous.   Austin:   I understand a character like myself wasn't really born, omniscient one, but where exactly did I come from? And why stick me with a silly name like Austin Carr?TFA:  You are a product of my distaste for a certain environment - telephone sales as experienced inside a third-rate investment company on the Jersey Shore. The people were nice, the primary product municipal bonds a decent investment, but this joint was as far from Wall Street as the University of California at Berkeley. I wanted a slightly shady character who succeeded with his mouth and his charm, not his fists, and I created him from a room full of guys on the telephone, pleading and begging for a sale.   A:  I'm shady?T: You break rules and regulations for those rich pretty redheads, remember?   A: What about the name?T: Your name is a fluke. I thought I made it up, but turns out Austin Carr is a famous basketball player from the 1970s and 80s. All-American for Notre Dame. First overall draft pick. Last I heard, he still has a radio show about basketball in the Midwest. I would never say this in front him, but I was looking for something a little silly, and my brain must have regurgitated Austin Carr from the old basketball headlines. Luckily, names are like titles when it comes to books.   A: Do you make a lot of mistakes?T: At least one bad error a day. Agreeing to let you ask me questions was obviously today's.   A: And which day was the mistake made about me being a stockbroker? After the market crashes of 2001, and 2008-09, the Wall Street-led surge in joblessness, how on earth did you imagine a series with a broker protagonist might work?T: Pretty dumb, huh? Refusing to read my manuscript, I've heard editors actually laugh at the idea. One said in an email she'd be fired if she bought any manuscript with a stockbroker protagonist. The thing is, Austin, telephone securities sales was something this writer knew well - and more than that, something I wanted to write about. Working on 100% commission is a terrible way to give financial advice.My books are funny because of the people involved. Also, of course, I wanted to cause you the most suffering.    A: Suffering? Gee, what a nice guy. Do you mistreat animals?T: I love animals. I have a dog named Maddy, a cat named Miss Kitty, and I carry spiders outside on a sheet of paper. But you, sir, are a fictional character, and good fiction is about conflict. My job as a writer is to work you over, scare you, test you by putting you in difficult situations, all the while entertaining our readers. Don't worry, you handle everything -- everything except that giant bluefin at the climax.   A: Did you tell Dru BIG MONEY is not exactly a cozy?T. I sent her a copy.   A.  That's not the same thing. Maybe you'd better describe the parts of BIG MONEY that stick out a little from that cozy mold. Ha ha.T. The sex scenes are played for laughs - and short, like my real life. People actually die on the page, but the violence is minimal and not gory. There are a handful of four-letter words scattered throughout because I refuse to have a low-life criminal say, "Oh, fudge." It's almost a cozy.   A.  Almost a cozy? Are you kidding me? Your new book description on Goodreads says, "Root for divorced dad Austin Carr, a lovable, oversexed scamp who'll use anything and everything to get his kids back. Think Bugs Bunny with guns and a penis."T. That's been changed now. Jeez. I'm so glad I agreed to this interview. You're killing me, Austin. Killing me! And honestly, you're the one who's always thinking about sex, making suggestive remarks, falling in love with every redhead you meet. Why can't you grow up?   A. Me? You're the one who writes this stuff. I'm a fictional character!T. OK, that's it. I'm out of here.

About the Author:

Jack Getze spent nine years as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, a total of twelve years covering national business and economic news for the Times, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and the London Times. Getze later sold stocks and bonds for a regional securities firm on the New Jersey Shore. BIG MONEY is the second installment in his Austin Carr Mystery Series.

About this edition

• Publisher: Down & Out Books
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1937495671
• ISBN 13: 9781937495671
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 218