The Perfect Setting For Noir
Keith Edward Vaughn Author Interview
The Loneliest Places follows a private investigator who has everything going against him when he makes a last-ditch effort to change his situation and ends up investigating a brutal cartel. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I was inspired by all the great Los-Angeles-based crime fiction and noir that came before me, and is being written now—everything from Nathaniel West and Raymond Chandler to James Ellroy and Michael Connelly. Initially, my only goal was to insinuate myself into that legacy and hopefully honor it.
Was there a reason why you chose this location as the backdrop for your story?
I love Los Angeles. What shows on the city’s face, often tragically, belies what’s in its heart. That makes it the perfect setting for noir. I knew The Loneliest Places would be set in L.A. even before I knew my detective Ellis Dunaway’s name.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
The scene where Ellis visits his old friend Kent at the TV studio. Ellis can barely contain his envy and resentment while the mega-successful Kent struts around, humble bragging and grandstanding. Also, the scenes where Ellis talks to Bettina were a lot of fun, because she is so shallow and self-involved, requiring Ellis, again, to try and hide his irritation in the interest of getting hired by her. Writing dialogue that plays against what Ellis is actually feeling is always fun.
Will this novel be the start of a series or are you working on a different story?
The answer to both parts of the question is yes. I just started taking notes for a second Ellis Dunaway novel. And I am currently drafting a couple of stand-alone novels about other characters in the Ellis Dunaway universe.
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Years since inheriting his famous father’s private investigation agency, Ellis Dunaway is a man out of time. He is also out of money, clients, and control of his drug habit. A simple favor for his coke dealer—finding out what happened to the guy he let stay in his Malibu rental house—sets off a series of increasingly violent encounters as the missing man turns out to be connected to one of L.A.’s most powerful families and a brutal cartel called the Black Fist. Traversing the city in his father’s classic Porsche—from yacht clubs to shopping malls to soundstages—the case gets progressively complicated and personal, demanding that Ellis confront his failures as a boyfriend, a one-time screenwriter, a detective, and a son. When he discovers that his father was investigating the Black Fist before his sudden, suspicious death, everything changes. Or, worse yet, nothing changes, and history repeats itself.
