PW: How does The Kill Clause differ from your previous books?
Gregg Hurwitz: The most obvious thing is it's the beginning of a series, which I've never done before. I started with a character I'm going to bring back in my fifth book. It examines the issues of vigilantism, which has been flirted with in previous books, but this tackles it head-on.... It's an exploration of that phenomenon and what its benefits and drawbacks are. And it deals with the U.S. Marshals Service, which is an arm of the government many aren't very familiar with. I did a lot of research with the Central District squad here in California.
PW: How would you describe being a West Coast author working with the East Coast publishing scene?
GH: My experience in publishing has been almost uniformly positive. I've had a lot more interaction with Hollywood, being out in L.A., but my experience with publishing has been really easy.... In Hollywood, depending on the project, and if you're not fortunate, you wind up somewhere above the level of the caterer in importance within the production. That was a new experience for me, because across the board in publishing, I was treated with respect, whether that was by Michael Korda and Chuck Adams at S&S, Diane Reverand at HC, and now especially with Michael Morrison and the team at Morrow, which is a very author-friendly and respectful team. I wish I could say that was always the case with Hollywood.
PW: Given that this is your fourth book, how is your foreign sales record shaping up?
GH: It's really been gaining momentum. I just today got the Spanish edition of Do No Harm, and they did a beautiful job on the cover, which I was happy to see. We had some more major markets with this, which was good.... Japan, Spain, and my foreign agent was thrilled to get China. With each book, we're selling more territories.
PW: Your research seems quite extensive. Are you/were you in the military or law enforcement?
GH: No, I wasn't, and thank you for the compliment. I really pride myself on research. I've written four books, all of which take place with law enforcement or the military, and have done different secondary research that's gone along with that. For Minutes to Burn, I did a lot of research with the Navy SEALs... and I also went down to the Galápagos. For Do No Harm, which is a medical thriller, I went and sat in the emergency room at UCLA for about a month... to get a good visceral grip on the subject matter. With this one I spent a lot of time with the Marshals Service, which was great.... I invented a new job for this book, forensic locksmith.... I pestered a locksmith for a couple days and tried to figure out new ways of breaking through different kinds of locks.... So I really try to get my hands into those things, because it's the little telling details in books, I find, that really make the difference.
PW: You seem quite comfortable within the realm of commercial fiction. What are your thoughts on the state of the thriller?
GH: I think it's in a period of enormous growth. There's a tremendous amount of talent and energy right now coming up through the ranks. Southern California in particular is a really great environment to be writing in, there's a great tradition here, there's great people to look up to. I've gotten a lot of support from T. Jefferson Parker and Robert Crais, who have mentored me at different times. Michael Connelly (although he just moved to Florida) is from Southern California, Sue Grafton's up in Santa Barbara.... Here there's a wonderful community... a very supportive community. There's a milieu of people living in and around L.A. writing crime novels set in this area. It's an exciting time. George Pelecanos just won the L.A. Times book prize for best mystery/thriller last weekend. The Dennis Lehanes are expanding their readership exponentially with each book. There's a sort of new guard rising, which is exciting.
