I first met crime fiction author Gabriel Valjan at the great New England Mobile Book Fair, where he started to talk to me about books and cats. Needless to say, we got on like a house on fire, and I was not surprised to learn that his international thrillers are fun, fast-paced, and as erudite and full of lively detail as the man himself, as likely to delve into the details of a fine meal as an intricate crime. And did I mention that cats? Gabriel has great cats, who he credits with keeping him honest. 

How does a book start for you?First, thank you for having me here. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss my work and for readers to learn a bit about me and what I write.

To answer your question, it’s often an idea. In the Roma Series, I write about an intelligent but flawed woman abroad in Italy, a country that denotes culture, food and fashion, and unfortunately, the mafia, to most people. Americans picture a macho thug, some intimidating knucklehead with a pinky ring, and gold chains. Those hoodlums do exist, but the criminals I have in mind are far more sophisticated. He wears an elegant suit, has a degree from the finest schools, often in the US, and he lives a discreet life. He draws no attention to himself. US law enforcement think of organized crime as a Medusa; cut off the head of one snake, another grows and replaces it. Italians, on the other hand, see organized crime as an octopus, with its tentacles far-flung and everything within its grasp, from the bottom to the top of society. Black and white versus ambiguous gray as cultural touchstones.

The concept throughout the five Roma Series novels is governments acting like corporations acting like criminal organizations. There are casualties, whether caught in a real shootout, or ruined by white-collar crime. My character Bianca is on the run from her employer, a covert US government agency. She realizes that like the mafia, she can’t just resign from Rendition once she has joined them. The Roma Series has moments of levity, dollops of good food, an undercurrent of romance, but, in the long run, the idea behind it is a brutal story, an overall arc that gets dark and darker.

Who in your latest book has surprised you the most and why?

I can’t pick just one character. I waver between two in my other series, The Good Man, and both are women. Leslie is intelligent, an operative in the intelligence community, painfully aware she’s working in a man’s world, and who doesn’t receive the respect she deserves. And she’s a killer when necessary. The other character is a young girl, a refugee named Tania. She is cynical, wise beyond her years, and broken. What I enjoyed most in creating these two characters was conveying experiences and points of views that are alien to men. The psychology of manipulation, to achieve, protect, and survive difficult situations. Men are the weaker gender in The Company Files series.

When and/or where is your latest book set and is there a story behind that setting?

My latest book is The Good Man, the first in another series. A second book, The Naming Game, is with the editor now. The Good Manopens in 1948, in Vienna, with a dead body. The CIA has just been officially formed, and my cast of characters is tasked to interview former Nazis in the arms-race against the Soviets before everything went sideways. The novel is drawn from Operation Paperclip, a multi-decade CIA operation. What fascinated me about the early days of the intelligence community was how gullible the CIA agents were then, and how steep the learning curve would become for the organization. The reality for Americans was George Bailey meets George Smiley.

The obscure slice of history intrigued me. Vienna became the Wild West with the Americans, the British, the French, and the Soviets vying for the upper hand in The Long Game. Jewish gangs roamed the streets (the state of Israel was a question mark) and refugees from eastern Europe were locked in a holding pattern.

Writing The Good Manis, I think, closer to my natural voice as a writer because the story is personal, and I’m comfortable with the material. I knew a Jack Marshall, station chief in the story, and a Sheldon, a Holocaust survivor and Nazi-hunter. The counterparts to these characters are now dead. Another thing I enjoyed in writing the series is that I admire the ethos of the time. Unlike commandos today who score book deals, movies and public admiration, the men and women (and I must emphasize there were women) who saw combat, and who worked in the OSS, later the CIA, they never talked about their exploits. To do so was uncouth and a betrayal to the oath they had taken. They were silent professionals and they slipped away into the shadows. It was a different era and, for better or worse, they came home and put their past in a lockbox and stored it in the attic or basement.

What are you working on now?

I’m editing two projects. One project is a trilogy that spans the Gilded Age. I’ve written the first and second of the novels and edited the first. My other project is editing the long character arc in a five-novel series I’ve written about a Boston PI in Seventies Boston. The research and experimenting with different styles have been a blast.

Which question didn’t I ask that I should have?

Any advice on how to stay positive when the struggle to find readers and achieve visibility is difficult?

It has been a daunting struggle, and I wish I knew how to chamber the magic bullet. There’s a lot of talent out there. Readers are overwhelmed and writers are bewildered. I keep morale up by putting myself in contact with writers I admire. I’ve met so many wonderful people. Connie Johnson Hambley. Kellye Garrett. Shawn Reilly Simmons. Edith Maxwell. Eryk Pruitt. Danny Gardner. The list goes on. We’re all different writers and personalities, yet the crime fiction community is very supportive. It’s important to make that connection between the name on the book and the person. I’ve learned that we all have run into obstacles. Put yourself out there.

On that note, I’m introverted and shy by nature, so it’s very difficult for me to talk about myself. It is. Really. I have to force myself to attend Bouchercon, Crimebake, and Malice Domestic. Being around a large group of people and public speaking unnerve me. I had my first panel at Malice, with Anne Cleeland, Martin Edwards, Catriona McPherson, Lori Rader-Day and moderated by Kristopher Zgorski. My jaw dropped when I saw my name on that panel. There were no prep questions. I suppose Kris was short on time (he had received The Raven at the Edgars earlier in the week) so he wanted to ‘wing it’ and be spontaneous. I was a wreck, but I survived. Lori-Rader Day sat next to me on the panel and assured me everything would be okay. Standing Room Only event, too.

Hank Phillippi Ryan came over after the discussion, gave me a hug, and tweeted me. She really is the kindest, most encouraging and approachable person, and that’s my point: these are accomplished writers with established reputations and they made me feel welcome. Put yourself out there and you’ll be surprised. I met Louise Penny (twice) and was so impressed with how gracious she was to me and others. Writers write, but we are people. I happen to think crime writers are the coolest tribe, though. Put yourself out there and make the connection. You’ve written a series with feline detectives. I have two cats. Bruce Robert Coffin is another writer, with a great series, too, and we share a similar shade of humor. We laughed over how many miles he’s logged onto his truck to do events, or how he’d become frantic because he’d found a typo in his latest work and wanted to call his editor….at 3AM. Bruce is from Maine and destined to appear in a Stephen King novel one day. At close of day, I remain clueless as to how to find readers. I try my best to support other writers on social media. What else can you do? Look, it costs nothing to be kind, and it’s a joy when a reader or author sees your name at an event and says hi or thank you. It’s so ironic that in this screwed-up world, crime fiction is uplifting. Other than that, my advice is to keep writing, keep reading, keep getting better, and get out there.

Gabriel Valjan is the author of the Roma Seriesand The Company Filesfrom Winter Goose Publishing. His short stories have appeared in numerous journals, including Level Best anthologies. He’s a member of Sisters in Crime and lives in Boston’s South End where he enjoys the local restaurants and his two cats, Squeak and Squawk, keep him honest to the story on the screen. You can find his novels on Amazon or at the Winter Goose Publishing web site. Visit his website at: http://www.gabrielvaljan.com or on Twitter: @GValjan