How much has that affected what you write? How much of that past do you use in what you write, and when do you make a decision to use it, if you do?

Yeah.

Um, I use very little of my past cases as an investigator, because there's a reason it's called private investigator.

And so on an ethical level, um, I would rarely if ever bring up old cases, unless they had reached, um, a public forum like a trial.

So there's only one book that's based on cases of mine.

It's called California Fire and Life, about an arson murder that I'm still angry about.

Um, what I do use, though, are the techniques that I learned as an investigator in terms of researching the books.

... it's unbelievable.

Be cool.

You were talking about Elmore Leonard, Mr. Leonard to me.

Right.

Major, major hero of mine when I was struggling and trying to, before I started writing, you crime fiction and Elmore Leonard, you know, was my idol.

And so my first novel was nominated for an Edgar.

Never been, never since, by the way.

And there was an event at the old Scribner's bookstore on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

i knew joe we've talked about joe

Right.

Major, major hero of mine when I was struggling and trying to, before I started writing, you know, reading.

crime fiction and Elmore Leonard, you know, was my idol.

And so my first novel was nominated for an Edgar.

Never since, by the way.

And there was an event at the old Scribner's bookstore on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

And Mr. Leonard was up on that balcony.

Yeah, but

Tell us about your latest novel, City in Ruins.

City in Ruins is the culmination of a trilogy, so third in a series, about a guy named Danny Ryan who starts off life as a longshoreman in Rhode Island and gets hooked up with the Irish mob through marriage.

The next time we see him in the second book, he's a fugitive wandering the country trying to find a place to put his feet for himself and his little son.

He ends up in Hollywood.

And then in this book, third book, we meet him and he's a multimillionaire casino owner in Las Vegas.

Do you think that your brand, the development of your brand to where it is today, how much do you think it is your perseverance yourself, even though you were published so many times, that you have to really put the work in yourself? I think a lot of authors forget about how they're marketing themselves and how they're branding themselves with their books and going out there.

Yeah.

Listen, it's a job, right? Now, having said that, it's the job I've always wanted.

Tell us about your latest novel, City in Ruins.

City in Ruins is the culmination of a trilogy, so third in a series, about a guy named Danny Ryan who starts off life as a longshoreman in Rhode Island and gets hooked up with the Irish mob through marriage.

The next time we see him in the second book, he's a fugitive wandering the country trying to find a place to put his feet for himself and his little son.

He ends up in Hollywood.

And then in this book, third book, we meet him and he's a multimillionaire casino owner in Las Vegas.

Do you think that your brand, the development of your brand to where it is today, how much do you think it is your perseverance yourself, even though you were published so many times, that you have to really put the work in yourself? I think a lot of authors forget about how they're marketing themselves and how they're branding themselves with their books and going out there.

Yeah.

Listen, it's a job, right? Now, having said that, it's the job I've always wanted.

Your thoughts-... on this attack, gutting on the, of the Washington Post and where we stand on, on First Amendment expression right now?

Well, uh, obviously it's sad.

These are some of the greatest journalists and writers in the entire world, and, and I certainly hope that they, they can move on and, and get quality outlets for their work.

It's so troubling, the entire attack on free expression, you know, between the, the attempt to intimidate reporters.

I'm experiencing it myself right now, uh, not living in my home, uh, because of credible death threats, and we had to cancel a book tour.

Uh, those books, uh, the sales of those books are what fund the activism and the videos that we've put out, and so it's an attempt to shut all of that down.

But this is Authoritarian 101, isn't it, Ari? It, it's-

Yeah

Do you think political violence has become the right MO? How much of that can be attributed to Donald Trump?

Well, listen, let's take him at his word.

He has advocated violence.

He has acted violently.

He has been dismissive.

He has encouraged violence against people.

So I attribute a lot of it to it.

Did you ever think we'd see two Trump administrations, the return of Trump? And did you think the second term would be as bad as it is?

I mean, what happens this fall really could alter the course of history in this country by stopping Trump in his tracks, because, I mean, i- if, if we don't see this authoritarianism rise halted to some degree, who knows what could happen next?

No, exactly.

These elections are so critical, as was the last general election.

You know, I think the most important election in America since maybe 1860.

But again, this is an ongoing pr- uh, program to shut people down, to distract.

You know, uh, I- Americans, I think we're, again, cursed with sort of a short memory.

You know, in some ways it's a blessing in the sense that we move on, but, but in a lot of ways it's a curse, because we forget about what happened.

Yeah.