Meeting Nolan Chase

A Lonesome Place for Dying is out next May

I met Nolan Chase at the VIFF Theater, in the intermission between a double bill of McCabe & Mrs. Miller and The Outlaw Josey Wales. I had written an article for Montecristo on both films: Chase let me know he thought my conclusions were “mostly pretty sound.”

Chase was holding a copy of Death in the Fifth Position, a mystery by Gore Vidal under the pseudonym Edgar Box. We struck up a conversation about favourite writers—Richard Bachman, Richard Stark, Josephine Tey, Barbara Vine, and Hartley Goodweather (Thomas King) among them.

Music, too. I’m more of an alt-rock and jazz fan, and Chase is far more knowledgeable about ‘80s country than I’ll ever be. But there was overlap. We both saw Merle Haggard at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, and were probably sitting pretty close to each other. Small world, and eerie.

After ten years as a professional author, I can usually sense when a conversation is about to shift into “I’m also a writer” territory. Nolan Chase, it turned out, had recently finished his first mystery. A Lonesome Place for Dying comes out next year from Crooked Lane Books. Would I read it?

Chase seemed like a well-meaning guy, and Crooked Lane has published some great authors, so what the hell.

I read it and was impressed. Knocked out, actually.

A Lonesome Place for Dying is set in Blaine, a small border town in Washington state. Ethan Brand, the newly appointed Chief of Police, has to solve a cross-border killing while also dealing with anonymous death threats from someone close to him. His first day in office could also be his last…

John D MacDonald and Larry McMurtry are palpable influences on Lonesome Place, though I can see fans of Longmire and Jesse Stone appreciating it. It’s a fun, thoughtful update of the classic smalltown mystery, with a unique Pacific Northwest setting.

When it came to book promotion and social media, Nolan Chase turned out to be a bit of a luddite. I told him it wasn’t hard. Get a website, a few social media accounts…

“Why don’t you do all that for me?” he asked. Quite audaciously, I thought.

I told him I was no expert, could barely do my own. Chase wasn’t to be deterred.

“Tell you what, Sam. Let’s flip a coin. Heads, you handle all that online stuff for me. Tails, I cut you in for a slice of royalties. Ready?”

Before I could argue, or ask how big a slice, that coin was in the air. And I had a new book to promote.

I’m nothing if not honorable, so I’ll be helping Nolan Chase promote A Lonesome Place for Dying. He and I will be co-authoring some articles for my newsletter as well, on books and films and other influences.

The saving grace in this devil’s bargain is that A Lonesome Place for Dying is a hell of a book. It’s the most fun I’ve had in years. I feel a genuine pride in it, almost as if I’d written it myself. Lonesome Place is everything I like about the old pulp paperbacks I grew up reading.

Between you and me, though? I think he rigged that coin toss.

You can pre-order A Lonesome Place for Dying by Nolan Chase from Amazon (US).

Alternatively, you can pre-order from Amazon (Canada).

Or from your local bookshop.

---

Blaine, Washington is a seaside town where on an average day, the most serious police work involves dealing with stray coyotes or ticketing speeders along the I-5. Ethan Brand is reporting for his first day on the job as Blaine, Washington’s newest Chief of Police. Before Ethan can start his first shift, he finds a threat on his porch, along with a gruesome souvenir, a bloody heart.

There are plenty of people who are upset about Ethan stepping into the shoes of the last Chief, but when a body shows up on the railroad tracks, he’s got to focus on the task at hand. With a population of only five thousand, Blaine sees eight million vehicles pass through its Peace Arch crossing every year. It’s the perfect site for drug smuggling, human trafficking, larceny, and murder.

Ethan begins to realize that the sleepy town has a lot more secrets than he originally thought. With no one to trust, his job already on the line, and the threats getting bolder and more reckless, Ethan Brand must find the killers and bring them to justice.

You can pre-order A Lonesome Place for Dying now from Amazon (US).
Alternatively, you can pre-order from Amazon (Canada).
Or from your local bookshop.