Behind The Book With Duane Swierczynski

Late last year I did a Q&A & Authors In The Media Q&A With New York Times Bestselling Author Duane Swierczynski. I am thrilled to be doing this Behind The Book Q&A discussing his recent mystery thriller novel titled California Bear! 

Q: I’m glad to have you back Duane! For those who haven’t read the novel, could you please give a brief description of California Bear? 

A: Happy to be back, Bianca! My short and sweet pitch: Bear is about an ex-cop who forces an ex-con to help him blackmail an ex-serial killer known as “The California Bear.” (Light-hearted family entertainment, right?) The real hero, however, is the ex-con’s daughter, a.k.a. The Girl Detective. She’s the brains of the outfit, turning her brilliant Sherlock Holmes-esque mind to the central mystery of the Bear, all while she’s fighting a serious battle of her own: leukemia. The novel is also about grief, and how the past never quite stays buried, as well as how modern media and “entertainment” has warped our minds. If all that sounds depressing, I’ll also say this: Bear is the closest thing to a comedic mystery I’ve ever written. (Go figure.)

Q: I read in the Afterword that the ideas that created California Bear are society’s obsession with true crime & reading the LA piece about an ex-cop who overturned a wrongful conviction. I also admit that it brought tears to my eyes that Matilda Finnerty is based on your daughter Evie who passed away from leukemia & is in Heaven. Does that mean the character of Evie’s father Jack is based on you? 

A: Jack is not based on me, but I gave him some of my traits… namely, being a former jazz piano player who is often mistaken for a college linebacker gone to seed. (I’ve never played sports, but I am a husky fellow.) Truth is, every one of my characters — even the villains — have a lot of my DNA inside of them. For instance, the California Bear is also overly fond of donuts.

Matilda, however, is a different story, because she was absolutely based on my daughter Evie. I wanted desperately to bring her back to life in the pages of this novel, so writing Bear was somehow both therapeutic and heartbreaking. Ever have a dream about a loved one you’ve lost, and for a moment there, do you think it’s actually happening? That’s what writing certain scenes was like… but then of course, you wake up.

Q: Which scenes in California Bear were your favorite to write about? It’s hard to pinpoint just one favorite scene because I love the entire novel. I love how close Matilda & her Father Jack are.

A: I started writing Bear in Evie’s hospital room to escape into another world for a little while. I had great fun imagining that I was tagging along with two knuckleheads (Jack and Hightower) as they drove all over L.A., talking about serial killers and generally butting heads. People read to escape their ordinary lives… but the truth is, writers do the exact same thing. The novel was also a chance to showcase some of my favorite weird L.A. landmarks, like Patrick’s Roadhouse on the Pacific Coast Highway (sadly now closed, after the pandemic).

Q: I enjoy how in the Afterword you wrote that the true crime industry does profit off other people’s pain and how society obsesses over it to an unhealthy degree whether it’s constantly watching the programs or doing their internet sleuthing. Would the lesson you want people to learn or remember from the California Bear is while crime is interesting, to remember that real people suffered and to take them into consideration? 

A: When I first moved to L.A., I took a lot of true crime tours run by a magnificent company called Esotouric — lovingly curated by Kim Cooper and Richard Schave. What struck me immediately is that Kim and Richard weren’t just serving up lurid details of people’s worst days; they focused on the people as flesh-and-blood human beings, with flaws, yes… but also real hopes and dreams in this crazy, sometimes hostile town. I would drive home from those tours not thinking about the grisly noir details; I would be thinking about those people whose lives went astray. Oddly, this made me feel more connected to Los Angeles, as opposed to fearing it. And this informed my mindset while I was writing Bear.

Q: What would the characters in California Bear be doing right now? I think with how the book ended many of us would love to read a sequel of Matilda, Jack, Jeannie & Cato’s adventures of solving crime! 

A: And I do have at least two sequels planned, so I’m hesitant to reveal anything more. But if Bear is about a weird little crime solving family coming together, the sequels will test that family and ultimately threaten to destroy it. My big plan is to have Matilda team up with Sarie (from my novel Canary), and Audrey (from Revolver) and solve some epic mystery in a novel called The Daughters. I’m only half-joking about that.

Q: Back in December we spoke about a meeting you were getting ready for. I responded that my copy of California Bear coming my way was exciting, the meeting not so much. You told me the meeting was about the film version of California Bear. I forgot to ask how it went. Have you guys started writing a script of California Bear yet & have you guys started casting yet? My suggestions for our serial killer coming out of hibernation would be Mickey Rourke, Kevin Costner or even Harrison Ford! 

A: We are working on the script right now! “We,” in this case, means me and playwright and screenwriter Gary Lennon. It’s too early to discuss casting… but your suggestions for the Bear are interesting. (They’re also completely different from who I have in mind.) That’s the funny thing about casting, though—at least for me. Whenever I come up with a character, it’s their voice that jumps out at me, not so much their physical appearance. When I imagine their faces, they’re usually vague blurs, as if my brain is trying to tell me: Uh, you based these people on parts of yourself, dummy. Of course you can’t see their faces.