Interview With Joseph D’Agnese, Author Of Jersey Heat
2 min read
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I first started writing “seriously” in the second grade, but publication never went further than my parents’ refrigerator.
Why did you write this book?
I’m always loved mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. Every idea I’ve ever had for a fiction book seems to revolve around some aspect of crime. As a journalist I’ve written for a lot of science magazines, and it interested me to try to write a novel about some kind of environmental topic – in this case the fate of an endangered species in the face of rampant development – in such a way that it would actually interest people long enough to learn about the issues. Also, two of my favorite writers are Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen. I suppose I had to eventually pay homage to them in some way.
Where do your ideas come from?
In this case, the idea came right out of the local headlines: The water company in the municipality where I was living announced it was going to build and sell condos on the land surrounding its vast network of reservoirs. This was a shock to local citizens, since the firm had gotten the land for a pittance generations ago on the promise that they’d never develop the land. Overnight, they’d gone from good neighbors to rapacious evildoers. I wondered why. Rather than wait for the full story, I imagined one of my own. To pull it off, I had to dream up a rapacious evildoer and set him free in my little fictional paradise.
What surprising things did you learn while writing this book?
In the time it took me to complete the book, the animal species at the heart of the tale -the peregrine falcon – went from being endangered to being officially delisted from the U.S. Endangered Species list. (I had nothing to do with this, I swear!) I feel great for the bird, but I’m afraid that in my fictional universe it will have to stay in peril.
Who will enjoy and benefit from reading this book?
I’m hoping that anyone who likes the books of the two authors I mentioned will give it a shot. If you like reading about scamers and their insane plans to plunder, and still harbor the quaint delusion that honest men can and will stand up to such mongrels, I hope you’ll take the plunge. It has everything a book of this nature should: wise-asses, guns, beautiful and brainy women, and duffel bags of cash. The book is set in what little untrammeled land New Jersey still has left, but I hope you won’t hold that against me.
