The Devil Raises His Own

Thursday, August 15 I'll be interviewing Scott Phillips for the release of his latest novel The Devil Raises His Own. Come on by Subterranean Books at 6pm for the event and be sure to pick up a signed copy of one of his best. I really loved this book.

All of Scott's work is connected through the Ogden family and its illegitimate heirs. Family traits include high intelligence and poor impulse control, scoff-lawism, philandering and a capacity for violence. 

All the characters from The Walkaway and The Adjustment's Wayne Ogden, The Ice Harvest's Charlie Arglist, the actor who played Dr. Crandall Taylor of Rake and Tate Gandy from That Left Turn at Albuquerque are descendants and the Ogden genes even survive into the post-disaster future of RUT in Bridget. Every one of them could trace their confusing assortment of innate skill, ingenuity, drive and stubbornness from their progenitor Bill.  

Bill Ogden first appeared in the 1870-set Cottonwood brushing up against real range serial murderers The Bloody Benders of Kansas and by book's end Bill's up to Ogden shenanigans in San Francisco.

(Read this guest piece by Steve Weddle on Cottonwood)

The next glimpse we got of Bill was as old man Ogden in the short story Bill in Idaho (originally published in the geezer noir anthology Damn Near Dead II and later in Phillips' story collection Rum, Sodomy and False Eyelashes). 

Hop Alley is set in Nebraska and Colorado during the interim of periods of Cottonwood's opening and closing chapters and The Devil Raises His Own finds Bill in Los Angeles with the US gearing up to jump into the Great War across the sea. 

(Read this guest piece by Thomas Wickersham on Hop Alley)

(Read this guest piece by Peter Rozovsky on the Bill Ogden books)

Over the course of his misadventures with murderers, swindlers, gamblers and pornographers Bill comports himself with elan commendable for a man half his age with a fixed moral north as he fornicates, hustles and improvises his way through some of the young nation's unseemliest  moments. 

Scott's kicking off a book tour for The Devil Raises His Own (my favorite novel of his since The Adjustment) next week in Los Angeles and will be on the road through September 12. Find him at 

Chevalier Books in Los Angeles in conversation with Gary Phillips (no relation!) August 12

Subterranean Books in St. Louis in conversation with me August 15

SoHo Crime Presents: The Lineup virtual event with James R. Benn and Michael Sears August 20

The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas in conversation with Kelly Barth August 21

Watermark Books in Wichita August 22

The Poisened Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona with Eli Cranor August 28

Murder By the Book in Houston with Steve Hamilton September 7

Off Square Books in conversation with Ace Atkins September 9

Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee in conversation with Tim Hennessy September 12