Robert J. Randisi

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Miles Jacoby Books
Nick Delvecchio Books
Joe Keough Books
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In these days when private eye writers routinely hit the bestseller lists, it's hard to remember that there was a time when the private eye novel seemed a relic, an idea whose time had come and gone. The the genre has not only survived, but thrived, owes as much to Robert J. Randisi as to any single individual.

Randisi grew up in Brooklyn decided at an early age that he wanted to be not just a writer, but a private eye writer. The film Harper introduced him to the works of Ross Macdonald, a major influence. Later, a job as a civilian employee with the New York City Police Department added grist to the mill.

In the late 70s, Randisi was corresponding regularly with a number of prominent writers like Bill Pronzini, Sue Grafton, and others, and decided that it would be easier to keep in touch if they had an organization. Thus, in 1981, was the Private Eye Writers of America born. The PWA began handing out its Shamus awards the following year, and has been active and very successful in promoting private eye fiction.

Randisi is best known for two PI series, respectively featuring former boxer Miles Jacoby and Brooklyn detective Nick Delvecchio. Both are marked by the human scale of their characters and conflict; Jacoby has an eye for the ladies, Delvecchio for a good meal. More recently Randisi has written a series of police procedurals about Joe Keough. The first book, Alone With The Dead, is set in New York City, but Keough (and Randisi) moved to St. Louis, where the series continued with "Arch" in the title for obvious reasons.

Randisi has also edited a number of outstanding anthologies under the imprimatur of the PWA, and he's recently published the first collection of his own short fiction, Delvecchio's Brooklyn. He and fiance Christine Matthews have also become a sort of middle-America Bill Pronzini-and-Marcia Muller, collaborating on an amateur sleuth mystery, Murder Is The Deal Of The Day, with The Masks Of Auntie Laveau coming out in 2002.