Winslow, Don 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born October 31, 1953, in New York, NY; son of Don (a U.S. Navy officer) and Ottis (a librarian) Winslow; married Jean Enstrom (a designer), April 27, 1985; children: Thomas. Education: Earned B.A. and M.A. degrees. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Congregational. Hobbies and other interests: History, sports.

ADDRESSES:

Home—San Diego, CA.

CAREER:

Writer. Has worked variously as an actor, director, movie theater manager, safari guide, and private investigator.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Edgar Allan Poe Award nomination, Mystery Writers of America, 1991, for A Cool Breeze on the Underground; Shamus Award, Private Eye Writers of America, 2000, for California Fire and Life.

WRITINGS:

"NEAL CAREY" MYSTERY SERIES

A Cool Breeze on the Underground, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.

The Trail to Buddha's Mirror, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.

Way Down on the High Lonely, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.

A Long Walk up the Water Slide, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

While Drowning in the Desert, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.

NOVELS, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED

The Death and Life of Bobby Z, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.

California Fire and Life, Random House (New York, NY), 1999.

(Coauthor, with Peter Maslowski) Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War (nonfiction), University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 2004.

The Power of the Dog, Knopf (New York, NY), 2005.

The Winter of Frankie Machine, Knopf (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of the novel Isle of Joy, and contributor of teleplays to UC: Undercover and Close to Home. Author of the stage plays In Worlds Unknown and Little Rhody's Big Burlesque.

ADAPTATIONS:

The Death and Life of Bobby Z was adapted as a feature film, 2007. The Winter of Frankie Machine has been optioned for feature film rights.

SIDELIGHTS:

Don Winslow is the creator of youthful private eye Neal Carey, a former student of eighteenth-century literature based with a mysterious New York City group. Carey first appeared in A Cool Breeze onthe Underground, in which the investigator must track the missing daughter of a prominent presidential candidate. After succeeding in his assignment, Carey discovers that the woman's life and his own are endangered by mysterious forces. Carey next appeared in The Trail to Buddha's Mirror, in which he is compelled, while vacationing, to enter into the search for a missing scientist. As in the previous novel, Carey soon finds his prey, only to discover that his own life is now at stake. The adventure eventually lands Carey in China, where he is finally confronted by his murderous foes.

In Way Down on the High Lonely, Carey is sent to uncover a child kidnapped by a deranged, divorced father who belongs to a religious cult. Carey's quest takes him to the Nevada wilds, known as the "High Lonely," where he infiltrates the cult but also grows truly enamored of life in the American West. In A Long Walk Up the Water Slide, Carey must protect a witness in a rape case from both the mob and her accused rapist, the head of the Family Cable Network and a beloved media star. The caper ranges across Nevada, finally coming to a climax in an abandoned amusement park. In While Drowning in the Desert, Carey must chaperone an aging, chatty vaudeville star across the Nevada desert, while escaping the attentions of a German money-launderer and his dumb-as-a-post sidekick.

Winslow stepped away from the Neal Carey series with his 1997 novel The Death and Life of Bobby Z. The story follows ex-marine Tim Kearney, a third-strike criminal serving time in San Quentin after killing a Hell's Angel biker with a sharpened license plate. Tim also happens to closely resemble a deceased drug lord named Bobby Z, so the FBI offers him the chance to impersonate Bobby and rescue one of their agents from Mexican drug lords. Soon Tim finds himself pursued by multiple criminal gangs, with Bobby's ex-wife and six-year-old son in tow. Joanne Wilkinson, writing in Booklist, summed up the book as "a profane, hilarious, wildly implausible novel that deserves to be a big hit," while a Publishers Weekly contributor compared Winslow to famed author Elmore Leonard, and applauded the novel for its "keen ear for punk criminal patois" and its "plethora of memorable bad guys."

California Fire and Life, another stand-alone novel, features Jack Wade, a former sheriff's department fire investigator turned claims adjuster for California Fire and Life Mutual. When a mansion fire leaves a wealthy heiress dead, Jack is called in to investigate, only to discover that the local sheriff's department is eager to cover up claims of arson, insurance fraud, and the fire's connection to organized crime. Wes Lukowsky, writing in Booklist, opined that "Winslow, an experienced investigator himself, has penned a focused, street-smart tale." Although a Publishers Weekly contributor found that the plot "contains a few too many contrivances," in the end the fast-paced plot "keep[s] the entertainment value at steady flame."

The Power of the Dog is a "sprawling, old-fashioned saga" of the War on Drugs, according to a Kirkus Reviews critic. Portraying a large cast of characters, including DEA agent Art Keller, the Barerra family of drug lords, a California prostitute, a hit man, and a priest, this epic of "interlocking loyalties, obsessions and vendettas" requires "a scorecard to keep track of the quick and the dead," the critic added. A Publishers Weekly contributor was also impressed, and remarked upon the complicated plot and Winslow's masterful approach to the material. The story has "both heft and immediacy," the contributor commented, further describing the book as "a thinking person's narco-thriller."

In The Winter of Frankie Machine, the eponymous former mobster is living a peaceful life in San Diego, California, running a bait shop, and genuinely trying to live life as a law-abiding citizen. However, the promise of fifty-thousand dollars to help a friend arbitrate a mob dispute turns out to be too great a draw, and he reluctantly accepts the job. The meeting turns out to be a setup, and soon Frankie is attempting to evade his former associates and trying to find out which of his many old enemies has come back to seek revenge. While a Kirkus Reviews contributor found that the plot is "inspired by mob movies from The Godfather to Casino" and that the "whole … is less than the sum of its parts," a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that "Winslow has created plausible characters and taut scenes of suspense that will keep readers turning pages."

Winslow once told CA: "I just want to tell a good story with engaging characters and an interesting setting. I hope the reader has a good time."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1997, Joanne Wilkinson, review of The Death and Life of Bobby Z, p. 1205; April 1, 1999, Wes Lukowsky, review of California Fire and Life, p. 1366; March 15, 2005, Joanne Wilkinson, review of The Power of the Dog, p. 1271.

Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2005, review of The Power of the Dog, p. 317; August 15, 2006, review of The Winter of Frankie Machine, p. 809.

Publishers Weekly, March 24, 1997, review of The Death and Life of Bobby Z, p. 60; May 17, 1999, review of California Fire and Life, p. 53; April 4, 2005, review of The Power of the Dog, p. 41; August 21, 2006, review of The Winter of Frankie Machine, p. 50.