Nothing excites intrigue and suspense like a murder mystery. Local author Tony Piazza knows this. He just released the third installment of his Tom Logan mystery series, Murder is Such Sweet Revenge.
Piazza’s penchant for the style of pulp murder mysteries began in his childhood, he told the Sun, watching television with his mother.
“Growing up, I had a mother who loved Perry Mason, and we would watch together,” he said. “We had a game of who could find out who the murderer is, and I fell in love with that portion of the story where the detective finally gets that spark, and they know who did it and the case gets solved.”
The first murder mystery to flow from Piazza’s pen and get published was The Curse of the Crimson Dragon, unrelated to the Logan series, which began with Anything Short of Murder. He’s been on a tear ever since, pumping out sequels to Logan’s first adventure, done in the pulp noir style of the era emulated in each volume.
A Murder Amongst Angels continued Logan’s story set in golden age Hollywood, but the newest book, Murder is Such Sweet Revenge, begins as Logan leaves the valley on a train with his bride, fresh from their vows. The two are headed for their honeymoon destination of Coronado Island off the San Diego Bay to stay at an iconic Victorian hotel, inspired by Piazza’s own visit to the area.
Once there, Logan discovers he’s sharing the hotel with a mystery writers’ convention—more inspiration from Piazza’s experiences since he began publishing—and that’s when the private detective’s romantic getaway becomes a lot more like work.
“The person who’s being honored, and obviously isn’t liked by many of the other writers who are there, is found dead in his room on the night of the awards ceremony,” he said. “The fact that they are fairly isolated and that there is a storm going on and the police can’t get there, they end up calling Logan in to get the investigation going.”
Piazza has attended a number of real life writers’ conventions—he’s also president of the local chapter of the Sisters in Crime mystery writers group—but the events aren’t much steeped in jealousy and back stabbing like the convention in his book. They are positive and exciting experiences for Piazza that stimulate his creativity and passion for writing, he said.
“I’m drawing on all the different personalities and about being at these conferences and dealing with other authors, but I’ve never been to that point of jealousy,” he said, laughing. “It’s energizing really; sometimes when writing, since you are on your own, sometimes you sort of get in a lull and you get a little depressed, figuring, ‘Why am I doing all this?’ But then you get amongst other writers, and it’s like a spark of electricity goes through you and you’re just wanting to get home and get at the computer and start typing away again. We all sort of energize one another.”
The varied group of writers, publishers, and producers Piazza has met along the way has led to some collaboration and the expansion of his stories. The first two Tom Logan books are now available in audio form. Piazza began moving his stories to audio after meeting with producers and narrators from Amazon and Audible at a convention in Los Angeles.
Broadway actor James Romick performed the first two books, and production is beginning on the third, Piazza explained. Romick produced and read the audio books, bringing Logan’s signature voice to life. Romick’s performances have been well received by Piazza’s fans and newcomers to his series alike, the author explained.
“At times you do forget that it is just one person reading, so sometimes it is like listening to a radio play,” Piazza said. “It takes on a whole different effect when you hear it coming back to you in that way.”
Piazza is excited to get production moving on the audio book for Murder is Such Sweet Revenge as well as work on the other books he’s currently developing. He will be at the 31st annual Cuesta College Writers Conference Sept. 18 and 19 in SLO and the Central Coast Book and Author Fair the following day, Sept. 20, at the SeaCrest Ocean Front Hotel in Pismo Beach.
Arts Editor Joe Payne has a hunch who the murderer is. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 6-13, 2015.
