R.G. Belsky -"It's News To Me"
Dear Reader:
People always advise authors to “write what you know” – and that’s what I try to do in my Clare Carlson books.
They’re set in a New York City newsroom where Clare is a journalist like I was for many years at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News.
And, like the previous Clare novels, It’s News to Me is a “ripped from the headlines” mystery inspired by sensational stories I covered during my own media career.
I wound up being involved in most of the big news stories of recent years: crimes like Son of Sam, O.J., Etan Patz, Casey Anthony, and Jodi Arias; political sex scandals like Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, John Edwards and, of course, Donald Trump; and celebrity deaths like John Lennon, Michael Jackson and even Elvis. I mean no way some of this real-life news isn’t going to wind up in my fiction.
And so when people ask me now where I got the ideas for writing all my crime novels (this will be my 20th book), I tell them: “Hey, I just went to work in the newsroom every day!”
The Clare Carlson character herself comes from my journalistic background too.
People always ask me if Clare is based on any journalist I worked with at a newspaper or TV station. The answer is yes, she is. Plenty of them. Let’s just say I’ve known a lot of Clare Carlsons in New York City newsrooms during my media career!
I suppose there’s a bit of Clare Carlson in me too.
I just hope you enjoy reading Clare in this book – and four earlier ones in the series too – as much as I enjoy writing her.
—R.G. Belsky
R.G. Belsky is a longtime New York City journalist and an award-winning mystery author. He's worked as a top editor at the New York Post, New York Daily News, Star magazine and NBC News. His new mystery IT’S NEWS TO ME is the fifth book in a series about TV newswoman Clare Carlson - and the 20th crime fiction book he's had published. Belsky also writes thrillers under the pen name of Dana Perry