Weird to think it’s been seven years (cue Jeremy Piven: “Seven! Years!”) since I moved my family from Philly to Southern California. Within days of our arrival, a huge wildfire broke out in Santa Clarita. Twenty miles away in Burbank, half the sky was a sickening dark bruise—while the other half remained postcard-perfect blue. The air smelled like a fireplace as we swam in the apartment pool under tipsy palm trees. They say Los Angeles is Hell, but back then it felt like a kind of purgatory, caught between the ultimate extremes.
They also say that every seven years each cell in your body dies and is replaced—which would mean the human being typing these words right now is entirely different from the one who steered a U-Haul into downtown Burbank in July 2016. This makes for fun cocktail party trivia, though it’s not quite true. (Some cells never regenerate; just ask my brain.) But I don’t need a bunch of fancy science to tell me that. I know I’m still me, despite the weirdness and grief and trauma of the past seven years. And I am still very much a Philadelphian.
For a while, I tried hard to shake the influence of my hometown. When my novel Revolver was published in the summer of 2016—the same month we moved to California—I thought that might be my final Philly-set novel. Pretty much all of them took place in the City of Brotherly Love, except for the Charlie Hardie trilogy (but even that one had a climax set in Philly). If crime readers knew me at all, they knew me as “Oh yeah, that Polish guy who writes violent books set in Philly.” With the change of scenery, I was ready to tackle new locations. I worked on a thriller set in Vermont, did some polishes on an L.A.-based horror movie, and co-wrote a TV pilot about an accident investigator who lived near San Diego. Not a single cheesesteak in sight!
Then in 2020, in the depths of the pandemic, James Patterson called to say he had an outline for a novel he wanted to show me. A murder mystery. Set in Philadelphia.
I told him: “Jim, my cells are only four years into regeneration! It’s too soon!”
(I didn’t actually tell him this.)
The result is a novel called Lion & Lamb, which is set to be published a week from today, and I couldn’t be prouder of this particular homecoming. Here’s the official synopsis:
The city is in a state of shock over the fate of two hometown heroes: Eagles starting quarterback Archie Hughes, and his even more famous wife, Grammy-winning singer Francine Hughes.
One spouse is murdered. The other is suspect #1.
Even before the case hits the courtroom, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
For the defense: Cooper Lamb, private investigator to the stars.
For the prosecution: Veena Lion, a sleuth so bright she’s got to wear shades.
Between them, they know every secret in Philadelphia. Together, they prove how two wrongs can make a right. They are Lion & Lamb.
The unofficial synopsis? I like to think of this story as a modern-day Thin Man, set in Philly instead of fancy-pants Manhattan. Many cocktails are consumed. The mystery is as twisty as a soft pretzel. There’s even a cute dog! And while Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb aren’t a married couple—far from it—there’s a lot of Myrna Loy and William Powell in their relationship.
By the time I was co-writing the novel with Jim, I had been away from my hometown long enough for my fictional return to Philly to feel like a vacation, of sorts. Working on Lion & Lamb actually made me homesick for the place. (Then again, I was working on it under lockdown, so I was pretty much homesick for everywhere.)
I hope you check out Lion & Lamb, even if you aren’t a Philadelphian. It’ll be available in hardcover, eBook, and on Audible. If you see a copy in the wild, snap a photo and send it my way! Especially if you happen to be at any of the real-life locations from the novel. (I’m still a little homesick.)
And for the record: we predicted that the Eagles would make it to the Super Bowl in 2023 way back when we were writing this in 2020-21.
Elsewhere in the Swierczy-verse
I have a new (solo) novel out early next year called California Bear (Mulholland Books). As you can probably guess, the novel is not set in Philadelphia. And despite this being another novel with an animal in the title, it is completely unrelated to Lion & Lamb. Though if I were clever, I’d write a horror movie about killer sloths or something, just to keep the theme going. (Fuck; someone beat me to it.) Anyway, I’ll talk a lot more about the Bear in my next newsletter, but for now… the best way to stoke the pre-publication fires is to pre-order it!
Speaking of naked commerce: signed copies of my first short story collection. Lush & Other Boozy Tales of Mayhem, are now available directly from the publisher, Cimarron Street Books. If you chose the “signed paperback” option from the drop down menu, I’ll be the one fulfilling that order, so make sure you leave a note and let me know if you’d like it personalized or with a dirty limerick. And if you’ve been kind enough to already purchase Lush, please consider leaving a review (and/or star rating) at Amazon. Even one-line reviews like, “This Polish hack ain’t half bad!” or “Neatly typed… and in English!” help spread the word.
Continuing with the theme of shameless self-promotion: Novelist Robert Swartwood interviewed me on Facebook Live. You can check out the replay on YouTube. And in the meantime, look for his forthcoming novel The Killing Room.
I will be at Bouchercon this year—my first time in (egads) seven years. I’ll be on two panels: “Southern California Historical” at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday, September 2, with Désirée Zamorano, Gary Phillips, Naomi Hirahara and Walter Mosley; and “Laugh It Up” at 9 a.m. on Sunday, September 3, with Leigh Perry, Haris Orkin, Lawrence Allan, Donna Andrews and Lee Hollis. If you’re headed to San Diego, stop by and say hello!
That’s all for now. Be kind to each other, especially since the planet is dying and extra-dimensional aliens appear to be sniffing around like turkey vultures. We’re going to need to stick together.
WHO THE...? You’ve signed up for a newsletter from writer Duane Swierczynski, who has written a dozen novels, hundreds of comic books, a fistful of screenplays and audio dramas, and other violent entertainments. He works out of a tiny private eye-style office in downtown Pasadena. A new website is coming super soon, but in the meantime, learn more at https://linktr.ee/swierczy.
Hope your Patterson book makes a ton of money and expands your audience. Heck, I’m even going to buy it and I’m not a fan of his work usually. All of your projects noted here look fantastic so I’m in!
That cover looks great! Hope we can catch up at Bouchercon!