Debut novelist Larry Kaplan is author of the recently-released House of Ghosts, featuring Detective Joe Henderson, the modern incarnation of Philip Marlowe -- hard boiled, hard drinking, hard loving, and cynical, offering wry observations of life in the age of Starbucks.
The tale begins in the summer of 2000 when Preston Swedge, an alcoholic recluse and World War II veteran, has died in Westfield, New Jersey. At his estate sale, retired local police detective Henderson discovers a 1944 diary describing a rogue attempt by a Jewish-American pilot named Paul Rothstein to drop his bombs on Auschwitz's killing complex where nearly 300,000 captives were about to be murdered. Henderson's curiosity launches him on a crusade for the truth and a shocking revelation when he tracks down the last living witness who can solve the mystery of why the raid never happened.
Author Kaplan comes from a more unusual background to pen such a novel, especially as a debut. Many crime fiction authors today began as journalists, lawyers, law enforcement personnel, or forensic investigators, but Kaplan is...a dentist.
IRTM: I'm sure a lot of folks wonder why you weren't tempted to stay "closer to home," thematically, with your first novel, say a forensic dentist or anything medical, but as it turns out, the inspiration for this novel is drawn from your own family, isn't it?
LK: My late mother-in-law was deported from Hungary to Auschwitz in July 1944 and saw American bombers fly directly over the camp and fly into the distance. Her story played a large part in my writing House of Ghosts, searching for the reasons why the United States chose not to stop the killing in the Nazi’s largest European murder center when it had the means to do so. In the first number of drafts, and the total number was thirteen, the main protagonist actually was a dentist and that character was myself. I was boring!! The story was boring. Could I have written the part as a booze sloshing, pill popping, skirt chasing, chain smoking Dr. Larry? I suppose I could have. Would it have been believable? I doubt it. Does the mystery reader really want plot points concerning second bicuspids and bleeding gums interspersed with Charles Lindbergh and the America First isolationist movement? I don’t think so.
I replaced myself with Detective Lieutenant Joe Henderson and invented Alenia Gilbert, an ex-Russian stripper, big chested and blonde, to give Joe someone to bounce the history aspect of the story off. Without Alenia, House of Ghosts becomes a history book, not a mystery.
You have to admit that booze and big-chested blondes trump bicuspids and gums everyday.
IRTM: Apparently this book started out as a nonfiction work. At what point did you decide to turn it into a novel instead?
LK: My initial thought was to write a non-fiction book about the crews that flew on missions to bomb the I.G. Farben synthetic oil and rubber plant 4 miles from the Auschwitz complex. I wanted to cover what they thought they were flying over and what they discussed when returning to their bases. The research was tedious and difficult. Pilots and crews either were deceased or didn’t want to talk. Then it was pointed out that I had DDS after my name, not a PhD in history. Without credentials, I’d never get it published. It was at that point, I decided to form an amalgam (There! I got a dental term in!) of the social history of the United States prior to Pearl Harbor and the military history after.
IRTM: Were you able to track down and interview any WWII pilots who flew with the Allied forces in and around the German concentration camps?
LK: I developed a relationship with a retired Air Force general who during WWII flew a B-17 from Italy in the 15th Air Force. Based in Foggia, his group, the 2nd Heavy Bombardment, flew missions to Germany, France, and Poland. The Poland runs took him over the death camp. At first he was hesitant to talk to me. Over a period of months he opened up and confirmed my suspicions. He stated in no uncertain terms, that contrary to the accepted version of not knowing what they were flying over, the massive complex with the crematoria stacks blowing smoke and ash into the sky wasn’t an amusement park and everyone knew it. He gave me the name of another pilot who refused my calls and returned my written letters. One man’s testimony does not make a book.
IRTM: In a recent broadcast interview, you said you also included a couple of patients in this book (from NYU), or at least characters based on those patients. How did that come about?
LK: Joe Henderson’s friends Kopel and Naomi Weinstein were patients of mine for over twenty years. Both have passed away. They were delightful people who loved dogs. Joe’s black Labrador Roxy is in actuality my Lab and as an aside, she put a paw print to the waiver allowing me to use her real name. I took Roxy to their apartment where Naomi made a fuss over her. The Weinsteins met as freshman at NYU in 1938. They graduated in December 1942, and Kopel was immediately drafted. They married and Naomi followed her soldier boy to Ft. Knox, Kentucky where Kopel spent the remainder of the war in supply and requisition. Naomi took a job as a civilian on the post. Her service related story generated a major plot point that I’ll get back to in a moment.
Talking to the Weinsteins was as good as taking a time-machine back to 1938. Their descriptions of campus life and the Jewish student’s response or, better said, lack of response to the news coming over the radio from Europe was astounding. Their stories put me right in the Student Union riding out that devastating hurricane Paul Rothstein, Sarah Greenbaum, and Dave Schwartz experienced.
Now back to Naomi and Ft. Knox. She related how she had to endure the verbal tirades of a very anti-Semitic southern sergeant. In her secretarial position she typed orders. Waiting for the best moment to spring her revenge, she arranged for the “bastard” as she called him to be shipped to the Burma Theater of operations, the farthest point on the earth from Ft. Knox and the deadliest. The odds of the racist surviving were between slim and none.
In House of Ghosts, Jake Rothstein has members of the Jewish action group placed in the U.S. Army command headquarters that ultimately enables Paul to be in position to attempt a bomb run on Auschwitz.
My logic was if a civilian clerk like Naomi could maneuver personnel, why couldn’t an organized effort.
The Weinsteins were a treasure trove of information and I miss them very much.
IRTM: Is there any particular inspiration or model for your protagonist, ex-cop Joe Henderson? Is there a little Joe Henderson lurking in Larry Kaplan?
LK: Joe is a hobo’s stew cobbled together from bits and pieces of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. But, I suppose Joe gets his wise ass attitude from his creator.
IRTM: You're on your second publisher with this book, isn't that right? Is there an unusual story behind that situation?
LK: There is an interesting story, but you’ll have to wait. Someday I’ll work it into a plot of a future Joe Henderson mystery.
IRTM: It took you 10 years to write this first book but now you're working on a prequel. Do you think it will be another 10 years for that one, too, or will the pro hopefully be a little easier (and swifter) this time around?
LK: Gene Killers, number two in the Joe Henderson series, is on target for winter release 2010. This novel tackles the bio-tech industry and the FDA’s incompetence. When a genetically engineered drug about to receive FDA approval goes bad, it threatens to destroy the company, its investors and puts the United States and China on the precipice of war.
IRTM: You're a self-proclaimed history nut, mostly concerning the period right before World War II through shortly after the end of the War. Are you planning different historical mysteries down the road at some point?
LK: Yes. I am a history junkie. Been to re-hab and even did the Twelve Steps to break the addiction to the History and Military Channels, but had a recidivist rate of 100%.
All kidding aside, I am doing the research for a novel that opens in the waning days of WWII in a Russian surrounded Berlin and culminates in Washington, D.C. in the year 2012. The history, as in House of Ghosts, is hard fact, the conclusions are the author’s.
Thanks for the opportunity to appear on the virtual tour.
Larry Kaplan is giving away a signed copy of his book, House of Ghosts, to one tour visitor. Go to Larry's Book Tour page, enter your name, e-mail address, and this PIN, 7666, for your chance to win. Entries from this blog site will be accepted until 12:00 Noon (PT) tomorrow. No purchase is required to enter or to win. The winner (first name only) will be announced on Larry's book tour page next week.
This sounds fascinating - my father-in-law would love it for sure. This solves my Father's Day gift issue! Personally, I think your next book is right up my alley. I'll look forward to that one too.
Posted by: itsamystery | June 16, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Thanks for the feedback! I'll pass it along to Larry.
Posted by: BV Lawson | June 18, 2009 at 04:25 PM