Steve Hamilton

Set against the stark, chilly beauty of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight private investigator series have long attracted fans and critical raves for its vigorous prose, gripping suspense, and fully rounded characters. This month, St. Martin’s Minotaur imprint launches his seventh mystery, A Stolen Season (LJ 8/06), as part of its “The Beast Breaks Out” marketing campaign.

Readers often feel frozen stiff after finishing one of your Alex McKnight books because you write so effectively about Michigan, especially in winter. How do you do that?

I grew up there, so I know all about snow and cold weather. But I do it to set a mood: for many readers “noir” or “hardboiled” brings thoughts of Raymond Chandler’s Los Angeles, with endless sun and palm trees. I think “cold” because there’s something about a winter day with a foot of new snow and an icy wind…it’s a battle just to get out the door.

You’ve given your series protagonist a pretty hard life; in A Stolen Season, things don’t get much better. And you’re an easy-going, happy guy. How do you get into Alex’s head?

Good question! I’m not sure. The creative process is still pretty mysterious to me. Alex is most definitely not me. He’s older, a lot lonelier, and probably has a lot less common sense. He is a total sucker for a friend in need, the one thing he and I may have in common. That’s how he gets into so much trouble.

Would things be the same if your debut A Cold Day in Paradise hadn’t won the PWA/St. Martin’s Press Best First Private Eye Novel contest, as well as the Edgar and Shamus Awards?

Winning the St. Martin’s contest was a great way to break into the business, obviously. But years from now, it’ll be the answer to a trivia question. The books are what you hope will last. If I can keep getting better and if people keep enjoying the books, I’ll be holding up my end of the bargain.

This is your seventh book in the Alex McKnight series. Does it get any easier?

I think that if it gets a lot easier, you’re probably not doing it right. Dennis Lehane once told me that every writer eventually has to face the book that says, “No.” I tried to do something new last year, and it just didn’t work; and I went back to Alex. People say that this is the best book in the series.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on what is probably a new series featuring a probation officer in a semirural county in upstate New York which is where I now live.