Location, Location, Location...

I've sold five books and several short stories. Two of the short stories were set in places other than the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico -- everything else is set on the island.

I've been asked several times whether I would ever write anything about NYC where I was born and lived for about 30 years. Tom Cushman asked. My editor Marcia Markland asked. Readers have asked. So now I'm thinking sure, why not?

Originally, I wanted to avoid NYC as a setting because, well, weren't there already a dozen great mystery writers covering the city? Wasn't I on more or less virgin territory with Puerto Rico?

Also, at the time I started writing, who cared about crime in NYC? There was a stretch of years when, in real life, NYC averaged six murders a day. That's SIX with a capital 6. Every day of the year. No breaks for Christmas or New Year's. The Daily News reported some murders with three inches of column space -- real space was reserved for unusual murders: murder/suicides, multiple murders, etc. One gets a bit jaded. Still, I think I've got an angle now.

Also, now that I've been away from NYC for a while and have listened to what passes for news outside of NYC for three years, I think of NYC crime as newsworthy again.

But what else attracts a crime reader to the locale? I mean, what's so special about NYC now that they've gotten the murder rate to something less than two per day? I'll have to think on that.