The car: In so many stories, in print, on TV, and in the theatres, it’s all about the car. The crux of the story could be a supernatural car like in Stephen King’s Christine. Or the car could just be a car, like in the long-running TV series Supernatural, yet still be like another character in the story. Michael J. Clark, author of the new crime novel Mahoney’s Camaro, certainly thinks so.
- Mahoney’s Camaro
- Michael Clark
- ECW Press
- $18.95 Paperback, 320 pages
- ISBN: 978-17-70414-03-7
“Cars are characters,” he says. “They deserve to be treated as such. I’ve owned over 50 of them, and I truly believe that there’s a personality somewhere beneath all that paint and steel.”
Mahoney’s Camaro is the story of Steve Mahoney, a tow-truck driver working out of Winnipeg in the summer of 1985. He’s called on to pull a ’67 Camaro out of the Red River, and while the car appeals to Steve, the body handcuffed to the steering wheel doesn’t. Mahoney and this car crossing paths is the moment where the crime story takes its first steps.
But who is Steve Mahoney? “The guy from high school that you always knew would go into the trade,” Clark says, “the best of blue collar, an amalgamation of many of the incredible car people I’ve known over the years.”
He’s a regular guy who loves cars and gets drawn into a much bigger story, kind of like Clark.
After years as an automotive journalist, Clark turned to fiction with his debut novel Clean Sweep. To create Mahoney’s Camaro, he took inspiration from his former non-fiction writing life.
Classic cars, 1980s Winnipeg, and a gripping crime story – these make up the essence of what Clark brings to readers of Mahoney’s Camaro.
Considering this is a book that has a car at the centre of it and a lot of car-guy language, non-gearheads might feel a little intimidated. Don’t be.
Clark says, “You don’t have to be a gearhead to get Mahoney’s Camaro. If you are, you’ll be pleased. If you’re not, you won’t feel intimidated by the references. There’s plenty of references to the business of car that will resonate with any reader.” Any reader who loves a good crime story, that is.
Clark’s love of crime stories started early. “As a child of the ’70s, the only warning I ever received about a police procedural was whether it was being broadcast in black-and-white or living colour.” Authors like Mickey Spillane, Elmore Leonard, and James Ellroy reinforced that passion.
Clark is also fan of Winnipeg, the city where both of his novels are set. Writing about Winnipeg is a choice that comes naturally to him.
“I remember someone saying that I must be writing about Winnipeg because I had to, that I didn’t have the means to write about other places. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dig into a little Winnipeg history and you discover a place that has always had an outlaw feel,” he says.
“Who wouldn’t want to write about a place that gives you those kinds of stories?”
