Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I served 13 years in the US Army, some of it as a combat photographer. When I returned to civilian life, I made my living in photojournalism, which required extensive travel. When I regained sole custody of my daughter, then 13, I found that single parenthood and globetrotting were incompatible. I chose parenthood, and segued into writing magazine articles and then books. My first book, The Japanese Conspiracy, arose from one of my last photographic assignments, which took me to Japan’s far north and its then adolescent computer/electronics industry. After writing a dozen nonfiction books, a mix of biographies and true crime, I detoured into writing for the screen. Although I had a modestly successful career as a screenwriter, the business end was too difficult for a man in his sixties. I did learn how to write fiction, and that was the next evolution of my writing career. While writing five novels, I also published half a dozen photo books.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first novel introduced the continuing character of Rabbi Ben Maimon. Unable to have his own pulpit, Ben is a roving troubleshooter, an ethical but down-to-earth and very tough investigator. The first book in the series, “For Whom The Shofar Blows,” established Ben’s character, his troubled past, his manner of approaching the world. My new book is “A Scribe Dies In Brooklyn,” and it finds Ben being asked by the President of the State of Israel to find the long-lost third of the Aleppo Codex. The Codex is real, and the fighting in Syria in and around Aleppo is what inspired me to learn more about the Codex and it’s fantastic history. Then someone in Brooklyn found a single page of the missing codex among the effects of his recently dead father. That was all I need to start dreaming about how that page got to Brooklyn and if there might be more.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I often dream the chapter that I will write the next day. It comes to me unbidden, in the small hours of the morning, and when I awake I am eager to get to my computer and get these thoughts sorted and inscribed on the digital page.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The works of Sara Paretsky, Michael Connelly, Peter Robinson and Ian Fleming have been my touchstones.
What are you working on now?
The sequel to “A Scribe Dies In Brooklyn” is in editing and a cover is being created. “A Tale of Two Rabbis” takes the reader to Pittsburgh and a pair of intersecting, long-term swindles involving millions of dollars bilked from unlikely sources.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Goodreads is very useful. So are BookBub and BookSends.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t quit your day job.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When I worked for the Asbury Park Press, my editor gave me three rules:
1) Each word that is printed costs the publisher a dollar: Don’t spend any more of the publisher’s dollars than necessary.
2) A good story should be like a fine lady’s skirt: Long enough to cover the subject, short enough to be interesting.
3) The presses roll at midnight whether my story is in the paper or not.
What are you reading now?
Toby Neal’s “Shattered Palms.”
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ve started a second mystery series, and my literary agent is seeking a publisher for “The Lady In The Boxcar” and “The Man Who Flew Through Fire.” I’m also dreaming about the fourth Rabbi Ben, and working on a nonfiction book about Chicago murders.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Sheherazade, Or 1001 Arabian Nights
Any of Dickens’ novels, but especially Bleak House
Ulysses, by James Joyce
The Tanach (24 books of the Hebrew Bible.)
Author Websites and Profiles
Marvin Wolf Website
Marvin Wolf Amazon Profile
Marvin Wolf’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
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