Mike Dennis

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
After thirty years as a professional musician (piano),I left Key West in 2006 and moved to Las Vegas to become a professional poker player. I turned to writing when his first novel, THE TAKE, was picked up by a publisher in 2009.

In my writing, I’ve created the Key West Nocturnes Series, a set of standalone noir novels. These books will lift the veil on Key West and reveal it as a true noir city, on a par with Los Angeles, New Orleans, or Miami. There are currently three novels in this series.

I’ve also created the Jack Barnett / Las Vegas series, hardboiled tales centering around a reluctant ex-private investigator living in Sin City, USA. The series consists of two novelettes and a full novel.

In addition to all that, I’ve published an experimental rock & roll novel, as well as a short story collection.

In late 2010, I moved back to Key West, where I enjoy year-round island living with my wife Yleana, whom I married on a warm December night in 2012 on the rooftop of an apartment building in Havana, Cuba.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest book is called THE DOWNTOWN DEAL. It’s the third entry in the Jack Barnett / Las Vegas series. Las Vegas is a mecca for hustlers of every kind, and that includes the “legitimate” field of real estate. Incredible amounts of money are essentially wagered on the flimsiest of notions. I wanted to drag Jack Barnett into this world, and I think it turned out to be a compelling story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Writers like Jim Thompson, James M Cain, David Goodis…these guys defined noir fiction: minor players in society faced with extraordinary circumstances and few choices. Thompson could get inside the first-person criminal mind like no one else. Goodis is the master of writing about characters whose lives have no meaning and who are utterly without hope. Cain can turn the most innocuous settings into festering sores of sex, jealousy, and murder. Gil Brewer, Harry Whittington, Vicki Hendricks, Tom Piccirilli…these are only a few of the top-caliber noir fiction writers who have influenced me.

What are you working on now?
I’m writing the fourth installment in my Key West Nocturnes series, a noir tale called THE GUNS OF MIAMI. I hope to have it finished and out by the end of the year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. And learn the business of writing. The days of legacy publishers doing everything for you are long gone.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write. And learn the business of writing.

What are you reading now?
COGAN’S TRADE by George V Higgins.

What is your favorite book of all time?
I can’t narrow it down to one. I would list a few that are in my pantheon, and they would include THE GRIFTERS by Jim Thompson, ONE LONELY NIGHT by Mickey Spillane, A SIMPLE PLAN by Scott Smith, STREET 8 by Douglas Fairbairn, THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett, STREET OF NO RETURN by David Goodis, AMERICAN TABLOID by James Ellroy…I better stop now. I could go on and on.

Author Websites and Profiles
Mike Dennis Website
Mike Dennis Amazon Profile

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