What is Sheldon Russell reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Sheldon Russell, author of The Yard Dog and The Insane Train.

His entry begins:

I came to the mystery genre rather late in life and have been playing catch up by reading some of the established authors’ early books, Robert B. Parker’s Shrink Rap for example and James Patterson’s Pop Goes the Weasel. Although these books are dated, I suppose, they’re ripe with lessons to be learned. I like reading my way through a writing career from beginning to end. It gives me a sense of an author’s history and writing evolution. So far, I’m taken with Parker’s dialogue and Patterson’s...[read on]

Among the early praise for The Insane Train:

"Sharply sketched characters and a vivid sense of place and time...highlighted the first Hook Runyon novel, The Yard Dog. This one has both of those attributes and adds sad but fascinating insights into the treatment of mental patients; the sclerotic, self-important rail industry; and the lingering pain of the Great Depression. A fine crime novel made even richer with solid historical background."
--Booklist

"Russell’s book is full of well-drawn characters, especially the homeless veterans who have returned to take up the wandering ways they’d lived during the Depression. Readers who enjoy exploring out-of-the-way corners of history will like the details about railroads and care of the mentally ill in 1940s that the author has used to help set the stage. For fans of historical mysteries."
--Library Journal

Visit Sheldon Russell's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Yard Dog.

Writers Read: Sheldon Russell.

--Marshal Zeringue