New Book
Proudly reissued by Soho Crime, noir master Scott Phillips’s The Walkaway explores the far-reaching consequences of the deception and violence of its predecessor, The Ice Harvest. Summer 1989: Gunther Fahnstiel, a retired cop, walks out of his Wichita nursing home to track down the pile of cash he stashed away a decade ago. The money isn’t exactly his; on Christmas of 1979, Gunther and his wife accidentally ran over a stranger with their RV and found the stacks of bills in his bag, along with a set of plane tickets, a .22-caliber pistol, and a bottle of Johnnie Walker. Gunther’s senile mind wanders back to 1952, when performed some unsavory tasks to protect his then-girlfriend Sally Ogden’s illegal sex ring. Unbeknownst to Gunther at the time, Sally’s estranged husband was back in town, intent on stopping her operation by whatever means necessary. As old enemies resurface in pursuit of Gunther, the past and present will collide in a brilliant reckoning. This dark comedy, at once prequel and sequel to Phillips’s award-winning debut The Ice Harvest, proves that no walkaway can really escape unscathed.
About the Author:
Scott Phillips is the author of eight novels and a collection of short stories. His first novel, the Ice Harvest, won the California Book Award silver medal for Best First Fiction, and was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, for the John Creasey and the Maccallan Daggers, for the Hammett Prize, and for the Anthony Award. Born in Wichita, Kansas, he attended Wichita State University as a French Lit major, and also studied creative writing under James Lee Burke, whose English Comp 101 class he had randomly selected as a freshman. In Wichita he worked as a bookstore and record store clerk, photographic equipment salesman, portrait photographer, real estate photographer, and translator. Over the years in France he worked as a translator/interpreter, French teacher, residential advisor, tour guide, cafeteria manager and television writer.
CFA Master Class: Scott Phillips
The bestselling crime writer Scott Phillips offers advice to budding young authors.
