Reed Farrel Coleman's "Blind To Midnight"

Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirty-one novels—including six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays.

In addition to his acclaimed series characters, Moe Prager and Gus Murphy, he has written the stand-alone novel Gun Church and collaborated with decorated Irish crime writer Ken Bruen on the novel Tower.

Coleman is a four time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories: Best Novel, Best Paperback Original, and Best Short Story. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award for Best PI Novel of the Year. He has also won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards.

With their kids moved away to far off Brooklyn, Coleman, his wife Rosanne, and their cats live in the wilds of Suffolk County on Long Island.

Here Coleman dreamcasts a few central characters for an adaptation of his new Nick Ryan novel, Blind to Midnight:

In Sleepless City, book one of the Nick Ryan series, NYPD detective Nick Ryan is recruited, against his will and better judgement, to become New York City’s shadow warrior, cleaning up messes that might throw the city into chaos. In book two, Blind To Midnight, Nick is tasked with solving the decades old homicide that happened on 9/11, the only homicide that day not connected to the terrorist attacks. Simultaneously, he’s dealing with the senseless homicide of his uncle, a long retired uniformed cop, and his second wife.

In writing a series, a good crime writer populates his novels with a strong supporting cast of characters. I don’t believe in “minor” characters. When I write them, all my characters have full emotional lives, so when they appear on the page, regardless of how briefly, they should seem alive to the reader. No one in my novels appears just to say, “Hark, I hear the cannons roar.” While I have done this for thirty plus novels, managing this on screen would depend on the actor playing the role and the director shaping the story.

Let me focus on three crucial supporting characters in the Nick novels and who I might cast in their roles. Nick’s ersatz partner is a tough, mostly silent, Black detective known only as Ace to Nick. The easy choice would be Samuel L. Jackson, but my pick would be Jeffrey Wright. Wright is so gifted and his range is broad. What I appreciate about Wright’s style is his quiet acting. What he does with his eyes, his expressions says a great deal. In the role of Shana, the love of Nick’s life, mother of his child, who is married to another man, I would cast Mila Kunis. I could give you lots of reasons, but the easiest answer is that in Book 1, I describe Shana as looking like Mila Kunis’ sister. She’s an underrated actor because of her looks and her beauty is essential to the role. Third is Mac, the seemingly harmless, full of blarney, bartender who is actually a former British Intelligence operative. There’s only one man for that role, Brendan Gleeson. It was Gleeson I was imagining as I wrote the character. He’s got the perfect look, he’s the right age, and his ability to be both comedic and terrifying make him perfect for the role.

Director? We’ll save that for the next book in the series.

Visit Reed Farrel Coleman's website.

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The Page 69 Test: Where It Hurts.

The Page 69 Test: What You Break.

My Book, The Movie: Sleepless City.

Q&A with Reed Farrel Coleman.

The Page 69 Test: Sleepless City.

Writers Read: Reed Farrel Coleman.

The Page 69 Test: Blind to Midnight.

--Marshal Zeringue