Years ago, I got a job as a crime reporter at a daily newspaper because the guy who had the job before me was arrested for flashing girls at a local high school.
Covering crime enthralled me — it was the single greatest reporting job I’ve ever had. It transformed how I viewed my career and what I was doing in journalism. My books all have that influence.
In that job, I covered something like 200 murders and learned to write.
I talk about some of this in this walk through the Tenderloin, where I once briefly worked for a monthly community newspaper, published in four languages, and where I wrote some of my first actual stories.
The ostensible reason for the vid is to review a mystery novel, but my book reviews, as always, are more about what a book reminds me of, the ideas it provokes.
Hence this walk through the Tenderloin, talking about crime reporting, writing, Honduran fentanyl dealers, and a homicide at a card club.
I may do more of these walking/talking videos about stories I’ve done in my career.
So check it out and tell me what you think. Share it, too.
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