About
: Jim Fusilli is the author of nine novels including “The Mayor of Polk Street,” published in 2019, and its predecessor “Narrows Gate,” which George Pelecanos called “equal parts Ellroy, Puzo and Scorsese” and Mystery Scene magazine said “must be ranked among the half-dozen most memorable novels about the Mob.” His next novel, “The Price You Pay,” will be published in January 2024.
Jim’s debut novel “Closing Time” was the last work of fiction set in New York City published prior to the 9/11 attacks. The following year, his “A Well-Known Secret” addressed the impact of 9/11 on the residents of lower Manhattan. Subsequent novels include “Tribeca Blues” and “Hard, Hard City,” which Mystery Ink magazine named its Novel of the Year, “Road to Nowhere” and “Billboard Man. His novel for young adults “Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin” was published by Dutton Juvenile.
Jim has published many short stories that have appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies. His “Chellini’s Solution” was included in an edition of the Best American Mystery Stories and his “Digby, Attorney at Law” was nominated for the Edgar and Macavity awards.
The former Rock & Pop Critic of The Wall Street Journal and occasional contributor to National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Jim is the author of two books of non-fiction, both related to popular music. “Pet Sounds” is his tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ classic album. It was translated for a Japanese language edition by Haruki Murakami. Combining his interests, Jim edited and contributed a chapter to “Crime Plus Music: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir,” published in 2017, and “Brutal & Strange: Stories Inspired by the songs of Elvis Costello,” published in December 2023.
For more, please visit www.jimfusilli.com or his Wiki page.
Featured Work
The Price You Pay
A crime thriller, coming-of-age story and a family saga, “The Price You Pay” is set in mid-1970s in a crumbling city where violence and coercion reign. Mickey Wright is thrust into a world controlled by a powerful Teamster local. The man who put him in jeopardy: his father, a free-wheeling policeman well-known to Jersey City's politicians and drug dealers.
When a Black trucker is murdered, Mickey must choose between loyalty to family or to values he shares with Debbie Olsen, the love of his young life who is the daughter of a stable, solidly middle-class family. Memorable appearances by Mickey’s sister, who is broken by her father’s foul will, and memories of their late mother haunt the story. The question of whether Mickey can stand tall, break free and live a worthy life of his choosing isn’t answered until a final, shocking confrontation.
