Congratulations to Dan McV, the lucky winner of an advance reader copy of Wallace Stroby’s new novel, Cold Shot to the Heart.
Additional congratulations to Greg T., who found the Richard Stark reference in Cold Shot to the Heart. From my interview with Wallace Stroby:
As far as references, there is one major Stark homage in Cold Shot, specifically an exchange of dialogue. So far, no one’s spotted it, so I’m not going to give it away. I went back and forth on whether to include it, then decided if I was ever going to do it, that was the place, because it fit perfectly. So that was my tribute – or theft. Depends how you look at it, I guess.
The contest was to answer this:
What is the reference to a Richard Stark novel in Cold Shot to the Heart, and what novel does it reference?
Answer below the fold! Stop reading if you want to figure it out for yourself (or avoid a minor spoiler).
Greg wrote:
Just as Crissa is about to sleep with the man (Travis) she met at a bar, she receives a phone call from Hector. “Travis,” she says as soon as she hangs up. “Go home.”
Which is a direct homage to (lift from?) The Rare Coin Score, when Parker is about to sleep with the divorcee he picked up on the beach and he receives a phone call from Handy McKay. As soon as he hangs up, he says to her, “Go home.”
I expected this contest to last months before someone claimed the prize, and thought perhaps the prize would never be claimed. Just goes to show what a knowledgeable bunch y’all are that it only took a couple of weeks.
Greg scores a very nice prize–a signed, hardcover first edition of Stroby’s debut novel (and first in the Harry Rane series), The Barbed-Wire Kiss.
Again, congratulations to both Dan and Greg, and thanks to Wallace Stroby for his help with the contest and for providing the prize.
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