A Conversation with Joel Nedecky

broken maybe, but not down

Joel Nedecky is a writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I first ‘met’ him through his short stories and his style of writing immediately appealed to me. It was clear, clean, with fully developed characters, no clunky sentence structures, and free of the tired hard knocks clichés and misery-porn that plague a lot of current crime fiction. Now Joel has a book out, his debut, and it has everything I liked in the stories, only multiplied.

The Broken Detective is published by Run Amok Crime, and we’re talking about it, without spoilers.

You can find the book here.

From reviewers:

“Both hard-boiled and achingly vulnerable, The Broken Detective is an old-school private investigator thriller with emotional resonance for contemporary readers. Nedecky’s talented hand combines tenderness and tension to pull readers into an edgy, beautifully crafted mystery.”
—Amber Cowie, award-winning author of The Off Season

M.E. Proctor: As a writer of detective fiction, I’m always interested in finding out why other authors decide to have a go at it. We’ve all heard that the genre is exhausted and that we should do something else. I decided detective stories were what I enjoyed writing and the hell with the doomsayers. What made you want to write about down-on-his-luck PI Jake Joelsen, the main character of The Broken Detective?

Joel Nedecky: I write crime/detective fiction because it’s what made me fall in love with reading. The early novels of Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, and Walter Mosley. The first Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly. I love how character-driven these books are. I wanted to add to the long line of cool, tough, damaged, and smart detectives that populate those stories. My PI, Jake Joelsen, is an alcoholic. He grew up in and out of foster care, but as an adult he takes care of his mom. He has the potential to be a better man, and he wants to change, but he doesn’t know how. I’ve always been interested in what inspires people to change. Is change even possible? Sometimes, yes. Other times, maybe not.

M.E.: You put the pressure on Jake from page one. He’s been given two weeks to put his affairs in order before being sentenced to possibly two years in prison, for assault. He’s backed into a corner. The judge and his lawyer want him to apologize to the guy he beat up and attend A.A. meetings. And he needs a pile of money so his mother can live decently while he’s locked up. Jake is overwhelmed by the mountain he has to climb; it’s slippery and he keeps sliding.

Joel: I wanted to tell an entertaining story, while examining the realities of alcoholism. I’m not sure many novels capture what it’s truly like to drink like Jake does in The Broken Detective. Eight Million Ways To Die, by Lawrence Block, is one that comes to mind. Most books, TV shows, and movies show the drinking, but not the consequences of it. I’ve been sober for thirteen and a half years, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that drinking keeps you stuck. You can’t evolve or grow in any way because you live on your back foot, never settling in to any type of routine, and never feeling comfortable. You’re stuck, but also stubborn, and the stubbornness is rooted in fear.

M.E.: That Jake is hard-headed comes through in the interactions with his lawyer who tells him to go through the motions, placate the Court, be a good boy. Bow to the institutions that either dismiss him or judge him. Jake has dignity. Why should he apologize to the man who assaulted his mother, why should he beg for money at the bank. And he’s afraid he’s a failure. He’s tempted to disappear in a dark bar, with the bums, and forget all about it. There are some haunting scenes in various watering holes.

Joel: I’ve always been drawn to the underbelly. The dive bars and bathroom stalls and drug deals in cars parked in alleys under broken streetlights. I want to write about these things. At the same time, I’m interested in the big institutions that people rely on, and why they work or don’t work, and for whom they work or don’t work. Crime fiction is a vehicle to examine characters on a micro level, and big institutions on a macro level. That contrast is fascinating.

M.E.: The individual versus the institution theme also plays out in the case that Jake agrees to investigate. A girl, Sadie, has gone missing. She and her family were involved with a cultish organization. It’s a race against the clock. Can Jake find Sadie before his two weeks run out? He’s not too excited at first but the case grows on him, and he’s soon too busy to think about the next drink. The story is told in first person, so we stick with Jake all the way. We know when he’s clear-headed and when he’s in the pits. Did you decide to unspool the narrative that way from the start?

Joel: Yes, that was always the plan. I’ve written a second Jake Joelsen book (also in first person) that no one’s read yet, and a standalone. With the standalone, I used third person and multiple points of view (POV), each one in ‘close third person.’ The Broken Detective is my first novel, and first person comes more naturally to me, so I went with it. With third, I have to be more prepared and the continuity from chapter to chapter is a challenge. In some ways, it takes more planning and probably more skill to write in third person. I read your Declan Shaw story, Love You Till Tuesday, and really enjoyed it. I haven‘t read the new one yet but I will soon. You write in third person, with multiple POVs. How did that come about for you?

M.E.: It’s funny that you say third person takes more planning. It’s the opposite for me, I’m comfortable with ‘close third person’. First person makes me self-conscious. I do it in short stories occasionally, but for a book I find it constraining, claustrophobic. I can’t sustain first person for 300 pages. I want to open the narrative, do the long shot, the wide angle, shift the perspective. And bring a different voice to change the rhythm. Like music, but with chapters: 3 steps Declan, 1 step Isabel, 2 steps Declan, 1 step Jean, etc.

Joel: I like the idea of using POV and chapter order to find rhythm, especially how you describe switching between characters. I use something similar, varying sentence lengths and dialogue with exposition in a way that feels right. I don’t have rules, I just know when it’s off, when a word is missing or there’s one too many. The music of writing, finding the beat of a piece.

M.E.: That’s what struck me when I read your short stories. The realistic dialogue, how it sounded natural and true. In The Broken Detective, I knew how Jake sounded right away. And I had a pretty good idea what kind of guy he was. Somebody you want to shake hands with, and I wanted him to succeed.

Joel: I’m glad you rooted for Jake. That was definitely my goal. He might be a frustrating character to cheer for, at times, but he’s a good guy. I hope the reader sees that. Jake has lived with a moral code that consists of some version of ‘just survive,’ and if people hurt him or his friends, he gets even. A code like that isn’t conducive to long term health and happiness, and part of Jake is just figuring what happiness looks like for himself. He’s basically been on his own since he was thirteen. It takes time to overcome what he’s programmed himself to believe, and to let his guard down.

M.E.: The Broken Detective is a self-contained story but there’s more in store for Jake. I’m curious to see where you’ll take him next. He’s too good at that detective job to shelve his license. Thanks for sharing, Joel, it was a pleasure.

You can read Joel Nedecky’s short stories on his website. He’s also here on Substack, stay in touch! And sit down with a good book …

Once again, here’s the link for The Broken Detective. Happy reading!