{"id":799408,"date":"2026-05-16T00:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799408\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T00:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:46:15","slug":"why-jordan-harper-spent-late-nights-out-in-la-for-a-violent-masterpiece-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/799408\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jordan Harper spent late nights out in LA for \u2018A Violent Masterpiece\u2019 \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TV veteran and author, Jordan Harper is the author of\u00a0the gritty crime novels\u00a0\u201cShe Rides Shotgun,\u201d\u00a0\u201cLast King of California\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and the set-in-Hollywood,\u00a0\u201cEverybody Knows.\u201d\u00a0His new book,\u00a0\u201cA Violent Masterpiece,\u201d\u00a0takes place in the same dark,\u00a0L.A. landscape.\u00a0\u00a0We spoke to him in 2023 about \u201cEverybody Knows,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0his work and the setback that led him on the path to writing his books about Hollywood. This week, he answered\u00a0the Book Pages Q&A via email about the new book.<\/p>\n

Q. You told us<\/a> you bought a police scanner to go nightcrawling for your new book, \u201cA Violent Masterpiece.\u201d How did nightcrawling affect your writing life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s good to remember what a wild, electric city this is. I\u2019m by nature an early-to-bed, early-to-rise type, but my characters all live by night. So it was good for me to get out into the streets after dark and see how neon and alive this city is.<\/p>\n

Q. You\u2019ve said that fiction is a better avenue for exploring the topics you\u2019re interested in than reporting. Did the fiction in this novel feel especially close to what\u2019s in the news?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In some ways, the news caught up with me. But the idea of \u201cobjectivity\u201d is preventing journalism from accurately describing the world right now. We need stories to help us make sense of the world. We need lies that tell the truth.<\/p>\n

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Sign up for our free newsletter about books, authors, reading and more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The two books I shout out the most often are \u201cTapping the Source\u201d by Kem Nunn and \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone\u201d by (the recently deceased) Daniel Woodrell. And I\u2019m always pushing S.A. Cosby<\/a> and Megan Abbott<\/a> on people.<\/p>\n

Q. What are you reading now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m reading \u201cActs of Desperation\u201d by Megan Nolan, and re-reading David Peace\u2019s \u201c1977\u201d (the second of his \u201cRed Riding Quartet\u201d). I\u2019m also reading a nonfiction book about Che Guevara\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Q. How do you decide what to read next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have stacks and stacks of things all over the place, so I sort of dig through the drifts and wait for something to catch my eye. For fiction, I\u2019m often looking for a mood that will reinforce the mood or tone of my current writing project. My next book is a first-person novel from the perspective of a woman, which is how I came to pick up \u201cActs of Desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHarriet the Spy\u201d looms large in my personal mythos<\/a>. It\u2019s a great kids\u2019 novel about wanting to be a writer, and it\u2019s a kids\u2019 book that deals with themes so big that you don\u2019t quite get them when you first read it. But even as a kid, I could sense that there were big things swimming under the surface of that book.<\/p>\n

Q. Is there a book or type of book you\u2019re reluctant to read?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is very difficult for me to read novels that don\u2019t have good prose. I don\u2019t engage with them. So I tend to pass on a lot of novels if the writing itself is pro forma or bland.<\/p>\n

\n

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Q. Can you recall a book that felt like it was written with you in mind?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Ellroy is obviously a favorite of mine, and his \u201cAmerican Tabloid\u201d is an ideal novel to me. The big, ambitious story, the mixture of fact and fiction, and the radioactive pulse of the words are all what I aspire to do.<\/p>\n

Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The original hardback cover for \u201cNo Country for Old Men\u201d is one of my all-time favorites. I love the bright red and the simplicity of the image. It\u2019s exactly what I think a book cover should be. (And I also love the cover for \u201cA Violent Masterpiece\u201d with its neon gravitas).<\/p>\n

Q. Is there a genre or type of book you read the most \u2014 and what would you like to read more of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would like to read more spy novels. I have read some le Carr\u00e9, but I\u2019d like to read more.<\/p>\n

Q. Do you read books in translation \u2013 or another language? If so, which ones might you recommend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the great novels of the world is \u201cRomance of the Three Kingdoms,\u201d the classic Chinese novel. Translated, it\u2019s 600,000 words long, but it is a great story. But don\u2019t read the abridged version. That\u2019s no good.<\/p>\n

Q. Which books are you planning to read next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to read at least one \u201cbig\u201d book a year, and I have a stack of them to choose from. \u201cMoby-Dick,\u201d \u201cThe Brothers Karamazov,\u201d \u201c2666,\u201d and the \u201cIliad\u201d are all up for consideration.<\/p>\n

\n

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Q. Is there a topic you\u2019ll always read about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like biographies or memoirs of creative people. Kim Gordon\u2019s recent memoir, David Lynch\u2019s memoir, and a biography of poet Frank Stanford<\/a> are all ones I\u2019ve read recently.<\/p>\n

Q. Is there a person who made an impact on your reading life \u2014 a teacher, a parent, a librarian, or someone else?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My parents bought a lot of books for my brother and I when we were young, and then they wrote the difficulty level of each book on the cover. Which was a sneaky way of challenging us to try and read the difficult stuff (maybe they didn\u2019t even mean to do it, but that\u2019s what it did to me). And I was off to the races.<\/p>\n

Q. What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think that tone is the most important thing for a book (or any work of art). How everything works together to invoke a mood. That\u2019s what I think about when I read and what I think about when I write.<\/p>\n

Q. Are you someone who must finish every book you start \u2014 or is it OK to put down the ones you don\u2019t connect with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life is short; drop the book.<\/p>\n

Q. What\u2019s a memorable book experience \u2014 good or bad \u2014 you\u2019re willing to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember as an elementary school student getting into trouble for reading Stephen King in class. It only made the thrill of the books better.<\/p>\n

\n

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Q. Is there a book that tapped into an emotion you didn\u2019t expect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMoses and Monotheism,\u201d by Sigmund Freud, his last book, is a strangely affecting book that wrestles with the burden of history and myth. But I didn\u2019t expect to laugh out loud as many times as I did. Freud is pretty funny \u2014 at least, funnier than you would expect.<\/p>\n

Q. What\u2019s your comfort read?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Frank Herbert\u2019s Dune novels.<\/p>\n

Q. What do you look for in a book?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to fall face forward into a book. Straight through the pages.<\/p>\n

Q. Do you have a favorite bookstore or bookstore experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vroman\u2019s in Pasadena is my home base<\/a> and a terrific bookstore. I will always love Powell\u2019s in Portland<\/a>, America\u2019s biggest bookstore. But I also love used bookstores with their smells and old, forgotten books.<\/p>\n

Q. What\u2019s something about your book that no one knows?<\/strong><\/p>\n

How much of it is true.<\/p>\n

Q. If you could ask your readers something, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do you know that \u201cA Violent Masterpiece\u201d makes a terrific gift?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A TV veteran and author, Jordan Harper is the author of\u00a0the gritty crime novels\u00a0\u201cShe Rides Shotgun,\u201d\u00a0\u201cLast King of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":799409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1022,1582,276,2961,224,5337,1071,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-799408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-the-book-pages","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}