Friend and fellow author Lew Paper‘s latest novel Legacy of Lies – a historical thriller featuring Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance – released on March 18th. Lew is the author of six other books, both fiction and non-fiction, including In the Cauldron: Terror, Tension, and the American Ambassador’s Struggle to Avoid Pearl Harbor, and Perfect: Don Larsen’s Miraculous World Series Game and the Men Who Made It Happen.
I invited Lew to provide some background for Legacy of Lies and his approach to discovering the facts.
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Facts are a critical component of almost every book – even fiction.
In the case of nonfiction, the importance of facts is obvious. People read nonfiction books, in part at least, because they want to learn something. And so, for the author, it’s imperative that facts ring true and that opinions be based on credible evidence. For the conscientious author of nonfiction, it can be a laborious task. “[F]inding facts – through reading documents or through interviewing and re-interviewing – can’t be rushed,” said Robert A. Caro, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of President Lyndon B. Johnson and New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. “Truth takes time.”
Caro’s perspective is echoed by accomplished fiction writers. To be sure, every novel – whether it’s a thriller, romance, science fiction, adventure, or historical fiction – depends to a large extent on the author’s imagination and creativity. But the success of almost every novel relies on the author’s credibility, and that depends on whether the reader thinks the author knows what he or she is talking about.
Best-selling author Brad Meltzer (author of The Tenth Justice and many other thrillers involving spies and the government) is one fiction writer who understands the importance of facts. When asked by an interviewer where he gets his ideas, Meltzer responded, “Research and more research.” And when asked to identify “the biggest obstacle” in setting up a plot, Meltzer added, “Trying to make it fit into reality. Sure, it’s fiction, but fiction is at its best when it has one foot in reality.” Best-selling author David Baldacci (who wrote Absolute Power and, like Meltzer, many other thrillers involving spies and government) agreed. “Research,” he told one interviewer, “provides you the necessary details to flesh out a world that did not exist before you created it and gives it life and authenticity.” Dan Brown – author of The Da Vinci Code and other best-selling novels which feature symbologist Robert Langdon – is of the same view. “[R]esearch,” he told one reader, “is the most overlooked facet of writing a successful page turner.”
The reader’s reaction can be disappointing for an author who fails to inspire confidence in truth-telling. Take one isolated comment about Delia Owens best-selling novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. The book has received more than 45,000 5-star ratings on Amazon. But there are some who have a different perspective – primarily because the author’s depiction of the locale (the rural coast of North Carolina) does not comport with the facts. “I grew up in coastal North Carolina and was born in the ‘40s,” said one person who gave the book a 1-star rating, “so I would be the same age as the main characters. It was clear that the author did not do her research about the area and about what would be plausible at the time of the story.”
I understood the importance of facts when I wrote Legacy of Lies. I understood too the importance of creating a reality the reader would accept. That was especially important for me because Legacy of Lies revolves around Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance in July 1975 – a topic that has been relentlessly covered in the press as well as in books and articles.
As a starting point, I certainly reviewed the relevant literature, including the many books that have been written about Hoffa and his long reign as the Teamsters president. I also read books that touched on the forces surrounding Hoffa’s disappearance – the Mafia, Bobby Kennedy’s vendetta against Hoffa when he was attorney general, and Richard Nixon, who was counting on the Teamsters support for his presidential re-election campaign in 1972. But reading books was not enough for me.
I scoured the Internet for articles, comments, and postings that talked about Hoffa and his disappearance. But even that was not sufficient. An essential element in understanding Hoffa’s disappearance is the condition which President Nixon placed on the warrant he signed in December 1971 to commute Hoffa’s prison sentence to time served (and allowed Hoffa to get out of jail much sooner than he otherwise would have). The condition prohibited Hoffa from becoming involved with the Teamsters until 1980. In effect, the condition meant that Hoffa could not – as he hoped – return to being president of the Teamsters.
The condition was the lynchpin, I believe, in Hoffa’s disappearance because both Nixon and the Mafia were concerned that Hoffa’s return to being president of the Teamsters would complicate their lives. Frank Fitzsimmons, who succeeded Hoffa as Teamsters president, was much more compliant with requests from Nixon and the Mafia. And so I reached out to archivists at the Nixon Presidential Library in California for documents and taped interviews with Nixon that might shed light on the condition in the presidential commutation warrant. That turned out to be a fruitful exercise.
However significant their importance, facts cannot guarantee good reviews or soaring sales. But working hard to get the facts does increase the chance of success. As legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once remarked, “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”
Legacy of Lies by Lew Paper
As we approach the 50th anniversary of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance on that sultry afternoon in July 1975, Lew Paper has crafted a fast-paced historical thriller which raises new questions about the reasons for the abduction.
The book commences with a startling premise: What if a former FBI special agent-turned-private investigator had been hired to trail Hoffa in that summer of 1975 and saw him get in a car with three other men, all of whom the investigator knew from his prior experience with the FBI? Would that investigator report what he knew to the FBI when he later learned Hoffa had been abducted—knowing the Mafia’s practice of eliminating witnesses to its crimes?
Sam Silver, the former FBI special agent, is that investigator. But he is reluctant to contact the FBI. His only child, a high school student, just lost his mother (and Silver’s wife) to cancer, and Sam cannot bear the thought of leaving his son without any parent.
Fast forward eleven years. Sam’s son, now a young lawyer in Washington, DC, embarks on an odyssey to determine whether his father’s untimely death on a sailboat ten years earlier was, as the coroner determined, an accident. Or was it something more sinister?
In a story filled with unexpected twists and turns, Legacy of Lies brings into focus the forces surrounding Hoffa’s disappearance—Bobby Kennedy’s vendetta against Hoffa when he was Attorney General, President Richard Nixon’s bid for re-election in 1972, and, last but not least, the Mafia.
Congratulations on Legacy of Lies, Lew. And many thanks for sharing your thoughts on the importance of facts and digging for the truth when writing historical fiction.
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M.K. Tod writes historical fiction. Her latest novel THAT WAS THEN is a contemporary thriller. Mary’s other novels, THE ADMIRAL’S WIFE, PARIS IN RUINS, TIME AND REGRET, LIES TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, Google Play and iTunes. She can be contacted on Facebook or on her website www.mktod.com.
