WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING is Ang Pompano's debut mystery set in Savannah, Georgia. We've asked questions about writing and the story of Ang, one of our long time board members.
How would you describe the plot of the book?
When his girlfriend dumps him and a dealer rams him off a bridge, Al DeSantis quits the New Haven Police Department. As he plans to head for LA, he learns his father who abandoned him as a kid has deeded him the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency in Georgia.
Now fearing bridges, Al drives to Savannah intending to sell fast and go west, but before he can, he discovers a strong and attractive female detective named Maxine, a dead body on the dock—and his father, alive, suffering from Alzheimer’s, and determined to help his “new partner Al” solve the crime.
Is there a setting in your book that you would like to visit?
The book is set in Savannah which I visited many times, both before and after writing WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING. It is a town I love because its antebellum architecture and cobblestoned squares escaped the redevelopment craze of the 1960s that destroyed the character of so many cities. But you know, no matter how beautiful a place is there is always a dark side. I hope I captured a bit of both in the book.
What was the most interesting thing you learned writing the book?
That your childhood stays with you no matter how old you get. I spent much of my childhood in the south. I didn’t realize at the time that I was the only kid named Angelo who liked okra and ate black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. It all came back as I wrote the book.
Which of your skill sets were useful constructing the plot?
Besides loving the south, I’ve always liked older people. I have seniors in most of my short stories. I planned WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING to be about an older couple who moved south to become a detective team. But publishers today want a young protagonist. So, I studied the mannerisms of my son and his friends. Then I made my detective, Al DeSantis, 36 years old and sent him to Savannah. Still, I wanted to write older characters so I gave Al a father, Big Al, who is as flawed as he is. But like his son he has a good heart and a sense of justice. Big Al is in the early stages of dementia, a disease my own father suffered from.
What meal and drink do you think would pair well with your book?
That’s easy, shrimp and grits with a side of fried green tomatoes washed down by a beer from Savannah’s haunted Moonlight Brewery.
WHEN IT’S TIME FOR LEAVING, is Ang Pompano’s first novel. He has stories in the 2019 Malice Domestic Anthology and in SEASCAPE: THE BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2019. He is on the New England Crime Bake Planning Committee and is a board member of Sisters in Crime New England.