{Character Interview} Frank Swiver of 'Last Puffs'

We’re thrilled to be talking to Frank Swiver from Harley Mazuk’s, Last Puffs.  It is a pleasure to have him with us today at Pimp That Character!

Thank you for your interview, Mr. Swiver.  How old are you and what do you do for a living?

You can call me Frank. Last Puffs opens in 1938 when I was in Aragón, fighting with the Loyalists against Franco’s army. I was 25 and had been unemployed when I signed up with the Abe Lincoln brigade. At the end of the book in San Francisco in 1949, I’m 36. I’m a private investigator, doing business as Old Vine Detective Agency. I’ve only been in business for myself for a few years, but I started working as an unlicensed p.i. back in 1942, mostly investigative work for my college pal, Max Rabinowitz. Max is a mouthpiece, and a good one.

What would I love the most about you?

It’s hard to say; I hardly know you. But what I’m most proud of is that I’m a pacifist. Believe me, it takes courage to be non-violent in world like ours, especially working as a private eye, a job where you meet ruthless, nefarious characters.

Where do you go when you are angry?

The easy answer is I like to go to the Black Lizard Lounge, a dive bar south of the slot with a good wine list. I can walk there from my office, and you’ll usually find me there for lunch or after work two or three times a week. 

But when I really think about your question, I remember something I once read about General Grant. What did he do that enabled him to defeat Robert E. Lee where so many others—McDowell, McClellan, Ambrose Burnside, Joe Hooker—failed? He went after Lee, and then, win or lose, Grant stayed in contact with the Army of Northern Virginia until he defeated it. I go after the cause of my anger and I keep after it until the anger’s gone. 

What is your idea of a perfect day?

I’m sitting in my office and a client, a dame, comes in. She has dark hair, dark eyes, long legs, a knockout figure. Maybe she’s scared, lost, and needing help. She comes in tentatively and says, "Are you the detective?"

"That’s me, sister. Frank Swiver, at your service."

"I'm in awful trouble, Mr. Swiver."

"Sit down, sweetheart," I'd say. "You've come to the right place. Trouble is my specialty. Tell me about it." I reach into the “R” drawer of my filing cabinet and take out a bottle of “Red” and pour us a couple glasses. I listen, I speak to her soothingly, confidently. Soon she’s calm, she trusts me. Now if it’s really a perfect day, she’ll be carrying plenty of cash and she pays me for a week’s work in advance.

What are three must haves when shopping at the grocery store?

I always buy bacon, eggs, and coffee. I’m a breakfast guy. I know it would be four items, but can I grab a loaf of sourdough bread too, for toast?

Are you a loner or do you prefer to surround yourself with friends?

There’s no question that I’m a lonely guy. There’s the occasional dame who helps me forget my loneliness for a few hours, or a night. I’d love to have some friends to sit with me, to drink wine, to smoke, to laugh, but I don’t.

Who is your best friend?

There’s only Max. I met Max Rabinowitz in college at Berkeley. In 1934 my lover, Cicilia Ricci, dumped me and married an ex-gangster Rusty O’Callaghan. I started slipping into darkness at the bottom of a bottle of red wine, until Max finally saved me. In ’37, Max, who’s a Red, by the way, took me to a meeting at Berkeley about the Abe Lincoln brigade. By the end of the night we’d both signed up and we spent the next year and a half in Spain. Max save me from drinking myself to death here, and I saved his life when he was wounded in Spain. We’ve had our ups and downs since them, but our bond is a strong one.

Do you have children?

Funny you should ask. I didn’t see Cicilia from the time she left me in ’34 until we met again during the Thursby case in ‘48, (White with Fish, Red with Murder http://www.harleymazuk.com/books-and-other-writings.html). Cici was a widow by then, having disposed of Rusty with a poison mushroom omelet, and we got back together for about a week. Then the night she died, she told me she’d been pregnant when we split up, and that I was the father of her daughter, Brigid, who was going on 14 then. I’m also raising Rusty’s kid, Brigid’s younger sister, Meaghan.

What is your favorite weather?

I like sun and mild temperatures with low humidity. The San Francisco climate is good. One time in July, I spent the night in Max’s cabin, about 7,000 feet up in the Sierras. When I woke up, there was frost on the ground. Frost in July! But it felt great.

What’s your idea of a perfect meal?

Well, you know about the bacon, eggs, sourdough toast, and java. But that’s just breakfast. For dinner, I like a rib-eye steak, a side of spuds, and a bottle of Zinfandel. 

Thanks for having me on your blog!

Title: Last Puffs

Genre: Mystery (private eye)

Author: Harley Mazuk

Website: http://www.harleymazuk.com/

Publisher: New Pulp Press http://www.newpulppress.com/bookpage/lastpuffs.html 

Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Puffs-Harley-Mazuk/dp/1945734205/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1515689464&sr=1-1&keywords=last+puffs&_encoding=UTF8&tag=newpulppressc-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=60732a8df062e4a8e9844ca15b77b183&camp=1789&creative=9325

About the Author

Harley Mazuk was born in Cleveland, the last year that the Indians won the World Series. He majored in English literature at Hiram College in Ohio, and Elphinstone College, Bombay, India. Harley worked as a record salesman (vinyl) and later served the U.S. Government in Information Technology and in communications, where he honed his writing style as an editor and content provider for official web sites.

Retired now, he likes to write pulp fiction, mostly private eye stories, several of which have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. His first full length novel, White with Fish, Red with Murder, was released in 2017, and his newest, Last Puffs, just came out in January 2018.

Harley’s other passions are his wife Anastasia, their two children, reading, running, Italian cars, California wine and peace.

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About the Book:

Title: LAST PUFFS
Author: Harley Mazuk
Publisher: New Pulp Press
Pages: 293
Genre: Mystery/Crime/Private Eye

BOOK BLURB:

Frank Swiver and his college pal, Max Rabinowitz, both fall in love with Amanda Zingaro, courageous Republican guerilla, in the Spanish civil war. But the local fascists murder her and her father.

Eleven years later in San Francisco in 1949, Frank, traumatized by the violence in Spain, has become a pacifist and makes a marginal living as a private eye. Max who lost an eye in Spain but owes his life to Frank, has pledged Frank eternal loyalty. He’s a loyal communist party member and successful criminal attorney.

Frank takes on a case for Joan Spring, half-Chinese wife of a wealthy banker. Joan seduces Frank to ensure his loyalty. But Frank busts up a prostitution/white slavery ring at the Lotus House a brothel in Chinatown, where Joan was keeping refugees from Nanking prisoners.

Then Max sees a woman working in a Fresno cigar factory, who is a dead ringer for Amanda, and brings in Frank, who learns it is Amanda. She has tracked the fascists who killed her father and left her for dead from her village in Spain to California. Amanda wants Frank to help her take revenge. And by the way, she says the ten-year-old boy with her is Frank’s son.

Joan Spring turns out to be a Red Chinese secret agent, and she’s drawn a line through Max’s name with a pencil. Can Frank save Max again? Can he help Amanda avenge her father when he’s sworn off violence? Can he protect her from her target’s daughter, the sadistic Veronica Rios-Ortega? Join Frank Swiver in the swift-moving story, Last Puffs.

Praise:

.5 out of 5 stars Wonderful Read - Easy and Fun

February 10, 2018

Format: Kindle Edition| Verified Purchase

Frank Swiver is a detective. Murder investigations are his specialty. He likes wine, loose women and fast cars. Not necessarily in that order. Swiver inhabits an earlier world that is archaic and, without doubt, politically incorrect by today’s standards. Harley Mazuk recreates in Swiver a character from another era whose story is fun and entertaining. Mazuk has an impressive knowledge of wines and cars which permeate his narrative. As to his knowledge of women, I am not competent to judge. I do know that the geography and time period portrayed is well researched. There are many twists and turns to the plot as well as an injection of espionage that keeps the reader guessing. Fans of old fashion detective novels will enjoy this book. I know, I did.

-- Amazon Reviewer

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