Bookwild - Devil in Profile by Kimberly G. Giarratano: Gritty Noir with a Sense of Humor

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

This week, I talk with Kimberley G. Giarratano about her second book in The Billie Levine Series Devil in Profile.  We dive into her favorite parts about writing the series and where she got her inspiration for the art theft plot.Devil in Profile SynopsisUnlicensed P.I. Billie Levine is trying to bank some extra cash, so she picks up hours working as a process server for another investigative firm. Mindless and mostly 9 to 5, Billie is content to simply hand over court documents until during a routine stakeout, she stumbles upon the corpse of an elderly man, an art collector with ties to Nazi Germany.Compared to Billie, the dead man has it easy. Billie is feeling on edge lately. Maybe it’s because her father is insisting his estranged kids come to his wedding in Sedona, or that David is making plans to move out, or that a smug teaching assistant is getting underfoot on her latest case.Although, it’s possible she could use the help when the cops zero in on Billie’s boyfriend, Aaron, and his connections to an international art ring. Turns out, Aaron’s stint in Israel has left him with more than just a thick scar across his neck. The woman he screwed over wants revenge, and she’s determined to leverage Billie’s murder case to get it.With the detectives focused on Aaron, Billie sets her sights on stopping a killer who is tying up loose ends — Billie being one of them. Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

This week, I am back with Kimberly G.G.R. Itano, who you might remember from last year. She wrote Death of a Dancing Queen and was on the podcast to talk about it back in 2023. And it was one of my top 23 of 2023 reads. I absolutely loved it. I really, really, really love Billy Levine, who is the main character in this series. And just the way that Kimberly writes noir, it just clicks with me. So if you're a noir fan and haven't started this series, you definitely need to, but you can totally listen to this episode, too. We won't be getting into spoilers. The second book in the series deals with a little bit of art theft. So unlicensed PI, Billy Levine, is trying to bank some extra cash. So she picks up hours working as a process

server for another investigative firm. Mindless and mostly nine to five, Billy is content to simply hand over court documents until during a routine stakeout she stumbles upon the corpse of an elderly man and art collector with ties to Nazi Germany. Compared to Billy, the dead man has it easy. Billy is feeling on edge lately. Maybe it's because her father is insisting his estranged kids come to his wedding in Sedona or that David is making plans to move out or that a smug teaching assistant is getting underfoot on her latest case. Although it's possible she could use the help when the cop zero in on Billy's boyfriend, Aaron, and his connections to an international art ring. Turns out, Aaron Stint and Israel has left him with more than just a thick scar across his neck.

The woman he screwed over wants revenge, and she's determined to leverage Billy's murder case to get it. With the detectives focused on Aaron, Billy sets her sights on stopping a killer who is tying up loose ends, Billy being one of them. I devoured this book in a weekend. I was so excited that I was able to read it in two days. I had not been getting to finish books that quickly in a while. So this was such a perfect one to get to read that way because I just love Billy's world. I love the supporting characters. I love the tone. And the fact that even though it's still kind of funny, it has some humor in it, she's still solving some dark mysteries.

So it was just a perfect weekend read. And I could not wait to talk to Kimberly about it. So let's get into it. So last year I had you on and we talked about the first book in the series and it was very fun. But it was also your, that was your debut into adult fiction. And was there anything that kind of like happened after releasing that where you're like, oh, this is like, this is a little bit different or like, did you notice anything that was different basically? It was what made it most different was that Death of a Dancing Queen was my first book to come out with a publisher. Like I had been 18 published before.

And my very first book debuted with a digital publisher. So this was the first time, like Death of Dancing Queen was the first time I saw my book in bookstores where I didn't have to like haggle with people about where they could find it. It was in libraries. It was reviewed. like traditionally reviewed by all the trade journals. So that's really what made the experience so different for me. Not so much of the adult sphere of it all, but the larger reach I had for my work,

which was kind of the coolest part of all. Yeah. That was what was really different. I was like, oh, there are people reading my book who do not know me. Normally, it's people who know me are reading it. Now it's people who don't know me you were reading it. So that really was kind of, and still to this. day is like, what? We don't, we're straight. You're reading my book? Awesome. Yeah, totally. Now,

that makes a lot of sense. Um, did, was there anything different in your approach to writing this one than when you wrote the first one? So I changed, I want to say my outlining changed a little bit when I was doing it. I kind of have a little bit of a strict way of how sometimes I outline my books and this book just took off on a different way. So I had to move. things like I had a lot of action in book two, which you know, like I had a lot of action and I actually had it really condensed and my editor was like, this is break in next speed. We need to space it out a little bit. Your readers are going to be like, ugh. So I was like, but that doesn't work in my act structure that I do. I mean, obviously, you have changed. So for that, it was a little bit

different. And I knew one of the nice things about working with your characters, your cast, is you know them so well. So the characterization for me just felt so organic. I'm like, where do I know these people? So building the plot was really so much fun because I just made it bonkers as I usually do. And it was nice introducing new characters. I really enjoyed that. Yeah. I had a lot of fun with that. I had a lot of fun picking up the humor. I had a lot of fun picking up the banter. I had a lot of fun exploring people that I didn't get to explore too deeply the first time. But also when you're dealing with your character, like, she's improving over the course of the series.

So with each book, she has to, and Billy in particular, she has to overcome something. And in two, she's dealing with a lot of anxiety, which I have personally dealt with. So it was kind of not easy to write, but familiar. Like, I know what I'm talking about. But with each book, I just turned in three. I just turned in book three. So that's now with my editor. I don't have to look at it for a couple of months.

I'm very happy. You get a break from it. Yeah, you know, you're just like, tired of time. But even then I was like, you know, she's constantly, Billy's constantly a work in progress, but how much, you know, sometimes it can be a little bit hard. We're not always thinking about self-improvement all the time, but we do have to see that in our character arcs.

Yeah, totally. Yeah, she, I love her. she's one of my just like favorite characters ever i always have fun reading these books um and just like you were saying like it's really fun that there's the humor in it there's still like the mystery going on and actually what you said too uh this one has like so much action in it like there's a lot going on in a lot of the different scenes um so i just like right when i picked it up i was like it was like i just finished reading the first book and i was like oh yeah i like i like i like I love being in Billy Levine's world.

So what was, did you have a favorite part about writing Billy specifically? I love when she faces off that, when she, when she confronts bad guys. I love her when she confronts bad guys. In the first book, she confronts a neo-Nazi. And just like, she's terrified, but she's never going to show it. She's going to be very strong. And like, it's my favorite when she does. just comes across baddies. I just enjoy that. I like it when she is um antagonistic. I, I enjoy

most when I get to write very sharp banter, uh, when she gets to show her strength, when she doesn't back down even if she's not correct or even if like this is a really dangerous situation she's gotten herself into. That's kind of my favorite part to write. It's just yeah, nobody's like that in real life. That's why it's, you know, books. This is, this is fiction. not non-fiction. So be, you know, I can make her as like, you know, crazy. Like that crazy. That's not the what I'm looking for. But I would like, you know, if I was being confronted by a neo-Nazi, I don't think I would be snarky or like I don't think I would be shooting my mouth off, you know. But Bill again. So that's what I'm like, that's like that's like the fantasy element of it too. I'm like,

ridiculous is this yeah you were mentioning too like the book kind of deals with her anxiety like her anxiety is even growing um in this book but it's not entirely not realistic that like i feel like a lot of us do have to just like face things that are scaring us like just because you just have to anyway so it's not it's not it's not it's not like it's totally i mean i wouldn't i wouldn't do well actually going up against bad guys most likely. But it is kind of grounded in that like even though she is anxious and the stuff is like stressing her out, she's still just like committed to figuring it out or like just has to have the answers. So she's still pretty much going to go after it anyway. So with any of that like maybe some of your personal experience kind of put into there where it's like,

yeah, I'm anxious but life must go on. Yeah. I always say I ground the, Billy is grounded in a reality that is very important. Her family dynamics are very real. Her anxiety is very real. I would argue confronting neo-Nazis, confronting international art thieves is not the very real aspect of what I do. But her life is grounded in a reality that I can definitely relate to. But one of the things I think I covered with Billy was she didn't really know why she was

anxious because things were going okay. And she even says that, I think, in the earliest part of book two, where she's just like, things are fine and stable. I don't know why I'm feeling like anxious. And, you know, I get anxious having to deal with like making a phone call I don't feel like making. Yes. Or having to just tackle a bunch of emails that I've been putting on the back burner or trying to juggle working and dealing with my children and a myriad of a bunch of things. things that can cause a lot of anxiety that are just small tasks that you know over the course of my life I still haven't learned to deal with because there's probably little ADHD and they're mixed into who the hell but that's the problem I have I have a friend with anxiety and she's constantly

like I don't know why I'm anxious everything's going well but it's just not sometimes some that's just not what anxiety disorder is about it it's part of our lives it comes and goes at its will you know on a frame and not ours and yeah as parents as working adults as you know we have to deal with our anxiety whether we want to or not and and the problem is we don't deal with it well that's why there's medication that's why there's therapy because by itself well i have definitely not handled my anxiety in the best of ways and then i'm like why am i ruminating well i didn't even know what ruminating was until i went to a therapist oh that's what i'm doing in the car yes for it or um You know, that's why I'm grouchy or that's why my hands are tingly.

So one of the things I, you know, her hands get tingly. And I remember sitting, reading in my bed and like my hand, kept shaking out my hand. And then I find out is a symptom of anxiety disorder. Yeah. Yeah, I'm the same. My anxiety had been pretty manageable for a while. And then like a month ago, a little more than that, just got like so out of control again. So I feel you there because sometimes you're like, I,

even logically know that my feelings aren't making sense or like I can even tell myself the logic of like, oh, I'm okay. But you just for some reason don't feel like you are. And you're like, cool. This is what's happening. But there, like you said, like there is, there's stuff that does help. And it is just kind of like focusing on incorporating more and more of that into your life for the most part. But yeah, it does come out in really random ways, especially like it did for Billy. One of my favorite parts of reading these books is the supporting cast. There's like, in both books, there's just like such fun people for her to be having like fun banter dialogue with. And so it really, it makes it feel so distinct and unique. And like it really is like a whole

world that you've imagined. So who did you have the most fun writing outside of Billy? I adore writing Gramps. Her grandfather is so much fun to write. And I liked writing, so we have a new character. His name's Jeremy. And I really enjoyed writing him because he and Billy have very good conflict. And the way they talk to each other is a little bit combative in a way that I had a lot of fun with. But Gramps is my, I love her.

I love her grandfather. I mean, I adore him. And I write him. I think makes it obvious that I adore him. He's just, he's her grandfather, but really he's her dad at this point because he is there and her fear is not. So he's a good man and he is a former private aunt. So he instills in Billy a lot of these lessons that she, you know, rules that, you know,

Gramps says rule number this, which I really need to write. His rules for the business that she follows, but she also breaks the rules. And she does things I don't like, and he tells her. And I got to explore that a lot more in the third book I just turned in. So I'm hoping readers who like Gramps, like her grandfather, will definitely really love book three because he has a little bit of a larger role there too. And, you know, he's so much fun to write. So I would argue, yes, Gramps for 100%.

And then I really didn't really read, Jeremy. Yeah, their conversations were very fun. I have another question, but I think it's spoilery. So I'll have to ask you, I'll have to ask you about that one afterwards. Okay. But you're talking about Gramps and how he mostly is her dad. And so one of the things that gets brought up in this book that's kind of contributing to her anxiety is that her dad who hasn't been there is like calling and asking them to come to the wedding, to his wedding. Is he going to, is the dad going to be in the third book as well?

Or that might be too spoiler. I don't know. I mean, her father, I mean, he isn't. I mean, I don't know if it's a big spoiler. But, like, he's not, he's a contributor to anxiety. He's not present. And he is, makes himself present. He's a stressful person.

So he's calling, you know, he left their family, took off with another woman, and now is going to get married to her. And he's asking the kids to come. And Billy and our brother don't want to do this. And he keeps calling when he does call. it's very like, you know, there's a lot of conflict and she's avoiding these calls. And, you know, it's a huge source of stress for her because she could just avoid the phone. And most of the time she does.

But when he calls, that sets off a lot of anxiety and nausea in her. And fathers and their children, that theme fathers and their kids, it features prominently in this book. So that's really what you wanted to do for. Yeah, it really does. Yeah, definitely having to deal with, like, you know, parents. And, you know, Billy dealt with her mother, you know, because Billy's a caretaker as it's a brother. So that was really explored a lot in book one. And in book two, their their caretaking responsibilities are alleviated somewhat, you know.

They're learning how to, you know, work within the system for that as well. But there's always something. And it's just, you know, we do forget. At least I forget sometimes. Billy's only 24. Right. And he is definitely dealing with a tremendous amount of responsibility that doesn't seem to be evading anytime soon. So it's kind of just adding to her anxiety.

Which is why we have fun in other ways. That's the way the book isn't so, like, depressed. Like, I never want anybody to finish reading a Billy book. I'm, oh, that was depressing. Like, everybody, I really enjoyed that. Yeah, there was some deep stuff, but I really enjoyed it. with it. Yeah, yeah. No, I agree. It does. It's kind of like, that's how I always describe it, even just from the sense that, like, there's humor and there's mystery going on. So it is all

balanced out. Like, you're never, like, stuck in a really dark place in the book ever. So what was your, or sorry, what? I don't want to be there. I don't want to be, I can't, I don't know how to write without humor. I think I'm funny. I do too. Like you're not, but I think I'm funny. And I just feel like I need, it's going to squeeze in, it's going to like get into my work no matter what because I just can't help myself. Also because it's a fun. Yeah, it makes it even more fun for sure. So we know kind of like you already had the inspiration for the characters because a lot of them came from the first book.

But as far as like the plot and the mystery that she was solving, what was your inspiration for? that idea? I read an article in the Atlantic. It was published in March of 2018. I don't think I read it then, but I found it. It was about an elderly gentleman named Cornelius Gerlitt, who was the son of Hildebrand Gerlitt, who was one of Hitler's art collectors, plunderers, stealers. Because, you know, that was Hitler's thing, stealing art, particularly raiding Jewish collections, rating museums. like we lost a lot of art in World War II. Yeah. A lot of art.

And it's still missing. There's tons of, tons of pieces. Like, we think we go to a museum. We see Picasso. We see Monet. We see Mark Chagall and stuff. And we're like, oh. But there are tons of their work that's missing.

And a lot of it was stolen by the Nazis during World War II. So this elderly man named Cornelius Gerlitt was found on a train with a lot of cash. He was taking a train between Munich and Switzerland. And he was found with a lot of. lot of cash. So I believe German officials started looking into his finances and there was some like shady stuff going on. He was the son of a collector. He inherited, again, inherited, because this wasn't his story. About 1,500 works of art, priceless works of art from his father who had stolen all of this stuff and he would periodically sell off pieces of the collection

for money. He was kind of hoarding it. So that really just birthed the idea. of what if there was a hoarder in North Jersey that Billy finds, who has been hoarding his father's art collection, you know, and so that's sort of what birthed the idea for the book. And I was like, this is great. Like sometimes you'll hit up on an idea, and I'm like, I know exactly what I'm doing with this.

And then of course, it's complicated as I start drafting. I'm like, what if I do this? I do this, I do that. But that was the inspiration. I found it really fast. fascinating that, you know, because World War II is far away and it isn't. You know, it's, we're at 2024, the war, you know, like, we're going to inch up so, you know, it's going to be a century before we know it, you know, when the war started. And it feels so far away and it doesn't at the

same time. Yeah. Yeah. We're not generations removed. So that was the inspiration. And I am very, I did do research. So if you're reading the book and you hear artists mentioned, they are real people. The characters are not real, but artists, works of art, if I'm insinuating anything, that's real. I looked it up. Yeah, that was going to be my next question because I don't know much about art. But obviously this one revolves around art theft or like the shady ways that people inherited or got art. And it did seem like you really knew about like the history of art. So were you interested in it before that article? Or did you kind of learn everything after that article gave you the idea?

So I wish I was saying to somebody, I was like, I wish I majored in. I wish I'd take an art history. I like art history. I like it because I love history. So I do love art. I have a lot of art in my house. My great-grandfather painted for fun. that was a retirement.

But I do love art. But in my super knowledgeable, no, I had to do a lot of research. You know, the players, you know their names. But for the most part, I had to do quite a bit of research. Yeah. To make sure that I was being as accurate as I could. I wasn't being, like, super specific in certain cases. I didn't really want to take a lesson than I was providing.

So I was careful about how I incorporated it. But I did have to look at it. I didn't know any of this off the top of my head. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know much about it, but I was like Googling people as they like popped up in the book because I was like, I wonder if this is real. And then like obviously multiple of them were. Attention readers. It's real.

They're real. But, you know, a character is not real. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there's just real in our minds. They just feel real. So with this one. did you know how everything was going to resolve when you started writing it?

So I think you mentioned outlining it. But did you know when you started where it was headed or did you find it kind of along the way? I always know how my books will end. I always know that. I don't know how I'll get there sometimes. Even when I outline, I'll go back. I'm like, this isn't working. There'll be a really twisty path to get to that end.

But I always know how I wanted to end, always. Yeah. I've never changed an ending. You know, beginnings. I'm like, I don't like the scene, but I always know how it's going to end. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, my last question was going to be, is there more for Billy, but it sounds like there is if you've turned your third one in already. So I am a super excited. We have a title.

We have not telling anybody yet. That's exciting. I have a title. I have a premise. Obviously, it's drafted. So I'm again, you know, when you when you finish a book, it's like, it's like exercising like a part, like exorcising like a part of you. Yeah. It's done. It's in my editor's hands now and I hope she, I hope she enjoys it.

I've never. What did you do? I get I explore female toxicity in in the book. I was like, what is the, what is like? I was like, I really want to explore really awful women. So that's what he did. Nice. Yeah, I was just in a mood. And that's what I was to do. So that's nice and done.

But I need readers to, you know, if everybody would like to see more Billy books, then we just need readers to get on board and tell all their. Yeah. Your friends, you should read this. Ask your library to get it. That's a big thing that I tell people. So you don't have to buy the book yourself. You can ask your library to buy it.

And then it goes to circulation. and then lots of people get to read it. So I'm a big person of libraries, use them. Yeah. And I always sell my library. Can you buy this book? And they do. I'm the first hold,

and then other people get to enjoy it, rather than it sit on my shelf, which I don't have a lot of books anymore. Probably very surprised me because I use the library. Yeah. No, I totally get that. Oh, sorry, what? I was going to say book three will be out next year.

year next summer yeah yeah oh man i'm so excited for it um so you're saying you use the library a lot is there anything recently you've read that you've loved yes so i don't typically read bestsellers because there's usually a long holds list and yeah there's so many to read but i read the women by christin hannah i've never read her before i could not put that down I know it's a big ball she doesn't need my promotion the book is in New York Times bestseller she's selling millions of copies she doesn't need Kim's

endorsement in any way shape or form but I couldn't put it down what else did I just you're the familiar by Lee Bardugo again a woman who does not need my help but I really enjoyed that and you know what I'm reading now so if you like

time travel and mysteries Kelly Armstrong again an author who does not need my help I really should be like voices who are like help me she writes this series called rip through time it's about a Canadian police detective a modern female Canadian police detective who gets back in goes back in time to 1869 Edinburgh Scotland uh-huh and it is so well done speaking of research what this woman must do because it's told through it's told through Mallory's first person point of view she describes is to the reader to the modern reader.

It's like she's telling the story to a modern reader. So she looks like, you know, when you see, you know, a pub from the 1800s on television, yeah, that's not what it looks like. And, you know, she's like, this is what it actually looks like. And she describes how Pittsburgh is actually done in 1800s, Scotland and what, you know, the fingerprint evidence. So this is what they might do or this is how they might collect something. Like, like, it's very well researched.

And me, and if it isn't, I am convinced. So, like, she's just, it's very well research. I just, I know. When you're reading it, you're like, oh. And the way she describes women's clothing and, like, what she has to wear. You know, just, I just read a passage where she said, you know, you can't just walk into a store and buy something off the rack. It has to be ordered for you. And that can cost, like, a month's wages.

It's not, like, and you can't just. by a dress, you have to make sure the shoes, you have to get a winter cape, everything has to go. It was so good. Yeah. That sounds really good. I've heard a lot of people talk about the Kristen Hannah one, too, the women. Like people really, really loved that one. And I haven't read Libar Dugos yet either, but you've got me on this time traveling one too.

Very interesting. I found it at the library. I picked it up. I was browsing the new shelf. There it was. And I was like, this is like right up my alley. And I picked it up. I can't put this down.

It's just, it's, I love historical fiction, but I love this so much because I feel like I'm getting the interesting bits from a modern perspective, like, as if she really slipped through time and she's telling me what it is like in 1869 or 1879, Edinburgh. And I'm fascinated, fascinating, fascinating. Yeah. I would remind me of Outlander, which obviously she's like, She's not totally modern, but it is kind of that same idea where she's like going way back in time to Scotland. Yeah. I love Scotland. I have been unable to read or watch. There's so much sexual violence. I cannot hack it. I'm like, I was like it's a great story. I can't do it. I've had a fast way at this show. But this is this is sort of different. Like this is there's a mystery at the core. I would argue probably fair play. But seeing.

what Victorian Scotland looked like through a modern lens that is then exclusive to a modern reader, hey, it's very well done. I don't know. I'm like super fast. And the cool thing is Kelly Armstrong is going to be pubbing with Datorra, my publisher. Oh, nice. So I was very excited to hear that. I was like, let me fan girl to her in person.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, so that was very fun. Yeah, the tour is doing stuff. Great things. Yeah. Those sound great. I'm definitely going to link those, especially with the whole mystery element for sure.

Otherwise, where can people follow you to stay up to date with all of the Billy News? Well, I'm on, you can find me online. Geratano is a hard name. I'm like, trying to see if my books here is. Here she is. This is the new one with the jazzing books. Yes. But you can find me online.

I mean, I'm the only Kimberly G. Geratano you'll find online. But, you know, I'm on threads. I patched me around on Twitter a little bit, not a lot. And Instagram, Your Honor, Geronoh. And, yeah, you can find me on all those places. Yeah. I deleted my TikTok. I'm not going to lie.

I didn't delete the account. I just deleted the app. So. Yeah. I love TikTok. I know. Oh, I love it too. He's like, I had a security briefing on this.

think you should get rid of the app i was like oh okay oh no it's like one of my favorites i don't know on instagram's like reels and i'll just watch trends weeks after they come that way right yeah i mean if it's safer we should probably i'll be doing it that way anyway so i kind of did away with that but yeah you can't just google me easy and yeah and yeah and if and if anybody does see the book in the wild like in a bookshop or someone's reading these snap a photo and let me know, I would be delighted. Yes. Yeah, for sure. I need to go request it for my library so I can go take a picture of it at the library. I know. I tell everybody, I'm like, request it in your library.

Yeah. We just had one literally, like, built, like, in our neighborhood. So it's, like, less than a mile away from me now. So I'll have to. A new library? A library? Yeah. That's like a gift. I know. We didn't have one in our town this whole time, but our town has grown a lot in the last 10 years, partially because we have like tons of Amazon warehouses in the middle of all these farm fields. So now our town is slowly upgrading and now we have a library. That's exciting. We the not where I live, I have a library like five minutes away, but then county built a brand new library several years ago.

And that was like just a huge. It was like a gift. I'm like, I don't think people really see what libraries do, because they're under attack constantly right now. And you know, you're just doing. Libraries are like the heart of the, they can be the heart of a community for sure. Right. Yeah, we see so many people going there already. And it's only been open for like a couple weeks. But it's like connected to all the walking paths in the neighborhood.

So like all these families, it looks like they're all just like walking to the library. So I'm excited about it. I'm excited for you. That's like huge. Yeah. Yeah. is amazing. Yeah, totally. Well, I will put all those links in the show notes so people can keep up to date with everything and we'll have to talk again next year when the third one comes out.

I will email you as soon as I will email you definitely when I have a pub date and all that good stuff. But I always say to you. And thank you so much for the kind words. It really means a lot. Because you just never know when you write something. Yeah. What the world is going to thank you. It's your art and it's always so hard. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I so loved it. So I will always, I will be Billy, Billy's number one fan forever.