Poets of the Tabloid Murder Talks with Gary Phillips
Series: Poets of the Tabloid Murder
From: Steven Nester
Length: 00:28:45
Mulgrew Magrady, a nearly homeless Vietnam vet, steps in to issue a warning when a drug dealer harasses his wheelchair-bound friend. Later, when the friend disappears and the dealer turns up dead, Magrady is deemed the prime suspect, hand-picked by Captain Stover of the LAPD. Magrady and Stover go way back to unresolved issues when they both served in Vietnam. With little else to do in a quickly gentrifying skid-row neighborhood, and to keep himself out of prison, Magrady investigates the murder. Plagued by flashbacks of Vietnam and memories of a failed marriage, distracted by the attentions of a frisky elderly lover and a community organizer determined to get him involved somehow, Magrady gets to the motive behind the murder. It involves wealthy developers, desperate characters, and a recently unearthed American Indian skull that is believed to have magical powers. Magrady’s adventures, with a distinctive noir feeling and appreciation for comic books, started as an online, serialized mystery. Drawings and an interview with Phillips enhance the package, offering a compelling perspective on race and class issues in South Central L.A.
Also in the Poets of the Tabloid Murder series
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Jeff Abbott discusses "Adrenaline"
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Elizabeth Brundage discusses "A Stranger Like You"
(00:25:03)
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Patrick DeWitt discusses The Sisters Brothers
(00:27:37)
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Mark Seal discusses "The Man in the Rockefeller Suit"
(00:29:17)
From: Steven Nester
A journalist for thirty-five years, Mark Seal is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
Ace Atkins discusses "Infamous"
(00:29:45)
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Ace Atkins is the author of eight novels. He lives on a farm in Mississippi.
William Dietrich discusses "The Barbary Pirates"
(00:30:54)
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William Dietrich is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, an
educator, and a novelist.
Hallie Ephron discusses "Come and Find Me'
(00:28:30)
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Hallie Ephron is a journalist and fiction writer living in New England.
Related Pieces
Piece Description
Mulgrew Magrady, a nearly homeless Vietnam vet, steps in to issue a warning when a drug dealer harasses his wheelchair-bound friend. Later, when the friend disappears and the dealer turns up dead, Magrady is deemed the prime suspect, hand-picked by Captain Stover of the LAPD. Magrady and Stover go way back to unresolved issues when they both served in Vietnam. With little else to do in a quickly gentrifying skid-row neighborhood, and to keep himself out of prison, Magrady investigates the murder. Plagued by flashbacks of Vietnam and memories of a failed marriage, distracted by the attentions of a frisky elderly lover and a community organizer determined to get him involved somehow, Magrady gets to the motive behind the murder. It involves wealthy developers, desperate characters, and a recently unearthed American Indian skull that is believed to have magical powers. Magrady’s adventures, with a distinctive noir feeling and appreciation for comic books, started as an online, serialized mystery. Drawings and an interview with Phillips enhance the package, offering a compelling perspective on race and class issues in South Central L.A.
