Welcome, Lev! Tell us about yourself.

I'm six feet tall, with green eyes, shoulder-length blond hair, work out 3 times a week and weigh a lean 174 pounds. I'm a Taurus. My hobbies are spelunking, cinematography, and-- Oh. You wanted something less personal and more professional?

Okay, I escaped academia over a decade ago to write full-time and have never looked back, except for material. I've lived in Michigan for almost 20 years and it's my home. Though I was born and raised in New York, I got over it, so you could call me a recovering New Yorker.

For readers who may not be familiar with your backlist, tell us about your writing background.

My first love was short stories and I've been publishing them and winning prizes for them for over 20 years. My very first crime story, "Free Man in Paris," will be published in a new English magazine, Crimewave, in December.

The three Nick Hoffman mysteries are LET'S GET CRIMINAL, THE EDITH WHARTON MURDERS, and THE DEATH OF A CONSTANT LOVER. They're set in a fictitious Michigan university and the sleuth is a lowly composition professor desperate for tenure.

I've always written across genres so my books include a short story collection, DANCING ON TISHA B'AV; a novel, WINTER EYES; a literary critical book on Edith Wharton, EDITH WHARTON'S PRISONERS OF SHAME; an essay collection, JOURNEYS & ARRIVALS, plus several co-authored books in psychology and education, the best-selling one of which is a book for children called STICK UP FOR YOURSELF!

What drew you to writing mysteries? Are you a long time reader?

I fell in love with Agatha Christie, the Lockridges, John Creasey and Phoebe Atwood Taylor in high school--but also Henry James and other literary writers and the latter path is the one I followed through writing classes and my English major classes in college. I also did an MFA in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in American Studies.

It wasn't until I had a few books out, and dozens of stories and articles, that I felt established enough and talented enough to launch the Nick Hoffman mystery series. Writing mysteries is hard work, though it's also more fun than anything else I've worked on.

Do you write full-time? Or do you divide your time between writing and another job?

I'm writing every day in one form or another because I review so much: I write the "Mysteries" column for the Detroit Free Press and review generally for that paper, as well as reviewing regularly for The Jerusalem Report and Forward (a Jewish weekly in New York). I've also started reviewing for The Washington Post, so I always have something due somewhere. Reading for pure fun is a luxury! Last month I took a whole week off and re-read George Eliot's MIDDLEMARCH, which I first read over 20 years ago, and fell in love with it all over again for the depth of the characterizations and the author's love for her people.

What writers have influenced you?

Though I especially admire Robert Barnard, Sue Grafton, and David Handler, Ken Follett, Martha Grimes, Walter Mosley, I've been more influenced and inspired by non-mystery writers over the course of my career: Joan Didion, Philip Roth, Anita Brookner, Andrew Holleran, Don DeLillo, James Baldwin. Then there are the classic writers like Edith Wharton, Henry James, D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Fitzgerald --these are people I re-read.

I've always read very widely, and my college creative writing professor (who predicted when I was 17 that I'd someday be published and win prizes), said, "Read everything!" I think that's good advice for a beginning writer.

What changes have you noticed in the world of mystery fiction in the time you've been writing?

Well, more people know my name.

Industry-wide, there's more attention paid every year to Big Books (thrillers, suspense) and less to building a series as mergers make publishers dump established writers and take fewer risks with new ones.

Tell us about your current work.

The new book is called LITTLE MISS EVIL and you could call it HEART OF DARKNESS crossed with LUCKY JIM. It's the darkest satire of academia in the series, and will be out in the spring from Walker and Co.

You're active online. What role does the Internet play in writing, researching, and marketing your books?

My web site has been an important tool in getting my name out there, as has the web site of 'THE TODD MUNDT SHOW, where I'm the book critic: . I do some research on-line, but mostly use it as a reviewer to find out about books I've seen advertised or read about in magazines like Publishers Weekly. Subscribing to Dorothy-L has not only been educational, but garnered me a lot of fans, too.

How about e-publishing? Where do you see that heading?

I have no idea. I don't see people ever giving up the physical pleasure of holding a book, turning its pages, etc. My kids are both very computer savvy and they still love to read books.

As a reviewer for the Detroit Free Press, how do you handle reviewing a book that doesn't work for you, given that you are a mystery author yourself?

I've heard thanks from people who like what I said about their books, and I've even heard from a writer I panned. She was simply grateful to have her book mentioned and PR people tell you that's better than it not getting reviewed at all.

Now, if a book is pretty bad, I'll usually just skip it, unless it's being hyped and I feel I need to offer a different POV. I haven't been reviewing books by people I'm close to, but since I know so many mystery authors, it's impossible not to review a book by one of them. This fall I'll be doing some events with a writer whose last book I didn't like at all, and I guess that's the inevitable result of being a reviewer. It had to happen sooner or later.

Is the academic world as crazy as you describe it in your mysteries?

It's worse! People tell me stories about their universities or departments and I have to tone them down because they're so unbelievable.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Contact me at www.levraphael.com where they'll find info on the series as well as my e-mail address. And please sign the guest book and have some of the hors d'oeuvres. I'd hate to have to throw all that stuff out.

Lev, thanks for joining us! Readers, check out our review of The Death of a Constant Lover, the latest Nick Hoffman mystery.

October 15, 1999