In this essay, multicultural historical crime thriller author Peter Kageyama riffs on why good writers come from avid readers.

According to Stephen King in his famous nonfiction, On Writing, “Writers are readers.” I completely agree. To me reading is fuel for writing, and this past year I had some great fuel. History buffs, here are some books that fueled not only my writing, but my imagination.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a coming-of-age tale of a young, Chinese American girl in San Francisco in the mid-fifties is not my typical fare, but the culture and time frame were so complimentary to the world I am writing with Kats Takemoto that it truly struck home. Check out this standalone novel by Malinda Lo and you’ll see what I mean.

Fellow Akronite & writer Jim Gardner introduced me to A Chance to Breathe, his non-fiction history, in which World War I was ending, the Spanish Flu was beginning, and inventor Thomas Edison, industrialists Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone were leading us into the true beginning of the American century.

A friend recommended an outstanding series set in Northern Ireland at the height of The Troubles. I’ve spent time in Northern Ireland and have friends on both sides of the conflict and Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy series helped me better understand what they all went through.

For my own work, The Monuments Men and Saving Italy by Robert Edsel served as core research for the forthcoming third book in my Kats Takemoto series. These are the inspiring true stories of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Antiquities officers who saved so much art and culture during World War II.

Those are just a few highlights from 2023. Which stories and writers have inspired and improved your writing? You never know what story, what character or what little known fact could be the key to unlocking your next great book.

Ohio native Peter Kageyama is a third generation Japanese American, and the author of four nonfiction books on cities and urban affairs. The second novel in his Kats Takemoto private eye adventure series was published last month. In addition to writing, Peter enjoys board gaming, comic books and classic rock. He lives in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida with his wife, award-winning architect Lisa Wannemacher and their dog Dobby.

About Midnight Climax:
Kats Takemoto, the nisei private detective from Hunters Point, returns to investigate the murder of a young Chinese girl, killed in a covert CIA brothel in the heart of San Francisco. Her family, members of a Tong, a powerful Chinatown gang, demand vengeance that threatens to start an all-out war in Chinatown unless Kats can discover the truth behind the slaying. Along the way, he will discover a personal connection to the suspected killer, a fellow veteran who was tortured and experimented on, turning him into a lethal weapon and a ticking bomb. Kats and his friends race to find this soldier before the government and the rival Tong gangs spiral into more bloodshed.

Buy on Amazon | Bookshop.org

Read an excerpt from the book: https://peterkageyama.com/excerpt/

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