A guy goes to Las Vegas for a holiday. In a matter of hours he gets drunk, gets mugged, and gets dumped by his wife. Things could get worse, and do, in this new crime novel from Charlie Stella. With bravura, alternating brutality with humor and high-octane action with virtuoso tough-guy dialogue, Stella crafts his story of Charlie Pellecchia, whose unwitting entanglement with New York mobster Nicky Cuccia plops him in the path of the DEA, FBI, and Las Vegas police. Law enforcement may find Charlie awkwardly in its way, but elsewhere—in deluxe casino hotel suites, at deserted construction sites, on quiet residential streets—a bodybuilding punk looking to be made, a professional killer, a mob chief's double-dealing accountant, and a pair of Vietnamese gangbangers are all trying to put Charlie permanently out of the way. All because he broke a wiseguy's jaw. Add to the mix hookers with felonious kinks, a cop deeply troubled by his wife's infidelity, a ham-fisted redneck with vengeance on his mind, and some bad faith between a Brooklyn crime family and the Russian mob. Things go down tough in this gritty underworld thriller where the name of the game is Charlie Opera.
I was born in Manhattan and brought up in Canarsie in Brooklyn. I attended public and catholic schools in Canarsie until going to Minot, North Dakota on a football scholarship. I was hooked as a reader/writer of modern crime fiction after Dave Gresham (my mentor and English teacher) read the opening lines from the George V. Higgins classic, The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
I have worked as a paperboy, watermelon loader, soda-jerk, dishwasher, McDonalds cook, hallway buffer, porter, security guard, UPS laborer, sheetrock carrier, hallway buffer, porter and bouncer, as well as a union window cleaner on 50-story scaffolds and a word processing operator/supervisor/manager.
My favorite crime authors include George V. Higgins, Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, Ken Bruen, Daniel Woodrell, George Pelecanos, Craig McDonald, Vicki Hendricks and Rick Marinick.
My novels are considered hardboiled and are dialogue driven. I write about small time operators and their dreams. While I do not condone (or agree) with what some of my characters might say during the course of a novel, I defend their right to be idiots and bigots. If you are looking for politically correct crime novels, skip mine.
Three of my novels are now available on kindle (Eddie's World, my 1st novel), Charlie Opera (my third novel) and Mafiya (my 6th novel). Jimmy Bench-Press (my 2nd novel) and Cheapskates (my 4th novel) will be available on kindle shortly.
I have lived in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Long Island in New York and Perth Amboy in New Jersey. I currently reside in Joisey (once again). I have three children (all grown now), a wonderful tomata (wife--the Principessa Ann Marie) and the most fierce bichon-friese in the world--Rigoletto.
I am an American-Italian and never confuse the two. I was born in America and will never be apologetic about that.
I treasure the time I spend with Ann Marie and Rigoletto like you can't believe.
You can also find short stories of mine in the following anthologies/crime fiction collections:
Plots with Guns Anthology, edited by Anthony Neil Smith: Young Tommy Burns (Dennis McMillan)* Available now.
Dublin Noir, edited by Ken Bruen: Tainted Goods (Akashic Books, March 2006)
Hardboiled Brooklyn, edited by Reed Farrel Coleman: Waiting for Gallo (Bleakhouse, May 2006)
Baltimore Noir, edited by Laura Lippman: Ode to the Orioles (Akashic Books, May 2006)
The Adventure of the Missing Detective: And 25 of the Years Finest Crime and Mystery Stories! (edited by Ed Gorman & Martin Greenburg): Father Diodorus (Carroll & Graf)* Available now.
Bloodlines: An Anthology of Horse Racing, edited by Maggie Estepp & Jason Starr: The Cynical Breed (Vintage, Fall 2006)
Reviews of my work can be found on my web page at www.charliestella.com
Feel free to write me at any time at Charlieopera@gmail.com
