S. 8, Ep. 11: Interview with Crime Writer Indy Perro The Crime Cafe

This episode of the Crime Cafe podcast features my interview with crime writer Indy Perro.



Don't miss our discussion of Central City, small towns, crime, and a bit of philosophy! :)



Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so.



Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe



Debbi (00:54): But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting.



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Download a copy of the PDF transcript of this episode here.





Debbi (00:54): Hi everyone. My guest today is a novelist who identifies himself as an independent thinker. Yes, I like those and a recovering academic. He has a degree in history and graduate degrees in religious studies, comparative literature and education. That's quite a bit to recover from . For more than a decade, he's taught philosophy, religious studies, writing, and literature. His debut novel is called Central City. I'm pleased to have with me today's guest, Indy Perro. Hi, Indy. How are you doing today?

Indy (01:35): I'm doing well, Debbi. Thanks for having me.

Debbi (01:37): You know, I was gonna try to roll my Rs on your name, but I thought nope, no way. I can never roll my Rs. Is it a Spanish name?

Indy (01:46): Yeah. Yeah. Perro is the Spanish word for dog.

Debbi (01:49): Yes. Yes it is. And I can never roll my Rs when I say dog in Spanish. So I will always have a speech defect in Spanish. Your credentials just blow me away. You must have a lot of material, ideas for novels from your experiences.

Indy (02:09): Yeah. they tend to be a little bit philosophical in nature.

Debbi (02:15): So I noticed that.

Indy (02:17): So my, yeah, my ideas tend to be built around questions and then I develop the story to help me test out those questions and find the tension in the answers. Right. And that way there tends not to be an easy answer, but instead I can tease out different perspectives.

Debbi (02:39): I really like that. That's really cool. What inspired you to write your novel?

Indy (02:48): Oh, so Central City is inspired by the environment I grew up in. I grew up in a Midwestern city and at a time when, you know, crime rates were higher, you know, I wanna say higher than they are now, but at least higher than they were before the pandemic. And you know, I'm old enough now that I've seen sort of American society ebb and flow in several different ways and you know, crime rates dip, and then rise back up. The neighborhood that I grew up in doesn't really exist anymore. It's now like a commercial and industrial area.