Josh Berk's New Book!

Fans of The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin (which definitely includes ME) have been anxiously awaiting Josh Berk's next release! The wait is over because Guy Langman, Scene Crime Procrastinator is now in stores! Here's the blurb:

Guy Langman can't be bothered with much. But when his friend Anoop wants Guy to join the forensics club with him in the (possibly misguided) hopes of impressing some girls, Guy thinks why not.

They certainly aren't expecting to find a real dead body on the simulated crime scene they're assigned to collect evidence from. But after some girlish, undignified screaming, the two realize it is indeed a body. Which means they have stumbled across a real, dead murder victim.

Meanwhile, Guy has been looking into the past of his father—a larger-than-life character who recently passed away. He was much older than Guy's mom, and had a whole past Guy never even knew about. Could his father's past and the dead body be linked? Does Guy want to know? He's going to need all his newfound forensics skills to find out...

Another funny, engaging read to be sure!

Josh was kind enough to chat with us about Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator, and his writing in general...

Tell us about your book in ten words or less!

Josh: Slacker goofball teen learns about forensics, family, life. Also boobs.

LOL, can't wait to read it! Now, other than your main character, who's a favorite character of yours in your novel and why?

Josh: Guy's father, Frances Langman, dies on page one of the book, but he shows up throughout. Not like, as a ghost or anything, just in that Guy remembers him and quotes him often. He was ridiculously fun to write. I decided to make him a very old bad-ass Jew, a real mensch and a giver of strange advice. He says stuff like "Do not trust those who love death nor those who hide from it. Death is part of life, but so is the clap. And let me tell you: it is no fun, but you’d be foolish to pretend it doesn’t exist. Seriously, Guy, wear a rubber.”

Tell us something fun about your new book. It can be a character detail, something that inspired the story, or a behind the scenes story from the writing process.

Josh: Sometimes while writing GUY, I got a little too into the character of a procrastinator and I just kept procrastinating instead of writing. Then I sort of developed writer's block so I decided to write a chapter about Guy having to write something, but getting writer's block. It all became very meta and at a certain point I thought my head would explode, but a mere two years and 47 nervous breakdowns later the book was finished.

What is a favorite comment you've ever received from a fan?

Josh: Regarding THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN, which is about a deaf teen, I got this email: "I just wanted to express my thanks for giving kids with disabilities, like I was, a way to feel included that doesn't involve a perfect hero/heroine sobbing over us to show the audience how sensitive they are. It's been a long time coming."

Wow, wonderful. What are you working on now?

Josh: I have a series for younger readers in the works -- they are baseball mysteries and the first one (STRIKE THREE YOU'RE DEAD) comes out next year. I'm working on book #2 for that and also what I hope will become my third YA novel. It's similar to my first two in many ways, but rather different in that it's half-narrated by the female lead. So it's been challenging but really fun!

Thanks to Josh for visiting with us, and we hope all our readers will check out his terrific books!