That's not quite accurate. The main reason Willeford wrote
GRIMHAVEN was to get out of his bottom-dollar contract with
St. Martin's Press. He figured St. Martin's, which was the
publisher of MIAMI BLUES, would be so repulsed by his having
Hoke turn out to be a lunatic killer that it would reject the
book and free him from his contract. I think his agent
persuaded him that this wasn't the best course of action.
Eventually Willeford got decent money for the last Mosely
book.
By the way, you can find the manuscript of GRIMHAVEN for sale
on the web fairly easily. Must drive Betsy Willeford
crazy.
Then there's Grimhaven, the unpublished Hoke book. I know the
story that Willeford was supposed to be so opposed to
continuing characters that he wrote this book that made Hoke
so unsympathetic that he would no longer be bothered by those
trying to get him to expand Miami Blues into a series. But I
never heard how they got Willeford to change his mind and
write the series, after all. Anyone know?
Mark
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