Dana Haynes spent 20 years in the newsrooms of Oregon newspapers before being named public affairs manager for Portland Community College in Portland, Ore., in 2007. Haynes's thriller, Crashers, will was released June 22 by Minotaur Books. The story deals with the investigators called in to solve the crash of an airliner. A sequel, Shadow Crashers, is under way. His previous mysteries, Bishop's Gambit, Declined, Perpetual Check and Sacrifice Play, were published under the pen name Conrad Haynes. Haynes lives in Portland with his two cats, Velocity and Glamour.
On your nightstand now:
The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha
Favorite book when you were a child:
Do you remember the Encyclopedia Brown short mysteries? I loved those. I was in, like, fourth or fifth grade, trying to outthink the author. Encyclopedia Brown and the Batman from D.C. Comics got me hooked on mysteries. Also Harper Lee. Seriously. More on that later.
Your top five authors:
Philip MacDonald. He wrote The List of Adrian Messenger, which remains my all-time favorite mystery. I re-read it about every five years or so.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Not for The Little Prince, but for his beautiful short stories on being a pilot in the early days of the 20th century. Stunning.
William Goldman: Everything. Novels, screenplays, whatever. I mean, seriously.
Arturo Pérez-Reverte: His Captain Alatriste swashbucklers are fantastic, but The Queen of the South may be the best book I've read in a decade.
Peter O'Donnell: He started writing the British comic strip "Modesty Blaise" in 1963 and stayed with it well into the 1990s. She's a thief, a spy and a heroine. Tough-guy Willie Garvin follows her orders but is no less masculine for it. This was the beginning of my complete love affair for the strong, armed, intelligent, feminine, in-command femme fatale. (Okay, Emma Peel of The Avengers played a role here....) O'Donnell strongly influenced my writing and my sense of feminism. When you meet Daria Gibron in my novel Crashers, please lift a martini glass to Mr. O'Donnell.
Katy King: Portland author, she's only had one book published so far (the smart money says that'll change soon enough). She's on the list because she's incredibly hot and wears Christian Louboutin heels. She's totally outside of my league but if she reads this, it increases the chances that I'll get to sleep with her. It's good to have goals.
Book you've faked reading:
The owner's manual for my car.
Book you're an evangelist for:
Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series is set in 16th-century Spain and features a sword for hire. Absolutely must-read for anyone who likes their adventure series to be both bloody and literary.
Book you've bought for the cover:
The Associated Press Stylebook.
Book that changed your life:
You're going to think I'm a nerd but my take-away from To Kill a Mockingbird was this: I figured out the mystery--which side of the girl's face had the bruises--before the author wanted me to. This was sophomore English, and I remember thinking: Holy hell! He's not guilty! And my love affair for the offense-defense nature of mystery novels was born.
Favorite line from a book:
"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." --The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Crashers. Narcissist much? Yes please.