This is one of the easiest introductions I've ever done!  If you look up "spitfire" in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure you'll see a picture of P.N. Elrod.  You might have to peel the warning label from the entry, but it will be worth it.  P.N. Elrod is probably best known for her vampire noir series, The Vampire Files, which has been favorably compared to writings by Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammet.  If you've ever read her work, you'll see why!

Pat Elrod tracked down vampire PI Jack Fleming from The Vampire Files at his night club, Lady Crymsyn, which is one of Chicago’s newest hot spots or at least it was in 1938. Through the magic of time travel, she found herself in Mr. Fleming’s favorite booth just before opening time.

Elrod: So, Jack, how long have you been a vampire?

Fleming: Hey, I was a perfectly normal human being for 36 years before I was bumped off, what about that?

Elrod: Uh, okay, so tell us about your human life.

Fleming: It was pretty much the same as what I’ve got now, just a different kind of drinking was involved.

Elrod: Yes, you mentioned in Cold Streets that you liked a tipple now and then.

Fleming: Don't sugarcoat it, Doll face, I was a drunk newsman. I was really good at both jobs, too.

Elrod: Doll face...!

Fleming: Don't get on your high horse, it's a compliment. I'm a man of my times.

Elrod: Clearly. Now about your life as a vampire...?

Fleming: Versus being a regular guy? Eh, it's not so different. I stay up late, but Chicago's got a lot of all-night movie shows. I miss stuff that goes on during the day like baseball. Reading about a game in the papers just isn’t the same as watching one. I miss a lot of my favorite radio shows, especially in the summer since the days are longer.

Elrod: You’re not at all active during the day?

Fleming: When the sun comes up, I’m dead to the world. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Elrod: How did you get to be a vampire?

Fleming: It’s a long story. I tell about some of it in Bloodlist.

Elrod: That would be your first book. You don’t give the whole story there?

Fleming: I give enough of it. I was pretty busy in Bloodlist. First I wake up dead on that beach, then I can’t remember how I got there or who had killed me. Then this guy hits me with his car--busy. Yanno?

Elrod: Busy. Got that.

Fleming: Good.

Elrod: So—you’ve got a new book in The Vampire Files series coming out this September?

Fleming: Sure do! Dark Road Rising. Your pal Rachel Caine liked it plenty.

Elrod: She did. I think she liked it better than my books. You sure you didn’t hypnotize her?

Fleming: I’m taking the fifth.

Elrod: Anything else on the way?

Fleming: I’ve got a story in that thing you edited, Strange Brew. That’s coming this July. Escott and I solve the case of Hecate’s Golden Eye. I have a short work coming out this month called The Devil You Know. It’s strictly on the Q.T. One of those signed, numbered, limited edition things. It’s only going to be sold on the vampwriter.com website.

Elrod: Getting fancy, are you?

Fleming: I’m only bowing to the demands of my fans.

Elrod: Uh…YOUR fans?

Fleming: That's right, my fans. Next topic?

Elrod: What about your romantic life?

Fleming: Hey, a gentleman doesn't talk about things like that!

Elrod: Sorry, but many of the lady readers are...curious about how you go about things.

Fleming: They'll have to ask my girlfriend. She's never complained.

Elrod: That would be Miss Bobbi Smythe, the chanteuse?

Fleming: She's more than that—she sings, dances, acts, and can swing a blackjack better than Capone.

Elrod: I thought he favored baseball bats.

Fleming: She can swing one of those, too. Better believe it that I stay on her good side! Don't get me wrong, she's the best, I'm lucky to have her. What she sees in me I don't know, but I hope she keeps seeing it.

Elrod: There is also your human partner in your PI business, Charles Escott. He's originally from England and is now a private detective--

Fleming: Private agent. Don't call him a gumshoe, it puts him in a mood. He doesn't do divorce cases is all.

Elrod: I understand he was with you on your first case?

Fleming: Yeah, Bloodlist, the one where I solved my own murder. He was there all right. We got off to a rocky start when he stole my home earth, but what the hell, it all worked out in the end.

Elrod: What does he think of working with a vampire?

Fleming: You'll have to ask him. Why don't you ask me what it's like working with a human? Is there some kind of vampire bias going on here? I have a condition. Would you ask him what it was like to work with a diabetic if I had diabetes?

Elrod: Yes. I would.

Fleming:  Oh.  Uh.  Okay.

Elrod: So what is it like working with Charles Escott? I understand he's a bit quirky.

Fleming: Quirky is an understatement, lady. He drives me nuts. It's bad enough he uses fifty words when ten will do, but he has absolutely no fear—especially when he should. I'm always having to haul him out of trouble.

Elrod: Always?

Fleming: I know, I should talk. I’ll put it this way, we look out for each other, but neither of us makes it easy for the other guy. Then there's his pal, Shoe--

Elrod: That would be Shoe Coldfield who runs the largest African-American gang in what was then called Chicago's "Bronze Belt?"

Fleming: Big guy. Hates surprises. Has a right cross you don't ever wanna meet. He and Escott go way back. They used to be in a Canadian acting troupe--

Elrod: You're kidding!

Fleming: I've seen the posters. Escott's still got some of the company's theatrical gear, but don't talk to him about it. He's got bad memories from that time. I don't like to pry.

Elrod: The heck you don't! What about all that stuff in Dark Sleep?

Fleming: Okay, you got me on that, but go easy on the guy.

Elrod: I will. He's pretty hot. Lots of my friends think he's hotter than you.

(note: interview continues in next post)