Wiley, Michael 1961-

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Wiley, Michael 1961-

PERSONAL:

Born November 18, 1961. Education: New York University, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Jacksonville, FL. Office—English Department, 1 UNF Dr., Bldg. 8, Office 2231, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224. E-mail—[email protected]; [email protected].

CAREER:

Academic. University of North Florida, Jacksonville, associate professor of English.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Best first private-eye novel, Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press, 2006, for The Last Striptease.

WRITINGS:

Romantic Geography: Wordsworth and Anglo-European Spaces, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

The Last Striptease (novel), Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2007.

Romantic Migrations: Local, National, and Transnational Dispositions, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Wiley is an academic. Born on November 18, 1961, Wiley graduated from New York University with a Ph.D. Wiley eventually became an associate professor of English at Jacksonville's University of North Florida. His research interests include literary theory, British Romantic literature, and spatial studies in literature. Wiley published his first book, Romantic Geography: Wordsworth and Anglo-European Spaces, in 1998. Ten years later he published Romantic Migrations: Local, National, and Transnational Dispositions.

Wiley published his first novel, The Last Striptease, in 2007. The novel won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press prize for the best first private detective novel in 2006. The novel marks the beginning of the "Kozmarski Mystery" series, featuring Chicago-based private inspector Joe Kozmarski and set on the same streets that Wiley himself grew up on. Joe witnesses a murder while driving around town while on regular surveillance. Joe's friend, Bill Gubman, from the days when he worked on the police force, is killed by the same murderer as he is first on the scene, and the killer escapes. Separately, Joe agrees to do a favor for retired judge Peter Rifkin in helping to find evidence to clear Bob Piedras of being accused of killing his girlfriend, Le Thi Hanh, a Vietnamese woman who performs nude for videos. Rifkin offers Joe a large sum of money but does not have a trusted reputation, having been removed from his position as a judge for inappropriate behavior and for crossing Joe personally in the past and betraying him. Joe soon finds that he is being harassed, however, by her rowdy brothers, who follow him around and have a reputation for shooting first and asking questions later. Inconveniently, Joe's mother complicates his life even further by asking him to take care of his delinquent nephew, who intentionally involves himself in Joe's investigation.

A contributor to Publishers Weekly remarked that the Wiley's novel is a "fast-paced debut." The same contributor called Joe "a wonderfully flawed everyman," adding that anyone who reads the novel "will applaud his efforts and hard-won small victories." A critic writing in Kirkus Reviews noted that "the obligatory bumps and bruises follow" after Le Thi Hanh's siblings look for Joe. The same critic found that there is "not much new in this debut … but Wiley does speak fairly fluent Chandler."