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Born and matriculated in the Washington DC area, Brian went on to NYU Film School before finding his a day job and a career in utility infrastructure. Well, that and surfing Brooklyn is what kept him alive while writing, and the day job eventually led to an expertise in underground utilities. He's been involved in many subsurface explorations, including a number of urban archeological digs. Some of his published articles have delved into this topic, most notably in Mercator's World, the book Concrete Jungle and in the Tribeca Trib. His talents were called upon after 9/11 as part of the rescue and reconstruction effort at ground zero.

Surfing gave way to his earlier passion of fly fishing, a skill taught to him by his mother, and he has since devoted a disproportionate amount of resources to the pursuit of fly fishing. His home waters are Pocono Mountain lakes, the Delaware and Connecticut rivers, and the Miller's and Deerfield rivers in Massachusetts. American shad and pickerel are specialties, and a number of Brian's articles / photos have appeared in American Angler, Fly Fisherman, Fly Tyer, Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide, Fly Fishing Journal, Fly Fish America, Massachusetts Wildlife, A River Never Sleeps, Outdoor Canada and Rackelhanen Fly Fishing Magazine (Sweden). Some of his shad fly patterns and musings on shad behavior appear in C. Boyd Pfeiffer's book Shad Fishing (2002). Brian has also fished variously through Central / South America and East Africa.

Brian lives in Brooklyn, New York.

BRIAN WIPRUD

Q: Did you actually choose to work in the Mystery genre and if so why? (What does it offer that others do not?)

A: Blame Donald Westlake. I read some of his Dortmunder books and got such joy from them that I decided this is what I wanted to do with my life.

Q: How much of your protagonist in either series is based upon yourself and/or important figures in your life?

A: My protagonists, like all my characters, are derived by looking through the facets of a crystal that is my personality. There are many sides to the crystal, and as you turn it this way and that, you can come up with many combinations of light and images, and see people through the stone. If I hold it up to me, that's my protagonist. If I hold it up to other people, that's other characters. But all the images are distorted, and the prism effect tends to break the light of reality down into more distinct layers than actually exist in everyday life.

Q:Which of your books comes closest to accomplishing your intention and why?

A: My intent is to amuse, entertain and edify. All the books accomplish this in different ways, and about different aspects of life, so I'm not sure I can pick one over the other. But in as much as I'm growing as an author, and have increasingly more to say as I approach the mortal veil of tears, I think it will always be my most recent book because that's the one closest to who I am now. That would be TAILED.

Q: Who or what have been your major influences regarding your writing? (What particular book/writer/film/person/event made you want to write and why?)

A: As I said, Don Westlake got me started. While I enjoy many authors, I'm not sure how much they really influence the way I write. I decided a long time ago not to take any writing courses because I wanted to grow my own distinct style. It took longer that way, but for me it has been a rewarding way to get where I am. Mostly, I read non fiction to influence what I write, helps give me ideas for books and characters.

Q: What new projects do you have in the pipeline?

A: I'm working on a stand alone about four down and out working stiffs who decide to get ahead by infiltrating the art world by impersonating a famous Russian artist.

 book/s in review

Review by Nancy Gratton, Heirloom Bookstore:
Tailed; Dell, 2007, 352 pp.

Alright, lets stop a moment and take stock of the major elements in Brian M. Wiprud's latest mystery novel, Tailed. We've got an amputated bear claw and a decapitated ram, albino geckos, and a Lucha Libre wrestler called "The Rotten Egg." We've got secret societies and a few aging-hippie nudists. With all this, how could anyone expect to also find deft plotting and satisfying suspense? But that's exactly what you get in Tailed.

Wiprud's latest offering brings back Garth Carson, now taxidermist to the stars. With the help of some friends, including his shop assistant, the peculiarly malapropism-prone Russian immigrant, Otto, and his lady friend, Angie, he's got to discover who is killing off his clients with their own collections, before the Feds lay all the blame on him. The job takes him from Chicago to the New Mexican desert, and a showdown that unleashes enough firepower to make even the hardest-core Dirty Harry fan blush.

Wiprud is one of that rare breed - a crime novelist with a real knack for full-bore comedic writing. Not for him is the safe haven of decorous, low-key witticisms. He's much more comfortable with over-the-top characters and plot twists guaranteed to strain reader credibility to the snapping point, but he pulls it off without once losing control of the threads of suspense he's weaving underneath all the hilarity.

Tailed is the third outing for Garth Carson and his crew. They wove their merry way through two earlier offerings, Pipsqueak and Stuffed, and a third novel, Crooked, bears a strong family relationship, as well. (A fifth Wiprud novel, Sleep with the Fishes, turns Wiprud's comedic spotlight on the mob.) For readers who like their mysteries garnished with a big dollop of comedy, Wiprud is The Man.

 previous features

   author's favorite picks on:

 special sale

Reed Farrel Coleman
Jane Cleland

• CD: The Latin Sound of Henri Mancini
• Film: The Matador; A Face in the Crowd; How to Murder Your Wife
• Blog/Website: Wikipedia, The Skeptic's Dictionary, The Onion
• Book/Graphic Novel: STIFF: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach; The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson - the government's efforts to harness telekinesis.
• Restaurant: Minetta Tavern, 113 Macdougal St, Manhattan.
• Bar: Brooklyn Social, 335 Smith St., Brooklyn.
• Drink: Stoli martini, up, dry with a double twist.
• Author's Choice/Misc.: Penn & Teller's show "BULLSH*T": For all you fellow skeptics out there. The boys aren’t always 100% on target, but often enough, and a healthy dose of skepticism helps put this crazy world in proper perspective.

 For a limited time, we are offering a complete run of Brian's titles, as appearing above, as a single lot purchase. (One of each.) They are all Signed First Editions/First Thus: as Brian's acclaim rose, he switched to new publishers and different formats.

The Special Offer gives the lucky buyer all published versions of his book, save for the Russian translation of Pipsqueak.

Special Lot Price: $375.00