Novelists, at least the good ones, tend to be a modest lot, perhaps because they know no book of theirs is perfect, and even if it was, that won’t help write the next one. Thomas Mallon is especially self-effacing, which is noteworthy because there is no finer writer of American historical fiction working today. His 11 novels beautifully capture their times and temperaments, whether it be Lincoln’s Washington or Lucille Ball’s Hollywood, which is very much part of his latest book, Up with the Sun.
JIM KELLY: You are best known for your historical fiction, especially for highlighting minor characters who find themselves swept up in major events, such as Henry and Clara, the couple who sat with Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre the night he was shot, and Rose Mary Woods, Richard Nixon’s secretary during Watergate. In your new book, you focus on a real-life actor named Dick Kallman, who later became a wealthy antiques dealer and was murdered, along with his boyfriend, in 1980. Kallman is not exactly a household name, so how and why did you pick him?
