Q&A with Joe Cary, Author of Birds of Prey Don't Sing

 Calculated violence and shifting control drive Birds of Prey Don’t Sing by Joe Cary. The story centers on a professional assassin forced away from his usual precision while a homicide sergeant continues pursuing a case that grows more unpredictable with every lead.

Synopsis:

A priest becomes the target of a contract that should never be possible to execute cleanly. For Michael Harrier, however, impossible situations are part of the job. His entire career has been built on a method designed to redirect suspicion away from himself and onto someone else.

Every assignment follows the same structure, and until now the strategy has protected him completely. But this latest operation quickly turns unstable. A woman connected to violence from the past changes Harrier’s focus, unexpected mistakes begin stacking together, and improvisation replaces the control he normally

depends on.

While Harrier struggles to contain the fallout, LAPD homicide sergeant Jordan Becker continues investigating a case filled with inconsistencies. The evidence never settles, the story keeps changing, and Becker starts recognizing patterns that suggest he is chasing someone far more calculated than expected.

As both men move closer to confrontation, every decision threatens to reshape what happens next.

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4moC3RE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250733055-birds-of-prey-don-t-sing

When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it?

I had many ideas for the “ideal” two-for-one assassination to lead off a series with, but I had to narrow it down to one. And the moment I came up with a believable way to frame a job as divine judgment, I knew I had to go with that over the others, the impossible hit made possible, the surprise that seems inevitable in retrospect.

Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why?

Chensea, the impact character. The way her strength evolved through the novel’s revisions, she kept showing up stronger and I loved that, and how her impact on Harrier is good on a human level but in ways that are sometimes quite bad for him.

About the author:

Joe Cary’s short stories have appeared in One Story, XRAY Literary Magazine, BULL, and MonkeyBicycle, and have also earned a Special Mention in the 2020 Pushcart Prize Anthology and a Best of the Net nomination. BIRDS OF PREY DON'T SING is his first novel. 

A former Angeleno, Joe currently lives with his family in Philadelphia where he fights money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. When he isn’t writing, he enjoys coaching his daughter’s flag football team and throwing frisbees to his dog, Pepper.  He has also been a volunteer adult literacy tutor in four cities. 

Visit Joe at his website.