Acclaimed novelist Don Winslow launches a new trilogy set in his native Rhode Island

Bestselling author Don Winslow was born in New York City, but grew up in Rhode Island, mostly in Perryville, near Matunuck. He now divides his time between California and his restored family home in Perryville.

His most famous books took place in California, particularly the "Cartel" trilogy, set amid the brutal drug wars along the California/Mexican border.

But now Winslow is back with a new trilogy whose initial book, “City on Fire,” is about organized crime in Rhode Island in the 1980s, due out April 26. Winslow is 68. So why did it take him so long to set a book here?

“Maybe I needed space and time to really see it,” he said in a phone interview with The Providence Journal. “I’ve come back here probably every year, more intensely in the past 10 years. I go to East Matunuck Beach every day I can. I have rediscovered my love for the place.”

The book makes fascinating reading for Rhode Islanders. Winslow clearly knows Rhode Island well, capturing its ethnic and tribal loyalties and the lazy feel of a summer afternoon along the South County beaches.

Great reads, good friends: RI book clubs share literature, laughter and companionship

But this is not a historical novel. Winslow has created his own alt-Rhode Island of the 1980s, in which Irish and Italian mob families go to war.

Winslow has even changed some place names in his native South County. A bar perched over the ocean, called the Spindrift, reads a lot like South Kingstown's Ocean Mist. The fishing village of Gilead might well be Galilee. (Winslow will neither confirm nor deny.)

Roots in ancient Greek epic 'The Iliad'

What’s more, Winslow said the trilogy is based on the ancient Greek epic “The Iliad,” with characters roughly corresponding to their ancient counterparts, although no one is fighting in the streets of Providence with spears and swords.

Danny Ryan, the book’s protagonist, is Winslow’s version of Aeneas, a relatively minor character in “The Iliad.” And just as the beautiful Helen allegedly sparked the Trojan War, a gorgeous blonde named Pam, by way of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Watch Hill, inadvertently sets off the gang wars in “City on Fire.”

“This can be read purely as crime fiction, with no reference to the classics,” Winslow said. “But I think when we look at the crime genre — which I love — we see the roots in too shallow a way. Sure, there is Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, but you can go back way further than that.. ... “The Godfather” is a retelling of [Shakespeare’s] “Henry IV. ”

Book review: Novella collection is Winslow at his very best

Book review: Winslow concludes his epic trilogy

Book review: Don Winslow's "The Force" and other thrillers

“City on Fire” was supposed to be published last fall, but was delayed until this month because of COVID.

“It was a very tough decision to postpone. Everyone was all geared up, the agent, the publisher. We were ready to go. But bookstores were reluctant to bring people in, for understandable reasons. And we didn’t want to expose readers to any risk,” Winslow said.

Now he is about to embark on a 23-city tour, with stops in Providence and Westerly.

The delay has also given Winslow time to write. He said he is finished with the second book of the trilogy and deep into the third. The last we saw Danny Ryan, at the end of “City of Fire,” he was headed for California.

And then? Winslow is too smart to give anything away, but he said readers have not seen the last of Rhode Island. “There will be a lot of scenes in Rhode Island,” he said. “The book follows not only Danny, but other characters in the book as well.”

Winslow's works, in print and on screen

Winslow himself left Rhode Island when he was 17, went to college at the University of Nebraska, where he majored in African history, and had a series of jobs that took him around the world, including stints as a private investigator and a trial consultant.

His first book, “A Cool Breeze on the Underground,” was published in 1991. But it wasn’t until his seventh, “The Death and Life of Bobby Z” in 1997, and a partnership with agent/screenwriter/producer Shane Salerno, that Winslow was able to devote himself to writing full time.

History of Theatre-by-the-Sea | Act III: Tommy Brent ushers in the swinging ’60s

Salerno and Winslow collaborated on a TV series, “UC: Undercover,” which aired on NBC in 2001-2002, and the 2012 movie “Savages,” based on one of Winslow’s books. Directed by Oliver Stone, it starred Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Benicio del Toro, Salma Hayek and John Travolta.

Now there is plenty of interest in using Winslow’s books, including 2017’s police novel “The Force” (2017), the "Cartel" trilogy and the “City on Fire” trilogy as material for either movies or TV series.

“I have more influence over what gets made than control. I do have a seat at the table,” Winslow said. “I want as much input as I can, but in film or TV, no one really has control except the director, or maybe the editor.”

In the meantime, Winslow is working on another film project, and it couldn’t be more Rhode Island. He purchased the film rights for “The Last Good Heist,” by Tim White, Randall Richard and Wayne Worcester, the true story of the 1975 Bonded Vault robbery in Providence. Winslow said he’s writing the screenplay.

“It’s a bumpy road to get something on screen, and I’m still trying to navigate it,” Winslow said. “It’s a great book — I think it belongs on every crime lover’s shelf. I want to see it made, and made well.”

Has anti-Trump activism cost him readers?

Winslow has also ventured into the political arena. Fierce opponents of Donald Trump, Winslow and Salerno have made videos for Twitter, with the help of celebrities such as Bruce Springsteen and Jeff Daniels, to influence voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

In early 2021, just before the Georgia senatorial runoff elections, the Los Angeles Times ran a column headlined “The anti-Trump videos that set Twitter on fire.”

“There’s always the worry you’re just preaching to the choir,” Winslow said. “We were trying to reach out to undecided voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania. Even if you know you’re talking to people who agree with you, you want to encourage people to fight, to be engaged.”

Does Winslow think he’s lost readers because of his politics?

“Oh, sure. But it’s impossible to quantify how many. In the 'Cartel' trilogy I went after Trump. And I hear about it all the time. ... I never wanted to be a political person. I’m a storyteller. That’s what I do. But the times are so extraordinary. The 2020 election was extraordinary. It was an existential moment, and I think it still is,” Winslow said.

Don Winslow will appear at the Columbus Theatre in Providence on May 13 and at the United Theater in Westerly on May 14.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Bestselling novelist Don Winslow launches new trilogy set in RI