Howie Carr Signs Copies of His New Fictional Thriller in Hingham

Howie Carr is many things to many people. A radio broadcaster since 1994, his daily talk-show on WRKO  is a mixture of humorous anecdotes and political criticism while his regular contributions to the Boston Herald are not afraid to set forth personal opinions that don't pull any punches. 

On Saturday evening, Carr was at Barnes & Noble at Derby Street Shoppes to sign copies of his latest book, "Hard Knocks," with numerous local residents excited to spend some time in his company and shake his hand.

When Carr appeared last April to sign copies of his book "Hit Man," he was greeted by hundreds of fans.  This past weekend's event seemed was a smaller turnout which was a result of the cold weather and Patriots game that was kicking off a few hours later. 

Smiling and relaxed, Carr spent some time swapping tales of Whitey Bulger with residents who claimed to have intimate knowledge of a man who was on the run for many years. 

Appreciating that Hingham residents had other distractions, he handed out postcards and magnets to every attendee as he joked "is there something else happening today?" But the smaller turnout just meant that the fans had the chance to have their book signed and get a one on one distillation of some of his political views.

Carr's  first two books detailed the notorious figures in Boston's criminal underworld and in particular the career of James "Whitey" Bulger. Last week, his third book made it onto the shelves but unlike his two previous non-fiction efforts, this one paints a fictional tale of cops and robbers in Boston.

A self-confessed fan of crime fiction and noir, Carr grew up reading the adventures of characters like Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade and his first novel is an attempt to replicate the literature that he fell in love with.

"I prefer to call it a noir, rather than pulp fiction," said Carr. "I've been reading these things since I was a kid so I've always wanted to write something like this. I wrote it a while back but it was before I had anything published. Then I wrote the non-fiction books and they did really well. It's easier when you've had some success, even in non-fiction, to get fiction published so I took advantage of my opportunity."

 Inspired by Boston and the gangs that operate in the city, Carr is quick to point out the book contains "some people who are based on real-life characters, but it is fiction."

His first novel has taken six or seven years to see the light of day but Carr is confident that moving away from non-fiction will be as successful as his broadcasting career.

"I like writing better,"Carr said. "It's more immediate to do broadcasting. Something happens and you talk about it immediately. It's exciting to do things like interview Newt Gingrich, but the thing is that it goes into the ether and it's gone. A book can be around for a long time and long after I'm gone, theoretically of course, people could pick it up and say 'gee, that guy was a good writer and this is a good book'. It's a more lasting piece of work."

Hard Knocks by Howie Carr is available now at Barnes & Noble or on the Nook e-reader.