Pay The Cab Fare ... And Meet The Author, Too

From Fresh Air from WHYY on

It's not unusual to get in a cab and find a paperback novel on the seat next to the driver. What makes Jack Clark's cab different is that he's both the driver and the author.

Clark is a Chicago cab driver who's been driving for 30 years and written three books. The Washington Post called his mystery novel Nobody's Angel a "gem that doesn't contain a wasted word or a false note."

Nobody's Angel is written in the voice of a Chicago cabbie named Eddie Miles -- and is as much about the life of taxi drivers as it is about the two serial murderers on the loose in the Windy City. Before getting a book deal, Clark originally published the book himself under the title Relita's Angel and sold 500 copies for $5 a copy from his cab.

Jack Clark wrote for the weekly paper the Chicago Reader years ago, but he left journalism for the world of writing fiction and picking up fares. His story caught the eye of Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies, who drove a cab in Philadelphia before entering journalism. Copyright 2010 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Link to Original Article on NPR.org