Ahead of his next book, A Calamity of Souls, which comes out April 16, bestselling novelist David Baldacci talks about his writing, his other projects, and what he loves about NoVA.
Calamity is a story of a white Virginia lawyer defending a Black man charged with murder in 1968. How did it come about and how much of your younger life is in it?
A great deal of it is autobiographical, I mean, where Jack [Lee, the main character] grew up, the sort of neighborhood and background, the working-class background he had, the friends and family that he had, the sort of experiences that you read about in the book mirror some of the things that happened to me as a kid. It was very personal. … And this is a book that has been percolating for a while in my head, and I wrote it off and on for over a decade. I got to the point where I don’t even know if it’s relevant anymore. And then I went back and read some of what I’ve written and I felt like well, if I didn’t tell you it was 1968, you would just assume it’s contemporary, so I thought it’s probably still relevant.
Which of your novels are currently being turned into movies?
I sold the 6:20 series to Netflix. They’re going to make a series of movies out of it, based on various books. The second one, The Edge, came out over Christmas. The Altee Pine series is set up at Amazon Studios. The Amos Decker Memory Man series is also set up at Amazon Studios. And I’m negotiating and closing a deal with the Camel Club, which is one of my most popular series, with one of the big, actually they’re sort of a combination, they’re a cable prime-time network, but they have this streaming platform as well, so it may land on one of those two.
Any timeline on when we see these?
The one that’s farthest ahead is the Atlee Pine. They already have a pilot script for that one, so maybe before the end of the year.
Any hints on what other local places will show up in a future novel?
I’m always thinking about it. You know, I love the area very much. The book I’m working on now, it’s the third installment in 6:20 Man series, it’s going to be sent in the Pacific Northwest. But the next book of his, I think I’m going to bring him back to Virginia. There are a couple of scenes in the book that are set in Reston and the Dulles area. But maybe the fourth book, I’ll bring him back here and let him play around in the Virginia playgrounds for a little while.
I understand you do a lot of writing at a little deli in Vienna. Tell us about Plaka Grill.
I think people think about writers as sort of closeting themselves in the same little place, with the same little routines every day. The only perfect place to write is in your head. And if you’re there, you can write anywhere, so I’ve gotten my laptop or my bound manuscript and worked away in Plaka and other places for hours, and it’s like I’m the only person on the planet. I just feel like I’m in this cocoon, and it’s because I’m in the zone. … Plaka is just a comfortable place for me to go. I enjoy the atmosphere. They’re very kind, and people come up to me all the time over there. They introduce themselves, tell me how much they love the books. I appreciate that. I just love the fact that people still read books and enjoy them.
What are some of your favorite places in Northern Virginia?
One of our favorite places to go for entertainment is Wolf Trap. … We’ve seen so many great acts out there. The last one we went to, I think, was last summer. It was John Legend, just him on a piano. … I think he played for three hours, just played and spoke and pontificated and sort of gave his backstory and his biography, and it was just thrilling to have that intimacy there.
Restaurant-wise, we love [Ristorante] Bonaroti, which is also on Maple Avenue in Vienna. [Owner] Sergio [Domestici] is a fantastic guy. We’ve known him for over 20 years, and we go there as often as we can when we are in town. Café Renaissance is another really great place.
History plays into your novels, doesn’t it?
I’m a big historical buff. … I’ve always been fascinated by the DC area. I’m a native Virginian. … There’s so much history here. … Sort of this mini evolutionary cycle of the United States was born here, and we went through all these different calamities here, and we’re still standing at the end of the day. Virginia itself is multifaceted. If you go west, it’s a very different sort of state. We go east, it’s a very different sort of state. But that’s what we’re supposed to be — this melting pot of lots of different personalities from all around the world, and we all come together, and we try to survive together and prosper. So that’s why I love writing about the area because it really is a microcosm of everything this country is supposed to represent, right here in Virginia.
Feature image of David Baldacci by John Groo
A shorter version of this story originally ran in our April issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.