The Solomon Scandals A Washington newspaper novel by David Rothman

The Jonathan Stone-David Rothman Q. & A.

Jonathan Stone, the reporter in The Solomon Scan­dals, grilled me for this Q. & A.—uncut. – David Roth­man

STONE: Why’s Scan­dals copy­righted in your name? Those are my news­pa­per memoirs.

ROTHMAN: Er, faux mem­oirs. With­out me, you wouldn’t even have been born…or have worked for the Wash­ing­ton Telegram…or have strug­gled to avert an IRS-CIA build­ing collapse…or lived through those quirky sex scandals…or the cor­rup­tion and black­mail from the Oval Office…or the gos­sip columnist’s suicide…or the death of the shark­like edi­tor in a car bombing…or your Hol­ly­wood direct­ing career or—

STONE: Thanks, but I’ve already read my book. Now what about the talk­ing Afghan Hound at the Cos­mos Club? Sure it doesn’t detract from my dignity?

ROTHMAN: But you’ve been dead for decades. Scan­dals is set mainly in the 1970s, but looks far beyond—via reflec­tions from your great-grand niece at the Insti­tute for Pre­vir­tual Stud­ies. Besides, Afghans are dig­ni­fied. I didn’t put this detail in the book, but Thack­eray II speaks in a won­der­ful bari­tone with a mid-Atlantic accent. I wish he could do my radio inter­views for me.

STONE: For late­com­ers, who’s this guy Solomon? And what’s he doing on my book cover with a build­ing in his hand?

• The Solomon Scandals: A BRIEF video introduction
• Bio
• The Jonathan Stone-David Rothman Q. & A.
• Good-bye, Sen. Kennedy
• From Bob Dylan to D.C.’s white-collar crooks: U.K. music site’s 3,000-word Q&A with David Rothman