Shout Out: Craig S. Wilson, author and songwriter with Myrna Petlicki on @chicagotribune

Originally published in the Chicago Tribune.

Park Ridge native Craig S. Wilson owns a flourishing American Recruiters franchise and has written more than 300 songs and three musicals.

The latest project for the published author is a quartet of international crime thrillers set in Brazil, starting with “Renegade Pawn,” which introduces readers to 16-year-old Lucas Rocha, whose need to support his young sisters leads him to commit a crime. (Preorder here.)

Q: Why did you decide to write four thrillers set in Brazil?

A: On my first trip to Rio, a kid shined my shoes, and when I went to pay him, he stole my money clip. I chased him up in the favelas and had an eye-opener. You’ve got a million-plus people living in total poverty with no running water. Originally, I wrote a book that was more of an epic. I decided to make it a series.

Q: What do you do to relax?

A: I’m always juggling things, so I set aside time on the weekends and early mornings when my head is clear to write.

Q: Do you have children and grandchildren.

A: I have two kids, David, 34, and Courtney, 32. I have two stepchildren from my wife Melissa G. Wilson, Graham Giovagnoli and Gavin Giovagnoli. We have three grandchildren — Winnie Mae Wilson, John Wilson, and Grace Sofia Giovagnoli.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: I’ve got the most unique little Lexy Lulu. She’s a toy golden doodle.

Q: What’s your favorite memory of growing up in Park Ridge?

A: Summers, walking to Hinkley Field and playing chess in the morning and tetherball tennis. And then going back to the pool in the afternoon after going home for lunch. Going home for dinner and then going back at night and throwing a softball with the big boys in their 16-inch softball league. And now and then going to Ted and Pearl’s Happy House with my mom and my grandmother, after my mom’s piano lessons schedule was finished. She was a piano teacher.

Q: What movie would you recommend?

A: I really loved “The King’s Speech.” I’m getting drawn to historical movies. “Dunkirk” was great. I loved “The Darkest Hour.”

Q: Who is your hero?

A: Jimmy Stewart. He was always present and a genuinely good guy.

Q: What’s your favorite saying?

A: No time like the present.

Q: What’s your most prized possession?

A: My piano.

Q: What was your favorite vacation?

A: A couple of years ago, Melissa and her sister and brother went on a sib trip cruise, and we cruised the Baltics. Inside of a week and a half, we visited Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Denmark and Belgium.

Q: Where would you like to go next?

A: Normandy. I want to see what those guys did to save the world.

Release date: September 7th, 2018.

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