Laura DiSilverio's "Swift Run"

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Laura DiSilverio spent twenty years as an Air Force intelligence officer, serving as a squadron commander, with the National Reconnaissance Office, and at a fighter wing, before retiring to parent and write full time.

Swift Run is the latest novel in her Swift Investigations mystery series.

Here DiSilverio dreamcasts an adaptation of the series:

When I think about casting a Swift Investigations movie, I am somewhat hampered by my lack of knowledge of the upcoming crop of actors. The actors who most easily come to mind are those who were on the silver screen back when I saw fifty movies a year ... before I had children. So, if I fall back on casting so-and-so “back when he was young,” you’ll understand why.

The two main characters in the series are Charlotte “Charlie” Swift, a 37-year-old former Air Force investigator who drinks too much Pepsi and likes to work alone, and Georgia “Gigi” Goldman, a mid-fifties divorcee and former socialite who turns to investigating after her husband Les embezzles from all his companies and runs off to Costa Rica with his personal trainer, leaving Gigi with nothing but the house, the Hummer and half-interest in Swift Investigations, a business not doing well enough to bother stealing from.

I see Charlie as a younger Holly Hunter as she played Grace in the TV series Saving Grace. Charlie’s petite, dark-haired, and abrasive, doesn’t suffer fools well, and calls it like it is—frequently rudely. If forced to pick someone currently age appropriate, I’d go with Reese Witherspoon, hair dyed mink-brown, Marion Cotillard or Rachel McAdams.

The inspiration for Gigi was always Kathy Bates in Fried Green Tomatoes. Alas, she has aged out of the Gigi role. Perhaps Kathy Najimy, as a blonde, or Kirstie Alley in her heavier days. The more I think about it, the better I like Kirstie Alley in her pre-Dancing with the Stars shape. She’s got the wide-eyed look of innocence that Gigi employs to great effect and is a great comic actress.

I can totally see Whoopi Goldberg as Albertine.

The men I’ve got to cast are police detective Connor Montgomery and Father Dan Allgood, the Episcopalian priest who lives next door to Charlie. I essentially cast Montgomery by comparing him to Clive Owen in the books. The other male role, Father Dan Allgood is harder. He’s in his mid-forties, blond, 6’5”, and conveys a sense of danger under his priestly alb and gentle exterior, a sense of a former life that was lived on the edge and probably involved automatic weapons. Liam Neeson could have been Fr. Dan ten years ago, by I think he’s too old for the part now. Daniel Craig’s not big enough and is probably committed to the James Bond franchise for the next two decades. I don’t know how tall any of these dudes are, but I could see Matthew Fox (Lost), Hugh Jackman, or Ralph Fiennes as Fr. Dan. Given how long it takes Hollywood to make a movie, maybe Ryan Gosling will grow into the role.

I realize my casting choices have probably set the producers back about fifty mil, but if they film on location in Colorado Springs they can probably save a few bucks. Anyone out there have other casting ideas to offer?

Learn more about the book and author at Laura DiSilverio's website and Facebook page.

Writers Read: Laura DiSilverio (December 2011).

--Marshal Zeringue