Jim Fusilli

Jim Fusilliis (born July 17, 1953) is an American journalist, essayist and novelist.  He served as the rock-and-pop critic forThe Wall Street Journalfrom 2009 to 2018, and contributed toNPR’sAll Things Considered.He has written nine novels and is also the author of thePet Soundsentry inBloomsbury Publishing’s33 1/3series.
Vincent James Fusilli Jr. was born inHoboken, New Jersey. He majored in English at St. Peter’s College (nowSaint Peter’s University) where he was a critic for the student newspaper, thePauw Wow.  While in college, Fusilli joined theTeamstersLocal 560 as a clerk at Smith Transport, headquartered in Hoboken.
After graduation in 1975, he served as an intern atThe Jersey Journal, where he wrote a weekly column on popular music. He also contributed articles toThe Record.
In 1982, Fusilli was hired byDow Jones & Company, in its Corporate Relations department with responsibility for employee communications. Shortly thereafter, he began to contribute to theJournal’s new Leisure and Arts page, whose editor wasRaymond Sokolov.  His essay "A Wall Street Rocker" was published inThe New York Times Magazinein 1986.
While continuing his occasional contributions to theJournal, Fusilli left Dow Jones and joined Sanofi, Inc., the U.S. holding company for the Paris-basedSanofiS.A.. During his 12 years with the company, Fusilli became vice president, Corporate Communications, a position in which he frequently traveled to Paris, accompanied the chairman and CEOJean-François Dehecq, and worked withOscar de la Renta,Yves Saint Laurentand other fashion luminaries whose fragrances were marketed by Sanofi. He left the company in 2001.
In 2009, Fusilli was appointedThe Wall Street Journal’s rock-and-pop critic, the first in its history, and wrote a weekly column for its Arts section until 2018.
The first in a mystery series featuring the private detective Terry Orr and his daughter Bella,Closing Timewas published byPenguin Putnamon September 10, 2001. Set in New York's Tribeca district, it was the last novel set in the city prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Subsequently, the sequel,A Well-Known Secret, was the first novel set in New York following the attacks; it addresses the impact on the city, the Tribeca neighborhood and the psyche of the reoccurring characters. Two more novels in the series came thereafter:Tribeca Blues, published in 2003, andHard, Hard City, published in 2004.Hard, Hard Citywas named the Novel of the Year byMystery Ink Magazine.The first three books in the series were subsequently reissued byOpen Road Integrated Media.
Fusilli's novelsThe Road to Nowhere(2012) andBillboard Man(2013) were published byAmazon Publishing’s Thomas & Mercer imprint.
In January 2024, his novelThe Price You Pay,informed in large part by his experiences as a young Teamster, will be published byDown & Out Books.
Prior to its acquisition byAmazon,Audiblehad acquiredNarrows Gate, which it published as its first mainstream literary novel. Amazon Publishing issued the paperback original version ofNarrows Gate.Narrows Gatewas nominated for the Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award in 2012.Its sequel,The Mayor of Polk Street, was published as an Audible Original in 2019 and by Open Road Media in 2022.  Actor and film directorEdoardo BallerininarratedNarrows GateandThe Mayor of Polk Street.
Fusilli's novel for young adults,Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin, was published byDutton Juvenilein 2008.
Fusilli's short stories have appeared in magazines includingAlfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and anthologiesedited byLee Child,Dennis Lehane,Laura Lippman,George Pelecanosand others. He edited and contributed to the anthologiesThe Chopin Manuscript,The Copper BraceletandCrime Plus Music: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir.His anthologyBrutal & Strange: Stories Based on the Songs ofElvis Costello, featuringMark Billingham,Peter Blauner,Meg Gardiner,Catriona McPherson,George Pelecanos,Gary Phillipsand others, was published by Down & Out Books in December 2023. His short story "Chellini’s Solution" was included in an edition of theBest American Mystery Storiesand his "Digby, Attorney at Law" was nominated for theEdgarandMacavityawards in 2010, presented by theMystery Writers of AmericaandMystery Readers International, respectively.
In 2005, Fusilli's writing onPet Soundswas published as part of the33 1/3series. It was translated for a Japanese language edition byHaruki Murakami.
Fusilli and his wife Diane, an international communications executive, reside in Connecticut.