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“I was looking for a place for them to go,” Moore said in an interview Friday. He found that place after receiving training on money laundering at his banking job. The resulting narrative became “Monkey Man: A Crime Story,” which he recently published as a novel.
The novel takes place almost entirely in Greenwich and Stamford. The story centers around Ike Caudine, a struggling salesman whose childhood friend draws him into an Internet scheme that falls apart.
Ten years later, Ike turns to his former partner for a business idea to impress the woman who has left him. Soon, he enters a violent world of drug dealers and becomes the center of a money-laundering empire.
Moore, a Greenwich High School graduate, said he chose to set the book in Greenwich and Stamford because he knew the area well. But he said the area was also a good setting for economic reasons.
He said Greenwich has a “surprisingly diverse economy” compared with other well-to-do towns. And between Stamford, a large city, and Greenwich, a quieter town, “you have a full spectrum of economy and lifestyle.”
Moore said local readers might recognize familiar places in the novel. A pivotal scene in the beginning of the book takes place at Tod’s Point in Old Greenwich. Characters also dine at familiar local restaurants and bars.
Moore, who has bachelor's and master's degrees in English from Danbury’s Western Connecticut State University, said he hopes to publish more books now that he’s gotten the writing bug.
“I love writing novels now,” Moore said. “I never did until I actually did it. Now, I’m addicted.”
Moore will hold a book signing Saturday at 2 p.m. at Barrett Bookstore, 314 Heights Road, Darien. For more information on his novel, visit his website here.
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