The Circus of Satan: An Interview with Author Jeffrey Konvitz About His Exciting New Novel of Historical Fiction
- Elizabeth Gracen
- Jun 19
- 9 min read
By Elizabeth Gracen:
When I first heard that Jeffrey Konvitz was about to self-publish an epic novel about the origins of organized crime at the turn of the century in America, I was a little surprised. I’ve known Jeff a long time now, and I read his classic horror novels The Sentinel and its follow-up, The Guardian, many years ago. I’ve always known that he has a penchant for the mystical and the mysterious, but I had no idea he had dipped his toe into historical fiction and had devoted almost 25 years to his latest book, The Circus of Satan, bringing the story of a Chicago gambler named Billy McGuinness to life.
The Circus of Satan is a real page-turner, cinematic in scope, and chock full of history, wry humor, brutal action scenes, clever dialogue, and sickening truths that reveal America’s dark past. What fun!
The story follows McGuinness’s decent into the underbelly of New York’s Tenderloin district, aka Satan’s Circus, and his quest for revenge and justice. Konvitz guides his hero through the historic world of politics, gangsters, true American tragedies, lust, greed, and the ever-present thirst for power. Yep, it’s a real American story!
I reached out to Jeff to ask him about his process and the passion that brought The Circus of Satan to fruition.
Please meet Jeffrey Konvitz and The Circus of Satan!
Elizabeth Gracen: Congrats on a such dynamic novel, Jeff! The Circus of Satan was such a rollicking fast read. It is cinematic, visceral, gritty, and full of the underbelly history of America. I truly enjoyed the brutal weave of power, crime, violence, and politics revealed in the story. You’ve told the tale of the origins of organized crime and the American political system—and you’ve made it all supremely entertaining! I suppose the obvious first question is why this story? Why did you decide to dig so deeply into this specific slice of history? Have you always been a fan of historical fiction? How different was it to write than the horror genre of your earlier novels?
Jeffrey Konvitz: While I was writing the Sentinel sequel, I read a non-fiction book called Against the Evidence about the Becker-Rosenthal murders and trial in 1912. Jewish gamblers hired Jewish killers to kill a Jewish gambler who opened a “casino” in the Tenderloin, aka "Satan’s Circus," in New York without approval from the powers that be but allegedly protected by an Irish cop. It’s of course in the my historical novel, and it haunted me as it was never really solved. Was Lt. Becker set up or not as he went public with press about the system? I originally wrote a fictional novel version, which didn’t work, and I put it away for 16 years until Jill, my wife, found it and read it and thought it was really interesting. I read it again. No good . . . and then I had an epiphany: The only way to make it work was to run my fictional characters through real events. That’s when I started the research—over 150 books about the period and many of the real characters . . . and you’ve read what came out.
I was not always a big fan of historical fiction, except in Monster. I did massive research on oil drilling and the Biafran Civil War in the 1960s, when oil executives and mercenaries committed heinous crimes and then moved to the north sea after the separate state of Biafra was tamed by Nigerian forces.
Writing The Circus of Satan was very different and difficult as it took 25 years, off and on, to pull off the integration of the fictional plot into the real-time events.
EG: St. Louis, Chicago, New York. The Circus of Satan pulls the reader into these cities and drags us through dark, dirty alleys into the world of graft, vote stuffing, gambling, boxing, prostitution, and the ever-constant pursuit of money and power. I really enjoyed your descriptions and the distinct “feel” of each city. I love the fact that your main character, Billy McGuinness, lives at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. In the early 1980s, I stayed in the presidential suite of the Blackstone for a couple of nights and didn’t sleep a wink! That place had some stories to tell! I swear it was haunted! What do you think made each of these cities so unique as time rolled forward into the twentieth century? How did what happened in those cities influence what was to come in American history in general?
JK: These cities were the spawning grounds of violence, just like the Congo was the spawning ground for the horrors in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, one of my favorite books. I believe psychologically that everyone has a dark and light side in their subconscious. Remove the rule of law, and the dark side predominates. In those cities, the rule of law was destroyed when the Irish politicians, through their control of the police departments, reduced the population to mere votes, not living human beings. There are certainly parallels in various places today as well, and the cycle repeats itself. In my period, the Irish immigrated and they had a great predilection for gangs, bars, and politics, and most of the political leaders rose out of the gangs. As in the book, the Becker-Rosenthal case broke the connection between the Tammany politicians and the police, and with that broken, the Irish mob was crushed and the Jews and Italians moved into labor racketeering and bootlegging and organized crime (where they were natural criminals), and the Irish were left in the dust.
EG: Your fiction tangles with real-life characters who muscle or finesse their way into power, no matter the cost. FDR bobs in and out of the story. William Randolph Hearst's ambition bursts to life on the page, every bit the Citizen Kane we can so easily imagine. Gangsters, whores, boxers, and celebrities fill the pages along with horrific historical events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and the sinking of the Titanic. It is a fast-moving river of drama and intrigue and an epic swath of humanity, with your title character trying to right the wrongs he believes he has control over. At the beginning of the book, you delineate lists of fictional and true historical characters. It’s one thing to know history but to believably string a fictional narrative into the facts is no doubt a challenge. Can you talk a bit about how you approached your story and your process of mingling fact with fiction?
JK: I followed my research and focused on events where I could fit in my fictional characters plus see the twists and turns of the plot with all of its surprises. There’s a reason it took 25 years. I had a lot of false starts and then great ideas at the end when I had to go back to the beginning and build in material to support the material at the end. It wasn’t easy. There were times when I was editing when I almost couldn’t believe I had written what I had written.
EG: Billy McGuinness serves as the tortured guide through a brutal time in America, The Count of Monte Cristo his guidebook for executing the revenge he seeks. Your effective overlay of Jewish history that sits atop the narrative reveals the unfortunate truth of the never-ending persecutions of the Jewish people as well as the dark reality of corruption, racism, and the exploitation of women, minorities, and those less fortunate that has persisted since the beginning of time. It’s effective storytelling because these hard truths are interlaced throughout the story without any heavy-handedness. It’s just the hard truth. One of my favorite bits of dialogue is “No. I’m going to save lives by destroying the System that destroys lives. I’m going to take it all down. And I’m no fool. Jews are players in the System, too. The trash is non-denominational and ethnically diverse.” How important was it to you to expose America’s darkness when you set about organizing and writing The Circus of Satan? Are there any lessons you hope the reader comes away with from reading the book—especially the American reader who is notoriously ignorant of the history of this country?
JK: First and foremost, I want the reader to see a large swath of history that is basically forgotten, and its part of us. And as a Jew, it was startling to see that many of the period’s Jewish gangsters were the sons of rabbis and cantors and men who read the Talmud all day while the women worked sewing garments. As important, I raise many concepts of justice and revenge and the afterlife vs. the now. And as a note, the references to The Count of Monte Cristo came last. After a near final draft of the novel, I saw where The Count of Monte Cristo could fit in, and it is one of my favorite books.
EG: Let’s talk about the Tenderloin, aka “Satan’s Circus,” and the powerful political machine of Tammany Hall. Your story rides right above the social, political, and economic shifts that slowly transformed the power structure at that time and seeded the future of organized crime. I won’t give too much away with my question, but your Billy McGuinness serves as a conduit to that shift with a clever narrative twist. How much of that twist is based on any historical fact, and how much does your story diverge from what really happened to the decline of the old power structures and influence of Tammany? Do you think there are any remnants that still remain in the Tenderloin that harken back to its dramatic history?
JK: The life story of McGuinness is all fiction, but the story of a man who spends his life trying to atone for the horrors of past events, his mistakes, and wrong turns is universal. There is no Tenderloin-type venue that exists today. What happened in those days could never have happened if there were iPhones and TV with non-stop news. However, there are parallels, but they are pinned to the now. For example, the treachery in politics remains. Graft remains, and I could go on and on.
EG: The structure and even the physical layout of The Circus of Satan feels so cinematic. It is visual and packed with exciting, brutal action sequences. I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you who you envisioned to play Billy or any of the other characters you’ve brought to life. Among other things, you are a film producer, so I know you have a dream cast in your head!
JK: Here you go. There is an actor who I saw in a streamer about country music with Elvis’s granddaughter, Sam Claflin, bearded and all, though I forget the series' name. I said to my wife: there is a McGuinness, and low and behold, three months later he was cast as Edmond Dantès by Netflix in their new The Count of Monte Cristo epic. There will be others. For Monaghan, the essence of evil and viciousness and cunning, DiCaprio without a doubt.
EG: My last question circles back to The Count of Monte Cristo and your flawed hero, Billy McGuinness’s words: “The only world that will ever be is here, and if there is a God and a Satan, they are in us. There is no judgment after death. There is no Satan to claim lost souls. Justice can only be meted out here, and if justice is shackled, the wicked will remain free to torture the righteous.” Later he says, “So, do we let killers roam and destroy because our spiritual mentors tell us the killers will be punished in the next life? No, we take action. We extract revenge to balance the universal forces that have been thrown into disarray by those who would abuse the gift of life. Judgment lies in our hands, and it is my destiny to unsheathe justice’s sword.” So my question is how much of Jeff Konvitz is in Billy McGuinness, and how much does Alexandre Dumas’s famous novel play a role in your own life?
JK: Those words in the exchange with Rabbi Bershinsky are my words as to the human condition. Those are my beliefs, though I do believe in the god nature. I am a cosmology fanatic, and the grand scheme of the universe or multi-verses betrays the hand of some kind of god.
EG: Thank you so much for talking to me. Wishing the best of luck with the book and whatever the future holds. I know that there are several book signings for The Circus of Satan in the coming months, but please share any upcoming events and where we can find you and your exciting new book!
JK: Book Soup in West Hollywood. June 24, 2025. Pre-preorders are available on Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Publishing date is June 17, 2025.
Elizabeth Gracen is the owner of Flapper Press & Flapper Films.
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