Two married men. One murdered woman. David Pinto comes to the JCC to discuss his new book, Nemesis.
Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer
David Pinto strongly believes that people can change, and he has made that idea the core of his fictional books — all five of them.
The most recent and the first published, Nemesis, unfolds a murder mystery that explores how coping with the uncertainties of life can bring about profound personal alterations.
“Most of my work is the formation of characters from one point and then completely transforming them through experiences,” says Pinto, who studied at the University of Michigan before earning a bachelor of science degree in architecture at the University of Texas.
“That is the theme I use as a way to move the book along — how experiences change a person internally and how each person goes through that process.”
Pinto will discuss Nemesis at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, in the Greenberg Suite and will include a question-and-answer segment led by Betsy Heuer, a friend who has written her own memoir.
Nemesis (Heliotrope Books; $16.50), available on Amazon, is about a doctor accused of murdering the mistress he tried to keep secret, only to be defended by his “best friend,” a lawyer who secretly had the same mistress. The one Jewish character is the prosecutor.
“It took me a year to write the book and another year to do the editing,” says Pinto, whose main career is as a Texas architect and builder. “I averaged four or five hours a day working on it. I don’t have a routine. Whenever I feel like it, I sit down and write.”
Pinto, 66, has been writing over the past 25 years, experimenting with different genres that include science fiction and romance. He grew up in Israel, where he met his wife, Cindy Solway Pinto, who was raised in Southfield and has her own advertising business.
The two got to know each other when she was 16 and attending a summer camping program set up like a kibbutz. He, then 18, was a counselor. After she returned to Michigan, they kept up a correspondence, and he traveled to visit in the United States.
After serving as a paratrooper in the Yom Kippur War, Pinto attended U-M, where Cindy Pinto studied to become a dental hygienist. The couple’s 1975 wedding took place in Tel Aviv.
“Eighteen years ago, we moved to Austin, and I developed my construction business,” says Pinto. “We took off a year and traveled all over the world, which inspired some of my writing. I kept a notebook with ideas, and after we were home, I started writing.”
The creativity Pinto finds in designing and building homes complements the creativity he applies to writing because of the range of imagination involved in the books.
“Ideas seem to flow through me, and I combine imagination with experience and just have fun with it all,” he says.
The couple’s daughter, Ronit, who was born in Ann Arbor, has picked up on her father’s interest in writing. She publishes HoneySuckle magazine out of New York. Each issue explores a different subject, such as abuse.
Pinto has introduced his book at Jewish venues in Texas, where the couple belongs to Congregation Agudas Achim, a Conservative synagogue, and Pinto’s wife volunteers for Jewish programs.
“But we know a lot of people, family and friends, in Michigan,” Pinto says. “We look forward to seeing them when we come to talk about the book.”
details
David Pinto will discuss his book and sign copies at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 27, in the Greenberg Suite at the Jewish Community Center. (248) 661-1000; jccdet.org.