‘Impractical Joker’ reveals new ‘Murr-der’ mystery to Trev

It's always a great time when James S. Murray, better known as "Murr" from "Impractical Jokers" calls in but last night was even better because he was in the studio talking about his new book The Stowaway written with Darren Wearmouth.

Unlike his previous four books, The Awakened Trilogy; The Brink, Obliteration, and Don't Move, this one's a murder mystery about a serial killer that takes place on a cruise ship. NOT the "Impractical Jokers" cruise ship as Murr explains.

"Maria Fontana is a juror on a serial killer case and she can't find it within herself to find this guy guilty and he goes free. He's accused of killing a number of children," Murr said when he came on my show on Wednesday, September 29.

"Two years later she's on a Transatlantic cruise with her fiance and her two kids and halfway across the Atlantic three days in any direction from land or help, kids start disappearing on the boat in the same way that they did on the trial two years earlier so she's the only one who can try to stop this killer before he strikes again."

Murr also revealed how the idea came to be.

"This is a weird one man, we went out to lunch, I BS'd my way into this book deal. We were at lunch, I had a few drinks, I'll be honest with. We were at lunch with the publisher and I said to our excellent editor, I said, 'what are you interested in? What kind of book do you want?' And he goes, 'I dunno, I feel like there might be something, I haven't gotten any cruise ship books lately, I feel like there might be something there.' This was before COVID, okay. And I said, 'huh,' and I was a little drunk and I said, 'why don't we do a book about a serial killer on a cruise ship, and the juror who had acquitted him, on the same boat?'And his eyes lit up and he goes, 'I've never heard an idea like that!' I was like, 'okay.' So then we took the subway back Darren and I, my cowriter. We took the subway back and we're like 'shoot, now we gotta write this damn thing.' We BS'd our way over a drunk lunch, and came up with the idea on the spot."

Although the book has nothing to do with "Impractical Jokers," the improv work he does on the show actually helps him with his writing.

"I'll tell you where Jokers does help with writing is in dialogue. My gosh, you know all we do for a living is just talk circles around [each other] and with people and trying to accomplish whatever horrible task we're told to do...so that ability to like, know how people sound and talk and think, I think helps tremendously with writing novels."

Check out the full funny interview with James S. Murray better known as "Murr" from "Impractical Jokers" complete with funny stories and happenings on the show here.

To get your copy of The Stowaway, click here.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.