Dana Stabenow just sent a review of Susan Fletcher’s debut mystery, The Night in Question. The book was a First Mystery Club Pick for The Poisoned Pen. You can place a special order now, or pre-order the paperback, which comes out in May. https://bit.ly/4ijXIYx.
Here’s Stabenow’s review of The Night in Question.
The Night in Question
by Susan Fletcher
Eighty-seven year old Florrie Butterfield loses her leg below the knee and perforce moves from her beloved cottage in the Malvern Hills into Babbington Hall, a country estate turned adult residence. It is a more benign change than it might have been.
She is in assisted living, this means therefore, that Florrie is allowed to boil her own kettle, cook an egg if she chooses to—and she can eat her meals from her own crockery, which is mismatched and chipped, but it’s hers, all the same…Indeed, the only real difference in Florrie’s life these days is that she has support—a word that has changed its meaning with age. In her youth, support had meant family money or a good brassiere.
A cheerful person, she does not despair, and in her wheelchair with a pair of rusty secateurs on her lap makes the wild estate garden her own and makes friends of the other residents, including one Arthur Potts, until, sadly, Arthur trips and falls in that same garden and dies.
And then Renata, Babbington Hall’s manager, falls, too, out of a third-story window and into a coma from which it is feared she may never wake. This on the evening of the very day she and Florrie have trysted to meet on the terrace for pink lemonade so that Florrie may give Renata the benefit of Florrie’s advice on love and men.
And isn’t that quite something? That Renata saw that adventurous, bright-eyed Florrie? Who is, one might argue, the real and proper one? To be seen. It feels so invigorating—and so very kind that, in truth, it makes Florrie a little emotional. And heaven only knows when she last had pink lemonade.
Did Renata jump, as everyone immediately assumes? Did she fall? Or was she pushed? Because Florrie, perched precariously on her one leg at the window, had been watching the lightning of a passing storm and she saw—and heard—Renata fall, and she doesn’t agree with the general consensus that Renata jumped. And thus, without ever leaving the grounds, Florrie conducts an inquiry into what she thinks she may have seen — and heard — on the night in question. With the able assistance of one Stanhope Jones, a fellow resident, Florrie observes the demeanor of Babbington’s residents at church, interviews the residents individually and the vicar as well, questions the servants, and slowly, painstakingly puts together a story that looks a lot less like perceived wisdom and a lot more like the truth, and not without risk to Florrie’s person, either.
That is the skeleton of the story but its firm flesh is the incredible life Florrie has lived and which explains those Nepalese prayer flags hanging in her living room, the broderie anglaise sheets, the police badge, the linen napkin from the Sunshine Hotel in Lusaka, Rhodesia, the dried Scottish thistle, the pale blue silk cravat, and every letter her husband ever wrote her. Ever so delicately, Fletcher plucks out the heart of Florrie’s mystery, for us and for Florrie herself.
Both plots, the characters, the setting (all of them) are wonderfully written. A fable for our times, and the chapter Florrie’s best friend Pinkie is the reason this book will live forever in my library.
Oline Cogdill recently sent a review of Low April Sun by Constance E. Squires. Cogdill’s review appeared in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, and she allows us to reprint it here. Although Low April Sun is a special order through the Webstore, https://bit.ly/424UX6H, it’s the first novel about the Oklahoma City bombing, so it may be of interest.
Book review: ‘Low April Sun’ offers poignant look at aftermath of Oklahoma City bombing
In her novel’s acknowledgments, author Constance E. Squires said she lived in Oklahoma City when the bombing happened and had long wanted to write about it. (Charlie Neuenschwander Photography/Courtesy)
‘Low April Sun’ by Constance E. Squires. University of Oklahoma Press, 262 pages, $26.95
Catastrophic tragedies change individuals, communities, countries, leaving unending craters of grief and loss. Constance E. Squires poignantly looks at the aftermath of the bombing of Oklahoma City’s Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in her stunning “Low April Sun.”
Squires’ novel is billed as the first work of fiction to tackle what’s considered to be the worst act of homegrown terrorism in U.S. history, marking its 30th anniversary on April 19, 2025.
“Low April Sun” is not a historical accounting of how and why this horrific act happened. Instead, Squires skillfully mines its effect on a family and how they maneuvered a morass of grief trying to rebuild their lives and deal with the loss.
Half-sisters Edie and Delaney were from a dysfunctional family before the bombing. One sister’s mother is deceased, the other lives in Savannah with little contact with her daughter. Their father has been absent most of their lives. Edie is a blackout alcoholic who often has no memory of her actions or how she interacted with others. She often doesn’t appear to be drunk, so people tend to believe she is sober. Delaney is restless, unable to settle on a job, chronically late, secretly resentful of others. The sisters live in an Oklahoma rental with Keith, Delaney’s boyfriend who is a grad student.
On the morning of April 19, 1995, Delaney borrows Keith’s truck to go to the government center to apply for a replacement Social Security card — her inability to keep track of anything is common for her. She leaves the house agitated because Keith has proposed to her that morning. Edie is still drunk from the night before.
Delaney never returns, nor is she ever identified as one of the 168 confirmed dead. Edie and Keith have no doubt Delaney died — her jacket and Keith’s vehicle were found in the rubble.
“Low April Sun” alternates from 1995 to 2015, when Oklahoma City is preparing a series of 20th anniversary memorials. Edie and Keith are now married, parents to a bright young son, Ian. The couple didn’t connect until two years after the bombing, but forever “their lives soldered together in the heat of the Murrah.”
Long now sober, Edie has reinvented herself, earning a degree in economics, then working for some years in London. The couple returned to Oklahoma City for Edie’s job as a high-powered executive whose position at an energy company often puts her in the news. But Keith has floundered. Unable to hold a full-time teaching job, Keith’s gambling addiction has nearly bankrupted the couple a few times.
Then, unknown to the other, they each receive a friend request on Facebook from someone claiming to be Delaney. Is this an imposter? A scam? Or did Delaney use the bombing to disappear from her life? Separately, they try to find out whether Delaney is still alive.
“Low April Sun” is at its strongest when concentrating on the emotional turmoil and marriage of Edie and Keith. The bombing and Delaney’s absence color their lives daily: “The first night, followed by twenty years of hard grief and unanswered questions and trying to have a life in spite of it all.”
Oklahoma City, before the bombing and the changes since, emerges as a character itself.
In 2015, the city is now roiling from a series of fracking-induced earthquakes, most likely caused by the company Edie works for. The earthquakes become a metaphor for how unsettled the community and individuals such as Edie and Keith are. But flashbacks of a man who knew the bomber as a young man and now walks the streets tend to bog down the story.
Still, Squires’ ability to pinpoint the moral center and the lasting effects of a tragedy make “Low April Sun” a standout.
Behind the plot
In the novel’s acknowledgments, author Constance E. Squires discusses how she lived in Oklahoma City when the bombing happened and had long wanted to write about it. The Sept. 11 attacks, for example, were the subject of works by John Updike, Don DeLillo, Jonathan Safran Foer and others. But “the Oklahoma City bombing has received no such similar treatment,” Squires writes. Her goal was to write about “trauma’s long game.”
John Charles from The Poisoned Pen welcomed Gigi Pandian to the bookstore where she talked about her fourth Secret Staircase mystery, The Library Game. There are still signed copies of The Library Game available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3FEy824
Here’s the summary of The Library Game.
In The Library Game, Tempest Raj and Secret Staircase Construction are renovating a classic detective fiction library that just got its first real-life mystery.
Tempest Raj couldn’t be happier that the family business, Secret Staircase Construction, is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Known for enchanting architectural features like sliding bookshelves and secret passageways, the company is now taking on a dream project: transforming a home into a public library that celebrates history’s greatest fictional detectives.
Though the work is far from done, Gray House Library’s new owner is eager to host a murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room. But when a rehearsal ends with an actor murdered and the body vanishes, Tempest is witness to a seemingly impossible crime. Fueled by her grandfather’s Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the rest of the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.
Multiple award winning author Gigi Pandian masterfully weaves wit and warmth in the Secret Staircase Mysteries. Readers will delight in the surprises Secret Staircase Construction uncovers behind the next locked door.
GIGI PANDIAN is the USA Today bestselling and multiple-award-winning author of the Secret Staircase mysteries, inspired by elements from her own family background. She is also the author of the Accidental Alchemist mysteries, the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt mysteries, and more than a dozen locked-room mystery short stories. Pandian has won Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Derringer awards, and was a finalist for an Edgar Award. A breast cancer survivor and accidental almost-vegan who adores cooking, she lives with her husband in Northern California.
Zibby Owens, author and publisher, recently appeared at The Poisoned Pen with her friend Zach Silverman. Owens talked about her book, On Being Jewish Now. She talked about conflict and hatred in the publishing world that led to this anthology. There are signed copies of her book available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/41rL3eU
Here’s the description of On Being Jewish Now.
A USA Today Bestseller Featured in the Washington Post
“Zibby Owens has done the literary world a great service, collecting important views at a critical moment in history. As she says, this is not a time to lower your voice. Kudos to her and all the authors here for sharing valuable insight, emotion, and perspective on the often misunderstood Jewish experience.” —Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays With Morrie An intimate and hopeful collection of meaningful, smart, funny, sad, emotional, and inspiring essays from today’s authors and advocates about what it means to be Jewish, how life has changed since the attacks on October 7th, 2023, and the unique culture that brings this group together.
On October 7th, 2023, Jews in Israel were attacked in the largest pogrom since the Holocaust. It was a day felt by Jews everywhere who came together to process and speak out in ways some never had before. In this collection, 75 contributors speak to Jewish joy, celebration, laughter, food, trauma, loss, love, and family, and the common threads that course through the Jewish people: resilience and humor. Contributors include Mark Feuerstein, Jill Zarin, Steve Leder, Joanna Rakoff, Amy Ephron, Lisa Barr, Annabelle Gurwitch, Daphne Merkin, Bradley Tusk, Sharon Brous, Jenny Mollen, Nicola Kraus, Caroline Leavitt, and many others. On Being Jewish Now is edited by Zibby Owens, bestselling author, podcaster, bookstore owner, and CEO of Zibby Media.
All profits will be donated to Artists Against Antisemitism.
Contributors: Abby Stern Ali Rosen Alison Hammer Alison Rose Greenberg Alix Strauss Aliza Licht Alli Frank Alyssa Rosenheck Amy Blumenfeld Amy Ephron Amy Klein Anna Ephron Harari Annabelle Gurwitch Barri Leiner Grant Bess Kalb Beth Ricanati Bradley Tusk Brenda Janowitz Cara Mentzel Caroline Leavitt Corie Adjmi Courtney Sheinmel Danny Grossman Daphne Merkin Dara Kurtz Dara Levan David K. Israel David Christopher Kaufman Debbie Reed Fischer Diana Fersko Eleanor Reissa Elizabeth Cohen Hausman Elizabeth L. Silver Elyssa Friedland Emily Tisch Sussman Harper Kincaid Heidi Shertok Ilana Kurshan Jacqueline Friedland Jamie Brenner Jane L. Rosen Jeanne Blasberg Jennifer S. Brown Jenny Mollen Jeremy Garelick Jill Zarin Joanna Rakoff Jonathan Santlofer Judy Batalion Julia DeVillers Keren Blankfeld Lihi Lapid Lisa Barr Lisa Kogan Lynda Cohen Loigman Mark Feuerstein Nicola Kraus Noa Yedlin Rebecca Keren Jablonski Rachel Barenbaum Rachel Levy Lesser Rachelle Unreich Rebecca Minkoff Rebecca Raphael Renee Rosen Rochelle B. Weinstein Samantha Ettus Samantha Greene Woodruff Sharon Brous Shirin Yadegar Stacy Igel Steve Leder Talia Carner Toby Rose Zibby Owens
Zibby Owens is the bestselling author of Blank: A Novel, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, Princess Charming, and the forthcoming novel Overheard. She is the editor of two anthologies: Moms Don’t Have Time To: A Quarantine Anthology and Moms Don’t Have Time To Have Kids: A Timeless Anthology.
Zibby is the founder and CEO of Zibby Media, which includes the Zibby Books boutique publishing house, Zibby’s Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica, CA, the award-winning daily podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, which she hosts, Zibby’s Book Club, and Zibby Retreats for book lovers.
Reading, sharing stories, and fostering community through books. Check out the event. (There are a few technical glitches at the beginning. Keep watching!)
Congratulations to the Lefty Award winners. The awards were presented at Left Coast Crime 2025 on Saturday night. Check the Webstore for these books. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery Novel
Rob Osler, Cirque du Slay
Lefty Award for Best Historical Novel for books covering before 1970 (Bill Gottfried Memorial)
John Copenhaver, Hall of Mirrors
Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel
Jennifer K. Morita, Ghosts of Waikiki
Lefty Award for Best Mystery Novel (not in other categories)
Deanna Raybourn started her discussion by thanking everyone for coming out to to support The Poisoned Pen. She wanted to thank everyone for supporting independent bookstores. Barbara Peters, owner of the store, asked her to talk about the first book in the series, Killers of a Certain Age. Kills Well with Others, the second one, is now available in the Webstore, and you can special order a signed copy. https://bit.ly/4gZ0BfK.
Here’s the description of Kills Well with Others.
“Much like fine wine, battle-hardened assassins grow better with age.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner
Four women assassins, senior in status—and in age—sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age.
After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their time off, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions without itching to strangle someone…literally. When they receive a summons from the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.
Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster with an iron fist, some serious criminal ambition, and a tendency to kill first and ask questions later. This new nemesis is murdering agents who got in the way of their power hungry plans and the aging quartet of killers is next.
Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster who seems to know their next move before they make it. Their enemy is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their killer experience to get out of this mission alive.
Deanna Raybourn is the New York Times bestselling author of the Edgar Award–nominated Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, as well as the Lady Julia Grey series and several stand-alone works.
It’s a delightful conversation with Deanna Raybourn. Enjoy!
It was a special pre-publication appearance at The Poisoned Pen when Barbara Peters, owner of the bookstore, welcomed J.A. Jance back to talk about her latest Ali Reynolds book, Overkill. Release date for the book is April 1, but you can pre-order your copies now through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/41smZZl
Here’s the summary of Overkill.
From J.A. Jance, a writer whose thrillers are “hot and getting hotter” (Booklist), the latest in her New York Times bestselling and heart-pounding Ali Reynolds series.
Chuck Brewster, the former business partner of Ali Reynolds’s husband B. Simpson, once carried on an affair with Clarice, B.’s first wife. So when he’s found murdered with Clarice standing nearby covered in blood, it seems an open and shut case.
But Clarice swears she’s innocent and begs for Ali’s help. At the same time, someone is targeting Camille Lee while she’s on the road for High Noon. Ali is swiftly running out of time to find the real killer and keep her employee safe in this high-octane thrill ride.
J.A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J.P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and the Walker Family series. Born in South Dakota and raised in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington. Visit her online at JAJance.com.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed mother and daughter writing team Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles back to the bookstore. Silent as the Grave is the twenty-first Molly Murphy mystery. There are still a few signed copies of Silent as the Grave available through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3XOOBGZ If you haven’t yet discovered this well-researched historical mystery series, you can still order copies of the other books in the series, beginning with Murphy’s Law. https://bit.ly/3DP7jYd.
Here’s the summary of Silent as the Grave.
Retired Detective Molly Murphy Sullivan goes undercover in the next book in the New York Times bestselling series from Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles.
With a newborn and two children, Molly Murphy Sullivan is tackling motherhood. Her husband, Daniel, is off to work in Washington as Easter break begins in New York. Her dear friend and writer, Ryan O’Hara, is shooting a movie, one of the first to involve a real plot and actors. He invites Molly and the children to visit the set and watch the excitement. When one of the actresses is fired, Molly’s adopted daughter, Bridie, is called to replace her in the scene. Turns out she’s a natural and is asked to star in the rest of the film. Molly is skeptical about leaving Bridie alone on set, but her great friends, Sid and Gus, offer to chaperone her.
The movie industry is still experimenting with ways to get the best shot, like pretending to tie Bridie to real train tracks. But soon, their special effects start to malfunction. After a few mishaps where no one is hurt, the special effects turn deadly. With rumors of a feud between studios, Molly believes these malfunctions are sabotage. She is invited to go undercover on set to investigate the burgeoning film war. Once again, Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles deliver an engaging mystery full of vibrant historical details and thrilling escapades featuring one of mystery’s most beloved sleuths.
RHYS BOWEN is the New York Times bestselling author of the Anthony Award- and Agatha Award-winning Molly Murphy mysteries, the Edgar Award-nominated Evan Evans series, the Royal Spyness series, and several stand-alone novels including In Farleigh Field. Born in England, she lives in San Rafael, CA.
CLARE BROYLES, who is Rhys Bowen’s daughter, is a teacher and a musician. She began collaborating with her mother on the Molly Murphy mystery series with Wild Irish Rose. She has worked as a composer and arranger in the theater for both Arizona Theater Company and Childsplay and was nominated for an Arizone ‘Zoni’ theater award. Clare is married to a teacher and they have three children.
You’ll enjoy the conversation, including the discussion of the Easter Parade.
Congratulations to Craig Johnson, a fan favorite at The Poisoned Pen. Looking for any of his books? Check out the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/
Renee Jean of Cowboy State Daily sent out this report.
Longmire Author Craig Johnson Wins Wister Award,Highest Western Writing Honor
Wyoming’s Craig Johnson, author of the “Longmire” series, is the 2025 winner of the Owen Wister Award. It’s the highest honor given by Western Writers of America in recognition of lifetime contributions to the genre.
Craig Johnson isn’t sure just how much the big bronze buffalo that comes with the Western Writing Association’s Owen Wister Award weighs. Or whether it will make it past airport security when the New York Times best-selling author returns with it from Amarillo, Texas, this June, where he is to receive one of the West’s highest honors.
The Owen Wister award recognizes lifetime contributions to Western literature. It comes with an all-bronze statue of a bison, named the Lord of the Plains, created by the late Texas sculptor Robert Duffie.
“I think it is a beautiful buffalo statue, but from what I understand, it weighs a lot,” Johnson said. “They give it to you at the award ceremony, but then it’s your job to get it home. So, we’ll see what happens. If I have to ship it, or if TSA Security will let me put it through to Buffalo.”
Johnson may not know how he’s getting this big award home just yet, but he is so excited, he’s already cleared a spot for it at his home in Ucross, Wyoming.
“It’s already got a place to roost — once I get it,” Johnson said. “I’ve already cleared a place for it in the dining room, on a table.”
Mysteries are what Johnson is well known for, and the mystery of how the Lord of the Plains statue will get home to Wyoming is something Johnson plans to figure out as he goes along. That’s the same sort of approach he’s taken to creating the whole Longmire universe over the last 20-some years, which has brought him this award.
Johnson doesn’t know exactly why he has already won this lifetime achievement award. In his mind, he’s only at half a lifetime’s worth of stuff. But maybe it’s just his philosophy of having as much fun as possible when he writes about the fictional Sheriff Walt Longmire of Absaroka.
Throughout the Longmire series, good old Walt gets in all sorts of trouble, but somehow manages to survive, while solving lots of mysteries, and saving lives, along the way.
Johnson could never have guessed his style of just figuring it out as he went along would one day lead to his own name being put alongside “The Virginian” author, Owen Wister, the man who is considered the father of the entire Western genre.
“Owen Wister is kind of singularly responsible for elevating the Western to a more complex medium, to where he could challenge other pieces of great American literature like Moby Dick or Mark Twain,” Johnson said. “He allowed for an awful lot of complexities to enter into the genre. And I think, in many ways, made the iconoclastic imagery of the cowboy that we see so much of today.”
Move Over John Wayne
Johnson lives just 17 miles away from the Occidental Hotel, where the Virginian ultimately got his man. That makes winning the Owen Wister award especially symbolic and meaningful.
In becoming a Wister award winner, Johnson has joined a star-studded cast of characters ranging from actors like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood to historians like Will Bagley and James A. Crutchfield, to name just a few.
All Owen Wister award winners have in common lifetime achievements that uplift the voice and culture of the West in an unparalleled way across the nation and the world.
“I’m a little surprised, because it’s like a lifetime achievement award, and I’ve only got, I guess, 21 novels, three novellas, and a collection of short stories,” Johnson said. “It’s a small amount of work, certainly not a lifetime. I think I’ve got another 20, 30 years of writing.”
Part of the credit, Johnson believes, are his loyal fans and wise readers, who help him keep his story line straight. And there are 23 experts in Wyoming — the sheriffs of each county in the state — who don’t hesitate to call Johnson up if he gets something wrong in one of his books.
“It’s been kind of handy to have that kind of hand on my shoulder, to keep me honest as I go along,” Johnson said.
Like the time the real-life sheriff of Johnson County called him up to tell him about a mistake in the very first chapter of Johnson’s first Longmire novel, “Cold Dish,” published in 2004.
Johnson was surprised when he got the call from the Johnson County sheriff, telling him he’d messed up the story in the very first chapter.
“I said, ‘Well, what’s that?’ And he says, ‘You’ve got people drinking beer out of bottles on the Powder River and it’s can-only bars on the Powder River, Craig.’”
The reason for that, Johnson learned, is that people will throw glass bottles at each other in fights, leading to injuries.
Johnson thought about that for a minute, then came back with, “Well, Larry, you can throw a full can of beer and still hurt somebody.”
“Craig, nobody on the Powder River ever threw a full can of beer,” the sheriff told him.
Johnson could just hear the sheriff shaking his head over the phone.
These days, Johnson doesn’t hesitate to call up Wyoming sheriffs to talk to them about the novels he is working on, and make sure he’s getting the details exactly so.
“A lot of times I’m writing stuff from newspapers,” Johnson said. “It’s an actual case that they’ve worked on, things they’ve dealt with.”
Their input not only helps Johnson avoid making mistakes, but ensures his novels have a touch of realism that just can’t be obtained any other way.
The Everyman Hero
Another reason he believes the Longmire series has resonated with so many and attracted so many awards is Walt Longmire himself.“He’s one of those guys you’d want to sit down and have a beer with,” Johnson said. “Like, I don’t want him after me if I did something wrong. But I’d definitely like to sit down and drink a Rainier (beer) with him, no two ways about it.”
While most of the characters in the Longmire series are drawn from people Johnson knows, Longmire isn’t a particular person.
“My wife has the best response to that,” Johnson said. “She says Walt Longmire is who Craig would like to be in 10 years. He’s just off to an incredibly slow start.”
In creating Longmire, Johnson decided he didn’t want some superman or James Bond type. Bond can kill a man with a pencil in the blink of an eye then race away in a fancy sports tech car, with still-perfect hair, in the flying wind.
What Johnson wanted was someone real, someone down to earth. Someone anyone could relate to. Someone with flaws, like the rest of us.
Longmire has that in plenty. He’s overweight, he’s depressed, and he’s getting older every day. But he’s still crawling out of bed every day to fight the good fight, just like millions of Americans every day, and when he gets knocked down in the arena of life, he stands back up to go at it again.
“I’m really kind of proud of Walt,” Johnson said. “He exemplifies an awful lot of the traits and character that I think we as Western Americans feel really strongly about. This award, I assume is somewhat for that, so that makes me feel pretty good.
Cue The Owen Wister Episode
Now that Johnson has won the Owen Wister award, he knows he needs to start thinking about a suitable literary reference for a future book. He can readily do that because of another of Walt’s endearing qualities. He’s a reader.
“So, I love constantly having the literary references in the course of the books,” Johnson said. “And obviously I’m gonna have to do something with Owen Wister now.”
Literary references are just another part of Johnson’s secret formula, to have as much fun as possible with his books.
Take the book he’s writing now, which he’s given the working title, “The Brothers McCay.”
“It was time for me to do something of a Gothic, kind of a red-meat mystery novel,” Johnson said. “So, I got started on that and then, at the same time, I was reading Dostoyevsky’s Brothers of Karamazov, and I thought, you know, it would be interesting to have this kind of like follow a bit of ‘The Brothers Karamazov.’”
Johnson doesn’t know if “The Brothers McKay” working title will survive the publishing process. Working titles are, after all, just that. They’re something to help build cohesion while a writer is creating something of his ideas. The final title, though, is selected to best market and sell a finished work.
Regardless of what the ultimate title is, though, rest assured that Johnson is definitely having fun writing his latest book.
“’The Brothers Karamazov” is one of the great works of literature in the world, but it’s also one of the worst mysteries ever written,” Johnson said. “Because if you read the book and you don’t know who killed the old man in the first two chapters, you’re a moron. Like you really need to go back and look at your cred on reading mystery novels.”
But some historians have discovered information suggesting that Dostoyevsky’s book was to have been a trilogy, and so, perhaps, things were not as obvious as they seemed.
“He died before he got the chance to write the other two books,” Johnson said. “And so, the person that is put forward as the possible murderer might not be the murderer. I’m kind of playing with that one now.”
Johnson’s fans can hardly wait to learn more, and it’s the perfect example of what makes up a modern-day Western voice that fits right in with the Owen Wister award.
Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed one of her favorite historical fiction authors, Susanna Kearsley, back to the bookstore. Kearsley takes readers to Scotland in her latest book, The King’s Messenger. You can order a signed copy through the Webstore, https://bit.ly/43uOrbu.
Here’s the description of The King’s Messenger.
“I’ve loved every one of Susanna’s books! She has bedrock research and a butterfly’s delicate touch with characters—sure recipe for historical fiction that sucks you in and won’t let go!”—Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlander
New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author Susanna Kearsley explores romance, court alliances, and the limits of one’s duty in this rich story of an honorable man in service to a treacherous king, and the mission that brings him to love and his true calling.
It is the year 1613, and King James is sending his messenger Andrew Logan into Scotland with secret orders to arrest Sir David Moray, close friend and advisor of the late Prince Henry. Secrets are second nature to Andrew, who must hide his Second Sight to stay alive. Joined by a court scrivener and the scrivener’s spirited daughter Phoebe, Andrew slowly untangles the true purpose of his mission—to frame Sir David for Prince Henry’s murder. But Andrew is unwilling to betray an innocent man.
Phoebe Westaway dislikes Andrew, and their history makes it hard for her to trust him. But as their journey draws them deeper into the dark web of court intrigue, Phoebe begins to suspect that she might have more need of the King’s Messenger and his unusual gifts than she could ever have foreseen.
More praise for Susanna Kearsley:
“I loved the story. Couldn’t put it down. It was thoroughly researched and told with brilliantly compelling authenticity.” —Barbara Erskine for The King’s Messenger
“Susanna Kearsley just keeps getting better and better!” —Lauren Willig
New York Times, USA Today, and Globe and Mail bestselling author Susanna Kearsley is a former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page, often in twin-stranded stories that interweave present and past. Her award-winning novels have been published in translation in more than 25 countries. She lives near Toronto.
Susanna Kearsley shares fascinating history in the broadcast event.
