Jeremy Bushnell’s been busy on his booktour for Relentless Melt. He appeared for The Poisoned Pen, and you can watch the event here if you missed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_NMZTqG6Y You can order Relentless Melt through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2p8k6tt

Bushnell did a fun article for Crimereads.com, “Soundtracks to Accompany Four Classic Supernatural Novels”. That’s available here. https://crimereads.com/soundtracks-to-accompany-four-classic-supernatural-novels/

And, just this week, Bookreporter.com ran Michael Barson’s interview with Bushnell. Enjoy the interview.

Interview: June 15, 2023

“Stranger Things” meets the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in RELENTLESS MELT, a rollicking supernatural detective thriller by Jeremy P. Bushnell that introduces readers to Artie Quick, a sales assistant at Filene’s in Boston who moonlights as an amateur detective. In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House, Bushnell talks about the extensive research he did for the book, which is his first work of historical fiction; the cross-dressing tendencies of his female protagonist; the books he read as a child that informed the writing of RELENTLESS MELT; and his all-time favorite supernatural novel.

Question: RELENTLESS MELT is your third novel. How did your approach in writing it differ from the way(s) you wrote your first two books?

Jeremy P. Bushnell: I think the biggest difference is that my first two novels were set in the present, and RELENTLESS MELT is set in 1909. That really changes the work that you’re doing, because the need to research becomes a much larger part of the process. I’d done some research for my previous books — especially THE INSIDES, which deals with butchering in a high-end restaurant kitchen — but this was the first one where I needed to do research continuously as I worked on the draft. I was still researching and turning up historical material to include even as I was making my final revisions.

Q: As a writing instructor at Northeastern University, you might have an advantage over many other writers in terms of library discipline. What was your method for organizing the process of that historical research?

JPB: Initially, I really wanted to take a long time to immerse myself in historical material before beginning this novel. I was intimidated by the learning curve of writing historical fiction, and I had this idea that I should have a fully functioning model of 1909 Boston running like a model train set in my head before even starting a draft. But in reality it didn’t play out that way, and in the end I’m not convinced that it would have made much sense to organize the research all out in advance. You can’t always predict what you’ll even need to know until you’re actually writing scenes. I often had to approach the process just by virtue of what I needed to know on any particular day I spent in front of the computer.

Q: Can you give an example of a research need that came up during the drafting process? The kind of challenge you might face on “any particular day”?

JPB: Let’s say you’re writing a scene with a simple “supernatural mystery”-type image — a police investigator peering into the dark. So you imagine it: you picture that investigator shining a flashlight around. But before you can commit that to the page, you suddenly realize you need to do research on the invention of the flashlight, whether they even existed in 1909, whether they were commercially available, whether they were the kind of thing people on a police force might have access to. Those aren’t things I would have necessarily thought I would have needed to research before setting out.

Q: Your protagonist is a teenage girl who seems uncertain as to whether or not she wants to remain a girl. That kind of gender-bending is not something one finds very often in supernatural crime fiction!

JPB: That was something else that emerged from the research, actually. The novel deals a lot with the phenomenon of historical cross-dressing: Artie Quick, the protagonist, spends much of the novel dressed in men’s clothes. We’re all familiar, at least in an abstract way, with historical instances where people lived lives as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth. There’s been a tendency, traditionally, to interpret these instances as being a form of “disguise” — a woman “pretends to be a man” so that she can get a job, or something like that.

But contemporary historians are looking more carefully into these cases, and it turns out that many of those historical instances were people who nowadays we would consider to be trans-identified: that they were dressing and living that way primarily to affirm their gender identity, not as an elaborate ruse or a game of “pretend.” I didn’t want to write a historical cross-dressing novel without engaging thoughtfully with the reality of what it would be like to be a gender-nonconforming person in that time.

Q: What kind of childhood reading informed the creation of RELENTLESS MELT? Did you read a lot of horror fiction in your youth, or did that element of the book come to you later?

JPB: I had the Dungeons & Dragons core books when I was very young. They’re not exactly horror, but they’re loaded with mysterious environments and fantastic monsters, and the Deities & Demigods supplement book with the H. P. Lovecraft Old Ones in it was my introduction to cosmic horror. A little later, I found Stephen King and devoured all of his books. I am pretty sure that in junior high I read every single book the man wrote between CARRIE (1973) and THE TOMMYKNOCKERS (1987), including the first five Richard Bachman books. Readers might notice some elements of IT popping up in the late pages of RELENTLESS MELT.

Q: Do you have an all-time favorite supernatural novel?

JPB: BELOVED. Unimprovable. It’s not only the greatest supernatural novel of all time, but one of the top five American novels ever written, full stop.

Don Bentley was guest host for The Poisoned Pen, welcoming Bill Schweigart and M.P. Woodward to the bookstore. Schweigart’s The Guilty One is the current Hot Book of the Week. There are signed copies of his book, and Woodward’s Dead Drop, available in the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of The Guilty One.

A hero cop thwarts a brutal murder and can’t remember a thing about it. But memories return—and so do the nightmares in this breathlessly paced thriller for fans of David Ricciardi and Michael Connelly.

Every town needs a hero—and Detective Cal Farrell fits the bill. He stopped an active shooter six months earlier, and now he’s become the darling of the Alexandria press. The problem is that Cal remembers nothing from that day. He’s working with a psychiatrist to recover his memories, but hasn’t had much luck.

Then, on one of his morning runs, he is once again the first on scene for a grisly discovery—a body hanging impossibly high on a tree. Soon there’s another victim, killed by a blade and dumped in a ravine. As the bodies begin to stack up, each staged more gruesomely than the last, Cal sees a baroque pattern to the crimes that no one else seems to understand—something out of legend.

As Alexandria dubs the serial killer “Old Town Jack,” Cal learns that the only thing a city loves more than creating a hero is tearing one down. And if he can’t get to the truth, this hometown hero might just be next in line for destruction.

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Bill Schweigart is the author of The Fatal Folklore Trilogy, Running Light, and Slipping The Cable. Bill is a former Coast Guard officer and daylights as a branch chief with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He currently lives in Arlington, VA with his wife and daughter, who along with their monstrous Newfoundland and four cats, provide him with all the adventure he can handle.

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Here’s M.P. Woodward’s Dead Drop.

International nuclear negotiations turns allies into enemies in this electrifying thriller from the author of The Handler.

Nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran have reached a crisis point. The new American administration is determined to move ahead, but there are several stumbling blocks, not the least of which is Lieutenant Colonel Kasem Khalidi, the Iranian intelligence officer the CIA has hidden away in one of its safe houses. 

As always, John and Meredith Dale are caught in the middle. Mossad—the Israeli intelligence agency—wants Meredith’s help to find the lead Iranian rocket scientist; while John is in a desperate race to keep Kasem one step ahead of an Iranian hit squad. 

They are pawns in an international chess game, and any player knows you cannot capture the king without sacrificing some pawns.

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MP Woodwardis a veteran of both US intelligence ops and the entertainment industry. As a naval intelligence officer with the US Pacific Command, he scripted scenario moves and countermoves for US war game exercises in the Middle East. In multiple deployments to the Persian Gulf and Far East, he worked alongside US Special Forces, CIA, and NSA. Most recently, Woodward led international distribution for Amazon Prime Video and launched Amazon original content in more than forty countries. To learn more, please visit www.mpwoodward.com.

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Enjoy the discussion.

John Charles from The Poisoned Pen, recently welcomed Kristan Higgins back to the bookstore. Higgins’ latest novel is A Little Ray of Sunshine. She’s a reader who loves bookstores, and it’s reflected in the book. There are copies of A Little Ray of Sunshine available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/435v6rzu

Here’s the description of A Little Ray of Sunshine.

A kid walks into your bookstore and… Guess what? He’s your son. The one you put up for adoption eighteen years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise!
 
And a huge surprise it is.
 
It’s a huge surprise to his adoptive mother, Monica, who thought she had a close relationship with Matthew, her nearly adult son. But apparently, he felt the need to secretly arrange a vacation to Cape Cod for the summer so he could meet his birth mother…without a word to either her or his dad.
 
It’s also a surprise— to say the least—to Harlow, the woman who secretly placed her baby for adoption so many years ago. She’s spent the years since then building a quiet life. She runs a bookstore with her grandfather, hangs out with her four younger siblings and is more or less happily single, though she can’t help gravitating toward Grady Byrne, her old friend from high school. He’s moved back to town, three-year-old daughter in tow, no wife in the picture. But she’s always figured her life had to be child-free, so that complicates things.
 
When Matthew walks into Harlow’s store, she faints. Monica panics. And all their assumptions—about what being a parent really means—explode. This summer will be full of more surprises as both their families are redefined…and as both women learn that for them, there’s no limit to a mother’s love.

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Kristan Higgins is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than twenty novels, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. The happy mother of two snarky and well-adjusted adults lives in Connecticut with her heroic firefighter husband, cuddly dog, and indifferent cat.

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Enjoy the conversation about Higgins’ writing career and her new book.

Fiona Davis has a terrific backstory about the Rockettes and her latest novel, The Spectacular. Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Davis to talk about her book. There are signed copies of The Spectacular available in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/42AS3Vq

Here’s the description of The Spectacular.

From the New York Times Bestselling Author of The Magnolia Palace: A thrilling story about love, sacrifice, and the pursuit of dreams, set amidst the glamour and glitz of Radio City Music Hall in its mid-century heyday.

New York City, 1956: Nineteen-year-old Marion Brooks knows she should be happy. Her high school sweetheart is about to propose and sweep her off to the life everyone has always expected they’d have together: a quiet house in the suburbs, Marion staying home to raise their future children. But instead, Marion finds herself feeling trapped. So when she comes across an opportunity to audition for the famous Radio City Rockettes—the glamorous precision-dancing troupe—she jumps at the chance to exchange her predictable future for the dazzling life of a performer. 

Meanwhile, the city is reeling from a string of bombings orchestrated by a person the press has nicknamed the “Big Apple Bomber,” who has been terrorizing the citizens of New York for sixteen years by planting bombs in popular, crowded spaces. With the public in an uproar over the lack of any real leads after a yearslong manhunt, the police turn in desperation to Peter Griggs, a young doctor at a local mental hospital who espouses a radical new technique: psychological profiling. 

As both Marion and Peter find themselves unexpectedly pulled in to the police search for the bomber, Marion realizes that as much as she’s been training herself to blend in—performing in perfect unison with all the other identical Rockettes—if she hopes to catch the bomber, she’ll need to stand out and take a terrifying risk. In doing so, she may be forced to sacrifice everything she’s worked for, as well as the people she loves the most.

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Fiona Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Dollhouse, The Address, The Masterpiece, The Chelsea Girls, The Lions of Fifth Avenue, and The Magnolia Palace. She lives in New York City and is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School.

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Enjoy Fiona Davis’ conversation about Radio City Music Hall and New York City, as well as The Spectacular.

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, said Jack Carr signed 1500 copies of Only the Dead the weekend before his live event at the bookstore. He talks about his mission and purpose in life in the conversation. You can find a copy of the book in the Webstore. https://bit.ly/3ClEDSu

Here’s the summary of Only the Dead.

Navy SEAL James Reece faces a devastating global conspiracy in this high-adrenaline thriller that is ripped from the headlines—from the #1 New York Times bestselling author and “one of the top writers of political thrillers” (Bookreporter), Jack Carr.

In 1980, a freshman congressman was gunned down in Rhode Island, sending shockwaves through Washington that are still reverberating over four decades later.

Now, with the world on the brink of war and a weakened United States facing rampant inflation, political division, and shocking assassinations, a secret cabal of global elites is ready to assume control. And with the world’s most dangerous man locked in solitary confinement, the conspirators believe the final obstacle to complete domination has been eliminated. They’re wrong.

From the firms of Wall Street to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, and Moscow, secrets from the past have the uncanny ability to rise to the surface in the present.

With the odds stacked against him, James Reece is on a mission generations in the making. Unfortunately for his enemies, the former SEAL is not concerned with odds. He is on the warpath. And when James Reece picks up his tomahawk and sniper rifle, no one is out of range.

From “a master novelist” (BallisticMagazine), “quintessential hero James Reece is exactly what’s needed in today’s chaotic political milieu” (K.J. Howe, author of Skyjack).

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Jack Carr is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and former Navy SEAL. He lives with his wife and three children in Park City, Utah. He is the author of The Terminal List, True Believer, Savage Son, The Devil’s Hand, and In the Blood. His debut novel, The Terminal List, was adapted into the #1 Amazon Prime Video series starring Chris Pratt. He is also the host of the top-rated podcast Danger Close. Visit him at OfficialJackCarr.com and follow along on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @JackCarrUSA.

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Enjoy the conversation with Jack Carr.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=eVDySL0hu4s

Before they talked about Isabella Maldonado’s new book, A Killer’s Game, Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, asked Maldonado to talk about her role at the recent Thrillerfest. There are signed copies of A Killer’s Game available in the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/yw2nn9u6

Here’s the description of A Killer’s Game.

An FBI agent with a background in cryptography. A brilliant game maker bent on revenge. A deadly battle of wits and wills. An ingenious thriller from the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Cipher.

FBI agent and former military codebreaker Daniela “Dani” Vega witnesses a murder on a Manhattan sidewalk. The victim is chief of staff for a powerful New York senator. The assassin turned informant is Gustavo Toro. His code: hit the target and don’t ask questions. When Dani suspects a complex conspiracy, the only way to take down the mastermind is from the inside, forcing her to partner with Toro. Together they must infiltrate the inner circle at a remote facility.

Except it’s a trap. For all of them.

Locked in a subterranean labyrinth and held captive by an unseen host, Dani, Toro, and others must fight for their lives. Now Dani must stay undercover, unravel a bizarre conspiracy, and survive lethal puzzles. But will Toro be friend or foe? Because in this killer’s game, everything is real: the paranoia, the desperation, and the body count. And only one person can make it out alive.

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Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the commander of special investigations and forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and district station commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (optioned by Netflix for a feature film starring Jennifer Lopez) and the Detective Veranda Cruz series. Her books have been translated into twenty languages. For more information, visit www.isabellamaldonado.com.

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Enjoy the conversation at this live event.

“H.P. Lovecraft meets Agatha Christie”? That’s an interesting tagline. Barbara Peters mentioned that in conjunction with Jeremy P. Bushnell’s latest novel, Relentless Melt. You can order a copy through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2p8k6tt

Here’s the summary of Relentless Melt.

“A supernatural mystery—part Stranger Things, part Enola Homes, but very much itself… This book is way, way over the top—and is sure to delight its intended audience.” — firstCLUE

Stranger Things meets the Golden Age of Detective fiction in a rollicking supernatural detective thriller that introduces Artie Quick, a sales assistant at Filene’s in Boston, who moonlights as an amateur detective.

The year is 1909, and Artie Quick—an ambitious, unorthodox and inquisitive young Bostonian—wants to learn about crime. By day she holds down a job as a salesgirl in women’s accessories at Filene’s; by night she disguises herself as a man to pursue studies in Criminal Investigation at the YMCA’s Evening Institute for Younger Men.  

Eager to put theory into practice, Artie sets out in search of something to investigate. She’s joined by her pal Theodore, an upper-crust young bachelor whose interest in Boston’s occult counterculture has drawn him into the study of magic. Together, their journey into mystery begins on Boston Common—where the tramps and the groundskeepers swap rumors about unearthly screams and other unsettling anomalies—but soon Artie and Theodore uncover a series of violent abductions that take them on an adventure from the highest corridors of power to the depths of an abandoned mass transit tunnel, its excavation suspiciously never completed.

Will Theodore ever manage to pull off a successful spell? Is Artie really wearing that men’s suit just for disguise or is there something more to it?  And what chance do two mixed-up young people stand up against the greatest horror Boston has ever known, an ancient, deranged evil that feeds on society’s most vulnerable?

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Jeremy P. Bushnell is the author of two earlier novels with Melville House: The Weirdness and The Insides. He teaches writing at Northeastern University in Boston, and lives in Dedham, Massachusetts. He is also the cofounder of Nonmachinable, a distributor of optically interesting zines and artists’ books.
 
His website: http://jeremypbushnell.com/

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Enjoy the conversation about the unusual cover, title, and Bushnell’s book.