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Author News & Interviews

Author Talk: Jane Tesh, author of Death by Dragonfly: A Grace Street Mystery

Dec 4, 2018

Jane Tesh is the author of the Madeline Maclin mysteries, starring ex-beauty queen turned detective Madeline Maclin and her con man husband, Jerry Fairweather, and the Grace Street mysteries, featuring PI David Randall, his psychic friend Camden, and the many colorful Southern characters who live at 302 Grace Street. The sixth installment of the latter series, DEATH BY DRAGONFLY, is now available. In this interview, Tesh talks about her inspiration for creating the Randall/Camden pairing, the importance of alternating between two different series, and why she has set all 11 of her mystery novels in North Carolina, where she has lived all her life.

Author Talk: Michelle Obama, author of Becoming

Nov 28, 2018

In her memoir, BECOMING, Michelle Obama describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it --- in her own words and on her own terms. In this interview, the former First Lady discusses her inspiration for writing the book and what she hoped to accomplish; offers advice to people who are unsure about their path in life and who need some help figuring out their passion; and explains how she has dealt with self-doubt, those moments in your life when you question whether or not you’re good enough.

Author Talk: Maggie Robinson, author of Nobody's Sweetheart Now: The First Lady Adelaide Mystery

Nov 21, 2018

After writing numerous historical romances set in the Regency, Victorian and Edwardian eras, Maggie Robinson now tries her hand at a mystery series that begins in 1924. In the opening installment, NOBODY’S SWEETHEART NOW, a murder ruins Lady Adelaide Compton’s weekend house party, and Inspector Devenand Hunter must determine which of her 12 houseguests is a cold-blooded killer. Meanwhile, Addie is confronted by the spirit of her late husband, Major Rupert Charles Cressleigh Compton, who has to perform a few good deeds before being welcomed to heaven --- or, more likely (thinks Addie), to hell. In this interview, Robinson explains what inspired her to make the genre switch, her decision to set this new series in the 1920s English countryside, and why she chooses to be “a total pantser” during the writing process.

Author Talk: Ariel Burger, author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom

Nov 14, 2018

Ariel Burger is a writer, artist, teacher and rabbi whose work combines spirituality, creativity and strategies for social change. A lifelong student of Elie Wiesel, he spent years studying the great wisdom traditions, and now applies those teachings to urgent contemporary questions. In this interview, Burger explains how the idea for WITNESS: Lessons from Elie Wiesel’s Classroom came about, the impact that Wiesel’s passing in 2016 had on him and his writing of the book, the significance of the title, and what he hopes people will take away from reading it.

Author Talk: Steven F. Havill, author of Lies Come Easy: The Posadas County Mysteries

Nov 14, 2018

Family dynamics play a huge role in Steven F. Havill's 23rd Posadas County mystery, LIES COME EASY, as Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman and her entire department work to pull the right threads out of a tangle of seemingly small lies. In this interview, Havill explains his decision to develop the series in real time, discusses how he learned to dramatize the exhaustive process of police work so realistically and where his expertise in firearms originates, and names some of the authors who he holds in very high regard and whose books he reads on a regular basis.