The setting for Dwyer Murphy’s new book, “The House on Buzzards Bay,” is classic New England noir: A large and ancient house along the coast is inherited by protagonist Jim, who decides to use it to host his college friends for a summer reunion, hoping to reignite their bonds.

But nothing is quite as it seems.

Both the house and the group are out of sorts. One friend mysteriously disappears. The town deals with a series of break-ins. Jim starts to feel like the energy in the house is off — that the spiritualist camp that started the town never really left. And then an eerie stranger arrives.

On this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas, Murphy joins host Kerri Miller to talk about what makes good noir and what inspired his book. Ghosts abound.

Guest:

• Dwyer Murphy is the editor-in-chief of Lit Hub’s Crime Reads and the author of the new novel “The House on Buzzards Bay.”

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