Good Afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Emily Beyda, author of this, her first novel The Body Double, published last month by Doubleday. Emily has been the author of the popular advise column “Dear Glutton” for the past few years in The Austin Chronicle. Her articles are online at the paper. They are fun to read. Austin natives have a great resource in Emily’s reviews and suggestions. And as I said, The Body Double is her first novel.

The Body Double explores identity, its loss and regaining. In part the transformation of our protagonist is a dream come true, in part it is not a nightmare, but a blurred, confusing and treacherous process.

Because we have a narrator who is not necessary unreliable and a second supporting star who definitely is, we are constantly taking guesses, as the reader, thinking what is really going on. The best kind of read there is.

We are as intimately involved in Rosanna and Rosanna and Max as the author is and as the characters themselves are.

I’ll try very hard in this interview not to mention or extort spoilers, but it is going to be hard.

Trust me. This is a book that you should read, not only for your questions as you read, but the questions that remain after you put the book down, probably after you have read it in one sitting, or laying, as I did.

Welcome Emily and thanks so much for joining us today.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Lily King (which is a lovely name) author of Writers & Lovers which will be published tomorrow by Grove Press.

Lily’s first novel was The Pleasing Hour, a NYT notable book and winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover award. Her second was The English Teacher, her third was Father Of The Rain, a NYT editor’s choice. Her fourth was Euphoria, this time, deservedly a NYT 10 best books award, Times best 10 Fiction books of the year

Writers & Lovers is a portrait of an artist as a young woman. Casey Peabody, our protagonist, just lost her Mom, took off for Massachusetts in 1997, no plan, no money. She used to be an incredible golfer, she works at what sounds like a great restaurant, Iris. She lives in what I would call a hovel, rides a banana bike, like I used to have, till it got stolen, and is incredibly funny.

She’s got two boyfriends, potential diseases and a loose hold on reality (as do I) and a potential great American novel. And we, or at least I, love her.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Lily King (which is a lovely name) author of Writers & Lovers which will be published tomorrow by Grove Press.

Lily’s first novel was The Pleasing Hour, a NYT notable book and winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover award. Her second was The English Teacher, her third was Father Of The Rain, a NYT editor’s choice. Her fourth was Euphoria, this time, deservedly a NYT 10 best books award, Times best 10 Fiction books of the year

Writers & Lovers is a portrait of an artist as a young woman. Casey Peabody, our protagonist, just lost her Mom, took off for Massachusetts in 1997, no plan, no money. She used to be an incredible golfer, she works at what sounds like a great restaurant, Iris. She lives in what I would call a hovel, rides a banana bike, like I used to have, till it got stolen, and is incredibly funny.

She’s got two boyfriends, potential diseases and a loose hold on reality (as do I) and a potential great American novel. And we, or at least I, love her.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Kate Winkler Dawson author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, And The Birth Of American CSI published this month by Putnam.

Kate has been in television news for almost a quarter of a century. She’s worked at WCBS, ABC News Radio and Fox. Her first documentary film was “La Candelaria” followed by “Breaking the Barrier," “Grass Ceiling” and “The Long Haul”.

She’s also written The Digital Reporter and her debut non-fiction book was “Death In The Air: The True Story Of A Serial Killer, London’s Great Smog And The Strangling Of A City”, which has been optioned for TV.

American Sherlock is the story that none of us has ever heard. But today we WILL hear a lot about it. The story of Edward Oscar Heinrich, born in 1881, died in 1953. After you listen to this broadcast or podcast, look him up on Wikipedia for more information. Good luck with that, because of today he has no Wikipedia entry. He shares that distinction with me. But he should be there. In fact that says a lot about this book. The research behind it is fortuitous, copious and fascinating.

Heinrich—America’s Sherlock, although he pooh-poohed the comparison, invented what we can now see, for good or bad, very night, various incarnations of CSI.

Rather than relying on hunches which Heinrich abhorred, he used scientific methods to ferret out motives, methods and identification.

Without him, there probably would be no forensics as we know it, because Heinrich based his examination on education, hard work, microscopic attention to detail and obsessive note taking and lucky for us, hoarding.

Kate uses the treasure trove of information and documentation that she discovered about Heinrich and weaves a story of a life that is fascinating in its success and even in its failures and we are the more knowledgable about the study of crime and criminals than we were before reading the book. And isn’t that what writing is all about?

Welcome Kate and thanks so much for joining us today.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Kate Winkler Dawson author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, And The Birth Of American CSI published this month by Putnam.

Kate has been in television news for almost a quarter of a century. She’s worked at WCBS, ABC News Radio and Fox. Her first documentary film was “La Candelaria” followed by “Breaking the Barrier," “Grass Ceiling” and “The Long Haul”.

She’s also written The Digital Reporter and her debut non-fiction book was “Death In The Air: The True Story Of A Serial Killer, London’s Great Smog And The Strangling Of A City”, which has been optioned for TV.

American Sherlock is the story that none of us has ever heard. But today we WILL hear a lot about it. The story of Edward Oscar Heinrich, born in 1881, died in 1953. After you listen to this broadcast or podcast, look him up on Wikipedia for more information. Good luck with that, because of today he has no Wikipedia entry. He shares that distinction with me. But he should be there. In fact that says a lot about this book. The research behind it is fortuitous, copious and fascinating.

Heinrich—America’s Sherlock, although he pooh-poohed the comparison, invented what we can now see, for good or bad, very night, various incarnations of CSI.

Rather than relying on hunches which Heinrich abhorred, he used scientific methods to ferret out motives, methods and identification.

Without him, there probably would be no forensics as we know it, because Heinrich based his examination on education, hard work, microscopic attention to detail and obsessive note taking and lucky for us, hoarding.

Kate uses the treasure trove of information and documentation that she discovered about Heinrich and weaves a story of a life that is fascinating in its success and even in its failures and we are the more knowledgable about the study of crime and criminals than we were before reading the book. And isn’t that what writing is all about?

Welcome Kate and thanks so much for joining us today.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader.

Today our guest is Margaret Wilkerson Sexton author of this, her second novel The Revisioners, published in November by Counterpoint.

Margaret was born and raised in New Orleans which is also the setting of this book. Her debut novel A Kind Of Freedom, was long listed for the National Book Award. She has written for The NYT Book Review, Oprah, The Massachusetts Review and many other publications.

The Revisioners covers the lives of two women, one whose straddles two centuries, the other’s is set in a post-Trump (yucch) 2017.

A pivotal and quite timely piece of advice is given to us from the echoes of the 1800s. “Aint no use in hate. Whatever you trying to get away from, hate just binds you to it.”

Women have a tough time on their own and black women even a tougher time. The Revisioners relates the story of the attempts to cope, through the eyes and mouths of two different women born in different times but with strongly parallel challenges. Woven through however is a story about families, generations and racism.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader.

Today our guest is Margaret Wilkerson Sexton author of this, her second novel The Revisioners, published in November by Counterpoint.

Margaret was born and raised in New Orleans which is also the setting of this book. Her debut novel A Kind Of Freedom, was long listed for the National Book Award. She has written for The NYT Book Review, Oprah, The Massachusetts Review and many other publications.

The Revisioners covers the lives of two women, one whose straddles two centuries, the other’s is set in a post-Trump (yucch) 2017.

A pivotal and quite timely piece of advice is given to us from the echoes of the 1800s. “Aint no use in hate. Whatever you trying to get away from, hate just binds you to it.”

Women have a tough time on their own and black women even a tougher time. The Revisioners relates the story of the attempts to cope, through the eyes and mouths of two different women born in different times but with strongly parallel challenges. Woven through however is a story about families, generations and racism.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Paul Soon author of Run Me To Earth, published this month by Simon & Schuster.

Paul’s first book was Once The Shore, a NYT Notable Book. His novel Snow Hunters won the 2014 Young Lions Fiction Award and his most recent book, before Run Me To Earth was The Mountain an NPR Best Book of The Year.

His stories have appeared in Harper’s and Best American Short Stories.

He lectures at Harvard.

Run Me To Earth is a novel that tells us a story that is based in a terrible reality and translated into a fictional account.

Alisak, Prany and Noi navigate us through decades of Laos and it's shattering history.

We are transported, in part by minefields, unexploded bombies, by motorbikes, prisons and the French countryside into an insightful history through the eyes of these three orphans.

Courage, regret and memory weave together to help us understand and create or recreate in us, the years of senseless violence whose purpose is lost in a fog of war and carnage, or in this case, more simply, horror. Horror born on a whim.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Paul Soon author of Run Me To Earth, published this month by Simon & Schuster.

Paul’s first book was Once The Shore, a NYT Notable Book. His novel Snow Hunters won the 2014 Young Lions Fiction Award and his most recent book, before Run Me To Earth was The Mountain an NPR Best Book of The Year.

His stories have appeared in Harper’s and Best American Short Stories.

He lectures at Harvard.

Run Me To Earth is a novel that tells us a story that is based in a terrible reality and translated into a fictional account.

Alisak, Prany and Noi navigate us through decades of Laos and it's shattering history.

We are transported, in part by minefields, unexploded bombies, by motorbikes, prisons and the French countryside into an insightful history through the eyes of these three orphans.

Courage, regret and memory weave together to help us understand and create or recreate in us, the years of senseless violence whose purpose is lost in a fog of war and carnage, or in this case, more simply, horror. Horror born on a whim.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Karine Jean-Pierre, author of this her first book, a memoir entitled Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and The Promise OF America, published in November by Hanover Square Press.

Karine was born in Martinique raised by working class Haitian immigrant parents in New York. She obtained her master’s degree in public administration from Columbia and was regional director for John Edward’s campaign in 2004. She served as Barack Obama’s regional political director in the Office of Political affairs and is now the chief public affairs office (at one of my favorite organizations) MoveOn.org. She is also a political analyst for MSNBC and appears frequently on many other networks and programs.

Moving On is a story about immigrant struggles and dreams, overcoming challenges and obstacles and MOVING ON to success and fulfillment in life. It is also an optimistic primer on what you can do to achieve the same goals as Karine has striven for AND achieve and how you can do it without getting in your car, driving to D.C. and try to change the whole shebang.