Nightswimming is out today!

The author in her office. Photograph by George Anagnos

One would think, given all the years—years!—I’ve spent working up to this big day—my debut novel—that I would have long ago written up the smart, salty, heartfelt text to go with the release day photo. Or that at the very least, having soaked in some really hard-won knowledge over the years—years!—I’ve spent working up to this big day, I would have jotted down a paragraph or two, or three or four, and have those at the ready, waiting to be cut and pasted into this post.

What I do have is the enormous gratitude (and hopefully the right words) for all who have shown such incredible support along the way. I’m thankful for my friends and family. I’m honored to be part of the mystery writing community.

On the eve of the release date, I had an in-depth interview with Thriller Magazine and spoke about my research into gender and media in the 1970s for my new novel.

What seems so long ago—the start of my Substack—began with an idea for a longform essay that needed a home. I’d been doing light research while writing Nightswimming, looking for late 1970s background color, and somehow stumbled onto the curious media treatment of two issues of Playboy that were both published in 1979—one issue celebrating the magazine’s 25^th anniversary and the other featuring models from Ivy League schools. The fact that feminist protest was almost solely aimed at the Ivy League issue was unmistakable and exposed how much social class was driving conventions on female behavior.

Writing a police procedural about a young officer steeped within a traditionally male environment really aligned with the writing I’d been doing on the era’s media and pop culture.

I also recently spoke to The Towncast podcast on my writing process and how I pivoted to crime fiction after spending so much time on a quieter novel.

And finally, here are the usual suspects:

Nightswimming comes out today, and is available to order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Bookshop.org, or directly from my publisher High Frequency Press. Note: the ebook version will be available on Amazon shortly after the paperback release date.

A “New and Noteworthy” selection from The New York Times: