Apologies that I don’t have any special content lined up, but with BLOOD & INK getting ready for prime time on Tuesday my head’s been spinning, between non-book-related work (I do still have a full-time job!) and an onslaught of pre-publication interviews/excerpt-editing/media appearances. (Good problem to have.) Speaking of which, allow me to point you to the exclusive first serial that Vanity Fair ran last week:
It’s essentially a profile of one of my main characters—also my favorite character—the tabloid pioneer Philip Alan Payne. Scenes include a seance, a debaucherous Jazz Age bacchanal, and an encounter with Stanford White’s murderer, Harry Kendall Thaw. Whether or not you read the book, I hope you enjoy this sample featuring some of its most memorable material. (Standby for additional excerpts coming this week from Time and Crime Reads.)
On Tuesday I got a call from Jeff Glor, co-host of CBS Saturday Morning. Last minute, but any chance I could meet him and his producer the following day to tape a segment about BLOOD & INK for the coming weekend’s show? I called my contact at St. John the Evangelist, one of the key physical settings in the book, and got us access to film in the church the next morning. Jeff and his crew did an amazing job fusing the story of the Hall-Mills murders with the role of New York’s infant tabloids in super-juicing the story. Plus my kids got to watch me on TV. Check it out:
Speaking of St. John the Evangelist, if you live within a reasonable driving or train distance of New Brunswick, New Jersey, do yourself a favor and buy tickets to Thou Shalt Not, a dazzling production about the Hall-Mills saga from New Brunswick-based theater company Thinkery & Verse. You’ll get to spend a memorable two hours in the actual historical church where the Hall-Mills saga unfolded. Previews begin mid-week with an official opening night on Saturday, September 17—exactly one hundred years and one day after the bodies of Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found on a lonely lover’s lane a few miles away. Copies of BLOOD & INK will be on sale for select dates of the six-week residency, and I plan to be there at least one or two nights for books signings. (Including hopefully the official opening but we’re still ironing out the details.) I saw the play during its inaugural run in the fall of 2019 and loved it, and I’m sure you will too. (Separately, I’ll be appearing at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center on Saturday, October 22, with co-artistic directors Johnny M. Meyer and Karen Alvarado.) Tickets here. Trailer below:
What else? More press has been rolling in, including a smart review in Air Mail from crime guru Sarah Weinman; and a few must-read fall book lists from Town & County, the New York Post, and Book Riot. I also just did a three-hour—as in the hours of 2 a.m. to 5 a.m.—live segment with true-crime academic Ian Punnett on the idiosyncratic overnight talk-radio show Coast to Coast AM. (Kind of like Brian Lehrer for insomniacs and paranormal fans.) Needless to say I’m a bit exhausted. Please excuse me while I schlep the kids to bed and then go pass out. Lots more to come later this week. Until then…