We are pleased to welcome Christopher Swann for a virtual event on September 21st at 7PM to discuss his new book, A Fire in the Night. He will be in conversation with Scott Gould, award-winning author of Whereabouts and more recently, Idiot Men. Want to join the conversation? Register below to recieve the Zoom link!
• • •
Acclaimed Southern mystery master Christopher Swann delivers “a book that’s literary fiction, a spy novel, and a relentless thriller all in one” (Lee Goldberg, New York Times bestselling author), perfect for fans of Linwood Barclay and Michael Farris Smith.
Nick Anthony has retreated to the North Carolina mountains to mourn the untimely death of his wife. Once a popular professor, Nick just wants to be left alone with his grief. But when his estranged brother and sister-in-law die in a house fire, a stunned Nick learns he has a niece, Annalise, who is missing.
At the scene of the crime, the men who set the fire have realized Annalise, and the information they are looking for, got away. Feverish and exhausted, she stumbles onto her uncle’s porch, throwing Nick into the middle of the mystery of her parents’ death and the dangerous criminals hunting her down.
Hired to retrieve the stolen information at any price, private military contractor Cole and his team track Annalise to Nick’s cabin. But Nick has a hidden past of his own—and more than a few deadly tricks up his sleeve.
“A Fire in the Night is a searing story about the ties that bind and how sometimes they begin to strangle us. Christopher Swann has created a nuanced yet thrilling novel of family, grief and ultimately hope. Not to be missed.”—S.A. Cosby, best selling author of Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears
Christopher Swann is a novelist and high school English teacher. A graduate of Woodberry Forest School in Virginia, he earned his Ph.D. in creative writing from Georgia State University. He has been a Townsend Prize finalist, longlisted for the Southern Book Prize, and twice been a finalist for a Georgia Author of the Year award. His novels include Shadow of the Lions, Never Turn Back, and A Fire in the Night. He lives with his wife and two sons in Atlanta, where he is the English department chair at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School.
Scott Gould's new memoir, Things That Crash, Things That Fly, was called an “extraordinary work” by author David Shields and “a delight to read” by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Gould is also the author of the story collection, Strangers to Temptation, and the novel, Whereabouts. A new collection of stories, Idiot Men, coming from Springer Mountain Press in November 2021; and a new novel, The Hammerhead Chronicles, is set for publication in February 2022 by the University of North Georgia Press. Gould lives in Sans Souci, South Carolina and teaches at the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities.