In this era of electronic information resources, one thing is certain, traditional newspapers are in danger of becoming extinct.
Michele Drier, a former journalist, has written a murder mystery that she hopes will raise awareness of this issue. She says her new book, Edited for Death, is “reminiscent of some of Sue Grafton’s work because actions in the past are impacting the current situation.” She also said the book bears a resemblance to Dick Francis's style.
In Edited for Death, Drier’s protagonist, Amy Hobbes, is the editor of a daily paper and she’s watching a business and career she loves slowly die, even as she tries to pump life into it with good stories and good local news coverage. But when bodies start popping up and Amy starts asking questions, she unravels a Nazi theft that ended in 60 years of blackmail and murder.
Amy never expected to solve anything tougher than a crossword puzzle. When she left Southern California, she planned to give the adrenaline a rest, but her new job delivers some surprises. After a World War II hero dies and two more people turn up dead, the news heats up. Both victims had ties to a hotel owned by the hero’s family. Digging in, Amy uncovers a number of shadowy figures, including a Holocaust survivor who’s spent sixty years tracking down Nazi loot. It’s a complex and dangerous puzzle, but Amy can’t walk away until she solves it.
According to Drier, the book “…doesn’t fit neatly into a category. It’s not a cozy, not a thriller, not a police procedural. Amy is around crime and murders, works closely with the police, tries to out-guess the police investigation but has no official standing.”
Edited for Death is intended as a new series that will contain elements of reality. Drier said, “I worked with a lot of cops and reporters who covered crime and its consequences so every book has one true crime/cops story in it.”
For those that might prefer other genres, Drier has also written the SNAP series about an international media conglomerate that focuses on celebrity gossip and is owned by a family of vampires. Drier said, “These aren’t dark, bloody, violent vampire stories, they’re quirky, light, fast reads designed to entertain.”
For more information about Michele Drier, visit her website at www.micheledrier.com.
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