Joanna Campbell Slan

Joanna Campbell Slan’s first novel—Paper, Scissors, Death—was an Agatha Award finalist. It features Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who lives in St. Louis The sixth book in that series will be released Summer 2013.

Her latest book is Death of a Schoolgirl, the first novel in The Jane Eyre Chronicles, which features Charlotte Brontë’s classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth.

Last month I asked the author what she was reading.  Her reply:

I'm the type of reader who has a handful of books going at once. I flit from book to book. I try very hard to balance non-fiction and fiction. Currently, I'm enjoying How to Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery. Although my new release, Death of a Schoolgirl, is set sixty years earlier than this book, many of the fine points of British etiquette changed only a little over the ensuing decades. How to Marry an English Lord provided inspiration for the creators of Downton Abbey, I'm finding it fascinating as well.

In addition, I'm reading U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis by Breitman, Goda, Naftali and Wolfe. A bookseller at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, DC) recommended it. I'm fascinated by what the Americans knew about the Holocaust and when they knew it. It seems that we had a lot of information, but our interpretation centered on military aims rather than humanitarian concerns. I'm curious about how those two areas intersect.

Last but not least, I'm reading A Carrion Death, A Detective Kubu Mystery, by Michael Stanley. I met Mr. Stanley as we sat side-by-side, signing books at Malice. I make it a point to seek out works by authors who are gracious--and he certainly was. This is an interesting mystery, but I value the book just as much for its insight into Botswana, her people and her culture.

I have a theory that we should read the way we should eat. We need a bit of protein (U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis) a big helping of veggies (How to Marry an English Lord), and a little dessert (A Carrion Death). A well-rounded diet is best whether we are feeding our minds or our bodies.

Visit Joanna Slan's website and blog.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Joanna Slan & Rafferty and Victoria.

The Page 69 Test: Death of a Schoolgirl.

--Marshal Zeringue