Writers Read: Julie McElwain

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Julie McElwain

Julie McElwain is a national award-winning journalist. Born and raised in North Dakota, she graduated from North Dakota State University, and moved to Los Angeles, where she worked for a fashion trade newspaper. Currently, she is an editor for CBS Soaps In Depth, covering the No. 1 daytime drama, The Young & The Restless.

McElwain's new novel is Caught in Time.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:

I have a tendency to read more than one book at a time, usually balancing it between fiction and non-fiction. In the non-fiction category, I’m reading Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England, Women And The Gallows, and The Little Book Of Forensics. I purchased the former two books because my own novels take place during Regency England, and I find research into that era to be a never-ending process. Behind Closed Doors’ author Amanda Vickery is a gifted writer who has managed to turn what could have been a dry history book into an entertaining read filled with wit, wisdom and wonderful imagery of the Georgian era. Meanwhile, Women And The Gallows by Naomi Clifford is horrifying and heart-wrenching real-life accounts of 131 women who were executed in England between 1797-1837. This was a time when stealing could result in the death penalty, and often women seemed to be singled out for the harshest of punishment while men were deported to Australia or given a reprieve. It’s a sad but fascinating read, and I would highly recommend it. I just bought The Little Book Of Forensics by David Owen, and started to read it. It’s a pretty straightforward account of 50 crimes that were solved by science. I have an extensive crime library, and this will fit in nicely.

In the fiction category, I just finished Lisa Gardner’s gritty suspense thriller, Find Her. If you haven’t read Ms. Gardner’s work, I strongly urge everyone to read her — and go to bed with the nightlight on. She’s that good. Personally, I’ve become a big fan of the technique where authors mix first person with third person, and Gardner is a master. Find Her brings back Boston detective D.D. Warren (she’s the star of her own series) and has the detective trying to figure out whether former abductee Flora Dane is a victim or a vigilante in the death of a young man. Gardner has the unique ability of making me sympathetic to characters who are so flawed that they do inexplicable, dangerous things. This book is not for the faint of heart, since it delves into how the life of one woman — Flora — is changed forever when she goes on spring break and is kidnapped by a sexual sadist. Gardner effortlessly swings between the past and the present, first person and third, as she tells Flora’s story.