Sunday, August 25, 2013

What is Todd Ritter reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Todd Ritter, author of Devil's Night.

His entry begins:
I’ve been working on a historical mystery, so this summer is all about nonfiction for me. Not for research purposes, although there has been a bit of that, but to get a feel for how nonfiction writers use historical detail to enhance their stories.

Right now, my nonfiction book of choice is The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. It’s an excellent example of a writer using telling details — clothing, weather, headlines — to really immerse readers into the world of the story. Brown doesn’t drown the reader in facts, figures and exhaustive descriptions, like some authors do. Instead, he lets the story flow, using ...[read on]
About Devil's Night, from the publisher:
Two things Perry Hollow Police Chief Kat Campbell never thought she would do again: Enter a burning building, and lay eyes on Henry Goll, the man who was trapped inside with her the last time she was in one. So Kat's on high alert when, barely a year after the dust settled around the Grim Reaper killings, both happen on the same day.

She's jolted awake at 1a.m. by a desperate phone call telling her Perry Hollow’s one and only museum—home to all the town’s historical artifacts—has been set on fire. Arriving at the scene, Kat catches just a glimpse of Henry's face among the crowd before she's rushed into the charred building, only to find the museum curator dead…bludgeoned, not burned. Kat has lived through some tense moments and seen some gruesome crimes, but the next twenty-four hours will be the most dangerous of her life as she and Henry seek out a killer and the motivation behind these terrifying crimes.

Todd Ritter returns to the beloved town of Perry Hollow, Pennsylvania with Devil's Night, his most poignant, cleverly plotted novel yet.
Learn more about the book and author at Todd Ritter's website.

Writers Read: Todd Ritter (October 2010).

The Page 69 Test: Todd Ritter's Death Notice.

My Book, The Movie: Death Notice.

Writers Read: Todd Ritter (October 2011).

Writers Read: Todd Ritter.

--Marshal Zeringue