Send us a text

Fleur Bradley is the author of many mysteries for kids, including Midnight at the Barclay Hotel and Daybreak on Raven Island.

Originally from the Netherlands, she now lives in Colorado with her family.

Get your book here!
Watch clips from our conversation with Fleur!
Join our brand new Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.
fleurbradley.com
@ftbradley

JJ Jacobson convinces his mom to accept an invitation to an all-expenses-paid weekend getaway at the illustrious Barclay Hotel. He thinks he’s in for a run-of-the-mill ghost hunting at the most haunted spot in town, but when he arrives at the Barclay Hotel, he finds himself in the midst of a murder mystery.

Now, with the help of his new friends, Penny and Emma, JJ has to track down a killer and maybe even meet a ghost or two along the way.

Fleur Bradley is the author of many mysteries for kids, including Midnight at the Barclay Hotel and Daybreak on Raven Island. Midnight at the Barclay Hotel was nominated for the Reading the West and the Agatha and Anthony Award. It won the Colorado Book Award and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award.

Midnight at the Barclay Hotel is also on the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award list and recently won Florida’s Sunshine State Young Readers Award. Daybreak on Raven Island was nominated for the Anthony and Agatha Awards, won the Colorado Authors League Book Award for Best Juvenile Book, and is on the 2024-25 Texas Library Association’s Bluebonnet Award List.

Fleur regularly does school and virtual visits, as well as librarian and educator conference talks. She’s also a writing instructor and coach. Her signature topics are reaching reluctant readers, writing the book of your heart, love of mysteries, and the power of reading. Originally from the Netherlands, she now lives in Colorado with her family.

Reading Age: 8-11 years (grades 3-7) | Amazon: average 4.8 stars

Five invitations are sent for an all-expense paid April weekend at the historic (and possibly haunted) Barclay Hotel in Aspen Springs, Colorado. It has a pool, cupcake shop, carousel, movie theater, bowling alley, and the largest private library in Colorado. The invitation has LOTS of fine print, including no cell phone service.

Part I, Liars, Liars (or, The Players)

Everyone’s a liar: Everyone has a secret to keep. (Cowboy, librarian, CEO, actress, and detective.) And Penny, Emma & JJ. Can you speak to setting everyone up as a secret keeper or in some cases a liar?

Support the show

https://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/
https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxin
https://www.teatonicandtoxin.com

Stay mysterious...

Send us a text

Full-time writer KEMPER DONOVAN is currently publishing an ongoing mystery series via Kensington Books. He joins us to discuss The Busy Body, the first in the Ghostwriter series, and The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Previously, he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand and written for the official Agatha Christie website, agathachristie.com.

Get your book here!
Watch clips from our conversation with Kemper!
Join our brand new Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.

Learn more about our hosts The Ucross Foundation.

Former Senator Dorothy Gibson, aka “that woman,” is the most talked-about person in the country. Dorothy had been the independent candidate for President, and after her very public defeat she has retreated to her home in rural Maine. She invites a ghostwriter to join her so they can work on her memoir.

A ghostwriter tells other people’s stories for a living, and this is a dream assignment. The ghostwriter is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the lovely surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer, and she and the ghostwriter team up to launch their own murder investigation.

The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories … two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy’s political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation—much like the election—may not unfold the way anyone expects …

Influence

The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan has been described as a mystery in the “timeless tradition of Agatha Christie.” In what ways has Christie’s writing influenced you?

Do you agree that the novel is Agatha Christie-esque? In what ways? Was that by intention?

Support the show

https://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/
https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxin
https://www.teatonicandtoxin.com

Stay mysterious...

Send us a text

THE ABC MURDERS (1936) is one of the earliest examples of the “serial killer” novel. Striking in alphabetical order, a killer challenges renowned detective Hercule Poirot to a battle of wits. With ingenious twists and red herrings, the book will keep you guessing until the end.

Special guest Kemper Donovan joins us to discuss Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery. Check out the conversation starters below. Weigh in, and you might just get an on-air shoutout and a fab sticker!

Full-time writer KEMPER DONOVAN is currently publishing an ongoing mystery series via Kensington Books. In the next episode he joins us to discuss The Busy Body, the first in the Ghostwriter series, and The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Previously, he published the standalone novel The Decent Proposal (HarperCollins). He is also the host of the podcast All About Agatha, dedicated to all things Agatha Christie, in which guise he has appeared on BBC TV and Radio New Zealand and written for the official Agatha Christie website, agathachristie.com.

Get your book here!
Watch clips from our conversation with Kemper!
Join our brand new Patreon community here! It's free to join, with extra perks for members at every level.

Serial Killer

The ABC Murdes is commonly considered the first serial killer book. In a sense, it wasn’t because the serial killing was a screen.

In another sense, were serial killers becoming more common? Jack the Ripper was referenced. several times. HP & the police seem to be drawing on a body of knowledge.

The Psychological Aspect

Similar to Gaudy Night, Agatha Christie in The ABC Murders spends time trying to analyze the psychological makeup of the killer as a key to solving the crimes.

Freud and Jung started to become more well known starting in 1910. Is this related? The rise in psychoanalytic thinking? This does turn out to be the key to solving the mystery. Poirot guesses the dual aspect presented of the killer. Hercule Poirot even dabbles in dream interpretation.

In contrast to Sayers, Christie books have less psychological elements to discuss. They are terrific and satisfying stories though.

The Vanishing and the Problem of Memory

In The ABC Murders, Cust is an epileptic World War I veteran who suffers from bouts of short-term blackouts due to a wartime head injury. He has been hired as a traveling stocking salesman and happens to be in the towns where the murders occur. Cust can’t recall his whereabouts during the last murder, and he was found with blood on his sleeve and a knife. He has no memory of writing letters to Poirot or of committing any of the murders, but he thinks he might have committed them because of his blackouts.

Support the show

https://www.instagram.com/teatonicandtoxin/
https://www.facebook.com/teatonicandtoxin
https://www.teatonicandtoxin.com

Stay mysterious...