wendywelch

I met Jamie in her native Asheville, when she came to my book talk at that wonderful bookstore Malaprop’s. Jamie’s book was coming out in February, so we sat afterward and chatted awhile. She had a wicked fun sense of humor.

Which is why I read Three Graves Full, even though I’ve mostly lost my taste for mysteries. If I hadn’t known Jamie, I might not have been drawn to the book.

Which would have made me miss one of the funniest opening lines in crime: “There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard.” The book’s premise really drives most of the action following: a man who needed killing is buried out back, but when workers arrive to do some municipal stuff, with specific instructions to do the front yard only, they find two more bodies.

Which the poor guy who killed the schmuck in the back yard knows nothing about. And it all gets silly from there. Jamie’s writing is a combination of tight and free-flowing, never feeling forced in description or dialogue. This thriller is smart, funny, and erudite.

Which brings me to the best part: Jamie is coming to the bookstore on Tuesday (March 11) at 7 pm to talk about her book, her writing, the publishing process, and the thrill of thrillers. Jamie is a real hoot once you get a drink in her, so if you can come out for this free program, you’ll enjoy it. Refreshments will be on sale in the cafe, and Jamie will be signing books afterward.

Jamie says she got the idea for the book from a newspaper headline that said “Human skull found in bag of mulch.” One never knows what this Spring Gardening season could lead to…

Jack’s guest blog post today recounts the great fire of 2014 –

Well, that was quite an experience!

We were down in Johnson City on Monday doing radio shows and meetings and then headed home to avoid the forecast snow, arriving back in mid afternoon. Shortly afterwards I looked out the window and couldn’t see the other side of the street. Thinking it was fine snow I moved to a better position and saw clouds of dense smoke pouring out of a building only a couple of hundred yards from the bookstore. It was a NAPA auto parts store full of paint, oils, tires and other scary stuff and as I watched dumbstruck flames began to appear through the smoke. Within a short time the firefighters and police had all the surrounding streets closed and fire engines and high-lift ladders came screaming in – locals as well as from all the surrounding towns. They worked until 11 pm and then left it to burn itself out.

Next morning I walked across and saw a small fire still burning inside. Hhhmmm, I thought – that doesn’t look good! Within half an hour the whole place was blazing worse than ever and all the firefighters were back with their machines. We took a walk up to look in the evening and despite the enormous quantities of water we’d seen poured on the building for two days, there were still a number of healthy fires burning inside. Finally this morning it looks as if it has really has burned out!

Through the whole thing I was torn between disbelief that this was actually happening, the danger of the whole place exploding in all directions, and fascination at the scale of it – a great column of smoke, enormous flames, the apparent ineffectiveness of the enormous quantities of water being poured down on it (and how quickly we could evacuate our dogs and cats).

Now that it really does seem to be over, my final thought is for two groups of people – the owners and workers in the business that has gone, and the brave men and women who battled to keep it from spreading to the adjacent buildings (including our bookstore).

Finally, pictures –