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Dodging and Burning: A Mystery Audiobook
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Publisher Description
In a small Virginia town still reeling from World War II, a photograph of a beautiful murdered woman propels three young people into the middle of a far-reaching mystery.
A lurid crime scene photo of a beautiful woman arrives on mystery writer Bunny Prescott's doorstep with no return addressand it's not the first time she's seen it. The reemergence of the photo, taken fifty-five years earlier, sets her on a journey to reconstruct the vicious summer that changed her life.
In the summer of 1945, Ceola Bliss is a lonely twelve-year-old tomboy, mourning the loss of her brother, Robbie, who was declared missing in the Pacific. She tries to piece together his life by rereading his favorite pulp detective story A Date with Death and spending time with his best friend, Jay Greenwood, in Royal Oak, VA. One unforgettable August day, Jay leads Ceola and Bunny to a stretch of woods where he found a dead woman, but when they arrive, the body is gone. They soon discover a local woman named Lily Vellum is missing and begin to piece together the threads of her murder, starting with the photograph Jay took of her abandoned body.
As Ceola gets swept up playing girl detective, Bunny becomes increasingly skeptical of Jay, and begins her own investigation into the connection between Jay and Lily. She discovers a series of clues that place doubt on Jays story about the photograph. She journeys to Washington, D.C., where she is forced to confront the brutal truth about her dear frienda discovery that triggers a series of events that will bring tragedy to Jay and decades of estrangement between her and Ceola.
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“Copenhaver’s outstanding debut combines a murder mystery with a coming-of-age tale. Copenhaver’s darkly lyrical exploration into the consequences of war?and prejudice?in small-town America will resonate with readers long after the last page is turned.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Copenhaver beautifully renders the lives of four young people through alternating lenses of photographs, letters, diary entries, notes, and other documents.”
— Washington Independent Review of Books -
“[An] unconventional novel that mixes a coming-of-age tale with a puzzling mystery and a haunting portrait of the experiences of the LGBTQ community in the 1940s.”
— Library Journal (starred review) -
“Copenhaver’s outstanding debut combines a murder mystery with a coming-of-age tale. Copenhaver’s darkly lyrical exploration into the consequences of war―and prejudice―in small-town America will resonate with readers long after the last page is turned.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Awards
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Finalist for the Strand Critics Award for Best Debut Novel
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Nominated for the 2019 Barry Award
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Nominated for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award
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A Library Journal Editor’s Pick of Best Debut Novel of the Month
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About John Copenhaver
John Copenhaver is the author of Dodging and Burning, which won the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and garnered Anthony, Strand Critics, Barry, and Lambda Literary Award nominations. Copenhaver writes a crime fiction review column for Lambda Literary called “Blacklight,” is a co-host on the House of Mystery Radio Show, and is the six-time recipient of Artist Fellowships from the Washington, DC, Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He’s a Larry Neal awardee, and his work has appeared in CrimeReads, Electric Lit, Glitterwolf, PANK, New York Journal of Books, and Washington Independent Review of Books. He lives in Richmond, Virginia, with his husband, artist Jeffery Paul.
About the Narrators
Janet Metzger, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, has performed as a stage, television, voice, and film actor and as a jazz vocalist in hotels and supper clubs. For five years she was the voice of Headline News, now HLN, during which time she also promoted features and news stories for CNN and CNN International. She is a graduate of Florida State University.
Elizabeth Wiley, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a seasoned actor, dialect coach, and theater professor. In addition to her growing portfolio of audiobooks, her voice can be heard in The Idea of America, Colonial Williamsburg’s virtual learning curriculum; in Paul Meier’s e-textbook Speaking Shakespeare; and modeling US-English on one of the world’s top language-learning products.