We’ve launched a new series over here called Book Shots. It features some of the top mystery writers working today. No one has time to doom scroll endlessly to find a YouTube clip of an interview. We’re giving you quick Book Shots of authors and their newly released books.

Some may be familiar faces, and others–well, you might just find your new favorite author. You may have caught the most recent interview with Deborah Levinson.

So, sit back, relax, and pour yourself the libation of your choice and enjoy Book Shots with Author Chris McGinley.

Chris McGinley is the author of the story collection, Coal Black (Shotgun Honey, 2019) and the literary thriller Once These Hills (Shotgun Honey, 2023).  He writes for Crimereads, Mystery Tribune, Reckon Review, and other forums.  He lives with his wife in Lexington, KY where he teaches middle school English and Social Studies. His latest novel is Hail Holy Queens. (Fringe Press).

Hail Holy Queens has earned praise in the run up to release from Margot Douaihy, calling it “An inventive and gory romp. Please give me holy orders so I can hang with these warrior nuns a bit longer.”

Q: Hail Holy Queens is part historical, part thriller, and part horror. It’s the perfect blend. How did you manage the balance between these thematic elements?

Hey James, so nice to talk to you. The genre mix, if we can call it that, actually comes by way of my love for older works of literature.  Think of works like Charles Brockden’s late eighteenth-century novel, Edgar Huntly.  Here we have that very mixture you talk about: a sense of earlier indigenous history, some real eeriness by way of the woods, and an element that’s classic “whodunit” stuff. James Fenimore Cooper, too, writes historical fiction with an eye toward horrific events and a thriller-like feel. Of course, Hawthorne qualifies here as well.  So, my interest in these different genre conventions comes from my traditional schooling in literature.

Q: The central character is Henrietta, a young woman sent away to the convent by her over-controlling husband. When did you know she’d be the one telling this story?

I had revisited novels like Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening in recent years, and so I was compelled by the idea of a female lead, the idea of someone at odds with the social hierarchy of nineteenth century America.  I also thought it would be compelling to present a sort-of “imprisoned” character as the narrator, someone with whom everyone can sympathize, but also someone who would change profoundly over the course of the novel to surprise readers . . . and other characters.

Q: Not long after Henrietta’s arrival at the convent, the sisters encounter the Gulo,creatures who are the perfect nightmare fuel. What inspired you to embrace the horror elements in Hail Holy Queens?

I wanted a creature terrifying enough to create lots of tension, but something that can be defeated, though perhaps through means outside of conventional warfare.  So, things like Faith enter into the mix, and Christian mysticism even. And the juxtaposition of nuns and violence had too much appeal for me!

Q: What did it feel like when you learned the Hail Holy Queens would be the first book released from Fringe Press?

I was thrilled.  Fringe has done so much for the book, and that’s in part because I’m their only writer at present, and they actually care deeply about both writer and reader.  They put on a huge party for the book in New York at Thrillerfest.  I couldn’t be more pleased with the attentive publishers and editors.

Q: While hail Holy Queens in the first from Fringe, it’s not your first novel. Once These Hills and your short story collection, Coal Black put you on the map with gritty realism. There are some common themes between Once These Hills and Hail Holy Queens, aren’t there?

Absolutely there are common themes.  The conflict between the religious hierarchy in HHQ is not so different than that of the homesteader versus the Company in OTH. Also, both novels pit an underdog against a giant, so to speak.  There’s also the (surprising) strength of the insular community against an outside force.  I’m compelled by micro-communities, rebels and resisters.  It’s all over the place in both novels, and to an extent, even in Coal Black as well.

Q: You’re based in Kentucky and it seems like Southern Gothic and Appalachian Noir are having a moment. Why is that?

It’s tough to tell exactly why these sub-genres are coming into greater vogue right now.  But one thing I can say, and it’s something many readers don’t know, is that there has always been an Appalachian fiction “industry.” It’s just that the novels from years ago, on established presses, are long forgotten.  I read a good number of “thrillers” set in Appalachia, and written by Appalachians, that can only be found in university libraries nowadays.  But some small presses, like Shotgun Honey, and others, have also issued titles in recent years that other presses might have rejected, and I think that accounts for some of the interest.  On bigger presses, it’s great to see that writers like Ron Rash, David Joy, Chris Offutt, Julia Franks, Sharyn McCrumb, Silas House, Mesha Maren and others are writing these page turners set in the region

Q: What’s next for you?

I have a completed manuscript for which I’m trying to find an agent. It’s set in Appalachia in the 1981 and it features a Vietnam War veteran, a sheriff who must join forces with a rogue drug dealer, also a Vietnam vet, in order to solve a case of a murdered young girl.  The book includes lots of Vietnam flashbacks and eerie settings in the hills and hollers. So, I’m editing that yet again, and I’ve begun writing a sequel to Hail Holy Queens.

Here’s where you can find your copy of Chris McGinley’s inventive new book–and you should!

Amazon Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org

Let Chris know what you think about Hail Holy Queens, or leave a question for him in the comments below.

Hope you enjoyed Book Shots, please keep checking back and give me your recommended mystery authors for a future session. Look for another of your favorite authors in an upcoming Book Shots.

Book Shots

Illusion of Truth available now. Book #3 in the Detective Emily Hunter series

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org