John Copenhaver

I write historical mysteries set in the late 1940s and early 1950s, imbuing them with a noir sensibility inspired by the great detective novels of the 1930s and the powerful noir films of the late '40s and early '50s. Each book is a blend of historical fiction and mystery, often with a puzzle at its core. The narratives also carry a strong feminist and queer perspective, offering a unique lens on the genre.

I grew up in southwestern Virginia, and so Virginia certainly plays a significant role in my writing. But I spent many years in D.C., where The Savage Kind and Hall of Mirrors take place exclusively. My first novel, Dodging and Burning, does take place a lot in a small town in Virginia, however, and a little bit in D.C., and in other regions, even international spaces. But certainly Virginia and D.C. are powerful influences in shaping my writing, and of course, what that meant for the mid-century in those regions is something of great interest for me.

When I was a kid, because I'm on the dyslexia spectrum, reading was at times hard for me. But storytelling came naturally, so I did a lot of storytelling through drawing comics and superhero characters. When I got a little older, I created Dungeons & Dragons adventures and even made movies with my friends. It wasn't until high school that I really developed a reading habit, and I read a lot of Agatha Christie, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, and many others. Because I'm a slow reader, I became a very close reader, which made me good at translating good writing, particularly from the literature I was studying, into my own work. I understood how to pay attention to the language. I became very serious about it throughout high school and college, where I studied literature and eventually got my MFA.

This is a tough question, but I'd say Margaret Atwood. Atwood masterfully tells riveting stories without sacrificing beautiful, evocative language. Her books, especially historical ones like Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and Cat's Eye, are evocative in character while remaining page-turners. They move quickly, layer multiple perspectives, and play with language. This combination of great storytelling and evocative prose is something I deeply admire and love about Atwood.

My five favorite authors, in no specific order, are Margaret Atwood, Patricia Highsmith, Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie, and Gillian Flynn.

Claire Dederer’s Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, which takes on the thorny, personal question so many of us wrestle with: Can we still love the work of artists who’ve done terrible things? It’s a smart, intimate, and unflinching dive into the mess of being both a fan and a morally conscious human being.

The 12-year-old girl in Dodging and Burning named Ceola Bliss is based on my mother. She would have been about that age in 1945, so in a lot of ways that is one of the most personal characters. Now, she's not my mother, but I did take a lot of inspiration from my mother's story to create her.

Impossible to answer. I love them all. I will say I'm usually the most in love with the one I'm currently writing—well, until it begins to frustrate me!

So my office is small, but it has windows and lots of desk space, and I'm absolutely surrounded with books and art. My husband is a ceramic artist, so there's a lot of his art in my space as well. And the one thing I have to have is a desk that raises and lowers so I can stand and write. I did get that for myself a couple of years ago, and it has been a game-changer. Anyway, I have to surround myself with books and art to write, so that's what's in my office.

Okay, this is easy to answer. A bean bag! It's not very dignified, but I love to sit and read in a giant bean bag, so there's a room in my house with a bean bag I sit and read in. It's just like the perfect reading place to sit. Full back support, but very easy to adjust. And occasionally, you can nap if you feel like it. It's the best.