Writerscast host David Wilk interviews Bryan Gruley, award-winning Chicago bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, whose first novel, a mystery called Starvation Lake is about to be published as a paperback original from the Touchstone imprint of Simon & Schuster. Gruley’s novel is set in small town Michigan, and centers around a journalist with an unresolved past, local hockey players, and an engrossing story that captures the reader from the beginning and won’t let go. Harlan Coben has called Starvation Lake “A great debut from a major talent.”

Wilk and Gruley talk in depth about the writer’s work, what it’s like for a full time journalist to take on a novel, small town newspapering, and explore in depth some of the background and underpinnings of Gruley’s first novel. They discuss character development, story development and plotting, and the life and work of the novelist. Listeners will enjoy the opportunity to hear from a writer who clearly has alot to say and is an emerging new talent in American fiction.