NOVA Faculty to Publish Crime Fiction Novel

Looking for something to read while practicing social distancing?

On April 7, Untreed Reads will publish THE BEAT OF BLACK WINGS: CRIME FICTION INSPIRED BY THE SONGS OF JONI MITCHELL, edited by Josh Pachter (LO).

From her 1968 debut (SONG TO A SEAGULL) to her most recent release (SHINE, 2007), Mitchell put out 17 studio albums featuring such classic songs as “Woodstock,” “Both Sides, Now,” and “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Pachter’s book contains 26 short crime stories, each inspired by one of the Canadian native’s lyrics, one or two stories inspired by each of the seventeen albums.

Many of the contributors to the book are residents of Northern Virginia, including another NOVA faculty member, Kathryn O’Sullivan (MA), who tackled “Big Yellow Taxi.”

Pachter and O’Sullivan are both full-time NOVA faculty members: he teaches communication studies and film, and she teaches theater. Pachter’s own short stories appear regularly in ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE and many other places, and O’Sullivan is the author of the popular Colleen McCabe series set in the Outer Banks.

The book is available in hardcover, paperback and e-book formats from all the usual retailers.