Author Luncheon with Ashley Winstead, in conversation with Stacy Willingham
Presented by Blue Bicycle Books

"Where the Crawdads Sing meets Twilight meets Thelma and Louise…I couldn't put it down." ―Clare Mackintosh, New York Times bestselling author

***

Join Blue Bicycle Books, Friday, Oct. 13, 12 pm for an extra-spooky author luncheon with Ashley Winstead, best-selling author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife.

Ashley will be discussing her new thriller, Midnight is the Darkest Hour, in conversation with Charleston’s own Stacy Willingham (A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things).

Tickets are $65 for the three-course lunch and a signed copy of Midnight is the Darkest Hour (Sourcebooks, Oct 3, hb., $28) or $39 for lunch only.

Doors open at 11:30 am, lunch served promptly at noon, talk to follow. Books provided by Blue Bicycle Books. For more information call the bookstore 843-722-2666.

***

About the book: Midnight is the Darkest Hour is a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts―the preacher's daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks―hold the key to uncovering the truth.

In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her father rains fire-and-brimstone from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. But what really puts the fear of God in the town is the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights.

When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar―and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town's secret underbelly in search of true evil.

A dark and powerful novel like fans have come to expect from Ashley Winstead, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is an examination of the ways we've come to expect love, religion, and stories to save us, the lengths we have to go to in order to take back power, and the monstrous work of being a girl in this world.

*****

Ashley Winstead is the author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, The Last Housewife, Midnight is the Darkest Hour, Fool Me Once, and The Boyfriend Candidate. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, Washington Post, Parade, Cosmopolitan, Good Morning America, Good Housekeeping and more. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide and optioned for film/television. Ashley holds a Ph.D. in contemporary American literature from SMU and a B.A. in English and Art History from Vanderbilt.  She lives in Houston, where she drinks red wine and dreams up novels.

Stacy Willingham is the New York Times bestselling author of A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things and Only If You're Lucky. Her work has been translated in more than thirty languages. She earned her B.A. in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia and M.F.A. in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She lives in Charleston with her husband Britt and Mako their Labradoodle.