Hey bookish friends! As promised, I’m back with acclaimed author Patricia Raybon, whose character Annalee Spain in her sophomore novel Double the Lies had me instantly enamored. Patricia is here with me today to provide a peek behind the curtain and some Quick Qs.

Behind the scenes with author & book

1. Novel in a nutshell: what’s Double the Lies about, in two sentences or less.

It’s about choosing truth over lies, especially when racial tension and romantic attraction collide. The story? Amateur sleuth Annalee Spain—a young Black theologian and Sherlock fan—finds herself hunting for clues that probe a Klan-run city’s secrets, but also the depths of her own heart.

2. You describe yourself as “a writer of faith by day and mystery by night.” The latter is a fairly new gig. As an established writer of top-rated nonfiction, what inspired you to branch out into fiction?

I’ve always loved the mystery genre. I also, in general, love and admire fiction. During the pandemic summer of 2020, I decided to use my time in isolation to give mystery writing a try. Tyndale House offered a contract for All That Is Secret and asked if I would turn it into a series. I decided I had nothing to lose by dipping my nonfiction toes into fictional waters to see what transpired. Since faith is, in many ways, a mystery, the two formats—fiction and nonfiction—seemed like literary cousins or closely related parallel paths, and curiously, they are. I’m loving the journey and love what I’m learning along the way.

3. Writing as you do at the “daring intersection of faith and race,” choosing Colorado’s 1920s Klan era as the setting for this series is a natural choice, but Annalee’s profession provides a delightfully unexpected twist. What inspired you to write detective fiction?

Detective fiction is about uncovering truth. As a loner figure in a corrupt city or world, the detective feels called to unmask corruption by unearthing untruth so justice can be done—returning a community to wholeness again. I’ve loved fictional detectives who do that—including Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie’s protagonists Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Monk, Columbo, several PBS Masterpiece detectives, and a host of others.

I’m sensitive to their work to expose lies because I grew up as a little Black girl in the Jim Crow era—entangled and targeted by unjust lies and laws that justified bigotry and discrimination against people of color by advancing the worst falsehoods about us. Unlike white people, we weren’t seen as clean, hardworking, smart, ethical, morally sound, agents of valor, capable of academic and intellectual excellence, or of even being decent citizens. That’s a lot of untruth to carry on one’s young shoulders every day of your life.

In a detective story, I can put my young detective to work exploring how such lies damage not just those harmed by such lies but by those telling them.

She’s a young theologian, however, so she’s also asking tough questions of God about her faith. Does she have all the answers? Especially in an unjust world? Not at all. But her willingness to ask God hard things as a young Black woman, in a corrupt time and place, makes for great tension, calling for the best of my young protagonist and all she meets. I’m so grateful readers are enjoying every part of her story.

4. To me, celebrating beauty in the midst of brokenness means living a life that reflects a beautiful God, even when life is painful. How does this theme play out in Double the Lies ?

What a beautiful philosophy. We are broken and fallen, but God redeems. In Double the Lies, my young protagonist struggles to make room for God to do this work in the midst of exposing the worst of criminality while she’s being challenged to believe that her foes, like her, can be lifted out of our miry clay. She often struggles with how this plays out, but she returns to fight in Christ another day.

5. What can your readers look forward to next, in 20 words or less?

Another fast-moving mystery filled with brave sleuthing, romantic suspense, and spiritual searching. Onward, Annalee! Hold on for the ride!

 Quick Qs

FAVORITE PLACE TO WRITE

At home in my office or, during summer, on our back deck.

EARLY BIRD OR NIGHT OWL?

Early bird.

COFFEE OR TEA?

Tea.

MOUNTAINS OR SEASIDE?

Both! (I live in Colorado, so mountains and seaside both beckon!)

FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A FRIDAY NIGHT?

Movies with my husband or grandkids.

ONE THING YOU LOVE ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE

Sunshine! We get loads of it.

SECRET SUPERPOWER

Daily Bible reading and prayer.

MOST MEMORABLE PLACE YOU’VE TRAVELED

Rome.

DREAM DESTINATION

Africa.

FICTION OR NONFICTION (ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND)

Both.

CURRENTLY READING (FICTION AND NON-)

The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and Spare by Prince Harry (because the ghostwriter, J. R. Moehringer, is an award-winning journalist who worked at my former newspaper in Denver).

ONE GOOD BOOK REC

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

ONE MEMORABLE MOVIE

Hidden Figures

AGE YOU CAME TO FAITH IN JESUS

I was born on a pew, basically. Gratefully, I’ve always been a believer.

ONE MEANINGFUL VERSE FROM SCRIPTURE

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid” (Matthew 14: 27).

About the author

A writer of faith by day and mystery by night, Patricia Raybon is a Christy Award-winning Colorado author, essayist, and novelist who writes daring and exciting novels and books at the intersection of faith and race.

After a notable career in newspaper journalism and journalism education, Patricia turned to fiction with release of a 1920s mystery series about a prim, poor but clever Black theologian—a fan of Sherlock Holmes–who solves murder and crime in Colorado’s dangerous Klan era. The series’ acclaimed debut, “All That Is Secret: An Annalee Spain Mystery,” won the 2022 Christy Award for First Novel and was a Parade Magazine Fall 2021 “Mysteries We Love” selection, a Masterpiece on PBS “Best Mystery Books of 2021” pick “As Recommended by Bestselling Authors,” and Stephen Curry’s March 2022 personal choice for his Literati Book Club.

Connect with Patricia at patriciaraybon.com.

About the book

In the cold and dangerous spring of 1924, amateur detective Annalee Spain races the clock to solve the murder of a handsome barnstorming pilot before the clever Black theologian―a target of the ruthless Colorado Klan―is framed for the crime, and before she is lured by the risky flirtations of the victim’s dashing twin brother.

As this second installment of Patricia Raybon’s critically acclaimed mystery series opens, Annalee Spain offers her fancy lace handkerchief―a gift from her complicated pastor boyfriend, Jack Blake―to a young woman crying in a Denver public library. But later that night, when police find the handkerchief next to the body of the young woman’s murdered husband, Annalee becomes the number one suspect, and her panic doubles when she learns that Jack has gone missing.

With just days to solve the murder before the city’s Klan-run police frame her for the crime, Annalee finds herself hunting for clues in the Colorado mountain town of Estes Park. She questions the victim’s wife and her uncle, a wealthy Denver banker, at their mountain lodge, desperate for leads. Instead, she finds a household full of suspects and even more burning questions. Who keeps threatening her, why can’t she find Jack, and will a dangerous flirtation be her undoing? Her answers plumb the depths of the human heart, including her own, exploring long-buried secrets, family lies, even city politics―all of which could cost the young detective her fledgling love . . . and perhaps even her life.

Buy the book here. 

Happy reading!
🌺Katherine

With thanks to Tyndale Publishers for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.