Joanne McLaughlin joins us together with local author and journalist Jane M. Von Bergen to discuss Joanne’s new murder mystery, Chasing Ashes. To reserve your copy of the book for the event, please use the “Add to Cart” button on this page.
Reporter Laura Cunningham’s childhood friend and college roommate vanished the day a deadly fire destroyed The Challenge, a residential counseling center for troubled students. Not something Laura could just forget — not after a year, not after almost twenty-five. Kate McDonald’s car was found at the fire scene, headlights on, driver’s door open. So why wasn’t Kate’s body discovered among the victims? And if she didn't die, what happened to her? Laura writes a true-crime book demanding a new investigation and envisions uncovering past secrets. What she can’t imagine is the fresh torment her book will unleash.
Like protagonist Laura, author Joanne is a Mt. Airy resident! Joanne is a longtime editor of prize-winning news and features for newspapers (Philadelphia Inquirer) and public media (WHYY News), involved in coverage of topics ranging from politics and public health to fashion and financial markets, as well as Pulitzer Prize-finalist architecture criticism (Inga Saffron, for several years before she won) and a Peabody Award-nominated podcast (WHYY's "Half-Vaxxed"). In the 1990s, she was vice president of Never Before Noon Artist Management, her husband's company representing blues musicians. In her spare time, she tweaks the decor of her home, indulges her young granddaughters whenever she can, and when the weather is pleasant, she roams Awbury Arboretum with We Walk PHL and other groups. Chasing Ashes is Joanne’s fourth novel and her first published mystery.
Jane M. Von Bergen is an award-winning journalist and teacher with a passionate belief in story and culture. For 35 years, Von Bergen reported for The Philadelphia Inquirer, where she last covered labor, jobs, and the economy. Von Bergen co-founded The Reentry Project, the predecessor to Resolve Philadelphia, a renowned journalism collaborative.