Events

Sat 8/11  2pm-3pm Howard Owen reads from his novel Oregon Hill   Willie Black has squandered a lot of things in this life—his liver, his lungs, a couple of former wives and a floundering daughter can all attest to his abuse. He’s lucky to be employed, having managed to drink and smart-talk his way out of a nice, cushy job covering (and partying with) the politicians down at the capitol. Now, he’s back on the night cops beat, right where he started when he came to work for the paper almost 30 years ago.  When a co-ed at the local university where Willie’s daughter is a perpetual student is murdered, her headless body found along the South Anna River, the hapless alleged killer is arrested within days.  Everyone but Willie seems to think: Case closed.  But Willie, against the orders and advice of his bosses at the paper, the police and just about everyone else, doesn’t think it’s closed at all. He embarks on a one-man crusade to do what he’s always done: Get the story.   Review from Publishers Weekly:  Police beat reporter Willie Mays Black, introduced in “The Thirteenth Floor” in the Akashic anthology Richmond Noir (2010), shows his mettle in this warm and witty crime novel from Owen (The Reckoning). Willie, the son of a drug-addled white mother and a light-skinned black saxophone player, tussles with ex-wives, bottom-line editors, and the suspicion that Martin Fell, the man arrested for killing and decapitating Virginia Commonwealth University co-ed Isabel Ducharme, may be innocent. Willie’s continued digging into Isabel’s murder, despite a questionable confession from Fell, incites the enmity of cop David Shiflett and raises the anxiety level of his editors. Off-beat characters such as peripatetic drifter Awesome Dude and Owen’s spot-on take on the slow death of a newspaper (shrinking pages, repeated staff cuts, on-line presence, blogging, etc.) add ballast. The deft and surprising plot builds to a satisfying ending. Readers will hope that Willie will soon return in a sequel. (July)  Reviewed on: 05/11/2012   Howard Owen is from Fayetteville and is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill (1971, journalism) and has a master's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University (1981, English).  He and his wife live in Fredericksburg, Va., where both are editors at The Free Lance-Star. He has been a newspaper reporter and editor since 1971. Oregon Hill is his tenth book.