MELODIE JOHNSON HOWE in conversation with KEITH RAFFEL

Kepler’s is pleased to welcome the Edgar Award-nominated crime writer Melodie Howe Johnson to celebrate the publication of her new Diana Poole mystery novel, Hold a Scorpion. Melodie will be in conversation with fellow crime writer Keith Raffel and she has quite a story to tell.

 

Melodie always wanted to be a writer but first she was discovered by Hollywood. While attending the University of Southern California, she got a pair of screen tests at MGM and Universal Studios, which resulted in a seven-year contract. You can still see her today in the opening scenes of Coogan’s Bluff with Clint Eastwood, The Moonshine War, co-starring with Alan Alda in the adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel, and in television shows like Bewitched.

 

But she did eventually become a writer after reading authors like Raymond Chandler and Ross McDonald, who made her see Los Angeles as a dangerous, seductive city. After leaving the film industry, she published her first novel, The Mother Shadow, followed by Beauty Dies, Shooting Hollywood, and City of Mirrors. Come join us for a fascinating peek into classic Hollywood and the intrigue of writing crime fiction.

 

Keith Raffel is, among other things, a crime novelist, former technology executive, former U.S. Senate aide, and political candidate. He is the author of the crime novels Dot Dead, Smasher, Drop By Drop, A Fine and Dangerous Season, and Temple Mount.

 

Read the review in the San Jose Mercury News.