Books
About Hall of Mirrors
When a popular mystery novelist dies suspiciously, his writing partner must untangle the author’s connection to a serial killer in award-winning John Copenhaver’s new novel set in 1950s McCarthy-era Washington, DC.
In May 1954, Lionel Kane witnesses his apartment engulfed in flames with his lover and writing partner, Roger Raymond, inside. Police declare it a suicide due to gas ignition, but Lionel refuses to believe Roger was suicidal.
A month earlier, Judy Nightingale and Philippa Watson—the tenacious and troubled heroines from The Savage Kind—attend a lecture by Roger and, being eager fans, befriend him. He has just been fired from his day job at the State Department, another victim of the Lavender Scare, an anti-gay crusade led by figures like Senator Joseph McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, claiming homosexuals are security risks. Little do Judy and Philippa know, but their obsessive manhunt of the past several years has fueled the flames of his dismissal.
They have been tracking their old enemy Adrian Bogdan, a spy and vicious serial killer protected by powerful forces in the government. He’s on the rampage again, and the police are ignoring his crimes. Frustrated, they send their research to the media and their favorite mystery writer anonymously, hoping to inspire someone, somehow, to publish on the crimes—anything to draw Bogdan out. But has their persistence brought deadly forces to the writing team behind their most beloved books?
In the wake of Roger’s death, Lionel searches for clues, but Judy and Philippa threaten his quest, concealing dark secrets of their own. As the crimes of the past and present converge, danger mounts, and the characters race to uncover the truth, even if it means bending their moral boundaries to stop a killer.
Praise for Hall of Mirrors …
A New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year
A Novel Suspects Best Mystery & Thriller of the Year
Featured in The Washington Post’s “12 Thrillers to Read This Summer.”
Featured on Oprah’s Bookclub’s Sizzling Summer Reads: “The Lavender Scare of the 1950s, during which gay men and women were targeted by the FBI, led to countless tragedies, lost jobs, lost loved ones, and lost lives. John Copenhaver employs the noir atmosphere of the time to great effect.” —Bethanne Patrick, Oprah Daily.
"[HALL OF MIRRORS] has haunted me since I’ve finished it. As Copenhaver details with breathtaking skill, full exposure, however terrifying, flings open the closet doors to truth." —Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review
Set against the backdrop of 1950s Washington, D.C., Hall of Mirrors is a riveting mystery imbued with secrecy and a relentless pursuit of truth. —Bryon Lane, author of Big Gay Wedding for People.
Featured on Today.com’s “6 must-read books for Pride Month, according to Jenna pick author Steven Rowley (The Guncle) and Byron Lane (Big Gay Wedding),”: "As the two parties’ goals intertwine, past and present crimes collide. Set in 1950s McCarthy-era Washington, DC, Hall of Mirrors is a gripping mystery with secrets, danger, and a race to uncover the truth."
"Hall of Mirrors is a stunner and something rare for a historical mystery. Copenhaver has alchemized the intimacies and pain of midcentury queer characters into something more universal and timeless, reflecting back to us the closets in which marginalized people have been forced to live, and their righteous struggles to break free." —Paula Woods, The Los Angeles Times.
“Hall of Mirrors delivers a skillful historical mystery. We hope that Copenhaver continues this exciting series beyond three novels." —Oline Cogdill, The Sun Sentinel
About The Savage Kind
The iconic femme fatale has been misunderstood. This novel is my homage to her—the sympathetic coming-of-age story she deserves.
Two lonely teenage girls in 1940s Washington, DC, discover they have a penchant for solving crimes—and an even greater desire to commit them.
Philippa Watson, a good-natured yet troubled seventeen-year-old, has just moved to Washington, DC. She’s lonely until she meets Judy Peabody, a brilliant and tempestuous classmate. The girls become unlikely friends and fashion themselves as intellectuals, drawing the notice of Christine Martins, their dazzling English teacher, who enthralls them with her passion for literature and her love of noirish detective fiction.
When Philippa returns a novel Miss Martins has lent her, she interrupts a man grappling with her in the shadows. Frightened, Philippa flees, unsure who the man is or what she’s seen. Days later, her teacher returns to school altered: a dark shell of herself. On the heels of her teacher’s transformation, a classmate is found dead in the Anacostia River—murdered—the body stripped and defiled with a mysterious inscription.
As the girls follow the clues and wrestle with newfound feelings toward each other, they suspect that the killer is closer to their circle than they imagined—and that the greatest threat they face may not be lurking in the halls at school, or in the city streets, but creeping out from a murderous impulse of their own.
Praise for The Savage Kind …
"Philippa Watson and Judy Peabody, the nervy teenage duo at the center of John Copenhaver’s delicious trilogy opener The Savage Kind, each bring loneliness to a friendship that burns with intensity from the get-go. Their fascination — or is it obsession? — with each other, and with crime, begins after the death of a fellow student and the disappearance of a beloved pulp-fiction-loving teacher. To expose the darkness and rot beneath his tale, Copenhaver peppers it with literary allusions — Greek tragedy abounds, as do allusions to Wuthering Heights, classic poetry and contemporary detective fiction. But this 1940s noir homage would not succeed if it weren’t for Judy and Philippa’s chemistry, which promises to deepen — and perhaps combust — over two more books." —Sarah Weinman, The New York Times Book Review
"John Copenhaver’s dark sparkler of a second novel, The Savage Kind, tantalizes from its first pages. With rich period detail and a sneaky subversion of storied noir tropes, it brings to life the delicious intricacies of teen female friendship and the slippery line between identification and desire, between desire and desperation." —Megan Abbott, award-winning author of The Turnout
"Wow. The Savage Kind is evocative, seductive, and rivetingly creepy. John Copenhaver proves he is a brilliant talent, and this gorgeously unsettling story of power, control, gaslighting, and murder is not to be missed." —Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today Bestselling author of Her Perfect Life
“Copenhaver does a magnificent job of capturing the ever-shifting nature of teenage girls. Intelligent, bold, and passionate, Philippa and Judy are bursting with the possibilities of who they may become. The Savage Kind accomplishes a self-aware nostalgia, reveling in the good memories while shining a light on the more sinister aspects of the past. The result is a suspenseful and thrilling novel unapologetic in its revitalization of classic elements of crime fiction and its appreciation for complicated, morally gray women seeking agency over their lives, using whatever means possible to do so.” ―Supriya Saxena, Zyzzyva
About Dodging and Burning
In a small Virginia town still reeling from World War II, a photograph of a beautiful murdered woman propels three young people into the middle of a far-reaching mystery.
A lurid crime scene photo of a beautiful woman arrives on mystery writer Bunny Prescott's doorstep with no return address―and it's not the first time she's seen it. The reemergence of the photo, taken fifty-five years earlier, sets her on a journey to reconstruct the vicious summer that changed her life.
In the summer of 1945, Ceola Bliss is a lonely twelve-year-old tomboy, mourning the loss of her brother, Robbie, who was declared missing in the Pacific. She tries to piece together his life by rereading his favorite pulp detective story “A Date with Death” and spending time with his best friend, Jay Greenwood, in Royal Oak, VA. One unforgettable August day, Jay leads Ceola and Bunny to a stretch of woods where he found a dead woman, but when they arrive, the body is gone. They soon discover a local woman named Lily Vellum is missing and begin to piece together the threads of her murder, starting with the photograph Jay took of her abandoned body.
As Ceola gets swept up playing girl detective, Bunny becomes increasingly skeptical of Jay’s story about the photograph and begins her own investigation into Lily’s murder. A series of clues lead her to Washington, DC, where she must confront the truth about her dear friend—a revelation that triggers a brutal confrontation that will change all of them forever.
Praise for Dodging and Burning ...
“Copenhaver makes a powerful debut with this unconventional novel that mixes a coming-of-age tale with a puzzling mystery and a haunting portrait of the experiences of the LGBTQ community in the 1940s. Admirers of William Kent Krueger’s Edgar Award–winning stand-alone, Ordinary Grace, may appreciate this candid story.”
—Library Journal (Starred Review, Debut of the Month)
“Complex and multilayered, Copenhaver’s outstanding debut combines a murder mystery with a coming-of-age tale. [His] darkly lyrical exploration into the consequences of war—and prejudice—in small-town America will resonate with readers long after the last page is turned.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A riveting debut. The intricate plot melds a coming-of-age story, a coming-out tale and a mystery with realistic characters who want to be accepted for themselves. The brisk pace is augmented by the character studies and an in-depth look at gay rights. Gay and lesbian mysteries have been published for decades. Columnist and short story writer Copenhaver brings a new voice to this genre with Dodging and Burning.”
—Oline Cogdill, Associated Press
“LGBTQ crime-writing has its heroes. John Copenhaver lists many of them. He may have to add himself to that list now.”
—Neil Nyren, BookTrib
"On the widest possible level, John Copenhaver’s Dodging and Burning is crime fiction featuring LGBTQ+ themes, however to pigeonhole it as simply that is to vastly under-appreciate this fine novel. Dodging and Burning is a historical novel depicting the coming-of-age of several different characters during a time when their moments of self-discovery clash with the ideologies of the larger community."