Speaking of Writers Podcast By Steve Richards cover art

Speaking of Writers

Speaking of Writers

By: Steve Richards
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Welcome to Speaking of Writers. Veteran broadcaster Steve Richards interviews local, regional and best selling authors. For more info email steve @ sval622@sbcglobal.net. Cover art photo provided by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@thepootphotographerSteve Richards Art Literary History & Criticism
Episodes
  • R. J. Koreto-THE CADIEUX MURDERS: A Historic Homes Mystery
    Jul 4 2025

    The Cadieux House has a dark past: in 1955, it was the site of the never-solved murder of its owner, Dennis Blaine. Cadieux himself was alleged to be having an affair with Dennis’s wife, the stunningly beautiful Rebecca. It seems like yesterday’s headlines, but then someone starts killing people with a connection to the house. The home’s new owner—bestselling novelist Brownwyn Merrick—may be using the house to launch a fictionalized account of the 1955 crime. But someone may not want her to. Just how far will Bronwyn’s armed bodyguard go to protect her?

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Over the years, Richard J. Koreto has been a magazine writer, website manager, textbook editor. novel and merchant seaman. He was born and raised in New York City, graduated from Vassar College, and has wanted to be a writer ever since reading The Naked and the Dead. In addition to his novels, he has published short stories in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine,the 2020 Boucheron Anthology, and Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon. His current series features Wren Fontaine, an architect who finds mysteries in the historic homes she renovates. He and his wife have two grown daughters, and they divide their time between Rockland County, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

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    18 mins
  • Scott Ellsworth-Midnight on The Potomac
    Jul 2 2025

    From Scott Ellsworth, the author of The GroundBreaking, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, comes a riveting new account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His latest is a page-turning, eye-opening account of the last desperate months of the Civil War, when the very future of the United States teetered on the brink amidst ideological clashes and political extremism.

    But more than that, MIDNIGHT ON THE POTOMAC: The LastYear of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the Rebirth of America is an incredibly timely read. For 1864-1865 was hallmarked by many sentiments the United States faces today: political upheaval, competing truths, and a nation trying to move forward in an age of extreme division.

    About the Author :Scott Ellsworth is the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Game, winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He has written about Americanhistory for The New York Times, The WashingtonPost, and the Los Angeles Times. Formerly a historian at the Smithsonian Institution, he is also the author of The World Beneath Their Feet and Death in a Promised Land, hisgroundbreaking account of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Scott lives in Ann Arbor, where he teaches in the Department of Afro American and African Studies at the University of Michigan.

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    16 mins
  • Jason Bailey- GANDOLFINI: Jim, Tony and the Life of a Legend
    Jun 29 2025

    More than a decade after his sudden passing, James Gandolfini still exerts a powerful pull on television and film enthusiasts around the world. His charismatic portrayal of complex, flawed, but always human men illuminated the contradictions in all of us, as well as our potential for grace, and the power of love and family. This new biography from Bailey is based on extensive research and original reporting, including interviews with friends and collaborators.


    In GANDOLFINI, Bailey traces the twinned stories of the man and the unforgettable roles he played. Gandolfini’s roots were working class, raised in northern New Jersey as the son of Italian immigrants, and acting was something he loved for a long time before he could see it as a career. It wasn’t until he was well into his bohemian twenties that he dedicated himself to a life on the stage and screen.

    Bailey follows Gandolfini’s rise, from bit parts to character roles he enlivened with menace and vulnerability, to Tony Soprano, the breakout role that would make him a legend, and onto a post-Sopranos career in which he continued to challenge himself and his audience. The result is the definitive biography on the man behind Tony Soprano and the actor beyond that one role.

    Jason Bailey is a film critic and historian and the author of six books, including Fun City Cinema: New York City and the Movies That Made It, Pulp Fiction: The Complete Story of Quentin Tarantino’s Masterpiece, and his latest, Jim and Tony: The Life and Art of James Gandolfini, out in April 2025 from ABRAMS Press. A graduate of NYU’s Cultural Reporting and Criticism program, his essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, Vulture, Rolling Stone, The Playlist, Slate, TIME, and more. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the Critics Choice Association, the editor-in-chief of Crooked Marquee, and co-host of the podcasts “Guide for the Film Fanatic,” ”A Very Good Year” and “Fun City Cinema.”

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    17 mins
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