Rosalie Knecht discusses her new novel Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery with Amy Stewart!

Rosalie Knecht is the author of Who Is Vera Kelly? and Relief Map. She is the translator of César Aira’s The Seamstress and the Wind (New Directions) and a Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow. She resides in New York City.

Amy Stewart is the New York Times best-selling author of the Kopp Sisters series, which are based on the true story of one of America’s first female deputy sheriffs and her two rambunctious sisters. The books are in development with Elizabeth Banks’ production company, Brownstone, for a television series. Her popular nonfiction titles include The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Plants, and Flower Confidential. While they have not been adapted for television, there are a few bars around the world named after The Drunken Botanist, which is even better. Her books have sold over a million copies worldwide and have been translated into 17 languages. She lives in Portland with her husband Scott Brown, a rare book dealer who can usually be found at his shop, Downtown Brown Books.

When ex-CIA agent Vera Kelly loses her job and her girlfriend in a single day, she reluctantly goes into business as a private detective. Heartbroken and cash-strapped, she takes a case that dredges up dark memories and attracts dangerous characters from across the Cold War landscape. Before it’s over, she’ll chase a lost child through foster care and follow a trail of Dominican exiles to the Caribbean. Forever looking over her shoulder, she nearly misses what’s right in front of her: her own desire for home, connection, and a new romance at the local bar.

In this exciting second installment of the Vera Kelly series, Rosalie Knecht challenges and deepens the Vera we love: a woman of sparkling wit, deep moral fiber, and martini-dry humor who knows how to follow a case even as she struggles to follow her heart.

The “splendid genre-pushing” (People) Vera Kelly series returns in full force as our recently out-of-the-spy-game heroine travels from Brooklyn to a sprawling countryside estate in the Caribbean in her first case as a private investigator.

“Snappy, gritty, and engaging.”—them.

“Knecht’s stylish mystery is impossible to put down and just begging for a third instalment.”—BookPage

“Readers will be thrilled by Vera Kelly’s return. A worthy and welcome continuation of a subversive series.”—Kirkus

“Knecht’s writing is evocative and spare, stylish and brooding, making this mystery series compulsively readable and offering a refreshing spin on atmospheric noir with a compelling queer historical frame.”—Booklist

“Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery is an intricate mystery featuring love, corruption, and a charming and capable heroine.”—Foreword Review, starred review

“Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery reintroduces us to Vera, one of the most compelling and complex characters in modern fiction . . . will keep you guessing until the very end.”—Lauren Wilkinson, author of American Spy

“Forget about 007. This heroine has her own brand of spycraft.”—The Washington Post, on Who Is Vera Kelly?

“A splendid genre-pushing thriller. . . . A fractured coming-out in the repressive ’50s primed Vera for a life of deception—but in Knecht’s expert hands she’s smart and complicated, yearning for connection in a tumultuous world.”— People, on Who Is Vera Kelly?

“Rosalie Knecht has resurrected the detective novel for the 21st century. . . . I tore through this book. More Vera Kelly, please.”—Idra Novey, author of Those Who Knew

Skylit: Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht, with Amy Stewart