Reading · The Lauren Letter

Pub-day feels a bit like a birthday—your friends and family come out to celebrate you and if you’re lucky, they might even bring vegan cupcakes (wink, wink)! It also feels like a “birth”day for your characters—it’s the day these fully formed creatures with all their unique peculiarities and habits make their way into the world.

In The Professor, we find Marlitt Kaplan, the newly retired homicide detective, who’s searching for purpose after leaving the police force and still carrying the scars from her last case.

We also get to know Verena Sobek, a colleague of Marlitt’s mother, who made a brief cameo appearance in The Resemblance (at Thanksgiving dinner—something many of us will be enjoying next week!).

We also learn about Ethan Haddock, a promising student, who dies under suspicious circumstances.

And meet his roommates: Sadie Parris, a goth kid who grew up in the country, and Spencer Duplass, a neat freak, who enjoys cooking elaborate dinners.

And we’re introduced to a number of other characters and may see a few familiar faces from The Resemblance, too.

TODAY, November 14^th at 7 p.m. If you’re in the Atlanta-area, please come out and see me at The Georgia Center for the Book TONIGHT with books sold by A Cappella Books. Located in the Decatur library, the event will be downstairs. You can park in the lower level of the parking deck and enter through the double glass doors. More information here.

Wednesday, November 15^th at 6:30 p.m. Texas friends—I’ll see you in Houston! Please join me in conversation with the incredible Ashley Winstead (author of Midnight is the Darkest Hour) at Murder by the Book at 6:30 p.m. And please spread the word if you have friends in Houston! Ashley and I will be talking strong female characters, dark academia, southern settings, and all things mysteries and thrillers. More information here.

Thursday, November 16^th at 6 p.m. Richmond friends—I’m coming to you! Please join me at Fountain Bookstore on Cary Street at 6 p.m. More information here.

Saturday, November 18^th at 1 p.m. Georgia friends who can’t make it to Tuesday’s event or love me so much, you want to see me twice :) —I’ll be in Woodstock on Saturday at FoxTale Book Shoppe. More information here.

Tuesday, November 28^th at 6:30 p.m. Nashville friends—I can’t wait to celebrate with you! Last year, Nashville wasn’t on the tour rotation, so I’m extra excited about this event. I’ll be at The Bookshop in East Nashville in conversation with thriller writer R. J. Jacobs (author of This is How We End Things), an event co-sponsored by my friends at The Porch, where I also teach writing classes. More information here.

Thursday, November 30^th at 7 p.m. ET (5 p.m. MT) For those of you who can’t attend the in-person events, you can tune in for the virtual event hosted by The Poisoned Pen. The bookstore is located in Scottsdale, Arizona, but we’ll be meeting virtually at 7 p.m ET. They also have signed copies of The Professor available for purchase through their website. More information here.

*All times are local unless noted.

You can also order online on Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Target, Amazon, or your local bookstore.

If you want to hear more about The Professor, the craft of writing, the power of storytelling, and everything in between, you can hear me in conversation with Farouk Ramzan on Notes from Nash. If you’re curious about my personal inspirations for The Professor, the challenges of writing a standalone sequel, and the joy of writing complicated women, you can hear me on Pop Fiction Women with Kate Schumacher and Carinn Jade later this week.

I’d love to see photos of you with The Professor! If you share on Instagram, please tag me @laurennossett.

Photo inspiration: