Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Remember when a book showed up at the Fond du Lac Public Library from Australia over the Memorial Day weekend? It was a great story, but that story isn’t over.

The author of that book, J.A. Jance, will make an exclusive virtual visit to the Fond du Lac Public Library on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. During her visit, she will talk about her newly launched book “Blessing of the Lost Girls” (released Sept. 19, 2023), her writing process, a personal memoir and her journey as an author. Stick around after the event in the McLane Room to discuss your favorite J.A. Jance books and characters, and enjoy popcorn during the talk. Registration is appreciated but not required.

Can’t attend in person? Register at calendar.fdlpl.org on the calendar event marked “Watch from home via Zoom” to be sent a Zoom link one day ahead of the event.

Jance also will respond to questions submitted ahead of the event. To submit a question, click here. Jance will reply to these questions during her virtual visit Oct. 11.

She is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 60 works of contemporary mystery across the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and the Ali Reynolds series, as well as six interrelated thrillers about the Walker Family and one volume of poetry. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, she lives in the Seattle area with her husband, Bill, and their two dogs.

Jance’s virtual visit to the Fond du Lac Public Library was her idea. She learned about how a copy of her book “Paradise Lost” arrived at the library from Casino, New South Wales, Australia, when the Fond du Lac Public Library reached out to her to share with her the amazing journey of her book. 

She responded right away, writing “Thank you for letting me know about this. When I sit at my computer keyboard creating a story, I’m thinking about the characters and where they’re going and what’s going to happen to them, it doesn’t occur to me that those stories will go to readers all over the world …So thank you again for telling me about that well traveled copy of Paradise Lost.  Maybe at some point I could do an event for your library.”

This wasn’t a platitude; her publicist contacted the library later in the summer and set up the virtual visit. The visit will come at the end of her book tour for “Blessing of the Lost Girls.”

To prepare for the visit, copies of “Blessing of the Lost Girls” will be available at the Fond du Lac Public Library. Place a hold at fdlpl.org.