Philip Mudd worked for the CIA for 20 years and the FBI for five. His last position a the CIA was a deputy director of the Counter Terrorism Center, in 2005 then FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed him the deputy director of the newly-established National Security Branch. He left government service in 2010, started a consulting company, began speaking in the media on security issues, and has written three books, Takedown: Inside the Search for Al Qaeda, The HEAD Game: High-Efficiency Analytic Decision Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly, and today we will be talking about his latest, Black Site: The CIA in the Post-9/11 World, which is published by Liveright.

Linda Lloyd talks with Memphis author Erin A. Craig about her debut YA novel, House of Salt and Sorrows, which was inspired by The Brothers Grimm's "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and contains more than a couple of Edgar Allen Poe references, in a tale of a cursed family coming to grips with the tragedies that haunt them. 

Erin will be signing copies of House of Salt and Sorrow at Burke's Books, 936 Cooper Street, on Saturday, September 14 at 11:00 a.m. during the Cooper Young Festival.

Stephen Hunter is the Pulitzer Prize-winning former film critic for The Washington Post and has enjoyed a very successful career writing thrillers, both series and stand alones. He's best known for his Bob Lee Swagger series. He was last on the program to discuss the sixth entry into the series, I Sniper. In this episode, we'll be talking about book number eleven, Game of Snipers, which is published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.

It's my pleasure to not only welcome back frequent guest best-selling novelist Mark Greaney to the program today but also his co-author, the newly-retired Marine Lt. Colonel Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV, who goes by Rip. Rip served over 22 years in the Corps, having been deployed ten times to combat and peacekeeping missions. Together they have written Red Metal, a near-future military thriller in which their version of the Russian Government launches a series of attacks on western forces that they believe essential to maintaining and improving Mother Russia's strength and relevancy on the international stage. Red Metal is published by Berkley.

Margaret Renkl is a contributing op-ed writer for The New York Times. Her writing has also appeared in Guernica and The Oxford American, among others. Margaret was the founding editor of the literary website of HumanitiesTennessee, Chapter16.org. She has recently left the site to concentrate on her own writing. Today, we'll be talking about her debut book, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss which is published by Milkweed Editions.

Rea Frey has written several non-fiction titles about health and fitness, but Book Talk listeners may remember that we talked to her last year about her debut novel, Not Her Daughter, which has been optioned for production in Hollywood. Today we'll we'll be talking about her brand new thriller, Because You're Mine, which is published by St. Martin's Griffin.

Daniel Brook is a writer of non-fiction and his journalism has appeared in Harper's, The Nation, and The New York Times Magazine. His books are The Trap, A History of Future Cities, and his most recent one, The Accident of Color: A Story of Race in Reconstruction, which is published by W.W. Norton.

Chanelle Benz was first on Book Talk to discuss her first book, the short story collection, The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead, which won the 2018 Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Fiction and the Philosophical Society of Texas 2018 Book Award for fiction. In this episode, we'll be talking about her new novel, The Gone Dead, which is published by Ecco/Harper Collins.

Mary Miller teaches at the University of Mississippi and has published five books of fiction, including three short story collections, and the novel The Last Days of California. We'll be talking about her latest novel, Biloxi, which is published by Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton.

Deb Spera is known as Deborah Spera in the television industry where she has executive produced series like Criminal Minds, Reaper, and Army Wives. Today we'll be talking about her debut historical novel, Call Your Daughter Home, which is published by Park Row Books.

David Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post. His non-fiction books are always best-sellers which also receive critical acclaim like winning the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Today we'll be discussing his latest book, A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father.

Michael Knight teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee Knoville and has written seven books of fiction including, The Holiday Season and The Typist. Today we'll be talking about his latest novel, At Briarwood School for Girls which is published by The Atlantic Monthly Press.

Casey Cep is a writer of non-fiction whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The New Republic, among others. We'll be discussing her first book today, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, which is published Knopf.

Mary Kay Andrews has a phenomenal track record of publishing engaging best-selling novels. She and Linda Lloyd talk about her latest, Sunset Beach, the story of a young woman who inherits a broken down beach bungalow and becomes involved is a decades old mystery.

Eric Barnes is the publisher of several newspapers in Memphis, Tennessee, but we have him on the program to talk about his novels. His previous ones are Shimmer, Something Pretty Something Beautiful, and The City Where We Once Lived. Today we'll be talking about Above the Ether which is published by Arcade and distributed by Simon and Schuster.

Basil Hero is a former television reporter who decided to interview as many of the surviving Apollo astronauts to see if he could share how their views of life and the world were changed by going to the moon in his new book, The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon is available from grand Central Publishing.

Nathan Englander won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. In addition to fiction, Nathan writes for the stage, and has also won a Guggenheim Fellowship. Today we'll be talking about his fifth book of fiction, kaddish.com, which is published by Knopf.

Mary Laura Philpott is the founding editor of the in-house magazine for Parnassus Bookstore in Nashville, TN. She is also co-host of A Word on Words for Nashville Public Television, and first appeared on Book Talk for her collection of cartoons, Penguins with People Problems. Today we'll talk about her new book, a collection of essays entitled, I Miss You When I Blink, which is published by Atria Books.

Dr. Aram Goudsouzian is a professor of history at the University of Memphis. He has written biographies of Sidney Poitier and Bill Russell, as well as an in-depth look at the Civil Rights landmark Meredith March Against Fear. We have the second of our two part interview about his latest book, The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America, which is published by University of North Carolina Press. Today we'll be looking at the Democratic Party primaries and the path up to the general election.

Dr. Aram Goudsouzian is a professor of history at the University of Memphis. He has written biographies of Sidney Poitier and Bill Russell, as well as an in-depth look at the Civil Rights landmark Meredith March Against Fear. Today, we have the first of two part interview about his latest book, The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America, which is published by University of North Carolina Press.