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Crack open a book of heartrending short stories by a man incarcerated at Sing Sing or a thriller about a crime author with a dark secret.
Triggers
By Alexa Recio de Fitch
Crime fiction and fact interweave in this pulse-pounding novel by Alexa Recio de Fitch, a White Plains author originally hailing from Barranquilla, Colombia. “Triggers is about a man named Phillip Weatherly, who has secretly killed before and has a sealed juvenile record,” explains Recio de Fitch. “Phillip grows up to become a best-selling crime-fiction author. The NYPD then finds a body in an abandoned subway station, just like in Phillip’s book. A detective who put her serial-killer father in prison is called in to investigate. It’s her job to find out who was triggered to commit this murder and why.” What ensues is a page-turning race to clear Weatherly’s name. “The larger theme in Triggers is the quest for meaning in life and searching for it in the wrong places,” says the author.
Recio de Fitch is planning another novel, this one resurrecting a character for one of her prior books. “I am writing a psychological thriller that’s also historical fiction,” she says. “I’ve brought back my Icelandic American detective. This is her next case, and she’s working with a Colombian detective.”
Solstice Publishing (2020); 320 pages (pbk, Kindle, Amazon)
House of Brittle Bones
By Jamel Stevens
Ossining’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility is home to author Jamel Stevens, poet and writer of the recent short-story collection House of Brittle Bones. Having developed the ideas for his book in the mid-90s and completing the project while incarcerated, Stevens has crafted numerous haunting short stories with twists inspired by shows like The Twilight Zone. The stories also touch on heartbreaking realities for disadvantaged young people growing up the New York City region, ranging from drug addiction and homelessness to family instability and hunger. Stevens is currently working on a nonfiction book, Kites That Flew, which offers a peek into prison communications (“kites” are messages that inmates send between cells), and is currently finishing a third book, with an anti-gun message.
Cadmus Publishing (2021); 40 pages (pbk)
Related: Emmy Winner Donald Stevens Sings the Sound of Change in Westchester
