Graham Moore, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter and author, appeared at The Poisoned Pen on Saturday, February 29, to sign his latest book, The Holdout. The book recounts the story of juror Maya Seale, convinced of a young black teacher’s innocence in the death of a white female student, who persuades the jury to find him innocent. Ten years later, the jurors reassemble to take part in a documentary series. Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her innocence when one of the jurors is found dead in Maya’s room.
Graham’s previous two novels, both considered historical fiction, are The Last Days of Night and The Sherlockian.
The Last Days of Night tells a tale of 1888 New York City and three historical figures…George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla. Told from the perspective of Paul Cravath, Westinghouse’s lawyer, the historical fiction novel examines the question of “who invented the light bulb and has the right to power the country.”
The Sherlockian returns readers to 1893 London and the reaction among Sherlock Holmes fans when Arthur Conan Doyle kills their hero off in a Strand magazine story. In 1901, Conan Doyle resurrects the Holmes character but never explains why he changed his mind about murdering Holmes. After Conan Doyle’s death, one of his journals is found to be missing, and the world’s leading scholar on Conan Doyle is found murdered, thus beginning the search for both the diary and the killer.