The English department and MFA program will host WVU Press authors Tom Bredehoft and Natalie Sypolt for a reading and book signing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, in E. Moore Hall Lounge.
Bredehoft, a former WVU faculty member, will be reading from his new book, “Foote: A Mystery Novel,” released on August 1, 2022. Big Jim Foote is a private investigator in Morgantown, West Virginia. Big Jim is also a bigfoot. To protect his identity and his community, he must solve the murders of two women. Set in a vividly depicted Morgantown, it includes mentions of the PRT, the university's crime scene houses, the rail trail, downtown restaurants (under pseudonyms), and area events like the ramp festival. Along the way, Big Jim encounters traditional Appalachian mountain and folk culture and also the impact of the opioid epidemic on his own kin.
“A tale about humanity wrapped in the garment of an excellent hard-boiled thriller. Part mystery, part fable but all original, Jim Foote is sure to be one of your favorite literary detectives—cryptid or otherwise.”
—Jordan Farmer, author of “The Poison Flood” and “The Pallbearer”
Sypolt is a WVU MFA alum. Her collection of stories, “The Sound of Holding Your Breath,” was published in 2018.
“Sypolt writes with sober love and unselfconscious respect from the insides of people and a place too many writers touch only from the outside. An impressive debut.”
—Ann Pancake, author of “Strange As This Weather Has Been”