Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Keller to Skype at Orland Park Public Library book discussion on May 22

Author and Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Keller will Skype with the Orland Park Public Library’s “Make It a Mystery” book discussion group on Thursday, May 22 at 7 p.m. in the library’s meeting room.

With the assistance of the Internet, a large screen, and audio, Keller will discuss her most recent novel “Bitter River.”  She won the Barry Award in 2013 for Best First Mystery with “Killing in the Hills,” the first installment in her Bell Elkins’ series that started in 2012.

The group will have the opportunity to ask Keller questions through Skype about her career, the novel, its characters, and how she developed the plot line.

Keller begins “Bitter River” with a pregnant teenager found murdered at the bottom of a river. Bell Elkins, the county prosecutor in a small West Virginia mountain town, navigates the twists and turns of her own relationships while searching for the killer and putting her own life on the line. 

Her newest book has received many favorable reviews, especially from other authors.

“In ‘Bitter River,’ Pulitzer Prize-winner Julia Keller once again weaves a compelling, haunting mystery against the stark beauty and extreme poverty of a small West Virginia mountain town.” ­—Good Reads

“Julia Keller is a beautiful writer and ‘Bitter River’ has an elegiac force to it that is powerful and gripping. Bell Elkins is one of the most fully realized characters in fiction today. I just turned the last page on this one and I want more.”—MICHAEL CONNELLY

"A gripping, beautifully-crafted murder mystery…Great reading.” —SCOTT TUROW

Keller, who served as cultural critic for the Chicago Tribune until 2012, won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2005. Born and raised in West Virginia, Keller graduated from Marshall University, and earned her doctorate in English Literature from Ohio State University.

All are welcome to join the discussion. Copies of “Bitter River” are available for check out at the adult reference desk on the second floor. In addition, all attendees on May 22 will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of “Bitter River.”  Keller’s third book in the series, “Summer of the Dead,” will be published in August.

Registration is not required for this free Skype book discussion. For more information, call the library at 708-428-5151 or visit www.orlandparklibrary.org  The Orland Park Public Library is located at 14921 Ravinia Avenue in Orland Park.