My wife Leslie’s new book, Dear Miss Bryant, is a true-crime account about the unsolved murder of her remarkable great aunt Julia Bryant in 1967, seamlessly fused to a family memoir in the vein of John Sedgwick’s In My Blood and George Howe Colt’s The Big House. I am biased, of course; still, I think it’s an exceptional tale written with style.

Below, I surrender my spousal role and assume the persona of an interviewer.

Phil: When did you hear about your great aunt’s murder and how did you react?

Leslie: I heard about my Great-Aunt Julia’s murder shortly after it happened, when I was 13, but at that age, I didn’t really know (and probably wasn’t told) the horrific nature of the killing.

P: Nearly 50 years later, you decided to look into the crime and, possibly, to write a book about it. Why?

L: Not many families have a relative who was murdered and whose murder remained unsolved for 50 years. The idea of looking into it had percolated in my mind for a long time, and when I retired I finally had the time to act.

Julia Bryant shelling peas at the family’s summer house. She was a free spirit, wearing braids and a headband long before hippies came on the scene.

P: Much of Dear Miss Bryant is family history. How does that fit in with what happened to her?

L: I wanted to show that this unusual woman came from an unusual family. And themes about the whole family emerged as I thought about Julia and her murder. I had an awful lot of ancestors whose good deeds were “rewarded” with punishment or even death.

P: Her accused killer was acquitted. Did you start with the hope of finding the murderer?

L: I did. I guess I’d seen lots of crime shows in which ancient DNA was used to find a killer. Now, I realize that’s pretty tough.

P: What surprised you most during your lengthy investigation?

L: Three things: that evidence in a murder case can simply be thrown out even if the case isn’t solved; that people in Durham, Connecticut, were still remembering Julia 50 years after her death; and that my last-ditch, offhand attempt to contact a new police commissioner led to a release of 350 pages of records I’d been told for years didn’t exist.

P: What were the greatest difficulties you encountered in your investigation and in writing the book?

L: A huge difficulty was getting an answer as to why evidence from a murder trial could be tossed. As it turns out, that happens in lots of cases, sometimes by mistake and sometimes intentionally. The writing itself was easier. 

In later years, Julia Bryant adopted a menagerie of animals, including dogs, goats, a duck, a kinkajou, and this raccoon.

P: You have a droll sense of humor that manifests itself in the book, particularly in the parts that deal with your family’s long, quirky history. Does this wit come naturally, or do you strive for it when writing?

L: I love wordplay and tried hard to make each page of the book at least interesting. If I could crack myself up when writing about those odd family traits, I was pleased.

P: Now that the book is done, how do you feel? I’m often elated when I finish a book, but that’s quickly followed by a letdown and the question, “Now what the hell do I do?”

L: I have a lot of hobbies and am doing some volunteer work, editing stories about the environment. That helps. I’ve now produced two books that I really wanted to write, but I haven’t felt a great need to write others.

You can read an excerpt and find out more about DEAR MISS BRYANT at this page on my site or on Amazon.