A Bookchat about Truth Be Told with Patricia Raybon

Patricia Raybon joins us for a chat about writing a story set in historical Denver, writing a Black American woman in the 1920s, and her latest release Truth Be Told. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!

About the Author

Christy Award-winner Patricia Raybon was reared near Denver, Colorado, under big sky, bright sunshine, and the humbling mystery of Christ. A newspaper journalist who turned to historical fiction, she authors devotional writing for Our Daily Bread and writes the Annalee Spain Mystery series set in Colorado’s dangerous 1920s Klan era.

We had you on the show in 2021 to promote book one in the Annalee Spain Mystery series All that is Secret and then again in 2023 when Double the Lies released. Today we will be chatting about book three in this fun, historical mystery series.

Questions:

As you were raised near Denver and now write stories set there, albeit the Denver of a hundred years ago, what would you say is your favorite thing about the city?
What is your favorite non-bookish activity?
You’ve written three books in the 1920s now, which is such a fascinating time period although it’s sometimes reduced to only flapper dresses and extravagance. What is something you find interesting about the 1920s that most people probably don’t know about?
Is there anything especially interesting that you haven’t covered in other interviews that you could share with us or perhaps there is something God has laid on your heart that you would like to share with your readers?

About the Book, Truth Be Told

It’s a lovely June night in 1924. Amateur detective Annalee Spain is mingling bravely at a high-class political fundraiser in the lush backyard garden of famed political fixer Cooper Coates, one of the wealthiest men in Denver’s Black neighborhood of Five Points.

But when Coates’s young daughter discovers a pretty stranger dead in her father’s garden shed, Annalee is thrust onto the baffling new case while already reeling from another recent discovery—a handwritten letter, found buried in her own garden, that reveals the identity of her mother.

Not ready to face the truth about her hidden past, Annalee throws herself into solving the mystery of the young woman’s demise. With the help of her pastor boyfriend Jack Blake, the orphaned boy Eddie, and her trustworthy church friends, Annalee follows the clues to three seemingly disconnected settings—a rundown traveling carnival set up downtown, an upscale Black women’s civic club, and a prestigious white seminary on the outskirts of Denver. Intriguing advice also comes from a famous, real-life Denver visitor. But is Annalee on the right track or just running in circles, fleeing from conflicts racing in her heart?

In a taut, heart-gripping narrative driven by secrets, romance, and lies, Annalee must unravel a case with higher stakes than she imagined—one where answers about a lovely woman’s death point to truths and tensions still throbbing today.

Questions:

I don’t know which is more intriguing – finding out the cause of this lady’s murder or uncovering the secrets in that letter! Way to pull us in!

This is your third Annalee Spain mystery. How do you keep the story creative while following the same central character for a third book?
Can you tell us who the real-life Denver visitor is? (If that’s a spoiler you don’t want to mention, you can tell us about how you approach adding a real-life person to a fictional narrative.)
Who was your favorite supporting character in this story?
What’s next for your writing?

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