Peter Orner’s latest novel is The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter. On its face, the novel is an exploration into the murder of a young actress in 1963, a few days after JFK’s death. That’s Karyn Kupcinet, the gossip columnist’s daughter of the title. The narrator is a contemporary novelist, whose grandfather was close friends with the gossip columnist Irv Kupcinet. The narrator, Jed, goes on to investigate Karyn’s unsolved murder. But the other threads running through the novel become equally if not more important: Why did the friendship between Jed’s grandparents and the Kupcinets break up abruptly after the murder? What led to his uncle’s death? His parents’ divorce? And Jed’s own breakup with his partner? It’s an innovative and captivating novel.
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