Book Talk: Patricia Raybon
Click here to listen to the episode with Patricia Raybon
In this episode of Book Talk with Cara, host Cara Putman sits down with Christie Award–winning author and former journalist Patricia Raybon! Patricia drops in to talk about her thrilling new World War II historical mystery, The Sedalia Code.
Patricia shares her shift from news reporting to feature writing—moving “from writing about facts to writing about feelings”—and how her parents’ wartime romance inspired her latest book. She dives into the shocking history of German and Italian POW camps in North Carolina, why female math teachers were the secret codebreakers of WWII, and how a physical trip to North Carolina transformed her manuscript. She and Cara also discuss navigating the complex, painful realities of Jim Crow in fiction and the power of communal singing to lift the spirit through grief.
Plus, stay tuned for our signature Lightning Round, where Patricia breaks down her favorite murder mysteries, her favorite three-word book description, and her upcoming leap onto TikTok!
- From News Desk to Novels: Patricia shares her career at The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, and how writing human interest features prepared her for fiction.
- Uncovering Colorado’s Klan History: The real-life history behind her 1920s Annalee Spain mystery series.
- The “What-If” Behind The Sedalia Code: Merging her parents’ WWII romance with female math codebreakers, Nazi U-boats, and US-based POW camps.
- Hidden WWII History on American Soil: Exploring Camp Butner in North Carolina, which housed 35,000 troops alongside thousands of German and Italian POWs.
- The Power of Site Visits: Why flying to North Carolina to walk the grounds made Patricia rewrite the opening chapters of her book.
- Writing Jim Crow with Purpose: Framing historical racism as a story complication while creating a heroine who refuses to be stopped by it.
- #1 Advice for Aspiring Authors: “Don’t go it alone”—why attending annual conferences and finding your writing community is essential.
- Book Club Debate Question: Is The Sedalia Code a suspense-romance or a romance-suspense?
Want to watch this interview? You can see this episode as well as multiple others on YouTube! Enjoy!
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