When writing her novel The Main Character, Jaclyn Goldis was inspired in part by her own father’s experience growing up as a Jew in the Soviet Union. But she was also inspired by Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. So she reimagined a whodunnit murder mystery aboard the same train.
In Goldis’s story, an eccentric mystery writer selects a woman named Rory to serve as the main character of her upcoming novel. The writer gifts the “main character” with a lavish trip throughout Italy. Things get strange when Rory unexpectedly encounters her closest family members and friends on the same train, and is faced unanswered questions that could lead to a deadly end.
I recently spoke with Jaclyn Goldis about her love of mysteries, how she plots her stories, and how she transitioned into writing after a career in economics and law. Here’s our conversation.
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The Main Character was published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books.
Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita and is part of the NPR Podcast Network.
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