The author of "The Lost City of Z" delves into tales of murder, madness, and obsession.By Up to Date
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Whether he's reporting on the infiltration of the murderous Aryan Brotherhood into the U.S. prison system, tracking down a chameleon con artist in Europe, or riding in a cyclone- tossed skiff with a scientist hunting the elusive giant squid, New Yorker writer David Grann revels in telling stories that explore the nature of obsession - true-life mysteries.
Steve Kraske talks with Grann about his new collection of stories titled The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, in which Grann reveals stories about a hidden and often dangerous world.
Grann tells us about an arson investigator trying to prove that a man about to be executed is innocent, a story about the world's foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes who is found dead in mysterious circumstances; and sandhogs racing to complete the brutally dangerous job of building New York City's water tunnels before the old system collapses.
Additional Information:
David Grann has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2003. He has written about everything from New York City's antiquated water tunnels to the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, from the hunt for the giant squid to the mysterious death of the world's greatest Sherlock Holmes expert. Grann's stories have appeared in several anthologies, and he has written for the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic, where he is also a contributing editor. His first book, "The Lost City of Z," was a #1 New York Times bestseller and has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the book was chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, Bloomberg, Publishers Weekly, and the Christian Science Monitor. The book is currently being developed into a movie by Brad Pitt's Plan B production company.
David Grann lives in New York with his wife Kyra and their two children.