Sonoma author to read from new murder mystery

Jonah Raskin, the author of two murder mysteries set in Sonoma Valley, is back at the library. On Wednesday, May 29, he will discuss his new mystery, “Dark Day, Dark Night,” the second based in Sonoma.

His previous mystery novel, “Dark Land, Dark Mirror,” was published in 2017.

Raskin, 77, has written 14 books, including “A Terrible Beauty: The Wilderness of American Literature”; “Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War”; and “Field Days: A Year of Farming, Eating and Drinking Wine in California.”

From 1988 to 2012 he was the chair of the communication studies department at Sonoma State University, where he taught media law, reporting and media marketing. He is now a professor emeritus.

The author will also talk about the process of writing a sequel and bringing back to life characters from a previous book. He will also address the “guilty pleasure” feeling many readers of murder mysteries have.

“No one should feel guilty reading a detective story,” said Raskin. “I am reading a murder mystery now by Dorothy Hughes. She dedicates the book this way: ‘For my mother who will not read mysteries and for my brother who first introduced me to them.’ In almost every family there is someone like Hughes’s mother and someone like her brother.”

The reading will be held at the Sonoma Valley Regional Library from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The library is located at 755 W. Napa St.