Former News Record editor’s new novel hits shelves

GILLETTE (WNE) — Former News Record editor Ron Franscell’s latest novel will be available for sale next week.
 
“Deaf Row,” a crime mystery and psychological thriller forged from the early, isolated dates of the COVID-19 pandemic, will be released Feb. 14.
The novel, published by Colorado’s WildBlue Press, follows a retired big-city homicide detective, Woodrow “Mountain” Bell, who finds himself in a small Colorado mountain town and wrapped up in an unsolved child murder.
 
“He’s drawn into the macabre mystery when he realizes the killer might still be near,” according to a WildBlue Press release. “Without help from ambivalent local cops, Bell must overcome the obstacles of time, age, a lack of police resources, and his own personal flaws by calling upon the unique skills of the end-of-the-road codgers he meets for coffee every morning — a club of old guys who call themselves Deaf Row. Soon, this motley crew finds itself on a collision course with a serial butcher.”
 
Beyond its suspenseful crime tale, the novel also tells the story of pain and regret — of men pushing back against time and death to avoid their own disappearances.
 
Franscell was the editor and publisher of the News Record from 1989 through 2000 and currently resides in Placitas, New Mexico. He has authored 19 books, including international true-crime stories “The Darkest night” and “Shadow Man: An Elusive Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling.”
 
His debut novel, “Angel Fire,” was a USA Today bestselling literary novel and was listed by the San Francisco Chronicle among the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century West.
 
This story was published on Feb. 11, 2023.