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i'm excited to be interviewing caroline mernick today caroline is author of The Hot One, a memoir of friendship, sex, and murder. An editor of New York Magazine, she has contributed to several anthologies and delivered a TEDx talk called How Crime Shows Undermine Your Emposy. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. So welcome, Carolyn, to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Thanks so much for coming.

Thank you for having me. So nice to meet you in person. So your book was so good, as I was just telling you. I, like, gobbled it down on an airplane and couldn't wait to talk to you about it. I'm so sorry for your loss. Your book was about, well, why don't you tell listeners a little bit about what the book was about, and then I can sure

go from there

my book

is called

the hot one

and it's

the story about. Well, why don't you tell listeners a little bit about what the book was about, and then I can go from there.

My book is called The Hot One, and it's the story of my search for answers around my childhood

best friend's murder, and she was killed in L.A. in 2001 when she was 22, and I was 21, and,

you know, the story and what happened to her really haunted me throughout my 20s.

And then in 2008, I learned that there was a man arrested who was connected to her murder

as well as three other victims, and he was going to be put to trial in L.A.

And so that began my reporting process.

And I decided I wanted to write a book that chronicled the unfolding court

case for her alleged killer but also really got at the power of childhood friendships and how

...