Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. Ken Javarowski is a crime writer.

He's also an editor at the New York Times. And in today's interview, talking about his new book,

What About the Bodies? He spills a bit of an industry secret. The best reporters aren't necessarily

the best writers.

He talks to MPR's Aisha Roscoe about editing his own writing the way he would for his day job.

It's one of the most honest assessments I've heard an author give of their own skills because he says he's actually not sure whether or not he's a good writer,

but he knows for a fact that he's a good editor.

That's ahead.

This message comes from heavyweight.

Maybe you've laid awake and imagined how it could have been, how it might be,

but the moment to act was never right.

Well, the moment is here, and the podcast making it happen is heavyweight with

Jonathan Goldstein, available wherever you get podcasts. A new crime novel has a surprisingly

tender side despite its menacing title. What About the Bodies? It's set in a town where the

glory days have packed up and gone,

Luxburg, Pennsylvania. The steel plants closed, the mines too. And the folks who remain,

quote, always seem to talk about leaving. Three characters converge there. They have little in common, except they all could use a change of luck. And that's where we

begin with author Ken Javarowski. Welcome to the program. Thank you so much for having me, Aisha.

Give us a quick sketch of the three protagonists in this book. There's Carla, Liz, and Reed.

And obviously, without giving anything away, they are each facing some

challenges, to put it mildly. Yes, they are. They're facing challenges in the town they're in,

as you described, is facing a lot of challenges too. Carla is a single mother. She's been a waitress

...