Elaine's Literary Salon

Meet our guest: Be the change you wish to see is the mantra for author and HR exec Andrea Walton, MBA, Founder & CEO, The Concrete Rose Scholarship Foundation, Alexandria, VA & Cape Town, South Africa

Who she is: Andrea Walton is a seasoned HR executive, published author, and purpose-driven philanthropist committed to building pathways to education for Black and Brown girls around the world. As Founder and CEO of The Concre...

Meet the Author: Judy Murray is a real estate broker with a not-so-secret passion for deals, divas, and danger. Her passion for mysteries began with smart girls like Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden, grew deeper with not-to-be-ignored women like Miss Marple and Nora Charles, and finally evolved into her own gutsy heroine – Helen Morrisey.

Meet the Author: Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the noir poet laureate in the Huffington Post, Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirty-one novels—including the Nick Ryan seriesand six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series—short stories, poetry, and essays. In addition to his acclaimed series characters, Moe Prager and Gus Murphy, he has written the stand-alone novel Gun Chu...

Meet the Author: Mark Thielman writes primarily crime fiction and serves as a magistrate judge in Ft Worth, Texas. His debut novel, The Devil’s Kitchen, was released in April 2025. His second novel, The Hidden River, is scheduled for October 2025. Both books are part of the Johnson and Nance series, published by Severn River Publishing.

Meet the Author: Mike Slavin loves to write exciting and fast stories. It’s a new passion since he sold his oil and gas exploration company in 2024. A West Pointer and self-made millionaire, Mike has written seven award-winning business books, including One Million in the Bank: How To Make $1,000,000 With Your Own Business, Even If You Have No Money Or Experience. His fiction titles include Life Changing Money, Spike, Wrong Kill, a...

Meet the Author: James Stejskal is an author, military historian, and conflict archaeologist. To gain inspiration and research his writings, he spent 35 years serving with the US Army Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency in interesting places like Africa, Europe, the Balkans, the Near and Far East. He is the author of the “Snake Eater Chronicles,” a Cold War military & espionage thriller series as well...

About the Book: Sins of the Saviors Book 1: Escape from the Culling Box

About The Mapmaker: Resistance operative Charlotte Denneau has critical targeting information for the Allies, and the Gestapo knows it. On the run across occupied France, she must prioritize her mission over the lives of the agents and civilians she needs to help her escape. Germans are taking down Resistance networks with disastrous results. Agents are being arrested, tortured, questioned, and turned. Charlotte never knows whom to...

June 26, 2025 — It was a special treat today at Elaine’s Literary Salon, where host of the show Jeffrey James Higgins launched his new book, The Havana Syndrome. This is Volume 1 in a 4-part (maybe more) series by the bestselling thriller novelist. “I wanted to write a story about what happens when devotion and duty collide, giving my protagonist — FBI Agent Nathan Burke — a heart-pounding challenge to uncover a global ...

This week at Elaine’s Literary Salon we meet Sarah DeBlock, author of the 2025 memoire, The Year of Sarah.

This week at Elaine’s Literary Salon, we meet critically acclaimed bestselling author John Gilstrap and learn about his newest novel, Burned Bridges.

This week at Elaine’s Literary Salon we meet the author of Courage to Thrive: Finding Joy and Hope in the Midst of Mental Health Struggles, Rev. Dr. Robert D. Flanagan, also known as Father Bob.

“In this dark, twisted tale of sex, drugs, and murder, in the book, Tom compellingly exposes the intrigue behind every locked door, our secret desires and fears, the what-ifs, and the meandering paths we take to find the truth,” explains I.S. Berry, an Edgar Award-winning author of The Peacock and the Sparrow, of Tom Milani’s new novel, “The Places that are Gone.”

This week at Elaine’s Literary Salon we meet Glenn Cook, an Alexandria, VA-based writer and photojournalist whose work has appeared in national magazines and in newspapers across the U.S. He talks today with our show host Jefferey James Higgins about his book, Keep Your Distance: Walking Through the First Year of COVID.

Welcome to Elaine’s Literary Salon: Today we meet the award winning author of historical young adult fiction, Christine Kessides, who wrote her debut novel set in the WWI era about German immigrants in Pittsburgh  — MAGDA, STANDING (published by Bold Story Press in June 2023). And now, under the name Christine Kessides, she has released her first children’s book, A TAIL TALE (published by Atmosphere Press on January 7, 2025).

May 2025: In “Street Whys,” the newest novel by award-winning noir author Christopher Chambers, we again meet Washington, DC’s notorious detective, former street denizen Dickie Cornish, who faces off with bloodthirsty cops and the justice department. Underground detective Dickie Cornish faces a vindictive murder rap from his past if he doesn’t agree to help prove that the fentanyl ravaging the streets of DC is bankrolle...

Today at Elaine’s Literary Salon, meet Dr. Mark Bailey, who writes about the intersection between artificial intelligence, complexity, and national security. He is an Associate Professor at the National Intelligence University, where he is the Department Chair for Cyber Intelligence and Data Science, as well as the Director of the Data Science Intelligence Center.

March 15, 2025 — Today at Elaine’s Literary Salon in Alexandria, VA meet author Bill Rapp, who began his professional life as an academic, teaching European History at Iowa State University. A graduate of Notre Dame (B.A.), The University of Toronto (M.A.) and Vanderbilt (Ph. D.), Bill has always been particularly intrigued by German history, but the last 35 years working for the U. S. Government has broadened his perspective...

When does the killing of political leaders become morally justifiable? Killing the Hitlers, Stalins and Pol Pots of the world is easy to justify. Murderous tyrants need to be killed. But what if our leaders are merely idiots, or perhaps corrupt, petty tyrants who aren’t in the same league as Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot? How much damage can we allow them to do, how many of our rights can we allow them to take away, before killing them...