Coming this fall …
Aug,. 4, 2024
ADVANCE PRAISE for Deadly Secrets
My newest book will come out this fall. It’s the third in the Annie Price, investigative reporter, series.
The Bottom Line: Crackling with immediacy and suspense, Deadly Secrets is an unforgettable political thriller about murder, corruption and personal freedom in the divided states of America.
Welcome to Westcarolina, the newest American state. Encompassing a conservative region of what was once western North Carolina, the new government is sponsored and backed by Kingston Avery, the state’s minister-governor. The move follows a pattern happening elsewhere. Secessionists in Texas are planning more violence enroute to becoming a true nation, and similar movements are also underway in Alaska and California.
As Deadly Secrets opens, a radicalized anti-abortion activist and his wife are about to become domestic terrorists. Specifically, they bomb a local chemical plant that makes a key ingredient of the abortion pill. The act appears to have the full backing of God’s Gift leadership, of which they are insiders.
Enter 42-year-old Pulitzer-prize winning report Annie Price. After accepting a new job offer, she travels to Westcarolina to cover the new state. Little does she know that one of Avery’s top officials, Rob Ryland, is responsible for murdering her best friend back in Texas.
Annie quickly sets about interviewing residents, community leaders and politicians. Among her findings are that God’s Gift has significant business investments, including residential real estate, retail shopping centers, as well as budding media and marijuana empires. She also learns that competing churches are being forced to pay taxes for the privilege of operating in Westcarolina. But as Annie continues to dig into what appears to be an unconstitutional theocracy in the making, a series of troubling “accidents” begin to claim the lives of Avery’s rivals–and even some of his allies.
Author Nancy Stancill devotes much of the narrative to Annie’s point of view, but also offers significant glimpses into Avery’s inner circle. Given how much access we have to Avery and Rob’s insidious plans, readers often know about major plot twists long before Annie does. Nevertheless, Stancill’s approach begins paying off when certain extremists realize that even they are horrified at what lines may be crossed if the new state’s current trajectory goes unchecked. As the book reaches its conclusion and inevitable power struggles emerge, Stancill proves that no character is truly safe.
As a veteran reporter, Annie’s resilience is expected. But Stancill has also done wonders with Annie’s backstory. Her complicated personal life–she…can’t choose between two lovers—is all the more fascinating in the context of Westcarolina, where the ability to make personal choices appears to be disappearing fast. The book can be read as pure entertainment but given how closely the book parallels real political divisions, it’s equally effective as a warning.
– BestThrillers.com
Book sales at Queens Expo
Feb. 2, 2024
Nancy sold copies of all three of her books Friday at the Senior Scholars at Queens Expo. Susan Gronquist, right, bought “Saving Texas” and “Winning Texas,” the first two books in the Annie Price, Investigative Reporter, trilogy. The third book is coming out later this year
Excerpts from recent posts on ‘Tall’
To read the entire article, click on the headline above the excerpt.
Carolina Alumni Review publishes note about ‘Tall’
The May-June 2021 edition of the Carolina Alumni Review – the one with Roy Williams on the cover – included this item on “Tall” in its Books section.Landis Wade podcast about ‘Tall’
May 7, 2021 The conversation below with Charlotte podcaster Landis Wade at charlottereaderspodcast.com was recorded in February and released today. I read from “Tall” and we talked about the book. Landis describes “Tall” as “an authentically written and compulsively readable memoir of Nancy’s life from gangly teen to investigative reporter.” The podcast ...Happy (Bookers) Hour
Feb. 20, 2021 Nancy talked about “Tall” during a Zoom meeting of the Happy Bookers book club. The Feb. 18 meeting included a lengthy Q&A session.Why I wrote a memoir before another novel
Feb. 7, 2021 I’ve written two novels about Annie Price, investigative reporter, and intend to write a third – someday. Readers ask me: Why take the time and energy to write a memoir when you could be working on that next piece of fiction? The simplest answer, as Socrates said, is “The ...‘I really wanted to leave a legacy’
Jan. 5, 2021 Suffolk (Va.) News-Herald writer Rachel Wartian wrote about “Tall” and the stories Nancy Stancill tells about her parents, who were longtime residents of Suffolk. The online article is here. A picture of the article published in the newspaper Jan. 6 is below.Daily Tar Heel reports on memoir by one of the newspaper’s alumnae
Jan. 3, 2021 Lily Chubb at the Daily Tar Heel at UNC Chapel Hill published an article about DTH alumna Nancy Stancill’s memoir, Tall. Read the news article online here. A PDF of the article is here. – – – By Lily Chubb January 3, 2021 | 7:46pm EST headline: “UNC alumna Nancy Stancill writes memoir ...
Excerpts from posts on ‘Saving Texas’
To read the entire article, click on the headline above the excerpt.
With The Opiners, about Saving Texas
April 10, 2019 Nancy talked about her first novel, Saving Texas, with Opining Women, a long-standing book club in Charlotte. The club encourages all of its members to express opinions about ...Beyond ‘It was a dark and stormy night….’
Sept. 27, 2017 I really enjoyed talking about Saving Texas and Winning Texas to gracious and literate members of the Carolina Women’s Club at TPC Piper Glen. I found it interesting that ...Q&A with Saving Texas author in Daily Tar Heel
Oct. 7, 2014 Sindhu Chidambaram publishes a Q&A with the author of Saving Texas in The Daily Tar Heel here. Cached here.Josh Whitener reviews Saving Texas for Charlotte Weekly
Sept. 5, 2014 Josh Whitener reviewed Saving Texas for The Charlotte Weekly here. Cached here.Linda C. Brinson reviews Saving Texas for Greensboro News & Record
Aug. 19, 2014 Linda C. Brinson writes a review and conducts an interview with the author of Saving Texas for the Greensboro News & Record. Cached here.
Excerpts from my blog posts
To read the entire article, click on the headline above the excerpt.
What’s next for Annie
Sept.8, 2024 #bookandcatReflecting on the memoir form
July 6, 2023 First published July 5 at Cully Perlman’s NovelMasterClass.com’s blog under the headline “GUEST POST: Writing Memoir: Nancy Stancill’s TALL: Love and Journalism in a Six-foot World.” After writing two ...The Last Day
March 19, 2021 I wrote this poem about my mother-in-law Jaye, who died two weeks ago. The Last Day Hungry. Stop for a chicken sandwich. Arrive at the nursing home by 1:15 p.m. In Jaye’s room, an attendant tells us gently: She ...Building a legacy
Jan. 28, 2021 I walked into the Charlotte Observer building for the first time in the spring of 1993. An editor had asked me to apply for an investigative reporting job ...The world’s best job
Oct. 7, 2017 I never chose my job. Journalism found me. My father was successively the editor and publisher of two small Virginia newspapers owned by a chain. The first was located ...
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