Christopher Mele, former executive editor of the Pocono Record, has written his first novel, drawing on decades in journalism to craft a realistic mystery.
Now a deputy editor on the breaking news team at The New York Times, Mele began his career in the Adirondacks, and set "Goodwill's Secrets" in a fictional Adirondack village.
His main character is a newspaper reporter, Alex Provetto, who is covering the disappearance of a teenager from Goodwill, Raven.
He never expected to write fiction, especially a novel. But Mele had a short story idea during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as he thought more about developing the character and setting and back story, “it just sort of snowballed” into more than a short story.
With a background in news, he found that writing fiction “was truly a brain transplant.” But that fact-based background was still an influence as he invented people, places and events.
He aimed for what he calls a “fictional realism” – a story without shortcuts or hand waving or gaps in logic. He wanted the fictional disappearance and investigation to play out in a way that would ring true to a real-world investigator, lawyer, judge or reporter who read the novel.
Christopher Mele, former executive editor of the Pocono Record, has published his first novel, "Goodwill's Secrets."
Mele described the book as “a bit of a love letter to community reporting and community journalism,” showing through his reporter main character “the fundamental important work that community newspaper reporters and editors do day in and day out.”
As newsrooms shrink and news deserts grow, Mele “wanted to remind people that those smaller newsrooms, whether a daily or a weekly, in rural and suburban areas, that don’t necessarily get the attention and the love of bigger city metros, that those reporters and editors are doing important work.”
He also chose the less populous setting for the tension it brought to the story. A disappearance that might get “swallowed up” in a big city reverberates differently in the sparsely populated Adirondacks.
“It’s not a densely populated place. There is a sense of community. It can be very desolate. People look out for each other. It’s tight-knit,” Mele said. “So there’s a certain underlying tension, if you will, that could be built into the story by having something bad happen in a place where you would not expect it.”
He returned to the Adirondacks earlier this month for a writers festival, which provided an opportunity to reunite with old colleagues and community members and meet other local authors.
“I was a kid from the Bronx who went right from the Bronx to working in the Adirondacks, which was quite a culture shock. But that community really adopted me, I tell people,” he said.
Mele will be speaking to the Blue Fox Creative Writing Group at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Pike County Public Library in Milford.
Self-promotion has felt unusual to Mele, and there were plenty of battles with his inner critic through the two and a half years and four drafts it took to complete "Goodwill's Secrets.”
“But now because I’ve caught the bug, I’m actually starting to work on the second one, believe it or not,” he said.
The self-published book is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble and can be ordered by independent bookstores. Mele’s website is chrismeleauthor.com.
Kathryne Rubright is the managing editor of the Pocono Record and the Tri-County Independent. Reach her atkrubright@gannett.com.
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