MURDER THEY WROTE
state that ’ s full of good , genuine people ; and I ’ ve learned so much through the years I ’ ve been here . I write mysteries , but I don ’ t write narcissistic , dark , and gloomy books . My writing is inspired by the sincere and honest people I ’ ve met in Vermont , who solve problems in a practical fashion . I try to create plots with resolutions that give comfort to my readers and characters that parallel the real world in relatable ways .”
Eric Rickstad
Native Vermonter Eric Rickstad was born in Burlington in 1967 and raised in the nearby town of Shelburne . Rickstad says that he first found himself gravitating toward the literary arts during his elementary school years , where he developed a fondness for storytelling . “ In fifth grade , I was part of a literary luncheon that was held by our librarian twice a week , where we discussed classics like The Great Brain and Encyclopedia Brown . When I read a good book as a young boy , I would walk away feeling like I had just experienced a magic trick . It fascinated me how books could make me feel such a wide range of emotions as their stories progressed . It made me want to learn how to string words together so that I could create the same feelings in people who read my stories . That love for writing continued to grow as I got older .”
After graduating from Champlain Valley Union High School in 1985 , Rickstad pursued an undergraduate degree at University of Vermont ( UVM ), where he majored in English . Following his graduation from UVM , he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts and Writing program at the University of Virginia ( UVA ), where he attended on full scholarship as a Henry Hoyns Fellow . While in Virginia , Rickstad found considerable inspiration through a series of repeated visits to the room where legendary author Edgar Allan Poe once lived on the UVA campus .
Over the course of the years that he spent at UVM and UVA , Rickstad wrote his bold and gritty first novel , Reap , which was published in 2000 . Rickstad ’ s debut novel received a positive review in the Sunday edition of The New York Times , which spoke of the unique way in which Rickstad presented Vermont and its culture . “ The reviewer noted that in my novel , there was ‘ nary a red barn in sight ,’” says Rickstad . “ It meant a lot to me that the reviewer understood that I was trying to paint a picture of a different side of Vermont .” Rickstad ’ s debut novel was also reviewed by the late Howard Frank Mosher in the Burlington Free Press , who happened to be one of Rickstad ’ s favorite Vermont authors .
“ Mosher has always been an inspiring figure in my literary journey . His collection of short stories , Where the Rivers Flow North , and his novel , A Stranger in the Kingdom , were very influential in my creative development .” After Mosher reviewed Rickstad ’ s book , Rickstad called him up to thank him . “ I was kind of nervous about it , to be honest ,” says Rickstad . “ Over the course of our conversation , I discovered that we were both avid trout fishermen . We became good friends , and he was one of the most generous writers that I ’ ve ever known . I would send him entire manuscripts , and he always gave me constructive feedback . He passed away several years ago , and it was a great loss for Vermont ’ s creative community , and for Vermont , period .” After Reap was published , Rickstad moved to Boston , where he taught a fiction writing class at Emerson College . Although Rickstad found considerable fulfillment in his teaching job , he decided to move back to Vermont to reconnect with his roots . After moving to Southern Vermont in 2002 , Rickstad and his wife rented several apartments in Manchester before eventually settling in Arlington in 2004 . Over the next several years , Rickstad worked closely with the Orvis team to create content for their multiple marketing platforms . Rickstad also got the chance to serve on the Orvis conservation board with Perk Perkins , Dave Perkins , and accomplished fly fisherman Tom Rosenbauer . “ The people on the board were committed to the conservation of fisheries around the world ,” notes Rickstad . “ But we also worked closely with state agencies here in Vermont to help restore the natural ecology of the Battenkill River . We also got to fly to Alaska to work on conservation projects for Pebble Mine and other areas , as well .”
During the years that Rickstad spent writing for Orvis , he continued to hone his craft as a fiction writer . “ I would write before I left for work in the morning and write again after I came home at night . It was tough for me to get published again , because although Reap was a critical success , it didn ’ t sell in the way that my original publisher wanted it to . I just kept writing , because that was what I was going to do , regardless .” Rickstad ’ s work paid off when the first novel in his Canaan Crime Series , The Silent Girls , was published in 2014 . The Silent Girls was both commercially and critically successful , and became a New York Times bestseller and USA Today bestseller . Rickstad followed up with two additional novels in the Canaan Crime Series in 2015 and 2017 : Lie in Wait and The Names of Dead Girls . The Canaan Crime novels create an atmosphere of dark and foreboding mystique , conjuring visions of stark and spectral rural scenes . “ I ’ ve always loved
46 VERMONT MAGAZINE