Best-selling author/book critic to appear at Fairfield University Bookstore | Press Releases

Image: Help for the Haunted John Searles, author of the best-selling novels Boy Still Missing and Strange But True , will sign and read from his latest work, Help for the Haunted , at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 18 at Fairfield University Bookstore, 1499 Post Road, Fairfield. The event, which is free and open to the public, is part of The Inspired Writer, the distinguished author series of Fairfield University's MFA in Creative Writing Program and is co-sponsored by the Fairfield University Bookstore.

Editor-at-large of Cosmopolitan , Searles is a regular book critic for NBC's Today Show and CBS' The Early Show . He has written for The New York Times , Washington Post , and The Daily Beast , among other publications.

Help for the Haunted is the story of a couple with an unusual occupation - helping "haunted souls" find peace. Lured to a church on the outskirts of town, they disappear, leaving their daughter Sylvie to put together the pieces of this mystery and discover deep family secrets and a harrowing tragedy.

Critics have compared Searles' writing to both the vivid eeriness of Stephen King and the quirky tenderness of John Irving. Publisher's Weekly praised Strange But True for its unusual plot and memorable characters, cautioning readers that "its gravitational pull - readers should expect to stay up late for this one - testifies to the solidity of its bedrock impressions, cast by an author with extraordinary powers of observation."

For more information on this event, contact Elizabeth Hastings, ehastings@fairfield.edu or (203) 254-4000, ext. 2688.