About:

Brian Striefel 

Brian carried his technical writing experience into fiction over 20 years ago — soon discovering that chemistry and voice have little in common. Stephen King said “the only way to develop writer’s voice is to read a lot, and write a lot,” which Brian did, publishing his first novel Nineteen Forty-Five last year. It won an IPPY award. Six more completed novels will follow — lighthearted thrillers anchored in unique / overlooked corners of U.S. culture — a Louisiana traiteur, a devious KKK leader, a Chinese goldfield worker, Native American heroes. Each story arrives in two timeframes, often muddling the border between genre and literary fiction.

Why Mary Forgot

Award-winning author Brian Striefel serves up a delicious crime thriller through the eyes of rookie-detective Hanna (2005) and Miss North Dakota (1927.) When Sister Mary Murphy confesses several long-ago murders that involve a saucy pageant winner, some Sioux Indians, and a chef named Pierre — Detective Hanna suspects dementia and hurries to disprove the little nun. Another dead-end case could doom Hanna’s career, but nothing is as it seems in 1927. This novel features a cold case mystery and a budding romance, appropriately seasoned with humor, crappy apartment life, and a very active puppy.

Pope Benedict desperately needs a hero. He discovers that opportunity through Sister Mary Murphy’s 100th birthday. Her celebration will include the church’s highest missionary honor: the Lumen Christi. Her audience will include a hundred dignitaries and every single resident of Fort Yates, North Dakota, the rural community that she served for almost eighty years. If Hanna can’t convince Sister Mary Murphy of her innocence, the elderly nun will also admit to murder.

Stir together Evanovich’s One for the Money and Atwood’s The Blind Assassin to find this novel’s feel. It’s loosely written into actual events — alternate historical fiction from the time of Prohibition.

Moderator Bill Thomas

Bill started at Prairie Public Radio in 1999 as the first manager for the new public radio network formed with NDSU and UND. He came to North Dakota from working in Lincoln at Nebraska's Public Radio Network. Before that, he started small community stations, managed national program distribution, has been a program director, a station manager and a network manager in Champaign-Urbana, Los Angeles; Washington, DC; and St. Louis.

HND Value Statement

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this {article, book, exhibition, film, program, database, report, Web resource}, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Humanities North Dakota.

However, in an increasingly polarized world, we at Humanities North Dakota believe that being open-minded is necessary to thinking critically and rationally.

Therefore, our programs and classes reflect our own open-mindedness in the inquiry, seeking, and acquiring of scholars to speak at our events and teach classes for our Public University.

To that end, we encourage our participants to join us in stepping outside our comfort zones and considering other perspectives and ideas by being open-minded while attending HND events featuring scholars who hold a variety of opinions, some being opposite of our own held beliefs.