We have a special treat for you today, which just happens to be the 100th episode of Jonesy. Our guest is Elizabeth Heider, author of the new mystery novel Children of the Savage City from Penguin Books. The new book is the second in a series, featuring Nikki Serafino, who works as a liaison between the police in Naples Italy and the US Navy, and her friend, Valerio Alfieri, a police officer in the Naples anti-corruption unit. I read the first entry in the series, May the Wolf Die, after it was named a New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2024,and a Washington Post Best Mystery of 2024, and loved it! I contacted Elizabeth, who lives and works in The Netherlands, and pretty much begged for an interview. She very kindly accepted, and our conversation aired on Jonesy in March 2025.
Elizabeth and I kept in contact and her publisher sent an advance copy of the new book. Which I loved even more. Happy to say she’s back to talk about Children of the Savage City, Nikki, Valerio, plans for the series, and of course Naples, where she lived for several years, deployed as a civilian analyst aboard U.S. and European naval ships. Later followed by work for Microsoft’s AI4Science Research Program and the European Space Agency’s Human Spaceflight Program. She’s now a full-time writer, living in The Netherlands, but comes to us today from her home state of Utah, the start of her national book tour.
Author photo courtesy of Maaike Eijkman