Physics, Pirates, and a Haunted Inn: Conversations with AJ Alanson

In this engaging episode of the Connecticut Book Festivals Podcast, Jed Doherty welcomes AJ Alanson, author of the Admiral Inn mystery and adventure series, to celebrate book ten, Wolf in the Cove. AJ introduces us to June Faust, a former Treasury Department “super accountant” who buys a derelict mansion on the coast of Maine through a government auction—sight unseen. The locals wish the place had been burned to the ground, but June spends a decade fixing it up, turning it into the Admiral Inn, and slowly (and awkwardly) mending fences with the small-town community. Each book in the planned 12-book series covers a month in June’s most transformative year, blending episodic mysteries with a long, emotional arc that includes community secrets, her husband’s unsolved murder, and a complicated, late-in-life relationship with an old friend and former director. AJ shares how the series grew out of her real life: leaving a career in experimental dark matter physics, running an “Airbnb on steroids” that hosted around 800 guests a year, and keeping notes on all the stories that walked through her door. She talks about being a meticulous plotter, why you don’t “pants” a 12-book series, and how her time working a mile underground in physics labs and mines keeps sneaking into her fiction. Jed and AJ also discuss reader-favorite side character Helene, the research behind the books, plans for audiobooks recorded in AJ’s own home studio, and a new cozy project featuring an 84-year-old sleuth—narrated by AJ’s 84-year-old mom.