Join First Light Books for a pub day celebration with our neighbor Mary Pauline Lowry, whose new novel opens with a single mom waking up to a raging hangover, no memory of the night before, and a dead body in the trunk of her car.

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A reception with the author will take place from 6:00 to 6:30 PM, followed by the conversation at 6:30 PM and a signing to close the evening. Tickets include a copy of the book and a reserved seat. Unreserved seats are available on a first come, first served basis. Free RSVPs are also encouraged.​

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“I have never had so much fun watching a fictional character try to figure out if she killed someone or not. Wild, outrageous, silly, smart, Tilly is a heroine for the ages and Mary Lowry writes like no one else. A damn delight.”
—Rufi Thorpe, author of Margo's Got Money Troubles

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Last Night Was Killer is a murder mystery wrapped in a comedy wrapped in a pole-dancing class. If you like your thrillers funny, your heroines messy, and your Tuesday nights unpredictable, this is your event.

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About the book

Meet Tilly Turner. She's a heartbroken single mom, back in the hometown she thought she'd escaped forever. She hoped pole dancing class would cheer her up, but after a wild night out with her fellow pole newbies, she wakes up with a killer hangover and a dead man in her trunk. She can't remember how he got there, but suspects she might have had something to do with it.

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Who was the dead man? And more importantly, who killed him? Tilly has no alibi and needs answers. But investigating a murder is complicated, especially with an old frenemy circling, childcare plans falling through, and pole-dancing classes to attend.

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Balancing both heart and hilarity, and with a witty take on the struggles of modern motherhood, Last Night Was Killer is a charming introduction to the most unlikely, and most likable, of sleuths.

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Steven Rowley, author of The Guncle, said it plainly: "On any list of writers that make me laugh, Mary Pauline Lowry is near the top."

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About the author

Mary Pauline Lowry is the author of the novels Last Night Was Killer, The Roxy Letters, and Wildfire. She has an MA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Texas and an MFA in Creative Writing from Boise State University. Her work has appeared in O Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Millions, and other publications. She also writes Make It Funny, a Substack about comedic books and pop culture.

Mary lives in Hyde Park, a block and a half from First Light, where she is one of our most loyal and beloved regulars.

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About the conversation partner

Maurice Chammah is a journalist and the host of a new podcast series, The Last 12 Weeks, from Serial Productions, The New York Times, and The Marshall Project, where he is a staff writer covering the criminal justice system. He's the author of Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, and a forthcoming family history memoir called Arab/Jew.

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