Words, Writers & West Seattle’ presents a talk by local author Claudia Rowe on her book, “The Spider and the Fly: a Reporter, a Serial Killer and the Meaning of Murder” at Barnes & Noble bookstore.

West Seattle author and Seattle Times’ staff writer, Claudia Rowe shares her work of literary true crime in a combination of memoir and psychological suspense. The Spider and the Fly focuses on Rowe as a young journalist navigating her unusual connection with a convicted serial killer and exploring the community from which he emerged, including the reasons that the disappearances of his female victims went ignored for so long

“The Spider and the Fly” encompasses Rowe’s search to understand cruelty and the compromises inherent to journalism.   A print journalist for more than two decades, Rowe looks at the correspondence she initiated as a much younger reporter with a multiple murderer and the ways relationships forever change our lives.

This free book-talk will be the 43rd installment of Words, Writers & West Seattle, the ‘First Friday’ series of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society. It will take place at 5 p.m. Friday, June 2nd, 2017, at Barnes & Noble/ Westwood Village.

A New York City native, Claudia discovered she was happier living in the country after attending college in Vermont. The story at the heart of The Spider and the Fly landed in her lap while she was living in New York’s Hudson Valley region. She had been stringing for The New York Times, covering everything from cult-esque religious settlements to new restaurants, when she learned about women who’d been “missing” — some of them for two years. The winner of numerous national journalism awards, Rowe lives in West Seattle and currently covers education for The Seattle Times.

“Words, Writers & West Seattle’s” next First Friday book-talk is scheduled for July 7th and will feature Sonja and Jeff Anderson and their book, Mount Rainier’s Historic Inns and Lodges (May, 2017). For videos on these and other authors’ presentations, visit: www.loghousemuseum. Additional information on future presentations can be obtained by contacting Dora-Faye Hendricks, Chair, Words, Writers & West Seattle by phone at 206-290-8315 or by e-mail at Dora-Faye@comcast.net.