Detached

by Alisa Burris

After a sudden fire almost burns down one of their units, neighbors Wanda Lindstrom, Charlotte Murray, and Marcy Seele are thrust into immediate turmoil. But the trauma only worsens when a brutal murder is discovered within the ashes. As details of the homicide unfold, white nationalism and the various relationships to this controversial victim intertwine, heightening the women's complicated reactions.

Wanda's hidden identity as a Jew and Marcy's decision to convert to Judaism cause an unstated terror to build as they each confront their underlying fears. Meanwhile, Charlotte's assumed ties to neo-Nazism and well-documented criminal background help make her a prime suspect, an automatic label she's powerless to overcome.

Told from the women's vastly different perspectives, Detached explores an emotional fusion of their guilt, apprehension, and anger. While they each lead very separate lives, Wanda, Charlotte, and Marcy find themselves attached to each other in complex ways over the course of an unpredictable murder investigation.

Audible Audio

Published May 3, 2024

About the author

Writing literary fiction about women’s lived experience and feminist scrutiny of true crime documentaries represent significant aspects of Alisa Burris’s life. After graduating with a B.A. in English, she applied her love of words to a career as a writer-producer-editor for nearly twenty years. During this time, Alisa won several professional honors, including two Promax North America Awards, considered a top prize in marketing, and a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award. Although she enjoyed generating promos, Alisa wanted to return to her roots and earned her M.A. in English. She specifically researched and wrote about forms of societal violence against women. For her Ph.D. in English, Alisa took this academic focus further and studied Jewish-American women authors’ complicated relationship to cultural alienation. Currently, Alisa continues to write literary fiction that explores marginalized women’s perspectives while also examining portrayals of true crime from a feminist stance. She lives with her husband Todd and their two Siamese cats Juniper and Sedona.