Goodreads asked John Copenhaver:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

John Copenhaver Many years ago, I took a class in graduate school called “Photography and Modernity.” It was a literature course about how photography, particularly the mass reproduction of images, changed modern life and literature. We spent a lot of time discussing the power of the photographic image to communicate and miscommunicate. At some point, I wondered what it would be like to tell a story that pivoted around an evocative crime scene image that served as the primary evidence for a murder that couldn’t be verified. With photography, the enticement is always to focus on what the photograph confirms, not what is just beyond its frame. Also, I was fascinated with the way photos gather meaning when provide context. In other words, it’s not just the photo, but the story that’s told about the photo that has power. The question is: Is that story the truth?

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