Real, Raw, and Funny
The Red Widow centers around a journalist whose addictions and secrets turn an already collapsing marriage into a transcontinental snare of murder and intelligence leaks. Why was the world of a struggling newspaper the right setting for this story?
Because it was an environment I knew and loved. I spent 37 years in the newspaper business. I know that world inside and out. The business was dying, and I wanted to chronicle that decline in a creative way.
The story moves through murder, cover-ups, intelligence leaks, and criminal networks. How did you approach managing such a wide-ranging plot?
I just made it up as I went along. No formula involved. If the chapter worked, I kept it. If not, into the digital trash bin it went.
Which scene or character moment was the most enjoyable to write?
The scene in the newspaper where the editors had a huge fight over the validity of the Red Widow’s story. I loved writing that chapter. It was real, raw, and funny in its own way.
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The narrative takes place over 15 years, starting in the days just prior to 9/11/01. On center stage at the start is an unhappy reporting couple stationed in Sydney, Australia for the mythical New York Herald. The duo-Angela and Rafer Flanagan-is known to their editors in New York City as the ‘Tandem Couple From Hell.’ Their loathing for each other (and occasional lust) knows few limits. Her correspondent career is ascendant, his is on the rocks after winning a Pulitzer Prize early in his foreign reporting career. His drug of choice is alcohol, hers is cocaine.
The Flanagans are in New York area on home leave when the terrorists strike the World Trade Center. Rafer is supposed to be in an interview at the top of the north tower when the first plane hits at 8:46 on that nightmarish morning. He isn’t there–and that’s how the mystery begins.
The narrative bounces from America to Australia and back again-from steamy Washington D.C. to even steamier Darwin at the very top of the Aussie west coast. The chase is on for the Red Widow (Angela). In hot pursuit are reporters, editors, mobsters, gang members, local cops, federal cops and a takeover tycoon poised to pounce on the carcass of the Herald.
The climax plays out near Darwin where the fearsome salt-water crocodiles rule the waterways and mudflats.
Entertaining. Educational. Authentic. The Red Widow is all three.
Posted on July 17, 2026, in Interviews and tagged author, book, book recommendations, book review, book reviews, bookblogger, books, books to read, bookshelf, ebook, fiction, goodreads, indie author, kindle, kobo, literature, Literature & Fiction, mystery, nook, novel, read, reader, reading, story, suspense, Suspense Thrillers, T. Castle Furlong, The Red Widow, The Red Widow: A story of journalism teachery betrayal and murder, writer, writing. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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