Guest Post

Guest Chick: Christina Estes

Today the Chicks are pleased to welcome debut author Christina Estes, winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in The Southwest. Off the Air, which was published on March 26, is the first in a series featuring Jolene Garcia, a TV reporter investigating the suspicious death of a controversial radio talk show host. Christina is giving away a copy of Off the Air to one lucky commentator.

Real life or fiction?

I’m a reporter in Phoenix writing about a reporter in Phoenix. That’s what I thought I was doing until a month before my publication date when it hit me: Off the Air is also about my personal redemption.

Christina’s Emmy award for a different story

In the book, my main character, Jolene (yes, she’s named after Dolly Parton’s song) loses an Emmy to a story about bubble wrap day at a ballpark.

In real life, my Emmy-nominated story about a blowfish going to the dentist—yes, a fish going to the dentist so its teeth could be drilled apart in order to eat and live—lost to a story about bubble wrap. Clearly, I was robbed!

Fast forward nearly twenty years and, while preparing for my book launch, I thought, ‘Let me be a better person.’ I dug through my office and found the program for the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter Awards. Three names were listed as nominees for soft feature news story, but I only cared about one.

Tracking down the Emmy winner—I’ll call him D–wasn’t as easy as I expected. D, who left TV news many years ago for a career in the U.S. Navy, wasn’t active on the most popular social media platforms. D’s LinkedIn profile listed no email, so I sent a message. And heard nothing. Tried again. Nada.

No way was I going to let D, who had already robbed me of an Emmy, also rob me of redemption. I went in full stalker mode and found a mutual connection who agreed to pass along my message. It worked! I called D and asked if he remembered his Emmy award-winning experience.

“Oh yeah,” D said. “The bubble wrap story.”

“At the time, I was not a gracious loser,” I explained. “And apparently, it stuck with me because your win and my loss made it into my book.”

My main character is named Jolene after Dolly Parton’s song

I offered D a sincere, yet belated, congratulations and offered to send a copy of Off the Air if he liked mysteries. He said he’d love to read it and I happily shipped a copy—double wrapped in bubble wrap.

Readers: I also lost in the regional spelling bee in 6th grade but can’t recall the word that sent me packing. Any other spelling bee contestants who remember losing or winning words?

I’d like to giveaway a signed hardcover of OFF THE AIR. U.S. addresses only. To be eligible, comment below.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona, splitting her time between covering general assignments―anything from a monsoon storm to a newborn giraffe at the zoo―and special projects. Stories that take more time to research and produce. Stories that Jolene wants to tell.
When word gets out about a death at a radio station, Jolene and other journalists swarm the scene, intent on reporting the facts first. The body is soon identified as Larry Lemmon, a controversial talk show host, who died under suspicious circumstances. Jolene conducted his final interview, giving her and her station an advantage. But not for long.
As the story heats up, so does the competition. Jolene is determined to solve this murder. It’s an investigation that could make or break her career―if it doesn’t break her first.

About the Author

Emmy award-winning reporter Christina Estes has spent more than 20 years covering crime, public policy, and business for TV and radio stations in Phoenix. Her reporting has appeared on NPR and CBS. Christina’s debut, Off the Air, won the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest.

LINKS:

Book:  https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250863850/offtheair

https://www.christinaestes.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ChristinaEstesAuthor/

@reporterestes on Instagram, X/Twitter, Threads

46 thoughts on “Guest Chick: Christina Estes”

  3. Thank you, Grant! Off the Air also includes real Phoenix businesses that have special meaning to me.

    I appreciate you reading the blog and taking time comment.

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  4. Thanks for being here, Christina! Hurrah for your book!

    Gotta love that pic of your Emmy, and I appreciate your story of belated congrats. And I remember losing in a spelling bee in elementary school and how upset I was! Sadly, my older daughter kept up the family losing streak, but she did recently get picked from the audience to be a volunteer speller in the musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

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    1. Jennifer, thank you!

      Do you remember the word that tripped you up? Or your daughter’s word? I don’t remember mine but I had a super kind school principal who got me ice cream after losing.

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        1. That’s one of the great joys of being an adult – you can have ice cream any day – you don’t have to lose a spelling bee 🙂

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  5. Congratulations on the new release and the Tony Hillerman award! A redemption story always feels good, and I love that you double-wrapped D’s gift in bubble wrap. 🙂

    In third grade I lost a spelling bee with the word “sincerely.” I left out that second e and I’ve never spelled it wrong since.

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  6. Christine, what a great story! A blowfish going to the dentist? A hundred percent you should have one.

    I don’t remember losing a contest in school. But I do remember my wonderful 10th grade English teacher rewarding me with a Pez dispenser for spelling a word right. Ms. Ingersoll was very dry and reserved. But when I told her I was having trouble reading Death of a Salesman because my father had just lost his job, she didn’t miss a beat and said, “Then read All My Sons.”

    I’ll never forget that. No discussion. She simply let me read a different play from the rest of the class to help me out.

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    1. Aw, Ms. Ingersoll! What a wonderful memory.

      Ellen, do you remember what word you spelled correctly to get the Pez?

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  7. Christine, Welcome to Chicks, and congrats on both Off the Air and the Hillerman! The book sounds wonderful. I lost a 3rd grade spelling bee on the word “bureau,” sigh. I saw it correctly in my brain, I think (doubt I’d ever uttered the word, but I’d seen it written), but I have no idea how I spelled it, lol.

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    1. Lisa, thanks for reading and sharing.

      I can’t imagine many 3rd graders have used the word ‘bureau’. Maybe in the early 1900’s? 🙂

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      1. Funny, I think I knew the word from that old TV show “THE FBI” (watched it with my dad): Federal Bureau of Investigation, intoned very seriously.

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  8. Congrats on your debut! I’m impressed with the lengths you went through to make things right. Although, clearly a fish dentist is the best story. (No need to enter me in the giveaway.)

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  9. Christina, congrats on the new book and the Hillerman! I lost the county-wide spelling bee in 6th grade on the word candidate. I was so nervous I’d forget the first “d” that I left out the second d! I felt like such an idiot — and they listed all the bee participants in the Memphis Commercial Appeal along with the word they sat down on.🤓
    Thanks for hanging out today with the Chicks!

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    1. Vickie, thanks for reading and sharing your spelling bee story. You are going to see your losing word A LOT over the next 90 days! 🙂

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  10. Christine,

    so gotta read this book!
    congrats on everything you’ve accomplished. Even swallowing your pride, which I refuse to do, no matter what! 😝

    this sounds kind of spooky.
    The top 3 are you, the bottom 3 are me. Is this how 6 degrees of separation works?
    or maybe it’s an alternate fiction reality? Or is it an alternate real reality?

    YOU

    published

    a book about a tv personality investigating the death of a controversial radio personality

    Dolly Parton song reference

    Dolly Parton movie reference

    radio personality whose producer considers her style controversial

    trying to get published

    ME

    that is just too funny! 😂

    Hestia

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    1. Hestia, thank you for reading and sharing. Congratulations on your writing. Your story sounds intriguing! Is your Dolly movie 9 to 5?

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      1. Christine,

        Wrong guess on the movie. A little known movie from 1992 she starred in, called Straight Talk. She was a radio advice personality by accident (mistaken identity). her personality in that movie was the starting idea for this first book, like 15 years later. She definitely made an impression on me.

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  12. I would never get past the first round of a spelling bee, as I’m a lousy speller–always have been (it’s those schwas that get me). Thank goodness for spellcheck!

    Congrats on the new book and Tony Hillerman award–so fab! And thanks so much for visiting the Chicks today, Christine!

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    1. Leslie! You may not remember but we sat next to each other on the plane from – Malice Domestic, I think? Do you remember sitting next to the goofy girl in the middle who was trying to write and freaked out because she hit the wrong key in her document and couldn’t figure it out. Luckily, a Microsoft employee was on my other side and fixed it. 🙂

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          1. Oh, wait, now I know it wasn’t you, Leslie. I remember you though from either Left Coast or Domestic as being the super bubbly, outgoing and fun panelist. That’s why you clicked in my mind. I don’t think we have met one-on one but your personality left an impression. 🙂

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    1. But you can spell your last name – that’s harder than cupboard…and more important 🙂 Thank you for reading and commenting, Bob!

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  15. I participated in a spelling bee when I was a child, and I remember misspelling island. I knew how to spell it but started off saying “il” instead of “is”. I caught my mistake right away and tried to correct myself, but I was eliminated immediately even though I said it correctly after my initial stumble. I was so upset that I made a mistake on a word I considered easy.

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    1. Oh, Cherie, I absolutely felt it as I read your note. To know it, try to correct and be eliminated is a big ouch. Thank you for reading and sharing.

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  16. Oh, Cherie, I felt it as I read your note. To know the word, catch yourself and be eliminated is a big ouch. Thank you for sharing.

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  18. Oh, I feel you, and I totally appreciate that you sent the book double wrapped in bubble wrap – too good! I also went out in the state spelling bee and only remember that when I got the definition for the word, it was “an alcoholic drink made with rye” – I figured at age 9 or 10 it was ok that I didn’t know.

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      1. No – I kind of wish it was…that I would have at least heard of…this was some strange drink that started with S…I can’t find it when I google, though.

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