Interview with Robert Brighton, Author of The Buffalo Butcher

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write The Buffalo Butcher?

I was disgusted by the ‘hero worshipful’ tone of all too many Jack the Ripper books and wanted to write one from the victims’ point of view: how five exploited women band together to catch a killer—and reclaim their humanity.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of The Buffalo Butcher, what would they be?

Helen Crosby: Angel of the Morning; George Grand: Death on Two Legs (Queen)

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

Social history (nonfiction). I write “immersive historical fiction” and hope to recreate the world of the past, so I find that understanding historical attitudes and social behavior is essential to writing authentic historical fiction.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Homer’s Iliad (Lattimore); Paideia (Jaeger); The Great Guano Rush (Skaggs).

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

On the Midway.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

All my notes and ideas are first written with pencil in a notebook; I only use the laptop when I can write a scene down as I see and hear it in my mind’s eye.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

“Leap, and the net will appear” (John Burroughs)

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

That friendship, love, and dignity can be found in the most unlikely places.

Robert Brighton is the author of the new book The Buffalo Butcher: Jack the Ripper in the Electric City

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