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Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke with Hans Weyandt of 

For summer reading, bookseller Hans Weyandt said he often turns to true crime: "It's a guilty pleasure of mine."

And this summer, he recommends "American Fire."

One night in 2012, in a rural part of Virginia, an abandoned house went up in flames. 

Over the next five months, the area saw 86 different fires: An arsonist was at at work.

In "American Fire," journalist Monica Hesse writes about these fires, their impact and those responsible.

"The big kicker in this is that the people involved in the arson are not just men, which is a very rare thing," Weyandt said. "It's a couple — a man and a woman. They're not really posited so much as Bonnie and Clyde, as they are two people in a dying part of the country, in a dying relationship. [Hesse] does a fascinating look inside their lives and the place."

An interview with "American Fire" author, Monica Hesse

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Ask a bookseller

Tracy Mumford

Author

True crime is bookseller Hans Weyandt's guilty pleasure during the summer. 'American Fire' tells the story of a dying relationship, in a dying place.

True crime is bookseller Hans Weyandt's guilty pleasure during the summer: 'American Fire' tells the story of love and arson in rural Virginia.

Love and arson in rural Virginia

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