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Robin Bond Writes, LLC
May 1, 2024, 09:00 ET
Asheville-based writer-producer Robin Bond signs publishing deal for her Appalachian true-crime book chronicling the 1885 Joyce Family murders in Western North Carolina.
Canton, North Carolina, May 1, 2024 — Local writer and TV news producer Robin Bond announced today she has signed a contract for publication of her book, The Silencing of Morgan Cove: Solving the 1885 Joyce Family Murders, by a Charleston, S.C.-based publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the U.S.. Publisher details available shortly.
A newcomer to the true-crime genre, Bond has typically written memoir in the form of short essays, features and op-eds, while balancing full-time work as a TV producer and content writer. “This book feels a little like memoir to me, as it’s a story I stumbled across when we (Bond and husband Ron Patrick) first moved from Denver to Morgan Cove, North Carolina, during Covid. A neighbor mentioned after we’d lived there some months that several of his ancestors were murdered on the land adjacent from where we lived. He said the century-old murder had never been solved, but that most locals had an idea of who the killers were.”
From there, Bond says, she couldn’t look away. Despite the demands of working full-time and helping care for sick family members, Bond says she started doing preliminary research out of sheer curiosity. From there, she discovered a trail of mistruths, assumptions, and rumors that were hiding truths even more alarming than the initial story itself.
The 50,000-page book will be for sale in stores and online in Spring 2025, and includes interviews with family members, as well as public records, trial transcripts, and newspaper reports that often “didn’t add up,” Bond says. The story includes 75 images, including historical photographs, maps, and newspaper headlines — plus photos of present-day Morgan Cove.
“This act of violence was not something that just happened 136 years ago when women were treated like property and law reinforcement was in its nascency. Many of the circumstances that led to this tragedy are happening right now, under our noses. I want people to know we’ve still got a long way to go to protect our most vulnerable citizens.”
Robin Bond is a writer, an Emmy-winning producer and director, and a serial entrepreneur. She spent the better part of two decades running her Emmy Award-winning media production company, Robin Bond Media, where she and her team of filmmakers told visual stories designed to move hearts and minds. Robin’s biggest thrills have been writing on-camera scripts for documentarian Ken Burns and directing screen actress Juliette Lewis in her documentary, “Derby, Baby!,” about the international women’s roller derby scene.
Robin’s writing can be found in the New York Daily News, Industry Dive, women’s lifestyle magazines, and hundreds of corporate websites, as well as on her personal blog, SAVE AS DRAFT. Robin has two grown daughters and lives in Asheville with her husband Ron and Goldendoodle Stella, where she produces the 5:30 p.m. news on ABC’s local affiliate, WLOS. The Silencing of Morgan Cove will be available in paperback initially, followed shortly by audiobook.
Bond continues to work full-time at her job producing local TV news, and is working on her next book, a braided memoir-biography about two women separated by a century who learn about love and loss while chasing their creative dreams from the “holler” of the Great Smoky Mountains.
