Bestselling novelist Chris Bohjalian drew on his Bronxville childhood to build the fictional Westchester suburb at the center of his 26th novel, "The Amateur," published Aug. 4 by Doubleday.

The book follows 18-year-old golf prodigy Mira Winston, who accidentally kills a caddy named Kenny Foster when a practice shot tears through a torn net at a country club in the fictional town of Tallmadge.

Publishers Weekly called it "a powerful domestic thriller" that moves from a Westchester country club to a county courtroom. Bohjalian has called it his first courtroom drama since "Midwives," according to BookBrowse.

Bohjalian, who now lives in Weybridge, Vermont, told Mary Calvi on the CBS New York podcast "Club Calvi" on Aug. 20 that both main characters carry pieces of his own Bronxville youth.

He described Kenny Foster as autobiographically inspired: "He suddenly goes from Miami, Florida, to Bronxville, New York and he doesn't understand in 1978 why no one wants to see his polyester leisure suits …"

Bohjalian also told Calvi he worked as a caddy for three summers as a teenager. That experience fed the novel's setting.

He wrote the book in 90 days during the summer of 2024, keeping it secret from his wife, his editor and his agent. The premise, he said, seemed too wild for an elevator pitch: an 18-year-old girl kills a classmate with a golf ball.

The novel is narrated by an older Mira Winston, a novelist looking back at the summer of 1978 in the fictional suburb of Tallmadge, described in the book as "a mere thirty-five minutes by commuter train from Grand Central."

Bohjalian told People magazine the writing process felt unlike anything before: "This novel was alchemic. Never has a book been this much fun for me to write."

The New York Times Book Review named "The Amateur" one of "The Novels Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2026." The Times also listed it among the best thrillers of summer 2026, according to a VTDigger profile published July 29.

Bohjalian's work has been translated into more than 35 languages, and four of his novels have been adapted for the screen, including "The Flight Attendant," the Emmy-nominated HBO Max series.

The hardcover runs 336 pages at $30. No Bronxville-area book signing has been announced, but Bohjalian is on a national tour that launched in Vermont earlier this summer.