Author Description

New Edition for 2025 Featured on CBS News "48 Hours" - finalist for national Emmy® award Top Prize New England Society Book Awards for nonfiction The true crime story of The Station Nightclub Fire that killed 100 concertgoers. A gripping moment by moment account seen through the eyes of the people and community devastated by the tragedy and its aftermath. With exclusive interviews and new information, James explores whether the public was misled by officials about key evidence in the case, and if justice was really served. “Reads more like a novel than a historical account. Making certain a fire like this can’t happen again is perhaps the greatest legacy of the tragedy. Everything about this book is ideal.” -Top Prize, Contemporary Nonfiction, New England Society of New York Book Awards "Gripping, meticulously researched...essential reading for true crime fans." - Starred Review - Publishers Weekly “Scott James’ investigative journalism reads like an Agatha Christie whodunit.” - Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Storozynski, author of The Peasant Prince and Spies In My Blood “Masterwork.” - Julia Flynn Siler, New York Times bestselling author of The House of Mondavi and The White Devil’s Daughters Scott James “does for Rhode Island what Truman Capote did for Kansas." - Raj Patel, New York Times bestselling author of The Value of Nothing “Trial by Fire is an incredible work of investigative writing and storytelling that thankfully never loses sight of the people at the heart of this awful tragedy. This is a story of community, of those that existed prior to the horrific events at The Station Nightclub and those that were born out of it. James brings the proper amount of compassion, skepticism and nuance to construct a narrative that is as engaging as it is, at times, alarming.” -Academy Award winning filmmaker Daniel Lindsay for Undefeated (Best Documentary)