Exclusive Interview: Craig Davidson on Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview and Helping Andrew Pyper complete the series!
Back in 2021, Andrew Pyper unleashed Oracle upon us. It was a departure for Andrew, in that it was an Audible exclusive, audio-only release. Fans were thrilled to have a new Pyper ‘book,’ and Andrew delivered, introducing us to one of the best main characters he’s created in Nate Russo and the hauntingly perfect antagonist, known as The Boneman. While long-time Pyper fans flocked to this release, thousands of new readers/listeners discovered Andrew because of the narrator – one Joshua Jackson. I’ve written in the past about how well of a job Jackson did bringing this world to life, and when Oracle 2: The Dreamland Murders was announced and Jackson was back as Russo, fans were elated. Even more exciting was the news that Oracle 2 was a full production. 10 episodes with a cast performing the parts, a soundtrack, and an audio side performing/producing the accompanying noises, Oracle 2 fully brought the experience to life.
After that, there was some radio silence regarding whether we’d get Oracle 3. On my end, I frequently queried Andrew – Is it happening? Is Jackson on board? I’d usually bring it up every 2 or 3 months, to which Andrew would reply something along the lines of “I think so.”
In 2024, when I was in Ontario for DreadCon, on the drive out, I asked Andrew again about Oracle 3 – after we’d chatted about Exiles and the third Coile book (Andrew was very evasive about the third Coile book!) and he told me at that time that the manuscript was done and it was now just a matter of Joshua Jackson scheduling in the time to perform it.
As we sadly know, at the beginning of 2025, Andrew passed away following an 18-month battle with cancer. After Andrew passed, his good friend, Craig Davidson (also known as Nick Cutter in the horror world) contributed a very moving tribute about Andrew in the Globe and Mail. Within, Craig mentioned that he helped Andrew complete one of his books and initially, the chatter was that Craig had helped finish the third Coile book. But not long after, it became known that Craig had assisted Andrew in completing the Oracle 3 manuscript.
Now, on the eve of Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview, Craig was kind enough to answer some questions about the Audible release and what might come in the future.
Steve – Craig, first off, thanks for doing this. I’d spoken with Andrew back in 2023 and again in 2024 about Oracle 3 and he said it was at various stages of completion. In late 2024, at DreadCon, he’d told me it was finished and that it was waiting Joshua Jackson to record the narration aspect.
At what stage did you become involved?
Craig – I guess I was involved from the beginning, when Oracle 3 was pitched to Andrew. Back in 2023, I’ll say (I’m terrible with dates), Andrew and I met at a place we often did in Bloor West in Toronto – I’ve told this story partially, elsewhere, so I am repeating myself to a degree but … so I knew by then that Andrew had cancer, but this was the first time I’d met him since he’d told me. He looked, well, like a man who had cancer. Paler, thinner, but still Andrew.
We chatted about a lot of things, obliquely. His diagnosis, his plans, his … well, frankly, his lifespan as he was given to understand it. And at that time – and this could be as much a factor of his mindset in light of this terrible diagnosis as much as anything his physicians had told him – he was on a short clock. He never said how short, perhaps he had been given no indication of that from his doctors, but he seemed to view it as short and as such, he wanted to spend it wisely.
From a writing perspective, that meant (as I came to see it) the Mason Coile books, of which I believe he wrote 2 after his diagnosis, amazingly. And beyond that, I think he spent time writing meaningful work for his children, his wife, and others in his life. So, with those being his main focus, there was this Oracle series … and he told me during that lunch that Amazon had made an offer, a significant one, for the third book but he’d turned it down – he simply lacked the bandwidth.
So, after that lunch I was walking home and in a bad/scared/miserable state of mind, I guess unsurprisingly … Andrew and I had talked about a whole lot of things, but one mainstay was the nuts and bolts of writing for a living. Turning down a contract the size of which Amazon had been offered was unthinkable for the Andrew I knew … but that was the pre-cancer Andrew, and his priorities had vastly altered.
Anyways, walking home I got a notion and called my agent (also Andrew’s agent) Kirby and told him, basically: Listen, I’ll write that Oracle book for Andrew. If Amazon’s into that. Morbidly, I thought if Andrew was right about his short clock, well, his wife could use the money.
And Amazon agreed. Andrew and I agreed to do it. Andrew wrote an outline, I followed it as well as I could. I did my best. I had fun, in light of circumstances. Mainly, it gave Andrew and I another reason to hang out. I think, as one gets ill in such a way, the usual process is to retreat: into family, into the home, into a small set of routines. And ultimately Andrew did so, and we all understood, but until then Andrew and I would continue to meet for lunches and dinners and talk writing, and books, and his own work (he kept crushing it right until the end, the man was an absolute machine of happy industry) and, yes, Oracle.
So, if anything, the book gave us that. And I’m glad.
Steve – Was it daunting to jump into this world that Andrew had created? Nate Russo is a textbook Pyper lead – a bit world-weary, sardonic but ultimately has an internal hope that things will get better. You and Andrew previously wrote a novel together, but this is a bit of a different situation, coming in to help him complete this work. Was there any type of preparation that you did?
Craig – I think these Oracle books are the closest to Andrew’s own personality, as you state it in your question: sardonic, hilarious, world-weary, but ultimately and pervasively hopeful. So there’s a huge fear of screwing that up for readers who loved the first two books, but I suppose it’s the same I’d feel stepping into almost any writer’s shoes, or they into mine – in the end, because there was very little other option in the matter, and because Andrew gave his permission … and I think he probably found it kinda cool to have another writer, a buddy and co-writer, take a crack at his creation – and he was nothing but generous and thoughtful and supportive in his notes and emails about it … anyway, for all those reasons I just dove in. Other than reading/listening to the Nate Russo books, and another work Andrew directed my attention to, no, there was no other preparation.
Steve – Oracle was a singular book with a singular narrator. Oracle 2 was a full production release, with multiple episodes and a full cast performing the script. Now, with Oracle 3 returning to a singular book with a singular narrator, did anything change in the approach to this one? Andrew previously told me that he found the story far more straight forward for the 3rd than for the 2nd.
Craig – Yes, I think narratively it’s more straightforward? It’s a locked-room whodunnit of a certain stripe, though with the usual supernatural overtones. The Boneman causing havoc. Those wonderful, rich characters Andrew created, abetted by a cast of ne’er-do-wells or possible ne’er-do-wells in an old, abandoned hotel. Lots of shadowy hallways, empty rooms, and brooding ghosts.
Steve – What can we expect with Oracle 3? Or rather what can you share! Anticipation is high for the third entry in Nate Russo’s story and other than the synopsis, us fans haven’t been given much to go on. Was this based on a real incident and fictionalized?
Craig – I don’t think it was based on a real incident as far as I was given to understand, though it harkens to Andrew’s own childhood/teenage-hood and perhaps some work he once did, a summer job at a lodge? And it’s a story about a certain time of life, a time Andrew had come to and I as well, where we look back at our lives with a certain wistfulness for those paths traveled and not traveled and how those made us into the people we are. So, very human and relatable, as I think is a hallmark of Andrew’s work.
Steve – Lastly, and thank you again so much, Craig for taking the time to do this, is this the end of the Oracle series? Or has Andrew potentially shared any ideas for future Russo adventures with you with the possibility that you’ll continue the series? It was always interesting to discuss this series with Andrew. On the one hand, he said he didn’t like to get bogged down with a ‘series.’ Having to keep working on a single world over and over again when there were so many other places to explore. But he also said he loved watching Russo grow and change and deal with everything he was dealing with. So, I’d be curious – as would all of the fans! – to know if Andrew had left us with more potential entries in the Russo world or not.
Craig – I really don’t know where it might go, Steve. As of now, we may have reached the end of this particular road, but never say never!
(Craig and Andrew in 2017 on The Dark Side tour)
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I greatly appreciate Craig doing this interview, as well as how phenomenal of a friend he was to Andrew, Andrew’s family, and for stepping up and getting Oracle 3 completed.
Oracle 3: Murder at the Grandview releases TOMORROW, June 12th, 2025 and is an Audible exclusive!
You can still preorder today – links to US and CAN Audible below. As well – buy Andrew’s books, support one the greats AND buy Craig’s books and support a phenomenal author, who – much like Andrew was – is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.
Audible CANADA Link:
https://www.audible.ca/pd/Oracle-3-Murder-at-the-Grandview-Audiobook/B0F2P2RG8D
Audible US Link:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Oracle-3-Murder-at-the-Grandview-Audiobook/B0F2NXDNVW
