Recipient of Regal House Publishing’s 2023
Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas
Available at Regal House Publishing, Burke’s Book Store-Memphis
and anywhere books are sold!
Upcoming Event:
2026 LitFest at Collierville Burch Library Saturday, March 21, 12-3pm
501 Poplar View Parkway, Collierville TN
Three Guesses available for purchase and signing.
Meet authors, shop vendors, enjoy literacy games and activities for children and families throughout the event.
READER VIEWS 5-STAR Review
by Joan Kirschner
“Three Guesses…is a unique and charming novella, a contemporary take on the time-honored epistolary format...The author makes her characters come alive through these letters. They feel vivid and real…a highly imaginative and appealing work, cleverly written.”
Southern Literary Review
by Tamatha Cain
“quietly spellbinding novella”
“Lyrical passages, sprinkles of poetry, and illustrative stories add to the experience, but those who share the voyeurist urge to devour those dusty boxes of letters and postcards in the local antique store will find themselves captivated by the deliciously generous slices of life these characters share via personal letters.”
Sharp, eccentric, engaging and refreshing, every letter in Three Guesses is a story all its own.
The Story…
Three strangers from Memphis, Phoenix, and New York City, connected only by a mesmerizing painting named Three Guesses, embark on an extraordinary journey of friendship in this charming epistolary novella. Over the years, their letters reveal intimate details about their lives and loves, dreams, trials and triumphs, and a shared desire to find their places in the world—deepening their bond without ever having met in person. Then, as each contends with critical turning points, the unlikely trio considers breaking their mail-only pact to meet at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Humorous and heartbreaking, soulful and breathtaking, Three Guesses celebrates love, friendship, hope, and the life-changing power of human connection.
“Three Guesses is a warm, witty, and incisive book, one that makes smart use of the epistolary form.”
Beth Castrodale, author of The Inhabitants
“An absolutely heartfelt, brilliant, witty, wry, and unique take on modern friendship. I was captivated from start to finish. I don't think I've read another novel like it. Highly recommended!”
Katherine Scott Crawford, author of The Miniaturist’s Assistant
“An epistolary celebration of creativity, art, and the written word, Three Guesses is an enchanting treat of a novella. I absolutely adored it.”
Jennifer Oko, author of Just Emilia
The Author…
Award-winning Southern writer Chris McClain Johnson grew up in Mayfield, Kentucky, graduated from Murray State University in Kentucky, and has lived in Memphis, Tennessee, for almost 40 years.
At age 60, Chris fulfills the lifelong dream of having her first book published. Three Guesses, recipient of Regal House Publishing’s 2023 Fugere Book Prize Recognizing Finely Crafted Novellas, released June 2025. Her debut epistolary novella has received wide praise for being “intensely clever” and “wildly entertaining and smart” with “intimate, riveting prose” and “a fascinating look at modern friendship.”
See A Self Interview to learn more about Chris and the quirky characters in Three Guesses.
Exciting News! Chris is thrilled to be accepted for a writer’s residency Spring 2026 at The Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, AR. What a wonderful place for focused writing, inspiration, and meeting fellow authors!