Three Guesses
Recipient of the 2023 Fugere Book Prize Recognizing Finely Crafted Novellas
Buy Now at Regal House Publishing, Burke’s Book Store-Memphis, novel. Memphis, Bookshop.org, and anywhere books are sold!
Please support your local book stores and community libraries.
Books are available for purchase and signing at all onsite events.
Check out the Three Guesses playlist recorded live July 21, 2025, at https://wyxr.org/songs-that-move-you with Willy Bearden.
The Tour continues…
Sat, August 9, Skol-astic Book Fair at Soul & Spirits Brewery with Burke’s Books - 845 N. Main, Memphis TN Book Signing 2-3pm, Reading 3:20pm | Fair is 1-7pm with Local Bookstores & Authors, Beers, Food, & Friends
Sat-Sun, August 16-17, 1-3pm - Central Arkansas Women’s Expo with WordsWorth Books - Little Rock, AR - Author Meet & Greet and Book Signing - Show this FREE EXPO TICKET for free expo entry!
September/October issue of Paducah Life Magazine, Paducah KY - Interview with Susie Rozzell Fenwick
Fall issue of State and Beale online magazine - Interview with Toby Sells
Saturday, November 1, 9:30am-5pm, Lexington KY - Kentucky Book Festival at Joseph-Beth Booksellers
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.
“Original, eloquent, engaging, and an entertainingly memorable read from cover to cover.”
—Midwest Book Review
I’m in love. I’m in love with the characters in this book, with the structure of this book, with the gorgeous, surprising, poetic, intimate, riveting prose that Chris McClain Johnson seems to effortlessly unravel as if it were
the telling of a beautiful dream...What an unforgettable and astonishing book!”
—Diane Wald, award-winning author of My Famous Brain and The Bayrose Files
A testament not only to the power of words, but also to the healing prospect of
genuine, authentic friendship. I didn’t want it to end.”
—Tracey D. Buchanan, author of Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace
Sharp, eccentric, engaging and refreshing, every letter in Three Guesses is a story all its own.
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 17, 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.