Episode notes
In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, Colin Mustful speaks with Ray Welling, author of Byline for the Dead, a historical mystery-thriller rooted in the 1934 Auto-Lite strike and the violent labor uprising known as the Battle of Toledo. Together, they explore how forgotten local history, investigative journalism, and fiction can recover truths that power would rather leave buried.
The conversation moves from the economic desperation of Depression-era Toledo to the novel’s dual-timeline structure, which follows two journalists fifty years apart as they untangle corruption, violence, and institutional amnesia. Ray shares how oral histories, archival research, and his own memories of Toledo helped shape the story, while he and Colin reflect on labor history, Rust Belt decline, and why stories about truth-telling still feel urgently contemporary.
Ray Welling is an Australian novelist and nonfiction author with a background in journalism, editing, publishing, and digital strategy. Originally from Toledo and now based in Australia, he brings both a reporter’s eye and a personal connection to the city at the center of the novel—making this episode especially rich in place, memory, and moral stakes.
At History Through Fiction, we believe the past comes alive through story—through the novels that reimagine it, the writers who research it, and the readers who carry it forward. Explore more episodes, discover historical novels, and learn about workshops, events, and the wider community at https://www.historythroughfiction.com.