Matthew Monteiro, with his manuscript-in-progress, The Fedora: A Heist Novel, is a 2023 New Voices writer. Congratulations, Matt.

The Fedora is a modern-day thriller featuring the unlikely hero Malcolm, a down-on-his-luck high-school science teacher who suddenly finds himself in way over his head. With rent overdue and a teenage daughter on a limited data plan, Malcolm is forced to trade in his test tubes and Bunsen burners for prybars and lock picks in a most unusual heist. But the loot isn’t jewels or cash. It’s hero props - screen-used movie props from the biggest blockbuster movies, worth millions. When the job goes bad, Malcolm is caught in the crosshairs of a nationwide manhunt. Can he outwit the group of high-class thieves who want what he has? And can he ever get back to the simple life of a high-school science teacher? Oceans 11 meets Dead Poet’s Society in The Fedora. 

About Matthew: Born in the United States in the northern state of Minnesota, Matthew is a family physician by day and an aspiring novelist by night. He graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where he studied literature and biology. Matthew received his MD from the University of Minnesota and has practiced as a primary care physician for 18 years, where the thousands of patients he’s worked with inform his writing (anonymously, of course). When not reading, writing or doctoring, Matthew enjoys catching all the big blockbusters with his movie club and travelling with his wife and two children.