What is the title of your latest release?
SOMEBODY WORTH KILLING
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A deadly assassin disguised as a perfect suburban mom and wife is given the impossible task of killing her own husband, forcing her to choose between the two most important things in her life: her job or her family.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’m based in Washington State, but my family briefly lived in Texas. When I considered where my mom/wife/secret assassin would live, Texas just felt right. I based it in San Antonio, where my husband was stationed, featuring all my favorite parks and coffee shops and bookstores.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I would! I’m not sure she would want to hang out with me – being someone who identifies as a “psychopath” means she sees friendship in a different way. But she’s smart and darkly humorous and fun.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Hah, I accidentally answered this in the last question! Nadia is smart in a calculating way, darkly humorous in that she will say what everyone’s thinking, and absolutely fun to spend time with.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Writing someone who identifies as a “psychopath,” or as it’s now called, antisocial personality disorder, was a wild ride. While these people do have emotions, they experience them differently, and first researching that, then applying it to a character in a book took a lot of thought and practice. I needed her to be a character the reader would like and empathize with but also see as very different than themselves – similar to Dexter, for example. He’s not “normal,” but you can’t help but adore him… kind of.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Both! I always reread the previous day’s writing and edit as I go. Once the whole book is written, I’ll print it, reread, and mark it up.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I am a huge fan of biscotti – good biscotti, not the stuff you buy in plastic wrap in a grocery aisle, but the sort you can buy in a bakery or make at home. That and a cup of strong coffee in the morning is my favorite way to start my day!
Describe your writing space/office!
My office is chaos! No, really. I have a bookshelf problem, in that I don’t have enough bookshelves for all my books, so they are piled up everywhere. I have a huge, L-shaped desk with a big monitor and an optional standing portion. Coffee rings litter the desktop. At any given moment there are one to three cats on said desk. Artwork – mostly colorful paintings of trees and mountains – decorates my walls. Then I have a huge window that looks east, allowing me to see the sun coming up over the trees. It’s messy, but it’s perfect.
Who is an author you admire?
I admire Charlaine Harris – remember her? She’s the author who wrote the series that became the True Blood television show. But what I admire about her is that she has truly been a lifelong author. She’s weathered ups and downs, been unafraid to try different genres, and has grown across the many, many series she’s written. She’s also fabulous at developing characters who I feel as though I truly know, and that is a talent I admire.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Yes. I picked up THE KILLING DANCE by Laurell K. Hamilton when I was maybe 13 years old and left unsupervised in a shopping mall bookstore. My mother had died two years before, and I needed a badass heroine to serve as a role model. Those early Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books did that for me, and I will forever be grateful I stumbled upon them that day. They are also the books that made me want to be a writer.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
The call came on a Monday morning from my agent! I knew she’d be talking to this fabulous editor I’d spoken to at Berkley, and I knew that they were considering offering on SOMEBODY WORTH KILLING. But then my phone buzzed, I answered, and got confirmation: we had an offer!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love character-centric thrillers with badass women leading the way.
What’s your favorite movie?
Age of Adaline
What is your favorite season?
Fall – crisp leaves, sunshine, the scent of wood smoke – a writer’s heaven.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I love multiple small celebrations. Dinner with my family at a nice restaurant sitting outside (yay summer birthday!). Drinks with my girlfriends. A celebratory trip to my favorite bookstore. Picking out the perfect cupcake at a bakery.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I can’t mention just one, so I’ll say The Diplomat, Bridgerton Season 4 (sorry not sorry), The Beast in Me, and Love & Death.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
This is so mood-dependent. I will say, I’m a vegetarian, and when a restaurant pulls of multiple excellent vegetarian dishes (sorry, but ‘we have a salad’ doesn’t cut it, I am not a rabbit), they have my loyalty.
What do you do when you have free time?
As a mom and full-time author, the reality is that I don’t have free time. Instead, I prioritize making free-time. I literally schedule it. Occasionally I’ll take a couple hours on a workday to go on a long walk down by the Puget Sound, go hiking, or meet up with a friend. In the evenings, I try to reserve my daughter’s screen-time to be an hour where I don’t do any work, whether it’s book-related or around the house. I might read, watch a show, chat with my husband, or play with our cats.
What can readers expect from you next?
SOMEBODY WORTH KILLING is out June 16th, and the sequel will actually be out next spring! So you won’t have to wait too long for Nadia’s adventure to continue!
SOMEBODY WORTH KILLING by Jessica Payne
Meet Nadia Davis, a doting mom and loving wife who has a big secret: she’s actually an assassin. And she really needs a babysitter who shows up on time.
Nadia Davis is living the dream as a successful working mom with a career she loves, two adorable little girls, and a devoted husband who has no idea that she’s secretly a hired assassin and psychopath who kills certified bad guys. So when Nadia finds out she’s been “mommy tracked” by her assassin’s agency and is no longer getting the bigger, more exciting jobs, she demands an important mark…somebody worth killing.
But it turns out that big kill is the last person she expects—her husband. How is the sweet, kind, teller-of-dad jokes she’s promised her life to an evil villain who needs exterminating? Has their whole life together been a lie? Now Nadia must choose between the two things she loves most in life, the career that keeps her sane or the family she thought she knew.
Thriller Domestic | Women’s Fiction Psychological [ Berkley, On Sale: June 16, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593954706 / eISBN: 9780593954713 ]
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About Jessica Payne
Jessica Payne lives in the Tacoma area of Washington State with her daughter and husband and an internet search history that would raise eyebrows. A firm believer in strong coffee and stronger women, she writes about mothers who know how to handle a sniper rifle and a carpool schedule with equal precision. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her trail running through the forests of the Pacific Northwest as she plots her next fictional murder. She has been featured on Cosmopolitan.com and People.com and is the author of the forthcoming novel Somebody Worth Killing.Husband.
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