What is the title of your latest release?
CLEAN SLATE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A crime scene cleaner gets pulled into the hunt for a serial killer after she discovers a clue the police missed.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
It’s set in Atlanta because I knew I wanted a big city where Olive would have a lot of business, but also I wanted it to feel like a tight community that she operated within. Atlanta felt like it could provide both.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
One hundred percent. Olive is cool and funny (she loves a good pun) and incredibly loyal. Her worst trait is that she spends too much time around brains and fecal matter, but she makes the best of it and approaches both her job and life with self-deprecating humor.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Hard-working, loyal and a practical-optimist
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned so much about cleaning up bodily fluid, and things like the fact that brain matter hardens into cement when it gets flung against a wall.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit chunks of it, so maybe at the one-third mark or even the half, I like to go back through and make sure I have a real feel for the characters and plot before heading into either the mid-point or the climax.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m obsessed with steak, especially when it comes with some kind of yummy sauce.
Describe your writing space/office!
Unless it’s a hundred degrees out or snowing, I love sitting outside in my garden. I have a chaise out there, and my dog loves watching the squirrels from his perch at the end. But when I do work in my office, I’m staring at a wire frame where I’ve hung meaningful items from my life—from ticket stubs to thank you cards, from postcards to conference name tags—so it makes it bearable to sit inside.
Who is an author you admire?
Gillian Flynn’s art was so transformational in the thriller space, with so many books still being compared to GONE GIRL nearly fifteen years later. I’ve loved every word I’ve ever read by her.
Is there a book that changed your life?
UNDER THE HARROW by Flynn Berry. I always read mostly romance growing up, but then one road trip I decided to listen to the audiobooks of Under the Harrow. It launched my love of psychological thrillers and as they say, the rest was history.
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.
I think I was just flabbergasted. It was one of the last editors we’d gone out to in the first batch of submissions, so I’d convinced myself I would never get a deal (I was a wimp!). But then I could hardly believe it when we got the yes.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love the two that I write in: historical fiction and psychological fiction. The same reason I love writing in the genre – exploring why people do the things they do—is why I enjoy reading it. There are so many big emotions in both genres – courage, fear, love, greed, self-sacrifice. It’s such a deep well to tap. I also have such a soft spot for romance, which was my OG favorite.
What’s your favorite movie?
While You Were Sleeping. I know every line and have probably watched it close to a hundred times. It’s so sweet and earnest and the supporting cast is so fleshed out, more so than you usually see.
What is your favorite season?
Spring. It’s so hopeful, everything is green and there are so many days that are the absolute perfect weather for sweatshirts and shorts.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I’m not a big birthday celebrator. One of my favorites in recent memory was going to see my beloved hockey team live with my sister.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I really loved THE ENDING WRITES ITSELF, it’s a mystery where a bunch of mid-list writers are on an island trying to win a book contract. It’s one of the best writers-as-main-characters book that actually did a phenomenal job of depicting the ups and downs of actual writers.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Probably Italian and Indian, pizza, pasta and tikka masala, you can’t go wrong.
What do you do when you have free time?
I hike every morning with my (very energetic) dog, and I also love watching the Pittsburgh Penguins, my favorite hockey team.
What can readers expect from you next?
More Clean Slate and Olive Hunt. The first book in the series introduces you to Olive’s world and the second solves the mystery of her past.
CLEAN SLATE by Brianna Labuskes
Olive Hunt #1
A crime scene cleaner is on the trail of a serial killer in a breathtaking novel of psychological suspense by USA Today bestselling author Brianna Labuskes.
Death pays well for Olive Hunt, a crime scene cleaner who channels her childhood traumas into erasing the suffering of others. After nearly ten years, she’s seen it all. Nothing rattles her anymore.
Until now.
Two back-to-back suicides. A seedy motel. An upscale Atlanta hotel. No connection—except that Olive discovers the same strange item at each scene. Then a third body drops. Olive knows what the police refuse to see: These aren’t suicides. They’re murders staged to perfection.
Then the roses arrive. A vase of bloodred blooms on her doorstep. An anonymous note: Thank you.
She’s found him. A serial killer who’s been leaving breadcrumbs only she can see. A killer who’s been cleaning up his work—knowing she’ll clean up after him. A killer who wants her to follow.
And follow she must. No matter how terrifying the trail becomes.
Thriller Serial Killer | Thriller Psychological [ Thomas & Mercer, On Sale: August 4, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662533150 / eISBN: 9781662533167 ]
Buy CLEAN SLATE: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Brianna Labuskes
Brianna Labuskes’ life-long dream was to join the ranks of the superstar women who penned the romance novels — from historicals to contemporaries and everything in between — of which she could never quite get enough. She tries to write the books she wants to read, with spunky heroines who save the day while their heroes watch in awe and admiration. When she’s not writing, you can find Brianna playing with her two adorable nieces, editing health care policy news and watching too much Netflix. She also loves travel, feminism and country music.
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