What is the title of your latest release?
THE SHADOW FRIENDS
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When a Russian defector is murdered at a local global affairs conference, Ingrid’s ex-CIA colleague (and former lover) pulls her back into the spying game in a hunt for the assassin. She can’t reveal the mission to anyone – not even her husband Lloyd – and when she abruptly disappears from Purity, a frantic Lloyd and the rest of the Martini Club must track her down, all the while wondering where Ingrid’s loyalties really lie.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Since this is a series, I knew the story would kick off in the small town of Purity, Maine, where my five former spies have retired. But I also wanted to expand the stage, so I sent my characters to Amsterdam and Madrid, two cities I’m familiar with from my own travels.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Oh yes! I would love to hang out with my five ex-spies, and the reason this became a series was because I didn’t want to leave behind these characters. Since I live in a small town very much like Purity, where many ex-spies have retired, I imagine I’m probably surrounded by people like them, even if they can’t tell me about their past careers.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Ingrid: Clever. Resourceful. Loyal.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned about the Vory, a secret society of criminals that was originally organized in the prisons of the old Soviet Union. They operate outside the law, with loyalty only to each other.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I wait until I’m totally done before I start editing. I find that the process of editing stops the creative flow.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
How can I name just one? I’m an omnivore, and I haven’t met a food I don’t like, as long as it’s savory.
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a dedicated room with bookshelves, two different desks, and a window that faces the ocean. It’s very messy, and because I don’t have enough shelves for all my books, there are towers of books piled up all over the place. And my desk? Yikes, there are probably things buried under papers there that have sprouted legs and are ready to walk.
Who is an author you admire?
I admire any author who’s been able to sustain a long career as a writer: Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Lisa Gardner, Sandra Brown. Many writers can write one or two novels; only a few have the creative drive to dream up story after story over decades.
Is there a book that changed your life?
LONESOME DOVE by Larry McMurtry. It taught me that books with sad or bittersweet endings are more memorable than books with happy endings.
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.
This was WAYYY back in 1987. I was living in Hawaii at the time, when phone calls were expensive, and my then-literary agent sent me the news by snail mail! Before I even received that letter, an editor from Harlequin called to talk about a release date. Since I didn’t yet know my book had been sold, I was confused … and then over the moon.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Women’s suspense fiction.
What’s your favorite movie?
“Galaxy Quest.” I return to it every New Year because it always makes me laugh.
What is your favorite season?
Summertime. In Maine, that means gardening, hiking, and the family’s all here.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A nice dinner in a beautiful place.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m addicted to “The rest is classified” on Youtube, with Gordon Corera and David McCloskey. They discuss the world of espionage.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Chinese. It’s so diverse, and I’m addicted to chili peppers.
What do you do when you have free time?
Gardening, travel, and playing music are my passions.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on the fourth book in the Martini Club series, tentatively titled THE ITALIAN AFFAIR. It focuses on Jo Thibodeau, the young Maine cop who has gradually been adopted into the Martini Club. She wins a free trip to Italy… and vanishes. The Martini Club to the rescue!
THE SHADOW FRIENDS by Tess Gerritsen
Martini Club #3
From New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen comes a harrowing and emotional thriller where ghosts of the Cold War return with a vengeance—and cannot be outrun.
When a renowned disease expert and Russian defector dies mysteriously during a global affairs conference in Purity, Maine, the tight-knit band of former spies in the Martini Club once again sees their quiet coastal retirement interrupted by international intrigue. And when a waitress at the conference hotel is found murdered, Ingrid Slocum sees chilling links to a disastrous mission that nearly killed her three decades ago.
Desperate to uncover the truth, Ingrid’s drawn back into the game by a magnetic ex-CIA colleague—and former lover—who was with her on the long-ago doomed mission. He convinces her to join him, and together they head to Amsterdam to track down her would-be killer.
Ingrid’s frantic husband Lloyd and Maggie Bird are close behind, but a clandestine network of assassins is intent on stopping them. Forced to question every allegiance, the Martini Club must rely on the skills they tried to leave behind. Because in this game of revenge and deception, the past never dies—it just hides in the shadows.
Thriller Police Procedural [ Thomas & Mercer, On Sale: August 25, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662533402 / eISBN: 9781662533396 ]
Buy THE SHADOW FRIENDS: 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 Tess Gerritsen
Internationally bestselling author Tess Gerritsen took an unusual route to a writing career. A graduate of Stanford University, Tess went on to medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D.
While on maternity leave from her work as a physician, she began to write fiction and in 1987, her first novel, Call After Midnight, was published. It was just the first of 32 suspense novels that she’s written over a 36-year writing career. She also wrote a screenplay, “Adrift,” which aired as a 1993 CBS Movie of the Week starring Kate Jackson.
Tess’s first medical thriller, Harvest, was released in hardcover in 1996, and it marked her debut on the New York Times bestseller list. Her novels have hit bestseller lists ever since. Among her titles are Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, Listen to Me, and The Spy Coast. Her books have been translated into 40 languages, and more than 40 million copies have been sold around the world.
Her series of novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TNT television series “Rizzoli & Isles,” starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander.
Now retired from medicine, she writes full time. She lives in Maine.
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