What is the title of your latest release?HAVEN’T KILLED IN YEARS What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?No one is supposed to know harmless office worker Gwen Tanner is the vanished daughter of serial killer Abel Haggerty, but a new name and a low profile aren’t going to cut it when an obsessive new killer starts targeting her. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I’ve spent most of my life in New England and currently live on the outskirts of Boston. I love Boston as a setting because characters can experience full city lives in their day-to-day, but within a short drive, they can be somewhere completely different. Disposing of evidence under the watchful eye of fifty security cameras per square block around Fenway Park versus the uninhabited woods of New Hampshire allows for natural flexibility and variety as the story unfolds. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?If I didn’t know her backstory, sure! But if I knew her secrets, I would prefer to just stalk her on social media (although I doubt she would ever post anything juicy). What are three words that describe your protagonist?Sarcastic, intuitive, withdrawn What’s…

Days are getting shorter in the northern hemisphere, and having to spend less time working outside means more glorious time to tuck in with a good book. And as many of my long-time favorite authors have new books out, I’ve been luxuriating in an abundance of fabulous reads. I’m already afraid I’ll run out of complimentary adjectives. Sherry Thomas is a writer who can quite literally do it all. She’s written historical romance, contemporaries, YA and historical fantasy, and mystery, and I can honestly say I’ve read and loved every book she’s ever published. In THE LIBRARIANS, her newest title, the author’s reverence for libraries and the people who work there shines through as she weaves a complicated tale of international intrigue that culminates in murder outside a small, suburban Austin library. The full scope of the plot comes into focus gradually; imagine an empty stage where one prop at a time is carried on as the action unfolds, and only as the final scene plays out does the entire set design become clear. I know other readers will react as I did and immediately wish to start rereading as soon as the last page is turned. Halloween has come…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-ReaderMatch” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure topresent Sarah Monzon! Writes:Sarah Monzon writes light-hearted romantic comedies with depth from a Christian worldview, like her Fall 2025 release, HEARTS IN CIRCULATION. She has a passion for writing characters with underrepresented backstories in fiction, like a heroine with alopecia (AN OVERDUE MATCH) or a hero with sensory processing disorder (HEARTS IN CIRCULATION). She hopes readers will laugh, swoon, and grow in kindness and empathy when the last page of her books close. About:A military spouse and mother of two, Sarah resides wherever the Navy sends her family. She’s currently enjoying the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and loves to spend her time in nature—when she’s not writing or reading, that is. She’s a bit of a recluse due to her social anxiety, but if you really want to get to know her, all you have to do is read her books as she’s extremely authentic and vulnerable, putting a lot of her own personal experiences in her characters’ backstories and arcs. The ideal reader match for…

H is for Happy Holidays!A is for Aloha Lagoon, the resort setting.W is for wedding – Kiki and Dex are tying the knot.A is for Akamai – everyone’s favorite auntie!I is for the island of Kauai, where our story takes place.I is for icky behavior by the uninvited guests.A is for Amazon gray parrot, Paulie, who is always making quips.N is for Nelly, our heroine and sleuth. H is for Hawaiian Islands.O is for the octopuses that the girls show Kiki’s mother.L is for the leis Auntie Akamai is making for the wedding.I is for I doD is for Dex, Kiki’s fiancé.A is for illegal activities of the Stronzos, friends of Kiki’s parents.Y is for yellow rubber duckies, a surprising defense. H is for homicide, of course.O is for Order Sepiida, otherwise known as cuttlefish, Nelly’s favorite sea creatures. Their names are Donatello, Jaques, Ophelia, and Hecate.M is for Calypso, the mimic octopus.I is for Jack, Nelly’s golf pro love interest.C is for golf club, the murder weapon.I is for instructor. Professor “Goldie” Goldman is Nelly’s PhD coordinator and instructor.D is for Doyle, the hero cat.E is for Enteroctopus dofleini, the Great Pacific octopus named Octavia. HAWAIIAN HOLIDAY HOMICIDE by Rosalie Spielman…

What is the title of your latest release?SECRET NIGHTS AND NORTHERN LIGHTS What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A travel writer finally gets her shot to cover an international assignment in Iceland, only to find out the freelance photographer accompanying her is the guy who broke her heart in high school. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I was lucky enough to travel to Iceland and take the exact road trip that the characters take in the book. I instantly fell in love with the country and knew it was the perfect place for an angsty second-chance romance. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?I’m very similar to my protagonist in a lot of ways so I would hope so, although we both have a lot of anxiety and overthink everything so perhaps we would stress each other out more. What are three words that describe your protagonist?People-pleaser, anxious, well-intentioned. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I did so much research about Iceland both before and after my trip that I feel like I could be a travel agent and plan itineraries for others now. Do you edit as you…

It’s Halloween week! Bring on the thrills, the chills…and all that delicious Halloween candy. I love the days leading up to Halloween. There seems to be magic that hangs in the air.  I catch myself looking over my shoulder. Checking the dark shadows extra hard. Because, you know, anything can happen at Halloween… Last month, I chatted here about spooky reads.  I mentioned fabulous books filled with shifters and vamps…and all those things that go bump in the night. Well, it’s not just the paranormal creatures that can be scary. For this post, I thought I’d talk about a different kind of monster. The human variety.  You know…the kind you find in romantic suspenses—the twisted villains. The bad guys who send our main characters on dangerous hunts. The evil ones who make our hearts race. Toni Anderson is great at crafting killers.  Her romantic suspense, A COLD DARK PLACE, takes readers straight into the path of a serial killer.  Danger from the past just won’t stay buried, and the tough female FBI heroine in A COLD DARK PLACE has to put her life on the line as she fights for justice. New York Times best-selling author Karen Rose always delivers…

If you like your crime fiction hard-boiled and Texas tough, pick up one of my gritty and relentless Ed Earl Burch thrillers. They’re classic stories of revenge and redemption, featuring a battered but dogged Dallas PI who is nobody’s hero, but nobody’s fool. I’ve always thought of hard-boiled detective fiction as an American art form. At their finest, these crime stories are far more than a lone figure trying to crack a case – they’re commentaries on politics, culture, music, the uneasy relationship between men and women and the bottomless depravity and cruelty of human nature. They also create a sense of time and place so keen it becomes a character unto itself, one that adds depth and complexity to the story and the people living therein. Think Philip Marlowe prowling the streets of Los Angeles and how much the city defines him. Now try to picture Marlowe any place other than L.A. Too many authors fail to provide this essential, opting for a one-dimensional backdrop as lifeless as a canvas flat in an off-Broadway play, missing an opportunity to show who their characters are as they master or struggle against that place. Another vital element of the hard-boiled school:…

What is the title of your latest release?MADE YOU LOOK What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?MADE YOU LOOK is a thriller about a Catskills retreat that turns deadly for a group of influencers when a snowstorm cuts them off from their greatest resource—their followers—just as a killer strikes. It’s a fun, twisty read filled with secrets, scandals, and morally gray characters. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?In a very full-circle moment, my fictional retreat was inspired by a real-life location that I discovered in an influencer’s sponsored post! The location has gorgeous cabins with huge windows, but while anyone can see in, at night, you can’t see out. That experience of being viewed by an unknown audience reminded me a lot of how social media works, and I knew I wanted to include the cabins in this story. The fictional retreat is also very isolated, which is great for relaxation, but not so great when something goes wrong and there’s no one around to help. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?My characters are much too cool for me, and I’m also out of their age bracket, so hanging…

What is the title of your latest release?THE BOTANIST’S ASSISTANT What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A murder in the science lab shatters a woman’s quiet and ordered life, forcing the socially awkward but tenacious research assistant to find the killer herself. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I love the Central California coast with its grasslands, oak woodlands and rocky shores so, like a good packrat, I stole bits and pieces to create my imaginary landscape. My protagonist, Margaret Finch’s, hillside cottage came right out of a hike where I discovered the ruins of an old homesteader’s cabin in the woods. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?Margaret has studied plants for so long that she sees them as friends, so I guess I would have to get in line behind the roses and lavender to hang out with her, but I would. I just love scientists. What are three words that describe your protagonist?Tenacious, honest and loyal. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned that plants have developed amazing defense systems in order to survive. For instance, a certain tomato plant, when attacked by chomping caterpillars, will…

If you’re a TV cozy mystery binger like me, you’ve probably watched a series based on a book series, and thought, I wonder if the book is better? Should I have read it first? In this case, it’s the other way around. Death In Paradise is one of my favorite cozy British mystery series. I’ve been watching it since it first came out, in 2011. It’s a lot of fun to see the fish-out-of-water English detective trying to navigate the sunny island of Saint Marie. And there are books featuring the first season’s detective, Richard Poole. But…instead of the show being based on the books, it’s the other way around. In 2022, Robert Thorogood, the showrunner for the series, wrote a book based on the TV series, and it’s very good! There are four books in the series, and I hope he’ll write more. If you’re a fan of Death in Paradise, you’ll love these! DI Richard Poole has been seconded from London to the beautiful Caribbean Island of Saint Marie. More comfortable in woolen suits than short-sleeved shirts, he’s struggling to adapt to his new home. But this paradise is about to get deadly. When self-appointed guru Aslan Kennedy…