What is the title of your latest release?
THE LIES WE TRADE
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Meredith Hansel is Wall Street’s rising star, poised to celebrate her team’s massive success, and yet she struggles to balance the demands of her job with the challenges at home. Her marriage strains under the weight of long hours and unspoken resentments, while her teenage daughter refuses to engage. When a mysterious envelope arrives containing sensitive data and a cryptic note from her former colleague, Betsey. Meredith must decide who she can trust, because the message threatens not just Meredith’s career, but the very foundation of her family. To protect everything and everyone she loves, Meredith must untangle Betsey’s demand before the secrets detonate and blow her life apart.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I worked in and around Wall Street for over twenty years. I wanted to explore the familiar power imbalances, impossible demands, and dynamic characters for a fresh, new thriller.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely. Meredith may not have a lot of free time, but she sure knows how to throw a party.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Intelligent, Loyal, Vibrant
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned how important it is to give my brain new challenges. I noodle on a few crazy story complications and then go about vacuuming the house or preparing for a board meeting—my mind can solve and create the coolest twists if I get it space and distraction.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I try really hard not to edit while I write. If I come up with ideas for a previous scene, I make notes and keep writing forward. It’s important to me to get a first draft done as smoothly as possible because, after plotting, polishing is my favorite part.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Extremely dark chocolate
Describe your writing space/office!
Our home in Maine was built in the late 1800s. My office is a first-floor alcove with a beautiful bay window and 5 doors. I use a standing desk, and my space gets quite congested when I’m in the thick of it. I don’t like to put away all my notebooks and research folders until after I turn in my manuscript.
Who is an author you admire?
Sally Hepworth. She writes thrillers that have an everyday quality to them. I admire her ability to create page-turning suspense without a serial killer on the loose.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Although I probably read it when I was way too young, that book taught me how words on a page could transform into a world I could see, feel, and fear.
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.
Soon after landing my agent, I met with acquiring editor, Elizabeth Jackson, from Tyndale at a conference. She asked for a proposal for my domestic thriller set on Wall Street. Unfortunately, the answer was a no. As my agent and I were preparing to pitch more widely, Elizabeth came back and asked what else I was working on. I had a full-length concept that I had submitted to the Crown Awards, and won, but I’d recently ripped it apart it was nowhere near an actual manuscript. Tyndale loved the concept for The Lies We Trade and signed me to a two-book deal on proposal.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Domestic Thrillers with an occasional Rom Com as a palate cleanser.
What’s your favorite movie?
This is impossible to answer. I’ve been shopping this question around with my friends and writing buddies. I’ve gotten everything from Nacho Libre to Shawshank Redemption. All I can say is, I love: The Firm (1993) for the domestic and legal thriller plotlines, the racing tension, and the fact that it is a John Grisham novel. Since then, I have seen and loved so many films at different inflection points in my life.
What is your favorite season?
Summer. I grew up in Guam and my heart is tropical.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A surprise getaway with my family, planned by my husband who usually relies on me to schedule our life.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Diplomat with Kerri Russell. Stellar dialogue, twisty plot, and great characters.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Indian – spicy and succulent curries
What do you do when you have free time?
I read! I also love to plan family adventures and hang out with friends.
What can readers expect from you next?
An emotion-forward thriller set in the high-stakes world of finance.
THE LIES WE TRADE by Kristine Delano
A high-powered Wall Street career, a beautiful family in a quiet suburban neighborhood—she seems to have everything. Which means she has everything to lose.
Meredith Hansel should be having the best week of her life. After establishing herself as a portfolio manager at a prestigious Wall Street firm, she’s in the national spotlight for the innovative funds she created. But as Meredith prepares to celebrate, the plates she’s kept spinning for years begin to crash: Her strained marriage reaches a breaking point. Her conscientious teenage daughter acts out under mysterious pressures. Someone vandalizes her home with disturbing graffiti. And Betsey, her most trusted ally at the financial firm, goes rogue, and Meredith is forced to sign a restraining order against her.
Then her worlds collide when she receives a thumb drive and a cryptic note from Betsey threatening to reveal a secret that could have devastating effects on Meredith’s family . . . unless she can figure out what Betsey wants and deliver it in time.
As Meredith begins to dig into the data, however, she begins to suspect that it’s no coincidence her life is crumbling. That maybe what’s happening to her family is connected to what’s boiling beneath the surface at her investment company. Soon Meredith realizes there’s only one way to avoid taking the fall, and it all hinges on Betsey’s true motives. Was she really threatening Meredith or trying to warn her?
- Great for fans of Colleen Coble, Laura Dave, Dani Pettrey, and Lisa Scottoline
- Clean, high-stakes women’s domestic suspense with workplace secrets and family drama
- A stand-alone Wall Street thriller
- Includes discussion questions for book clubs
Thriller Domestic [ Tyndale Fiction, On Sale: January 20, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9798400504921 / eISBN: 9798400504945 ]
Buy THE LIES WE TRADE: 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 Kristine Delano
Kristine Delano is a former Wall Street executive turned award-winning author of domestic thrillers set in the high-stakes finance world. She hosts the We Talk Careers podcast and mentors women on work-life balance. When she’s not writing or reading, she enjoys scuba diving, playing games with friends, and chasing her family down the ski slopes of western Maine.
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