What is the title of your latest release?
BLESS YOUR HEART. If you’re not from the South, you might think it’s sweet. It’s not!
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Although I’m one of those obnoxious people who strikes up conversations in elevators, I actually am horrible at elevator pitches. Can’t we just talk about the weather? But… “A rich man from one of Atlanta’s most prominent families has been murdered and it’s up to a working-class detective to find out which one of the city’s upstanding citizens is a killer.”
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I was sitting at a Little League game in Atlanta and somehow my mind drifted to murder! And then I went and got ice cream and the thought passed. The idea of murder in Atlanta, however, stuck with me and the book began to take shape.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
All day long. We’d go see a movie and then bond over cheese dip at Taqueria del Sol.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Mother. Decent. Judgmental.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That I’m a terrible speller. Seriously, spell-check was lighting up my computer. Also, patience and tenacity.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
A bit of both. I try to get huge sections done and then see if anything makes sense. Even when I start with what I think is a rock-solid outline, I end up tearing things apart and putting them back together again over and over. You can call it writing all you want, but we all know it should be called re-writing.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
As if I haven’t talked about food enough already. The aforementioned cheese dip from Taqueria del Sol in Atlanta makes me very happy. And I won’t say that I’m obsessed with French fries but maybe there should be a question 21 just about them.
Describe your writing space/office!
I travel a lot so my office is my computer, a notebook, and a thousand post it notes.
Who is an author you admire?
Unfair question! There’s no way to name just one. I admire anyone who can somehow complete a book. There’s the old saying that everyone has a novel in them, but not many people actually write it. I admire “the author,” whoever they may be.
Is there a book that changed your life?
My writing life was changed, not by a book but by a story, called All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury. It takes place in a classroom on Venus, where it constantly rains. One young girl, though, tells tales of her time on Earth and of seeing the sun, but her classmates don’t believe her. On the one day, every seven years, when it’s finally sunny, they lock her in a closet and she misses her chance to see the sun again. As a child reading this, I was devastated. It was then that I discovered the power of a story.
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.
My awesome agent, Lesley Sabga, is one of the most bubbly, positive and cool people I’ve ever met. Her voice, even when she’s sharing bad news, is still somehow uplifting. So imagine when she shares the best news ever! When she told me I just fell into some alternate universe where dreams come true. My whole world shifted.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Biographies. I know, I know, I write fiction, but I love reading about real people. I guess it makes me feel like I’m being productive while reading for pleasure.
What’s your favorite movie?
I can’t pick just one. I literally have a whole list on my phone. The ones I watch most often are Pride & Prejudice (Come on! Keira Knightley! Matthew Macfadyen! I’m swooning as I type…), The Matrix, and Jerry Maguire. Though I’ll stop and watch National Treasure every single time it’s on television.
What is your favorite season?
Winter. I hate that pesky glowing thing in the sky. What do you call it? The sun? Awful thing. (Maybe it’s because of the trauma of reading All Summer in a Day.)
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I was born on my Dad’s birthday. So I celebrate by thinking about him.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Rivals (on Disney+ in the UK – seriously, why? It shouldn’t be on Disney! – and on Hulu in the US). Soooo fun. It nails the 1980s and the actors are all fantastic. The most fun!
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Did I mention French fries yet? But also Indian food. I’m kind of jealous that in India they get to have it every day.
What do you do when you have free time?
What is this “free time” you speak of?
What can readers expect from you next?
Fun and romance and the end of the world!
BLESS YOUR HEART by Leigh Dunlap
Motherhood and murder link five very different women when a working-class detective clashes with wealthy moms in this upmarket thriller in the vein of May Cobb and Jeneva Rose.
Anderson Tupper, a member of one of Atlanta’s richest families, has been murdered in the dugout of the Little League field where he was a volunteer coach, and it’s up to Detective Shay Claypool, a single mother from the other side of town, to find his killer.
With the exclusive area of Buckhead threatening to secede from the city of Atlanta and take its tax revenue with it, Shay is under pressure to solve the murder of one of Buckhead’s own. Accustomed to handling drug dealers and prostitutes, she must now contend with an even more sinister group: the Buckhead Betties, the insufferably entitled women of Georgia’s most affluent zip code. One of them might be a murderer, but who? Is it the old-money queen of Buckhead? The mysterious new girl in town? The drug dealing trophy wife?
It seems secrets and lies are as plentiful as luxury handbags in Atlanta and everyone’s guilty of something. Shay’s investigation will make her examine her own prejudices and discover that, as women and mothers, she might not be that different from the Betties after all. And if she isn’t careful, they just might take her down with them.
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About Leigh Dunlap
Leigh Dunlap is the screenwriter behind the hit movie, A Cinderella Story starring Hilary Duff. She also wrote Spy Girls, based on the popular teen book series, for producer Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting) and Camp Rockaway for Sony Pictures and producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher (Gladiator, Stuart Little). Her movie, 16-Love was one of Gravitas’ and Warner Digital’s top titles and The Standoff, starring Olivia Holt and Alex Wolff, was released on Netflix.
Leigh Dunlap’s debut novel, BLESS YOUR HEART, will be published by Crooked Lane Books in August 2025.
Film rights are with producers Brian Ferrantino and Paul Rosicker at Quest Management and Entertainment. She is a member of the International Thriller Writers and the Mystery Writers of America. Leigh has lived in many places, including Buckhead, and currently splits time between Johns Island, South Carolina and London, England.
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