1–What’s the name of your latest release? GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL 2–What is it about? A newlywed couple named Sam and Annie move from New York City to Sam’s sleepy home town. Sam, a therapist, opens a home office, unaware that his sessions with patients can be overheard from a room upstairs. Listening ensues, an alluring patient transpires, Sam disappears, and all hell breaks loose. (I would like to add that Sam’s disappearance is very much related to him participating in an eerily similar 20 Questions column for a local newspaper, so I’m suspicious of this already.) 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Sam: sensitive hunk Annie: clever 4–What makes your story relatable?  The story is premised on a person discovering a chance to eavesdrop on therapy sessions, forcing you, as the reader to question if, in that position, you would choose to listen. (Which, of course you would.) But what I find more compelling is that underneath the plot is an exploration of the lasting impact of a father’s influence on his son–and in particular, when a father teaches his son a toxic idea of masculinity. I think toxic masculinity is something we all can relate to at this particular…

Chapter One A scorching heat wave blanketed the West Coast, bringing with it record temperatures, rolling blackouts, and a general feeling of malaise that infected everyone. A fast-moving Mexican monsoon, however, was now gaining strength in the Gulf of Mexico, steaming up the California coast accompanied by gale force winds and heavy rain. It would most likely reach the township of Freedom by late afternoon. I sat staring out the office window, elated that the storm would finally end the stultifying heat, but also apprehensive of the possible havoc it might wreak. I was locked in a debate with myself as to whether I would order a takeout meatball-and-onion pizza from Larry’s or the kung pao chicken from Tsai’s when I noticed a late-model green Toyota Camry pull up in front of the County Courthouse. I watched as a middle-aged woman emerged, looked around, then headed inside. After a few moments, I heard Sheriff ’s Deputy Johnny Kennerly talking with the woman. Then he appeared in my doorway and stood there, fanning himself with a legal-size yellow pad. “There’s a Rosalita Gonzalez here to see you.” I swiveled my chair around to face him. “What about?” “You mean what does…

Like the main character in Safe House, I moved to Cornwall on the south-western coast of England recently. Only I wasn’t running away from my past, or starting over again with a new identity. And, as far as I know, no-one is after me to make me pay for past misdemeanours! I’ve always been devoted to Cornwall, having been on holidays here when I was a child to quaintly named villages such as Mousehole, and explored the ruins of Tintagel Castle imagining myself an Arthurian Knight. One of my all-time favourite books is based here too–Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. The new adaptation is soon to be released by Netflix and I wonder whether people’s interest in books based here will increase. I hope more people will fall in love with Cornwall, just as I have. If you’ve got a hankering to read more Cornish novels after Rebecca and SAFE HOUSE, here are five of the best. 1-Jumping straight in with the best non-fiction book I’ve ever read. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. Raynor and her terminally ill husband walked the entire South West coastal path after losing their home and being left almost penniless. Not just Cornwall but…

Jen: What inspired you to write THE SILENT CONSPIRACY? LC: Jack and Taylor’s story wasn’t finished in THE NETWORK and I wanted to continue it with a new storyline in THE SILENT CONSPIRACY. Themes that I felt drawn to include were those of bias in the media, the health care crisis in this country, and the continuing theme of spiritual warfare. As both characters are investigative journalists, there are so many different stories that could pull them in. I’m also very attached to both characters and was excited to have the opportunity to have their journey continue. For those readers not familiar with THE NETWORK, what is the premise of the story? In THE NETWORK, a shadowy group is manipulating society through the media, entertainment, and legislature. Jack Logan, an investigative reporter, is drawn into the conspiracy when Senator Malcolm Phillips comes to him with a desperate plea to protect his wife, Taylor. Taylor is the one woman Jack truly loved, and when Jack hears the news that the senator has indeed been found dead, he springs into action. Jack and Taylor embark on a harrowing search for the truth as they are pursued by unknown assassins until they uncover…

Have you ever planned something so perfectly, only to have it be a complete flop? On the other hand, have you had something randomly brilliant happen that came at the right time because you were in the right place? TheBook Magic Mysteries, for me, is that bit of random brilliance. The beginning of the Book Magic Mysteries started about three years ago with a neighborhood walk. I was with my good friend and fellow mystery writer, Wendy Lyn Watson. On this walk, she had been musing about a book idea featuring a bibliomancer. Being a book lover, I was immediately hooked by the idea. I insisted that she write this book, but adulting got in the way (in the form of other book contracts and Wendy’s day job as a professor). Fast forward to 2020. Wendy and I were talking from afar (I moved to North Carolina, and Wendy is still in North Texas) and the bibliomancy series came up during our conversation. One thing led to another, and pretty soon we were plotting an epic series that spans two coasts, features cousins Cora Lane and Pippin Lane Hawthorne, and centers around the Lane women’s gift (or curse) of bibliomancy….

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Mortmain Hall, published by Poisoned Pen Press 2–What is it about? It’s a history-mystery set in 1930, and like Gallows Court, it features Rachel Savernake and the journalist Jacob Flint. They investigate a series of bizarre murder cases apparently involving miscarriages of justice and their enquiries eventually take them to an old country house on the north Yorkshire coast – Mortmain Hall 3–What word best describes your main character(s)? Rachel Savernake is mysterious. Jacob Flint is impetuous. 4–What makes your story relatable? It’s a story set in 1930 and involves bizarre murder mysteries, but above all it’s about human nature, and how people behave at times of stress 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Jacob turns to Rachel. Rachel is supported by the Trueman family. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? Mortmain Hall is set in a coastal area near where I used to go on holidays as a child. It’s a beautiful coast, but can be eerie.   7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? Both; it depends on the story…

Jennifer Vido: What inspired you to write Don’t Look for Me? Wendy Walker: The book began with a personal experience, which has never happened before! I was driving back from my son’s soccer game four hours from home. The game had been hard to watch – rough play, bad ref calls, jeering from the other team’s classmates that was cruel. I felt terrible for my son and realized, perhaps for the first time, that I could not protect my children from many of the uglier things in life. I was also in a difficult stage of my own life so this was coming on top of an already heavy emotional load. I was halfway home and had to stop for gas. Standing at the pump, unable to stop my spinning thoughts, I saw this long road flanked by cornfields. Out of nowhere, I had this flash of a thought to just leave everything and walk down that road. Of course, I didn’t do that and the thought left immediately. But the rest of the way home, I wondered where it had come from and if, perhaps, there was a bigger story there which other people might relate to. It turns…

Prologue Ocean Boy glided through the day in gradients of gray and green; occasional glittering light broke through the liquid world when his two-foot dorsal fin, notched and battle-scarred, cut the surface for a quarter hour, unaware he was a two-thousand pound apex predator marvel. At gloaming, he rode the liquid slopes to deeper, deepest depths, specialized blood vessels keeping Ocean Boy’s body temperature higher than the cold water pressing his organs. The hunt was on. Night vision was activated. His black eyes rolled back to fibrous muscle as his jaws snapped the meaty squid, clamped rows of sharp teeth, his torpedo body impervious to struggling arms and suckers, to spilled ink blacking the already black depths. Sated, he headed northwest. Forty-three miles a day he averaged, intent on a destination his brain had mapped at birth, a magnetic and magnificent tug toward innate hunger for fatty seal and sea lion, for adding weight, for adding years, for adding fear. At purple dawn, Ocean Boy’s dorsal fin broke the southern sea surface. The scent of blood increased his speed. *** Chapter One Safe from the tempest, Alexa Glock dripped across the cement floor to the ticket counter. She scanned the…

One Before she did anything else today, Clemmie had to check up on her next door neighbor, Dom. Why Dom had moved to Sun City was not clear. He had never joined anything, attended anything, nor shown interest in anything. He just sat in his villa watching TV, playing video games, and smoking cigarettes. He owned the tiniest of the three attached villas, the one in the middle with no side windows and little sun. Clemmie lived on the left, and a couple she hardly ever saw owned the right-hand villa, using it as a hotel when they visited grandchildren in the area. When they arrived, which was infrequently, they used their automatic garage door opener, drove in, closed the garage door behind them, and that was that. Nobody ever spotted them again. Clemmie wasn’t sure she’d even recognize them. It was agreed that Clemmie had the least rewarding neighbors in Sun City. Luckily, in her pod—the slightly creepy collective noun Sun City used instead of neighborhood–the little villas were tucked close together in heavily landscaped culs-de-sac, so Clemmie knew all her other neighbors–wonderful friendly people who hosted outdoor barbecues and took her bowling and carpooled when everybody went to…

Hi, Elissa! Thank you for joining us today on Fresh Fiction. Please tell us about yourself and your debut novel, THE UNRAVELING OF CASSIDY HOLMES. Hi! Thanks so much for having me. I’m a Japanese-American Texan who has been writing short stories since I was in elementary school. THE UNRAVELING OF CASSIDY HOLMES is the story of a pop act that is seemingly on top of the world in 2002 — until one of their members inexplicably leaves at the height of their popularity, imploding the group. Fifteen years later, that same member, Cassidy, dies by suicide and the other estranged members come together before her funeral to figure out what went wrong all those years ago. It’s a novel about secrets, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, trust, and love.  This is your debut novel! Congratulations! Can you tell us about your journey into publishing? I started writing this book in 2014 after a long period of not writing creatively at all. I am a slow writer and it took three years to finish the first draft. I realized what was wrong with it, chopped off the second half, and began drafting again, then revised for another year. This entire time I didn’t…