1–What is the title of your latest release? A LIKEABLE WOMAN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Kira, a 30-something woman who fled her small, East Texas hometown decades earlier in the wake of her provocative mother’s mysterious death returns to attend her frenemy’s vow renewal party and as she investigates her mother’s death, danger starts to lurk all around her. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? All my thrillers (so far) are set in the lush, eerie Piney Woods of Deep East Texas, a place at once both haunting and beautiful. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I would totally hang out with Kira and we would have so much in common! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Artistic, Shrewd, Frozen by grief 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I challenged myself to write a closed-circle mystery—something I’d never done!—and had great fun doing it! 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I do edit as I draft and I work with a developmental editor during the drafting process. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Dark chocolate, all…

1–What is the title of your latest release? SUMMER RENTAL 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Mean Girls meets Scream in this heart-pounding, suspenseful psychological thriller about a group of friends stranded on an island with a serial killer on the loose. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I have in mind four planned books in this thriller series – while they are all standalones, they occur in the same metaverse. The first book, Ski Weekend, took place in the mountains in winter on the west coast. I knew I wanted the follow-up thriller, Summer Rental, to have a completely different feel setting/atmosphere-wise so I set it in the summer on an island on the other side of the United States. I also grew up in Florida, so there’s that! 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Maybe not in the beginning of the book but definitely by the end! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Smart. Quiet. Surprising. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That some houses in Florida really do have basements. I grew up in South Florida and always thought no houses…

1 Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. December 27, 1967, 2:00 a.m.   The room was brightly lit. Pale blue walls shone white and the black floor tiles shimmered and rippled like water. Paper chains and tired snowflakes hung from the ceiling and a Christmas tree sat unhappily in the corner, leaning forward but somehow not tipping. In the middle of the room was a flimsy Formica table and, on either side, sat two men, neither of whom wanted to be there. Jack Miller was relaxed but wary, his eyes alert and clear despite the hour. His clothes well cut. He clenched and unclenched his right fist, which was large and heavy and stiffened with arthritis. The weight of it made the table look flimsier still. He rubbed his knuckles to ease the pain then looked from the blank piece of paper in front of him to the man opposite. Private Connor Murphy. His face and hands were covered in bandages and the parts of his scalp that showed through were either pink and raw or black and charred. It made you hurt just to look at him, Jack thought. Poor bastard. The nurses said feeding him was like…

Hi! I’m Karen Katchur, author of six mystery/thriller novels, and I’m excited to share with you my latest release, THE GREEDY THREE. It’s a story about a kidnapping gone awry, and how three desperate characters find themselves trapped inside a remote cabin with a baby and a bag full of money. It’s gritty and offbeat with a full cast of quirky characters you can’t help but root for.   T:  Thriller H:  High stakes E:  Entertaining   G:  Gunslinger R:  Runaway E:  Eccentric characters E:  Engaging, fast-paced plot D:  Darkly funny Y:  Yummy hamburger dish (not really!)   T:  Tense H:  Human trafficking R:  Remote cabin E:  Emotional ending E:  Enjoy the ride! THE GREEDY THREE: A THRILLER by Karen Katchur When a kidnapping goes awry, three desperate characters find themselves trapped inside a remote cabin with a baby and a bag full of money. Noah is a kidnapper, hired to buy a baby from a human trafficking ring and smuggle her across the Canadian border for a cool half a million dollars. Eve is a teenage runaway, who takes the infant—and the sack full of cash—away from him. Hester is an outcast, living alone in a backwoods cottage, harboring secrets of…

1–What is the title of your latest release? HOW I’LL KILL YOU 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? For six years, Sissy (not her real name) has been running the cleanup to protect her serial killer sisters from getting caught each time they murder their boyfriends and skip town. Now, to test her loyalty, her sisters have demanded that Sissy also picks a lover to kill. But when she sets her sights on a charming young widower named Edison, she commits the greatest sin of all: falling in love and wanting to protect him from her sisters, and from herself. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The story opens with Sissy trying to pick out her first mark as a serial killer. When I imagined her would-be mark entering the diner she’d been staking out, a picture emerged of a man standing against the desert backdrop. There’s something really clean and pretty about an empty desert. In a remote town where people leave their doors unlocked and everyone knows each other, and nothing ever happens, nobody would suspect that polite newcomer to be a serial killer. 4–Would you hang out with your…

1–What is the title of your latest release? DEATH WATCH 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? An expensive but potentially deadly watch creates cultural chaos—and attracts buyers. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? My last two novels were part of a Boston-based crime series. Wanted to get out of Boston and head to New York. Much of the action of DEATH WATCH happens in NYC and Tokyo. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Definitely. He’s fun. The book’s nowhere near as dark as it might sound. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Canny, impulsive, and easily fascinated. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned that high-end watches have complications that make them more unique and valuable—like showing the phases of the moon or ringing on the half hour. I decided that the ultimate complication would be if the watch could, at any moment, kill its wearer. Like the Sword of Damocles on the wrist. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I go. Then edit even more when I’m done. 8–What’s your favorite foodie…

1–What is the title of your latest release? BURNING DISTANCE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A modern-day Romeo and Juliet— set against the backdrop of deadly weapons smuggling. When ten-year-old Elizabeth West’s father dies in a plane crash over the Persian Gulf, her mother uproots their life in Washington, D.C. and moves to London where she marries a knighted British businessman who has two children, and Elizabeth (Lizzy) and her two sisters move in with their new family. While attending the American School of London, Lizzy meets and falls in love with Adil Hasan— but when Adil’s father, a noted arms middleman, is deported, Lizzy and Adil are separated. Lizzy’ s family also has ties to French-German industrialist Gerald Rene Wagner. Little does she know that Adil’s family has ties to the man as well. When a member of her family is murdered in Berlin under mysterious circumstances, questions surface about Wagner’ s dealings, and Lizzy reexamines what really may have happened to her father. All the while, she endeavors to reunite with her lost love, Adil, and reclaim the connection that was ripped away. Set in the years before and after the first Gulf War, Burning Distance is…

1–What is the title of your latest release? STORM WATCH, the 23rd book in my Joe Pickett series 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? During a series of severe spring snowstorms, Joe Pickett discovers a body near a remote high-tech facility.  His investigation is opposed by local law enforcement, federal agents, and even the governor.  The more he digs, the more he uncovers. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I lived my whole life in Wyoming and Joe Pickett is a Wyoming game warden, so all the novels take place in there. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes.  He’s pretty easy to get along with. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Dogged, loyal, misunderstood. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Mining crypto currency can take place anywhere there is a reliable power source.  And crypto mining used A LOT of power. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I write. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Chicken fried elk steak.  My wife makes the best there is. 9–Describe your writing space/office! My office is located…

Bouthier had been busy setting up in the hotel room all morn­ing so when there was some unexpected downtime, he de­cided to try to squeeze in a quick workout. The hotel gym was downstairs off the lobby and even before he fully pulled open its glass door, he saw without surprise that it was tiny and complete shit. The only good thing about it was that its sole occupant, some pudgy thirty-something insurance-salesman-type on the exer­cise bike, immediately put on the brakes and began gathering up his stuff the split second Bouthier peeled off his shirt. It wasn’t surprising. Six foot and hard bodied with dark pitbull-like eyes, doorway-filling shoulders and a slab of a face that looked like it had been squared into shape with a bricklayer’s crack hammer, Bouthier rarely found social distancing to be too much of a problem.   “Before,” he said as he tracked the soft bubble butt’s hasty exit in the wall mirror. “After,” he said with a gruesome smile as he popped a rock-hard front f lex. He looked around. Without anything real to lift, he decided to do some CrossFit. Burpees, renegade rows, jumping lunges then some dumbbell thrusters with the pathetic…

1–What is the title of your latest release? CRITICAL THREAT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? FBI Special Agent Grace Billingsley tracks serial killers. She never planned on falling in love with the son of one. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? This is book 3 in the series, so my character’s location was pre-determined by the very first book. But I also knew what her job was going to be, so had to have her in a specific location for that. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely. Lainie’s a cool person. I actually like and admire her a lot. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Determined, Loyal, Compassionate 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned that it’s quite a process to become a Behavioral Analyst with the FBI. It was quite an eye-opening research journey. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I go. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? A Krispy Kreme chocolate covered cream filled donut. I allow myself one about once every six months. 9–Describe your writing space/office! A mess!…