Hi! I’m Virginia Hartman, author of The Marsh Queen from Gallery Books. The story of The Marsh Queen follows Loni Murrow, a young Washington, DC, bird artist who faces the past she has long avoided when she returns to her hometown among the lush wetlands of northern Florida and is drawn into a mystery surrounding her father, who died in the swamp when Loni was a child.   T is for Tammy Murrow, Loni’s brother’s wife. Tammy has her own decisive way of doing everything, and it’s usually the opposite of the way Loni would do it. H is for Henrietta, a woman Loni is desperately trying to find because of a mysterious letter about Loni’s father, reading: “There are some things I have to tell you about Boyd’s death.” E is for Elbert Perkins, the real-estate agent in Loni’s hometown, who seems to know more than he’s letting on about some dodgy properties and people in Loni’s childhood neighborhood.   M is for Mariama, the hall manager for the dementia unit at St. Agnes Home, who looks out for Loni’s mom Ruth when she needs it the most. A is for Adlai, the guy who rents Loni a canoe…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Amanda Jayatissa! Writes: Thrillers and psychological suspense, usually including cultural elements from Sri Lanka, where I am from. My most recent novel, YOU’RE INVITED, follows a woman who discovers that her ex-best friend is marrying her ex-boyfriend and would go to any length to stop the wedding, until the bride is presumed dead, and she’s blamed for the murder.   About: When I’m not reading about murder, writing about murder, or dreaming up interesting ways to murder someone (which takes up 90% of my time) I run a cookie shop (such a cliché, right?), run corporate trainings, and am a doting dog mother to my two exuberant huskies.   What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Someone who loves to play detective watches “Say Yes To The Dress” AND “Dateline” enjoys morally ambiguous characters likes reading about different cultures and experiences prefers a. Their food extra spicy or b. Their hero a little salty   What to expect if we’re compatible: I…

1–What is the title of your latest release? DECEPTION, Book Four in the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? DECEPTION is a complex story of family secrets, mixed motives, and learning to trust. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Before I wrote this series, I had always wanted to write a book set on the Natchez Trace. In my mind I could see myself walking where thousands of American Indians, fur trappers, soldiers, and riverboat men making their way home from Natchez to Nashville had walked. And, since I had always wanted to visit Natchez, that seemed the perfect place to set the stories—at the beginning of the Natchez Trace. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Definitely. There are people in this world who, if they stopped by your house and asked if you wanted to go to the city dump with them, you would say yes—you like being around them that much. Madison Thorn is one of those people. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? God-fearing, strong, courageous 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned that if…

As a reader, often, I’ll go for cozy mysteries rather than thrillers. There is, however, the occasional psychological thriller that lures me in – like Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE. What is it about psychological thrillers that attract you as a writer? I think for me a really good thriller has it all: a satisfying mystery with clues, a few shocks and twists, and my taste is to have them cast with rich characters, too, often with a love story threaded in.   Your book, WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME involves a relationship between a mother and son. What made you choose that as a central relationship for your story? Does that kind of bond just naturally ratchet up the tension? I think so – I think as most parents will do anything for their children, it immediately ups the stakes, but I think also teenagers keep secrets from their parents in a way spouses mostly don’t or can’t, which widens the mystery, too.   I love suspense novels in which the main character finds that she doesn’t really know somebody who is close to her as well as she thinks she does. Is there a little bit of…

1–What is the title of your latest release? OUT OF HER DEPTH 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When Rachel lands a dream job in the Tuscan hills, she is drawn into a circle of privileged young Brits. But as the champagne flows and the party doesn’t stop, rivalries fester, and she begins to realize that ‘all that glitters…’ 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I lived in Florence as a student and have visited it every year since – I even got married there. I always knew that the duality of the city: beautiful piazzas fed by dark passageways; the home of both Renaissance art and the menacing Medicis: would make it the perfect setting for a thriller. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Goodness no – in fact, I think all the characters in the book are pretty awful! 5–What are three words that describe Rachel? Voyeuristic, unreliable, naive 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? What happens to a body after its spent weeks in the water (sorry!!) 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I actually did…

Detective Breaker met the chief and Raven next to the recently poured foundation of the new obstetrics wing of Memorial Hospital. The chief introduced him before stepping away to placate Dr. Fabian Long. Long was CEO of the hospital and wanted the crime scene wrapped up as soon as possible so the fellas, as he put it, could get back to work.   Detective Breaker was a handsome man with curly black hair and a haunted look in his eyes. He wore an expensive three-piece suit under a perfectly draped trench coat. Raven didn’t know what annoyed her more – the gold watch chain or the diamond and onyx pinkie ring. But where was her empathy? She remembered how her stepmother dressed, mini-skirts, matching tops, and always the bright red heels. The more Floyd’s crazy showed itself, the fancier Jean dressed, the higher and sharper the red heels. If she couldn’t control her marriage, at least she could control the way she presented herself to the world. Perhaps Breaker felt the same way about this case.   “Where’s the scene?” she asked him, wanting to get the entire thing finished so she could get back to the restaurant before closing….

1–What is the title of your latest release? A RIP THROUGH TIME 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? After responding to a cry for help in modern-day Edinburgh, a Vancouver police detective ends up in the body of the house maid who’d been attacked there…a hundred and fifty years earlier. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted my narrator to be a “fish out of water” in every possible way, which meant setting it abroad. Victorian Edinburgh—known for medical research—is the perfect place for her new employer to live. He’s a doctor who had to take over his family’s undertaking business and uses it for early forensic science. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Absolutely. I can’t say that about all my narrators, but Mallory would be very easy to get along with. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Brilliant, driven, guarded 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Too many things! This was endless research (still ongoing as I work on book 2) One of the joys of time travel is that the narrator takes that journey with you, learning about this new…

While reading the description of your book ONE OF US IS DEAD, I was reminded of my favorite Real Housewives. What was your inspiration for this thriller? I actually came up with the idea for ONE OF US IS DEAD when I was sitting in a salon chair. My hairstylist had mentioned something personal I had previously told her (I don’t even remember what it was), and I was like, “Wait, I told you that? I can’t believe I told you that.” She replied, “Yes, you wouldn’t believe the things people say while sitting in this chair.” That was a lightbulb moment for me, and I immediately felt a salon was the perfect setting for a thriller. By the time I got home, I had half the book plotted out in my head. As I drafted the novel, I was definitely inspired by the Real Housewives as well as the book BIG LITTLE LIES.   Is this story divided up and alternating between the perspectives of several different characters? Yes, there are five points of view which was quite the undertaking to ensure they were unique voices and readers wouldn’t be confused by the multiple perspectives. Thankfully, early reviews gush…

How much research goes into one of your books? A: It really depends on the book. If I’m not familiar with the area, I’ll do a lot of location research, but I try to write books in places where I’ve been or where I know someone. For crime details, I have a lot of people I can call upon for help, or I can post a question in the Crime Scene Writers group. I’ve also done a lot of research over the years that’s become my own knowledge base — I’ve gone through the FBI Citizen’s Academy, gone on ride-alongs with local police, toured the morgue and viewed an autopsy, visited Quantico, and participated in training drills with SWAT teams. All that informs my books. For THE SORORITY MURDER, which came out at the end of 2021, I reached out to the head of the Criminal Justice department at Northern Arizona University as well as someone from the campus police department because I had very specific questions. But most of the forensic and psychology details I researched in books I own. For THE WRONG VICTIM, I reached out to a former ATF agent for information about bombs to make sure…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE CATCH   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? After a harrowing attempt on a judge’s life at the courthouse, Deputy US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are tasked with finding a missing woman and an endangered child in connection to the murder of the judge’s wife. What seems like a fairly straightforward case becomes hopelessly tangled when the marshals discover that the woman they are searching for is not who they think she is.   Madison and Jonas are forced into a race to find the woman and the child before the people who want her dead discover her location. And in a final showdown that could cost her everything, Madison will come face-to-face with the person who murdered her husband.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I typically chose the setting from a place I am familiar with. With this series, I decided to explore the state I grew up in through this series. Washington is an extremely diverse region, from forested mountains to rugged coast lines, to remote islands.   4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real…