1–What is the title of your latest release? CONCRETE EVIDENCE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? On the family’s Brazos River Ranch in Texas, Avery Elliott helps run her grandfather’s commercial construction business. Raised by Senator Elliott, Avery has never doubted her grandfather is a man of integrity and faith until the day she finds him standing with a gun over the body of a dead man. To make matters worse, Avery just discovered a billing discrepancy for materials supposedly purchased for the construction of the Lago de Cobre Dam. Desperate for answers, Avery contacts FBI Special Agent Marc Wilkins for help. As Marc works to identify the dead man, threats toward Avery create a fresh sense of urgency to pinpoint why someone wants to silence her. To make matters worse a hurricane is approaching threatening lives and property. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted a bigger-than-life setting in my beloved Texas. That meant a big ranch. My husband and I drove around the Brazos River area until we found not only the perfect ranch but also the perfect spot for a fictitious dam. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely! Avery is smart and witty. She…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE GHOSTS OF LEWIS MANOR 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Seraphina must choose the lesser of two evils—the ghosts that haunt her or the murderer who hunts her. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I love the history and folklore of the New Forest in the South of England. It’s the perfect setting for a ghost story. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Curious, determined, and brave. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? We fear things because we don’t understand them. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Editing is my lifeline in writing—I’m always editing. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? I can’t live without pastries. The combination of dough and sweets makes me happy! 9–Describe your writing space/office! I love writing outdoors—anywhere is wonderful if I’m not confined by walls. 10–Who is an author you admire? Agatha Christie all the way. 11—Which Agatha Christie book is your favorite? They are all so great that it’s hard to pick one, but The…

1–What is the title of your latest release? NEXT OF KIN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? On an ordinary working day, London architect Leila Syed receives a call that cleaves her life in two. Her brother-in-law’s voice is filled with panic. His son’s nursery has called to ask where little Max is. Leila was supposed to drop Max off that morning. But she forgot he was in her car ­– on the hottest day of the year. Racing to the carpark, she grasps the horror of what she has done. What follows is an explosive, high-profile trial that will tear the family apart. But as the case progresses it becomes clear there’s more to this incident than meets the eye… 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I was born and raised in East London, which is one of the most deprived areas of the UK. It has this sense of menace that’s irresistible to a novelist. Authors like Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde used it as a sinister setting, a place of grime, vice and flux. Although my main character, Leila, lives in a small desirable pocket, the surrounding sense of…

ALL THE BROKEN GIRLS by Linda Hurtado Bond   A is for Action – which you will get a lot of in All the Broken Girls.   L is for Linda, my first name.   L is also for love – which inspired this book. My love for both my Cuban American husband and the Cuban American culture we raised our children in.   T is for Tony, the hot, by-the-books detective on the hunt for a serial killer leaving Mari clues   H is for Hanks  – the cold case detective helping Mari look into the ten-year-old murder of her mother.   E is for Evil as in The Evil Eye, which Mari fears someone is giving her.   B is for broken. Mari feels driven to help some broken girls because no one helped her after her mother was murdered.   R is for religion, which plays a part in this killer’s motivation and is infused in the calling cards he leaves behind.   O is for Orlando, Mari’s side-kick news photographer who is constantly trying to keep Mari out of trouble.   K is for kindness. When Detective Garcia shows Mari his kind side, something inside her…

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….