They Called It Murder. She Called It Justice: Sally Hepworth on Mad Mabel

Someone's Watching: Jamie Day on Beach Thriller

The duo behind the pen name Jamie Day joins us to talk about Beach Thriller, a novel that somehow fits a crumbling beach house, a cold case, a psychic, a runaway teen, and a shadowy Watcher into one gloriously unhinged summer read. We get into the perks and very real perils of co-authoring across genres, what happens in the writing room when two authors want to take the story in completely different directions, and what it actually takes to merge gothic coastal atmosphere with propulsive thriller pacing without losing either. Plus, Daniel and Kathleen reveal their favorite place to plot a murder — and honestly, we're a little jealous. Download and listen today — because the best beach reads are the ones that won't let you leave your chair.

Every May 1st, He Comes for Them: Alex Finlay on The Anniversary

Alex Finlay joins us to talk about The Anniversary, a novel that opens with a quote from Ted Bundy and somehow is also a love story. We get into the singular challenge of writing a serial killer thriller with genuine heart at its center, and how Finlay built an entire decade of two lives out of a single repeating date — one day a year, ten years running — and why that structure is both a brilliant constraint and a challenge for the writer inside it. Plus, Alex makes a compelling case for why Paris belongs on every bucket list. Download and listen today — because May 1st started as a date on a calendar. Then it became the day everyone in a small Midwestern town learned to be afraid.

She Remembers a Life That Wasn't Hers: Lauren Oliver on The Girl in the Lake

Lauren Oliver joins us to talk about The Girl in the Lake, a novel that asks one of the most unsettling questions in suspense: what if the key witness to a decades-old disappearance is a six-year-old who wasn't even born when it happened? We dig into Lauren's fascination with places where the things we can't define and understand intersect with the psychological, what it means to write characters trapped inside systems — institutions, grief, memory — that they can't fully see or escape, and how she built a story that straddles psychological suspense and something far harder to explain. Plus, Lauren gets into why reincarnation and consciousness aren't just plot devices here — they're the whole question. Download and listen today — because sometimes creepy kids have secrets to share.

Wide Awake at 3am: Allison Winn Scotch on The Insomniacs

Allison Winn Scotch joins us to talk about The Insomniacs — and the genre pivot that ten novels of commercial fiction finally led her to. We get into why she crossed over to the dark side of suspense, how she landed on a story about four strangers who can't sleep, and what it means to write characters who are each standing at the edge of their own lives — one injury, one empty nest, one disappearance away from becoming someone else entirely. Plus, Allison gets personal about what actually keeps her up at 3am, and we promise it's more relatable than you'd expect from someone this accomplished. Download and listen today — because some of the most honest conversations happen after midnight, with people you never planned to know.

They Called It Murder. She Called It Justice: Sally Hepworth on Mad Mabel

Sally Hepworth joins us to talk about Mad Mabel, and the character at the center of it — Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick, 81 years old, gloriously grumpy, desperately lonely, and Australia's youngest convicted murderer. We get into what it takes to write a woman this prickly and make readers root for her anyway, how Sally mined her own mother's memories to bring the 1950s timeline to life, and why this book — for all its murder and suspense — is really a story about friendship. Plus, Sally shares the wildest thing she's ever done in the name of research, and we can confirm: the Killers did NOT see it coming. Download and listen today — because some women spend a lifetime being underestimated, and some of them are just getting started.