The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

KILL YOUR DARLINGS (William Morrow; June 10, 2025) is New York Times bestselling author PETER SWANSON’s most ambitious novel yet. The book marries an evergreen hook—a terrible secret unravels a marriage—to a one-of-a-kind structure: this is a thriller told in reverse. Swanson—a “master of suspense” (Crimereads) who specializes in psychological thrillers that subvert expectations—“never disappoints” (NPR). Critics call his novels “ingenious” and “devious” (New York Times Book Review), “inventive” (Wall Street Journal), “complex, twist-filled” (the Associated Press), and “so ruthlessly clever it’s criminal” (Entertainment Weekly).  If you haven’t yet jumped on the Peter Swanson bandwagon, now is the time. KILL YOUR DARLINGS is poised to be the breakout thriller of the summer. A terrible act binds a husband and wife to one another forever. But when the marriage goes south, how far will each of them go to protect their secrets? Smart, unique, and unnerving, KILL YOUR DARLINGS is the latest incredible read from Peter Swanson.

In this episode we talk with New York Times Bestseller Jayne Ann Krentz about her long career in publishing, the importance of genre, meeting reader expectations, mixing popular genres, and so much more. With over 50 New York Times bestsellers, Krentz is one of the forerunners of paranormal romance. She writes romantic thrillers, futuristic suspense, and historical mysteries under the Krentz, Castle, and Amanda Quick names, respectively, and her Harmony novels have been praised for their “seamless synthesis of futuristic suspense, magical settings, and scintillating romance” (Booklist, starred review).

KIMBERLY BELLE is the Edgar Award nominated, USA Today and internationally bestselling author with more than one million copies sold worldwide, with titles including The Paris Widow, The Marriage Lie, a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for Best Mystery & Thriller, and the co-authored #1 Audible Original, Young Rich Widows. Kimberly’s novels have been optioned for film and television and selected by LibraryReads and Amazon and Apple books editors as best books of the month, and the International Thriller Writers as nominee for best book of the year. She divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Linwood Barclay, a New York Times bestselling author with twenty novels to his credit, spent three decades in newspapers before turning full time to writing thrillers. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages, sold millions of copies, and he counts Stephen King among his fans. Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, a series has been made in France, and he wrote the screenplay for the film based on his novel Never Saw it Coming. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives near Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.

Jenny Morris is a psychology researcher with a fascination in ethics, human behavior, and moral dilemmas. She writes high-concept crime novels that explore deep philosophical questions that started off as conversations with friends like, ‘How much would I have to pay you to eat a human toe?’ Jenny has completed the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel' six-month course, and has won short story contests in both Writing Magazine and Writers' Forum. In 2020, she completed a PhD in Psychology. Jenny lives in Kent. AN ETHICAL GUIDE TO MURDER is her first novel. Thea has a secret. She can tell how long someone has left to live just by touching them. Not only that, but she can transfer life from one person to another—something she finds out the hard way when her best friend, Ruth, suffers a fatal head injury on a night out. Desperate to save her, Thea accidentally kills the man responsible and lets his life flow directly into Ruth. Thea comes to understand that she has a godlike power, but how to use it quickly becomes a question of self-control. Is it really so wrong to take a little life from a bad person—say, a very annoying boss—and gift it to someone who's truly good? Realizing she needs to harness her newfound skills, Thea creates an Ethical Guide to Murder. But as she embarks on her mission to punish the wicked and give the deserving more time, she finds good and bad aren't as simple as she first thought. How can she really know who deserves to live and die, and can she figure out her own rules before Ruth’s borrowed time runs out?