Bookwild

This week, I got to chat with Emily Carpenter about her new horror-thriller Gothictown.  We dive into how a newspaper article she saw during the pandemic inspired the story, and how she crafted such a creepy vibe for Julianna, Georgia.  

Gothictown Synopsis

Welcome to gentle Juliana, where you can have it all…if you pay the price.

The email that lands in Billie Hope’s inbox seems like a gift from the universe. For $100, she can purchase a spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia, a small town eager to boost its economy in the wake of the pandemic. She can leave behind her cramped New York City rental and the painful memories of shuttering her once thriving restaurant and start over with her husband and her daughter. Plus, she’ll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity. It seems like a dream come true…or a devil’s bargain.

A few phone calls and one hurried visit later, and Billie, Peter, and six-year-old Meredith are officially part of the Juliana Initiative. The town is everything promised—two hours northwest of Atlanta but a world away from city living, a “gentle jewel” with weather as warm as its people. Between settling into their lavish home and starting her new restaurant, Billie is busy enough to dismiss any troubling signs…

But Billie’s sleep is marred by haunting dreams, and her marriage with Peter is growing increasingly strained. Meanwhile the town elders, all descended from Juliana’s founding families, exert a level of influence that feels less benevolent and more stifling day by day.

There’s something about “Gentle Juliana”—something off-kilter and menacing beneath that famous Southern hospitality. And no matter how much Billie longed for her family to come here, she’s starting to wonder how, and if, they’ll ever leave.

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I got to chat with one of our podcast faves ASHLEY WINSTEAD! In her third appearance on the show, we talk about her new thriller, This Book Will Bury Me, and how she exorcized her own demons after she found herself obsessed with true crime forums in the wake of her father's unexpected death. She shares why she was drawn to writing a roman à clef about grief and true crime obsession, and her willingness to critique herself through that form.

This Book Will Bury Me Synopsis

It's the most famous crime in modern history. But only she knows the true story.

After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory...

So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence. When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions, and begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap...

Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans...

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

Today, Gare and I talk with Marshall Karp about his book that we all loved (Gare, Steph and me) Don't Tell Me How To Die. He shares the inspiration for the book and how his determination to get the story right delivered us one of our new favorite books!

Synopsis

I have one thing to do before I die.
And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died at forty-three. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, she’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”?

From thriller writer Marshall Karp (cocreator with James Patterson of the #1 New York Times bestselling NYPD Red series), and rich with Karp’s deft array of three-dimensional characters and his signature biting humor, Don’t Tell Me How to Die has so many twists and turns, you’d swear he wrote it with a corkscrew.

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare and I share books we think will cure your White Lotus hangover after the season finale!

Books We Talked About

Born for This

It Could Be Anyone

Running Cold

We Were Never Here

The Hollywood Assistant

She Started It

The Whispers

The Vacationers

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Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, I talk with Nick Kolakowski about his mystery-thriller Where the Bones Lie! We dive into the inspiration for the story, his closeness to one of the characters, and how he subverted the noir genre.

Where the Bones Lie Synopsis

For Dash Fuller, Hollywood’s underbelly is home. He’s spent years making the film industry’s worst secrets disappear, and it’s left him a cynical burnout with a taste for bourbon and self-loathing.

But when a young woman comes to him with a peculiar quest, Dash sees a chance at redemption. Madeline Ironwood is the daughter of Ken Ironwood, a notorious smuggler and murderer who disappeared 20 years ago. Ken’s skeleton has just been discovered in a barrel at the bottom of a dried-up lake, and Madeline wants to know who killed him.

Dash agrees to help, and as this desperate daughter and jaded cynic claw their way through a world of sun-bleached secrets, crooked cops, and Hollywood thugs, they soon uncover a conspiracy involving some of LA’s most powerful people.

Learn more about Nick Kolakowski here

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

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Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare and I share some of our favorite popcorn thrillers, AND discuss actors we want to see on future seasons of White Lotus.

Books We Talked About

If You See Me

Return to Midnight

On the Surface

You Killed Me First

This Girl’s A Killer

The Teacher

The Astrology House

The Final Act

The Lake of Lost Girls

Count My Lies

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Halley Sutton and I introduce a new series about writing! I've said on this podcast a few times that I will finish my book this year, and this series is a way to make sure I do spend time on it, and stay in the writing state of mind. For our first topic of this series, we talk about things that keep us close to writing even when we aren't putting down tons of words.

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare and I talk about books we wish we could erase from our memories and re-read!

Books We Discussed

Local Woman Missing

The Last Winter of Dani Lansing

The Night Bird

The Girl Who Was Taken

1984

The Shards

All the Missing Girls

What You Don’t Know

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare, Steph and I talk about 2025 thrillers we are excited about!

Glitter in the Dark

Count My Lies

This Book Will Bury Me

Immaculate Conception

The Death of Us

Whispers of Dead Girls

A Thousand Natural Shocks

The Missing Half

Don’t Tell Me How to Die

The Memory Collectors

One in Four

Their Double Lives

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor

This week, Gare, Steph and I share books that you can easily escape into!

Books We Talked About

Watch Out for Her

Don’t Tell Me How to Die

Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance

The Real Deal

Cross My Heart

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder

The Paradox Hotel

A Killer’s Mind

Cackle

All the Bookwild Links:

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Gare Billings @gareindeedreads

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Halley Sutton @halleysutton25

Brian Watson @readingwithbrian

MacKenzie Green @missusa2mba

Erin Ashley @bellametaphor