Killer Author Club

Before we get into today’s episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night is out in January — and we’ll be taking it on the road. Tour dates coming soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime, preorder your copy now at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

Sara Paretsky joins us to talk about Bad Company, a novel that began with Sara falling out of a Paris hotel bed and ended with one of the most compelling new heroines in spy fiction. We get into how Lily — a retired CIA field agent in her seventies — came to Sara fully formed, name and all, and why she’s decidedly not a caper. We talk about the real book about women inside the CIA that shaped how Lily collects intelligence, what it means to write a character whose body has changed but whose impulse control absolutely has not, and the gloriously unhinged decision to invent an entire country — complete with its own language, folklore, and epic poem. Plus, Sara reflects on founding Sisters in Crime, what the industry looked like before it existed, and what still keeps her up at night about where publishing is headed.

And if you haven’t yet — preorder Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can’t come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because some women get written off. The smart ones use that to their advantage.

Before we get into today's episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night publishes January 12, 2027 — and you can preorder your copy now at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

Lucy Foley joins us to talk about Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, the landmark new Miss Marple mystery arriving fifty years after Agatha Christie's last — and the book that begins with equal parts honor and terror. We get into Lucy's first reaction when the Christie estate came calling, how she went full method to nail the voice and plotting precision Christie is famous for, and why this is the first book she plotted out before writing a single word. We also talk about why Miss Marple — chronically underestimated, quietly devastating — still feels radical today, the family research trip to the Swiss Alps that made it into the final pages, and which of Lucy's own characters she'd least want to be stuck next to on a long flight. Plus, Lucy confesses where she does her best killing — and yes, it's very Hitchcock.

And if you haven't yet — preorder Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can't come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because someone entered that gondola alive. Someone didn't. And Miss Marple is watching every one of you.

Before we get into today's episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night publishes January 12, 2027 — and you can preorder your copy now at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

Tess Gerritsen joins us to talk about The Shadow Friends, the third book in the Martini Club series — and the one where Cold War ghosts come calling on a group of retired CIA operatives in coastal Maine who were absolutely, definitely done with all of that. We get into how living in a town full of real-life retired spies planted the seed for this series, what actually happens to intelligence officers when the intelligence stops, and why gray hair turns out to be the most effective cover of all. We also talk about the quiet superpower of older women being perpetually underestimated — and how Tess weaponizes that on the page. Plus, she gives us a peek at which member of the Martini Club steps into the spotlight in book four, currently in the works.

And if you haven't yet — preorder Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can't come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because the past never dies. It just waits for the right conference in Maine to come crawling back.

Before we get into today's episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night publishes January 12, 2027 — and you can preorder your copy now at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

Eriq La Salle joins us to talk about Laws of Solomon, the fourth book in the Martyr Maker series — and the one where a former child soldier, mercenary, and hit man has traded all of it for California soil, a garden, and a fragile quiet he has absolutely no business expecting to keep. We get into the deliberate choice to give Solomon a peaceful life worth destroying, how Eriq went all the way in writing the backstory that made Solomon who he is and how difficult it was to actually go there on the page, and what his training at Juilliard and NYU taught him about building a protagonist from the inside out. We also talk about how a career spent directing and acting changes the way he constructs a scene — and the question we had to ask: when it comes down to it, which does he love more?

And if you haven't yet — preorder Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can't come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because some men bury their past so deep it takes a child in danger to dig it back up.

Before we get into today's episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night publishes January 12, 2027 — and you can preorder your copy now at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

Charlie Donlea joins us to talk about Guess Again, a cold case thriller set in a small Wisconsin town where a teenage girl vanished ten years ago — and the person who might know what really happened is sitting in a prison cell. We get into how Donlea built a convicted killer into an unlikely source of information and, more impressively, made readers trust him anyway, his writing process of exhaustive outlines and multiple recalibrations that somehow still leave room for surprise, and the craft of planting just enough in each chapter that readers feel like they're solving the puzzle — right up until the moment they aren't. Plus, Charlie gives us a first look at what's next: Behind Every Face.

And if you haven't yet — preorder Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can't come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because some cold cases stay cold for a reason. And some killers are counting on it.

Before we get into today's episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night publishes January 12, 2027 — and you can preorder your copy now at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

In today’s podcast, Gillian McAllister joins us to talk about Caller Unknown, a thriller that opens with a mother waking up in a Texas desert cabin to find her daughter gone and a stranger's phone in her place — and the demand on the other end has nothing to do with money. We get into why moral dilemmas make for the most unputdownable fiction, how Gillian's own views on loyalty, justice, and how far is too far have shifted through years of writing characters into impossible corners, and what it means to build a story around the most primal question a parent can face. Plus, we talk about why the vast, merciless landscape of the Texas desert isn't just a backdrop here — it's doing real emotional work — and Gillian shares the best writing advice she's ever received.

And if you haven't yet — check out Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can't come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because some ransoms can't be paid with money. Only with what you're willing to become.

Before we get into today's episode, a little news from the Killer Author Club: your hosts Kimberly, Heather, and Kaira have written a thriller of their own. Take Back the Night publishes January 12, 2027 — and you can preorder your copy now and win exclusive swag at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book.

Show Notes:

Noelle Ihli joins us to talk about Gray After Dark, a survival thriller inspired by true events and set deep in the Frank Church Wilderness of Idaho — one of the most remote and unforgiving landscapes in the country. We get into the real-life story that made Noelle think "I have to write this," how she engineers suffocating suspense without leaning on tropes or gratuitous violence, and why ordinary people dropped into extraordinary danger make for the most compelling protagonists of all. Plus, we talk about the wild ride from indie publishing to seeing her books with sprayed edges on shelves everywhere — and Noelle reveals the worst thing she's ever done to a character. We're still not over it.

And if you haven't yet — preorder Take Back the Night, the thriller written by your KAC hosts, at killerauthorclub.com/killer-book. January 12, 2027 can't come soon enough.

Download and listen today — because the wilderness doesn't care how fast you can run. It only cares if you can survive.

Dervla McTiernan joins us to talk about Three Reasons for Revenge, a thriller that begins with a woman walking into a police station — and ends with a question about justice that doesn't have a clean answer. We get into the moral weight sitting at the center of this story, how McTiernan engineered a plot where three seemingly unconnected lives gradually lock together without tipping her hand too early, and whether revenge can ever truly be justified — or whether that's even the right question to be asking. Plus, we talk about why Melbourne is the perfect city to hold a story this layered, and we absolutely MUST KNOW what is in those three packages.

Download and listen today — because someone has been watching, someone has been waiting, and the gifts they're sending are anything but friendly.

Jessica Knoll joins us to talk about Helpless, a smoldering, mind-bending thriller about two former college lovers pulled back together twelve years later — and the something old and dangerous neither of them ever fully let go of. We get into the relationships that leave a mark no amount of success, distance, or time can erase, why this book's heroine survives differently than the women in Knoll's earlier novels, and where she draws the line between heat and suspense when a story gets this intimate. Plus, we talk about writing a book club book in the truest sense — one that will take at least two meetings to unpack.

Download and listen today — because some people don't get over you. They just get better at hiding it.

Andrea Bartz joins us to talk about The Last Ferry Out, a thriller set on a Mexican island where the expats are charming, the secrets are lethal, and the ferry to the mainland runs once a week — if you're lucky. We get into why solo travel through Mexico doubled as research and why it's the kind of homework most authors only dream about and what makes a tight-knit expat community the perfect pressure cooker for a thriller. We also talk about why readers — and Andrea herself — keep reaching for stories that scare them even when the real world is already doing plenty of that. And we'd be remiss not to discuss the landmark case that's had the publishing world talking for months now: Bartz v. Anthropic, the largest copyright settlement in U.S. history, and what it means for every writer working today.

Download and listen today — because paradise is only paradise until someone doesn't make it to the ferry.