Melissa Westemeier

Award-winning children’s author Ross Montgomery wrote a killer read for grownups after getting inspired by Halley’s comet trip over Cornwall in 1910. Deploying the humor and criminal elements he gleaned from watching Clue as a kid, The Murder at World’s End delivers a plot twister of a mystery when servants and family members and scientists and lunatics converge at Tithe Hall in anticipation of the apocalypse.

USA Today Bestselling author and Agatha winner Ellen Byron’s new release, Crescent City Christmas Chaos tosses carolers, holiday parties, a cookbook project, and a shady thief wearing a snowman costume into this Cajun mix. Ricki James-Diaz’s hands are full when her parents come to town, her boyfriend’s filming in a Christmas cooking show special, and of course Bon Vee is hopping with festive shoppers. It’s a perfect time for a murder investigation! Ellen dishes about her pa

Sally Smith’s newest title, A Case of Life and Limb, ticks all my boxes: a secret corner of London (that really exists!), a twisty mystery set in a real place in history, backstage theater drama, lawyers wrestling with ethical questions, complex characters, and a sassy cat. She describes her background as a barrister living in The Temple, the secluded grounds dating back to the Knights Templar and today a main legal district in London. We also talk about Gabriel’s origin stor

TWO guests, double the fun in this episode where Kelly and Kristina discuss how social media and celebrities can be a toxic mix. What’s the truth? What’s the conspiracy theory? How deep can people crawl down rabbit holes? Inspired by real life headlines and pop stars, the Mancaruso sisters wrote a twisty thriller about a celebrity journalist who gets sucked down rabbit holes while investigating accusations about iconic pop star Harlow Hayes. Kristina and Kelly dish about pop

Eva Jurczyk’s newest book, 6:40 to Montreal , is an homage to Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express . In this locked room thriller, 6 passengers and 1 steward get trapped in train, during a blizzard, with no wi-fi and all their fears and grief surface as the situation gets worse. We’ve all got irrational (or rational?) fears about being trapped, but Eva raises the stakes by drawing on her own experience with illness and how that changes how we view life. No spoilers

A ghost story in October is tempting enough, but I couldn’t wait to meet a woman whose tagline is mysterious, spooky, cozy + kooky ! Olivia Blacke’s newest Ruby and Cordelia Mystery, Death at the Door , continues Ruby’s quest to learn why Cordelia was killed but another body turns up TrendCelerate. We discuss Olivia’s passion for ghosts (including her haunted bookshelf), the crafty way she bridges the normal and supernatural in this series, and why Cordelia makes a perfect fo

Aaron Philip Clark creates a dark world for his PI Trevor Finnegan to solve crime and describes how he wrote this bulk of his latest book, The Bluest Night, over 3 days at an artist’s retreat in Ojai. Drawing from his past as a screenwriter and a LAPD recruit, this SoCal native brings amazing authenticity and detail to the page. We discuss the threats that lurk inside gated communities, strange people, and magnificent sunsets that create the backdrop for the Trevor Finnegan s

Janice Hallett masterfully creates a world using text threads, pub quiz results, and emails in her newest book, A Killer Question . I’m a...