In prolific suspense novelist and USA-Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author Debra Webb's latest novel, THE SECRETS WE BURY, is the first in a new romantic suspense series whose protagonist, Dr. Rowan Dupont—formally Nashville, Tennessee Police Department’s forensic psychologist—also happens to be an undertaker’s daughter.

Rowan, who comes from the small town of Winchester, Tennessee, is haunted by the mysterious drowning death of her twin sister. Between her mother’s subsequent suicide and the recent murder of her father, returning to Winchester to run the funeral home feels fitting—even if it leaves her vulnerable to an obsessive serial killer

Debra and I not only discussed her plotting and how her past affects her writing, she also has sage advice to authors just starting out: "If what you write is what readers want to read, don't deviate from what works best for them—and for you."

In USA Today best-selling author Kaira Rouda's latest domestic suspense novel, SOMEBODY'S HOME, the sale of house isn't a fresh start, but the beginning of a nightmare.


Julie Jones has left her suffocating marriage. Although it’s on the wrong side of the tracks in Oceanside, California, she's hoping that her new house is the first step toward a new life with her teenage daughter, Jess.

However, the previous owners have left something—or rather someone—behind…

Tom Dean has a seething hatred for the father who considers him a lost cause. He’s now extended his malice to the woman who has purchased the only home he’s ever known. She thinks he’ll be gone in three days, but Tom has the perfect plan for this single mother and her daughter.

Before the weekend is over, somebody is going to get exactly what they deserve.

Kaira and I discuss where she gets her novel premises, her process for bringing her everyday characters to life, how young adults become disenfranchised from the rest of the world and cajoled into domestic terrorism, and why it’s important to lift the curtain on the dark side of our everyday lives.

According to internationally bestselling author David Baldacci, when you’ve written as many books as he has—ten series, or a total of thirty books, and counting; and another twelve stand-alone novels—there is one way to keep his writing razor-sharp: “Start from Square One: create a new character, a new series—a new world.”

With his latest novel, LONG ROAD TO MERCY, Baldacci has done just that. His new protagonist, female FBI agent Atlee Pine, must cover a desolate Far West outpost on her own. And although its size is intimidating—it includes Grand Canyon National Park—Atlee is strongly motivated to succeed. She sees it as a way to avenge the tragic death of her twin sister, Mercy, who was abducted by a serial killer when the girls were only six years old.

David and I talked about his process in creating new, complex characters and weaving real-time geopolitical incidents into a heart-pounding plot.

Click here to read the accompanying feature interview with David in TheBigThrill.org

(c) 2018, 2025 Josie Brown. All Rights Reserved

In best-selling author Lisa Barr’s latest thriller, WOMAN ON FIRE, rising young journalist, Jules Roth, is given an unusual—and very secret—assignment: locate a painting stolen by the Nazis more than 75 years earlier: It is the final request of World-renowned shoe designer Ellis Baum, who has a special relationship with the painting and knows his time on Earth in short.

But a cunning art gallery owner is also searching for the painting. Heir to her art collector family’s millions, Margaux de Laurent is renowned for getting everything she wants—and the only thing standing in her way is Jules. Helping Jules is Adam Baum, Ellis’s grandson. A recovering addict and brilliant artist in his own right, Adam was once in Margaux’s clutches. He knows how ruthless she is, and he’ll do anything to help Jules locate the painting before Margaux gets to it first.

A thrilling tale of secrets, love, and sacrifice that illuminates the destructive cruelty of war and greed and the triumphant power of beauty and love, Woman on Fire tells the story of an exquisite work of art that burns bright, moving through hands, hearts, and history.

Lisa and Josie discuss how much of this tale is also a part of her history: as an art lover, a novelist, and the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor.

WOMAN ON FIRE IS IN BOOKSTORES NOW.

(c) 2022 JOSIE BROWN. All Rights Reserved.

In Jason Pinter's second novel in the Rachel Marin thriller series, A STRANGER AT THE DOOR, Pinter has given Rachel a unique skill set: she has an uncanny ability to see clues that crime scene investigators may miss, making her a much-needed asset by her town’s understaffed homicide detectives, including her love interest, John Serrano.

She’s also a lethal killer.

This gives her leeway to do things that may be considered skirting the law.

It also makes her one kick-ass helicopter mom.

When danger lands on Rachel’s doorstep with the threat of harming her young family, she has a vested interest in solving the heinous murder of a local high school teacher, Matthew Linklater—he was brutally murdered before his home was set afire.

Solving the beloved teacher’s death becomes imperative, especially when it turns out that some of her son Eric’s classmates may be involved.

Jason and I discuss how he came up with the plot, and how being a parent helped him create the empathy needed to let loose the Tiger Mom in his intrepid protagonist.

A STRANGER AT THE DOOR is in Amazon. You can also purchase it at your local bookstore.

For more about Josie, go to https://www.josiebrown.com

In New York Times best-selling Author Eileen Goudge’s latest novel, All THEY NEED TO KNOW, Kyra, an abused wife of a rich, powerful man goes on the run, ending up across the country in a small California town where she hopes to hide out. Instead, she is embraced by the locals, who offer friendship, support, and acceptance—no questions asked. Inevitably, though, terror comes knocking. Is Kyra strong enough to confront it?

This novel is especially compelling because it’s based on incidents that happened to Eileen. In our very candid conversation, she shows that a fully-lived life isn’t just fodder for fiction, but the greatest catalyst for exorcizing the demons of one’s past.

Check out Eileen Goudge's ALL THEY NEED TO KNOW on Amazon and in other bookstores.

Check out Josie's website at https://josiebrown.com

This has been a copyrighted episode of Author Provocateur with Josie Brown.

AI was not used in the creation of this podcast.

(c) 2024 Josie Brown.

In THE WHISPER SISTER, Jennifer S. Brown delivers an atmospheric coming-of-age story set in Prohibition-era New York, tracing one immigrant family’s fortunes and a young girl’s journey from the schoolyard to the speakeasy.

The streets of New York in 1920 are most certainly not paved with gold, as Minnie Soffer learns when she arrives at Ellis Island. Her father, who left Ukraine when Minnie was a toddler, feels like a stranger. She sleeps on a mattress on the kitchen floor, and she understands nothing at school. They came to America for this?

When her father, Ike, opens his own soda shop, stability and citizenship seem within reach. But the soda shop is not what it seems; it’s a front for Ike’s real moneymaker: a speakeasy.

When tragedy strikes the Soffers, Minnie has no choice but to take over the bar. She’s determined to make the speakeasy a success despite the risks it brings to herself, her family, and her freedom.

At what price does the American dream come true?

Minnie won’t stop until she finds out.

Check out Jennifer S. Brown’s THE WHISPER SISTER on Amazon and in other bookstores.

Check out Josie's website at https://josiebrown.com

This has been a copyrighted episode of Author Provocateur with Josie Brown.

AI was not used in the creation of this podcast.

(c) 2024 Josie Brown.

In prolific screenwriter Daniel Pyne’s latest thriller, WATER MEMORY—Black Ops specialist Aubrey Sentro may be one concussion away from death. But when pirates seize the cargo ship she’s on, she must decide whether to risk her life to save her fellow passengers.

As she plays their deadly game of cat and mouse, she pushes herself to survive by focusing on thoughts of her children. She’s never told them what she really does for a living, and now she might not get the chance.

While her memories make her vulnerable, motherhood makes her dangerous.

Daniel and I also discuss his process for writing the novel his first series, and the similarities and differences between writing for film and television as opposed to novels.