Darynda Jones, author of A Bad Day for Sunshine

Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.

Darynda Jones: A missing girl, a flasher named Doug, and an old flame that refuses to burn out. What else could go wrong on newly sworn-in sheriff Sunshine Vicram’s first day?

GR: What research did you do for the book?

DJ: I did tons of research about small towns in New Mexico even though I live in one. I had to research the more mountainous areas. The pretty parts. I also had to research the heck out of policies and procedures pertaining to county sheriffs and their deputies as opposed to city and state police. And I spent a lot of time on how to go about getting a search and rescue team assembled and coordinated. Lots of layers to that one, and it’s absolutely fascinating.

GR: What’s your definition of a perfect mystery?

DJ: A perfect mystery is one where I don’t figure out whodunit until the bittersweet end. I love to be surprised but not duped. No cheating. The bad guy has to be a plausible choice. He can’t be introduced in chapter 23 only to be revealed as the bad guy in chapter 24.

GR: Who are your all-time-favorite mystery and thriller writers?

DJ: So many! I would say the queens, of course, Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, and Sue Grafton, top my list. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was brilliant. And I adored Stieg Larsson. More recent writers, for me, are Lee Child, Tana French, Karin Slaughter, Lisa Jewell, and Robert Galbraith. I also love humorous mysteries like those from Janet Evanovich and Jana DeLeon. I could go on and on. Such great talent out there!

GR: What are some new mysteries you've been enoying and recommending to friends? 

DJ: I just read Tana French’s In the Woods and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Fantastic books. And I’m currently reading Karin Slaughter’s Pieces of Her. Neither are brand-new, but I’m just now catching up on my reading. Or trying to.

GR: For someone who hasn't read a mystery in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre? 

DJ: Where the Crawdads Sing. That would hook anyone.

GR: What's your biggest fear? 

DJ: Letting my readers down.
 

Sara Sligar, author of Take Me Apart

Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.

Sara Sligar: Take Me Apart is about a young woman who goes to California to create an archive from the estate of a famous reclusive photographer. Then she finds evidence that the photographer may have been murdered, and she becomes dangerously obsessed with solving the mystery of this woman's death. The book switches between the present-day narrative and various documents that the photographer left behind, so the reader gets to uncover the truth alongside the archivist. It’s a pretty dark, atmospheric novel about gender and power and ambition.

GR: What research did you do for the book?

SS: Since one of the main characters is a star of the New York art scene in the 1980s, I read a lot about the art movements she would have been part of. I read photography manuals to understand how she would have actually made her photographs and old scientific papers to understand the drugs she takes, which are no longer prescribed. The other half of the book is set in a beach town in Northern California, so I took a research trip to the area to get a feel for the place. I stayed in an Airstream trailer, which became the setting of an important scene in the book. I did a lot of internet deep dives—I spent hours on websites for, like, amateur tree enthusiasts, trying to visualize what kinds of leaves would be on the ground at a certain time of year. I think all those weird little details make the book feel more realistic and immediate.


GR: What’s your definition of a perfect mystery?

SS: I like to leave a book feeling a little unsettled. So for me, a perfect mystery has a satisfying solution but also acknowledges that some things about the human condition are always going to be unsolvable. Twists are cool, but personally I care more about characters and setting. If I’m not invested in the characters, then it’s hard for me to care that someone is someone else’s secret ghost brother.

GR: Who are your all-time-favorite mystery and thriller writers?

SS: Tana French is my ultimate. Her books have an amazing combination of intricate psychology and beautiful sentences and a plot that keeps you turning the pages. It can be hard to get all those things in one book, but she always nails it. I’m a total fangirl.

GR: What are some new mysteries you've been enoying and recommending to friends? 

SS: I loved Liz Moore’s Long Bright River. It’s such an honest, compassionate account of the opioid crisis while also being a very rewarding mystery. I tore through Elizabeth Little’s Pretty as a Picture, which takes place on an isolated film set, and right now I’m immersed in Tiffany Tsao’s The Majesties. It has so many great insights about family dynamics. And I am really looking forward to Steven Wright's The Coyotes of Carthage, which is a political thriller about dark money set in South Carolina.

GR: For someone who hasn't read a mystery in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre? 

SS: Angie Kim’s Miracle Creek. It’s such a rich and multifaceted book—there’s something for everyone. A trial worthy of Law and Order, a whodunit mystery, thoughtful explorations of immigration and medical ethics and motherhood...there are so many entry points for readers. It was definitely one of my favorite reads last year.

GR: What's your biggest fear? 

SS: Dolls! I am terrified of dolls. The more lifelike, the worse. I have a very strong reaction to the uncanny valley. I try to avoid any movie with spooky dolls or dummies, but one time I was watching a movie and a demon-possessed doll just showed up out of nowhere, two-thirds of the way through the film! I felt very betrayed.
 

Jennifer Hillier, author of Little Secrets 

Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.

Jennifer Hillier: A year after her four-year-old son is kidnapped in a busy farmers' market, Marin Machado learns that her husband is cheating on her with a much younger woman. Little Secrets is about the disappearance of a child and the unraveling of a marriage, and what lengths a woman will go to when she discovers that the two worst things that have happened to her may not be unrelated.

GR: What research did you do for the book?

JH: I always write about what scares me. As the parent of a five-year-old (and my son was four when I wrote Little Secrets), it was natural for me to want to explore my worst-case scenario about my very worst fear–losing my child. So a lot of my research came from my day-to-day life and paying attention to things like Amber Alerts and the missing-child posters I see. It blew my mind to learn that stranger abduction actually makes up a small percentage of kidnappings. The majority of missing children are taken by someone they know, and it's usually a parent.

GR: What’s your definition of a perfect mystery?

JH: I love a big twist at the end, but I don't necessarily think a mystery always requires one–a series of small twists along the way can be just as satisfying. I do think a whydunit can be as compelling as a whodunit, as long as there are secrets and surprises to be revealed. Mysteries are puzzles, and at the end the pieces should all fit together. When the last piece is in place, the reader should be able to see all the things they thought were insignificant but were actually clues. Ideally, anyway.

GR: Who are your all-time-favorite mystery and thriller writers?

JH: Oh, I have so many. Chelsea Cain's work inspired me to write thrillers in the first place. And I've been reading Jeffery Deaver since I first fell in love with the genre. Everything Mark Edwards writes gives me nightmares (and I mean that as a compliment). I will read anything by Alafair Burke, Mary Kubica, Riley Sager, Caroline Kepnes, Laura Lippman, and Liv Constantine. And I'm a big fan of the work coming from fellow Canadian women like myself: Robyn Harding, Samantha M. Bailey, Hannah Mary McKinnon, Roz Nay, and of course my hero, Chevy Stevens.

GR: What are some new mysteries you've been enoying and recommending to friends? 

JH: I'm lucky that I get the opportunity to read some amazing books before they're even published.  I can wholeheartedly recommend Tanen Jones' The Better Liar, Kathleen Barber's Follow Me, and Simone St. James' The Sun Down Motel, which are recent releases and available now. I also think mystery and thriller fans will love Liv Constantine's The Wife Stalker (out in May), Hannah Mary McKinnon's Sister Dear (also out in May), and S.A. Cosby's Blacktop Wasteland (out in July).

GR: For someone who hasn't read a mystery in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre? 

JH: Is it totally tacky to recommend Jar of Hearts, written by me? OK, probably, but hear me out. It's a serial killer thriller, it's a coming-of-age love story, it's a whydunit, it's a police procedural. I think if it's been a while since you've read a mystery/thriller, there will be some element in this book that will remind you of what drew you to the genre in the first place. (All right, plug over, and my apologies.)

GR: What's your biggest fear? 

JH: Losing my child, as I mentioned earlier, is by far my biggest fear. But not to worry, I also have a lot of smaller fears, too, just to keep life interesting: clowns, porcelain dolls, long staircases, foggy nights, and balloons. Yes, balloons. Because sometimes they pop.
   

D.J. Palmer, author of The New Husband

Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.

D.J. Palmer: A year ago, Nina Garrity believed she was a happily married woman. That was before Glen, her husband of 20 years, vanished while fishing on Lake Winnipesaukee. Only his secrets surfaced.
 
When a chance encounter brings Simon Fitch, a local middle school teacher, into Nina’s life, she finds herself falling in love again. After many months of deliberation, she decides to build a new life with this new man. But before she can accept Simon’s marriage proposal, she must determine that she's not making another terrible choice in a husband. In doing so, Nina will uncover the shocking truth: The greatest danger to herself and her children are the lies people tell themselves.

GR: What research did you do for the book?

DJP: The New Husband is a psychological drama, so I focused my research on how smart, capable, knowledgeable people can fall victim to self-deception and be made to question their reality, memory, or perceptions. I believe The New Husband will resonate on a deeply personal level for anyone who’s ever had their happily ever after dashed to pieces. But the story is also a universal one about family and the ties that both bind us and tear us apart—and, because it’s a thriller, there’s plenty of tension along the way.

GR: What’s your definition of a perfect mystery?

DJP: The perfect mystery should start with a question, and the answer should come together for the reader as close to the last page as possible. Between those pages, the reader should get memorable characters who are easy to root for and a host of suspects who could have done the crime.
 
However, The New Husband is more suspense than traditional mystery, which in my mind makes the core question less of a whodunit and more of a whydunit. Suspense fiction done right keeps the reader on edge and desperate to know what’s going to happen next while also wondering which of the characters, if any, will survive—both physically and emotionally.

GR: Who are your all-time-favorite mystery and thriller writers?

DJP: Stephen King is the author I credit with turning me into a reader. What I like most about his books is how he seamlessly blends elements of mystery, suspense, drama, and, yes, horror into can't-put-down stories with memorable characters and surprising twists.
 
Naturally, I should put my father, Michael Palmer, on any list of favorite mystery/thriller writers, and I had the distinct honor of writing Michael Palmer medical suspense novels after his death in 2013.
 
When it comes to police procedurals—a favorite genre of mine—Lisa Gardner tops my list, along with Karin Slaughter (who writes amazing standalone stories as well), Michael Connelly, and Tess Gerritsen. I also enjoy a core group of Boston-based writers, including Joe Finder, Bill Landay, William Martin, and Hank Phillippi Ryan.
 
Since the D.J. Palmer books focus on “domestic suspense” stories, I've become a huge fan of Lisa Jewell, Lisa Scottoline, and Ruth Ware. I'll also read anything by Greer Hendricks/Sarah Pekkanen, Jennifer Hillier, B.A. Paris, Liv Constantine, Alice Feeney, Riley Sager, and Shari Lapena, among many others.
 
The king of suspense fiction for me is Harlan Coben, and through him I've discovered the work of Alafair Burke, Danielle Girard, Brad Parks, C.J. Box, and Gregg Hurwitz.
 
Oh, boy, I'm not nearly done listing writers I admire (hello, Lee Child), but I fear I've gone on too long.

GR: For someone who hasn't read a mystery in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre? 

DJP: Two books immediately come to mind, both massive bestsellers. If you want terrific writing combined with some of the best descriptive prose about nature I've ever come across and blended with a truly delightful mystery, you can do no better than Where the Crawdads Sing, the blockbuster from Delia Owens.

For a compelling mystery that's compulsively readable, I strongly suggest The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, another debut novelist who rocketed right to the top of the charts. Most readers who try these books will quickly look to pick up another mystery or thriller.
 
Another terrific writer, and dear friend, Lou Berney, wrote a tremendous book titled November Road, with a unique road trip story that is directly related to the JFK assassination that I highly recommend.

GR: What's your biggest fear? 

DJP: I’m always nervous about letting down my readers. I understand that when you open a D.J. Palmer book, you're committing a bit of money as well as time away from your family and other obligations. In return, it's my responsibility to deliver a compelling, exciting, and surprising read, professionally done, with high entertainment value. And that’s no small task. I never take my devoted readers for granted, and I keep these readers in mind with every word I write.
 
Outside of my professional life, I try not to focus on my fears, because those can be limiting. I will confess, though, that I'm no longer skiing the black diamond trails unless they're perfectly groomed.