Jess Lourey

Jess is an Amazon Charts bestselling, ITW, Anthony and 2023 Minnesota Book Award-winning author who's also been shortlisted for Edgar and Agatha awards. She writes crime fiction, nonfiction, children's books, YA adventure, and magical realism.

She is also a retired professor of creative writing and sociology, a recipient of The Loft's Excellence in Teaching fellowship, a Psychology Today blogger, and a TEDx presenter (check out her TEDx Talk about inspiration behind her first published novel).

When she’s not leading women's writing retreats, reading, traveling, or fostering kittens, Jess Lourey is drafting her next story. She lives in Minnesota, where twenty-three of her books are also set.

A fascination with Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), a branch of law enforcement unique to the state, led Jess Lourey to embark on a new series this fall. THE TAKEN ONES (Thomas & Mercer: publication date: September 19, 2023) centers on Evangeline “Van” Reed, a cold case BCA agent with a dark past who partners with forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck to solve the unsolved mystery of two missing girls from more than 40 years ago—and the recent murder of a woman who could be identified as one of those girls.

Jess Lourey shares some backstory on her crime fiction: “I grew up in St. Cloud, MN, in the ‘70s, at a time where there were at least two serial killers operating in my neighborhood. We then moved to Paynesville, MN in the ‘80s, when eight boys were abducted and returned in this small town, leading up to the murder of Jacob Wetterling, an eleven-year-old boy who lived nearby. There was so much violence all around me. My entire childhood, I saw women and children being harmed and not much in the way of justice or accountability. That has left an indelible mark on me, and in my thrillers, I strive to give a voice and perspective to those who are hurt.”

Transcription available on request.

Will Dean

Will Dean, author of The Last Thing to Burn which was shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, grew up in the East Midlands of the United Kingdom. After studying law at the London School of Economics and working in London, he settled in rural Sweden where he built a wooden house in a vast forest, and it’s from this base that he compulsively reads and writes. His debut novel, Dark Pines, was selected for Zoe Ball’s book club on ITV, shortlisted for the National Book Award (UK), The Guardian’s Not the Booker prize, and was named a Telegraph book of the year.

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Lee Goldberg

Author and screenwriter Lee Goldberg has topped bestseller lists, earned wide critical acclaim, and garnered a worldwide devoted fan base for his compelling and meticulously researched police procedurals and spy thrillers. His latest book, MALIBU BURNING, which Thomas & Mercer will publish on September 1, 2023, marks a brand-new direction in crime fiction for the talented storyteller. It’s a relentless thriller tracking both a master thief with a conscience and the dogged investigators out to stop him from pulling off the ultimate heist in the midst of a raging wildfire.

Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award and two-time Shamus Award nominee and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nearly 40 novels, including Lost Hills, True Fiction, fifteen Monk mysteries, and the first five “Fox & O’Hare” books, co-written with Janet Evanovich. He’s also written and/or produced many TV shows, including Diagnosis Murder, SeaQuest, and Monk, and co-created the Hallmark movie series Mystery 101. As an international television consultant, he has advised networks and studios in Canada, France, Germany, Spain, China, Sweden, and the Netherlands on the creation, writing, and production of episodic television series.

He lives with his family in Calabasas, California, where flames forced his family to evacuate during the recent Southern California wildfires.

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Chris Pavone

CHRIS PAVONE is the author of five international thrillers, including The Expats, which won both the Edgar and Anthony awards, and most recently Two Nights in Lisbon, an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller. His novels have been translated into two dozen languages, and are in development for film and television. Chris grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Cornell, was a book editor for nearly two decades, and then briefly an expat in Luxembourg. He lives in New York City.

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Kelly J. Ford

Kelly J. Ford has earned wide critical acclaim for her gritty novels of queer Southern suspense ever since the release of her award-winning debut, Cottonmouths, a Los Angeles Review Best Book of the year, followed by Real Bad Things, which critic Jon Land called “an outstanding literary crime thriller in all respects.” Ford, who is Southern by several generations and grew up in the foothills of the Ozarks, says that “Arkansas is in my roots and made me who I am.”

Ford returns to the rural South for the setting of her third novel, THE HUNT, which Thomas & Mercer published on July 25, 2023. Partly set at a plastics factory similar to where she worked as a press operator in college, the story centers on blue collar workers in a small, insular town. It was important to her to highlight family influences and circumstances that can potentially lead people to become accidental criminals, or to be perceived as such due to bias within the criminal justice system.

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Sara DiVello

Sara DiVello is a true crime novelist and the creator/host of Mystery and Thriller Mavens, a popular interactive Facebook group. For her weekly Mystery and Thriller Mavens live events, she has interviewed more than 300 authors, ranging from the bestselling and world-renowned (Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Tamron Hall, Karin Slaughter, Ruth Ware, Lisa Unger, and many more) to the buzziest debuts.

While creative and active on her own social media platforms, DiVello also serves as the director of social media strategy for the International Thriller Writers association. Sara has appeared on CBS, ABC, and CNBC, as well as in the New York Times, Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and more. Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Elle, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Woman’s Day, among others.

In her spare time, she loves to teach yoga, cook (and eat!), garden, and go for leisurely walks with her husband and their beloved rescue mutt, Peluda. Sara is passionate about all things books (especially mysteries and thrillers), the craft of writing, and connecting readers to their favorite authors, as well as introducing them to their new discoveries. She splits her time between New York City and Boston.

BROADWAY BUTTERFLY is told with historical accuracy, as well as with cultural sensitivity. While meant to entertain, the book represents an enduring quest for justice set against a backdrop of power, money, class, race, gender, truth, and politics. Every character was a real person, and Sara DiVello set out to honor their lives and their memories with a compassionate retelling of their stories. It’s a riveting and compulsive true crime mystery that examines the political powers at play and presents compelling evidence for who the killer really was…and how he literally got away with murder.

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Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952, and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing.  She currently lives in Boston.

Alice Hoffman has become one of the most distinguished novelists. She has published over thirty novels, three books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults. Her novel, Here on Earth, an Oprah's Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. 

Alice Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine.

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Taylor Adams

Taylor Adams graduated from Eastern Washington University with the Excellence in Screenwriting Award and the Edmund G. Yarwood Award. He is the author of several acclaimed thrillers including HAIRPIN BRIDGE and NO EXIT. NO EXIT has been published in 32 languages and was recently adapted by 20th Century Studios as a Hulu Original Film. Adams lives in Mukilteo, Washington.

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Alli Frank & Asha Youmans

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans found literary soulmates in each other after working together as teacher and school administrator in Seattle, WA. They discovered a shared mission as educators and as authors— to use humor, joy and compassion to write stories that encourage candid conversations about issues such as race, religion, culture, class, privilege, parenting and education. Their debut, Tiny Imperfections, tackled desperate parents and their ill-fated misbehaviors with razor-sharp wit, followed by Never Meant to Meet You, which deftly mined the often comedic and underexplored common ground between Black and Jewish experiences in America.

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Bryan Davis

Are you looking for exciting, adventurous stories for your kids or grandkids to read? Bryan Davis has written dozens of fantasy and science-fiction novels for teens and adults. His books feature unlikely heroes who must rise to the occasion using courage, hope, and tenacity.

His books have sold over 700,000 copies and you’ll love hearing his insights in how he got started, why he’s not an outliner and the three novels he recommends everyone should read before they die…one of them for certain will surprise you! Give it a listen!

#thestoryblender #readstevenjames #bryandavis

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