In Eileen Goudge's latest novel — The House on Mountain Laurel Lane, a widow and mom of two struggles to let go of the past and embrace the future in a powerful novel about friendship, love, and taking risks.

Ever since her husband Sean's death, Jo Myers just can't move on. Until she receives a video Sean made during his final days, urging her to find happiness after he's gone. Jolted from her rut, she embarks on a journey forward.

Her first step is buying a house she and her daughters can call home. Framed by the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, it's the very house she and Sean dreamed of owning together one day. It comes with a kindly and elderly resident lodger and an opportunity to make new memories. Jo even dips her toes into the dating pool. With the support of her friends, who call themselves the Tattooed Ladies, she is determined to honor her husband's last wish. Even as reality comes crashing down again.

Eileen and I discuss how the plot for this novel came to her. And how, to some extent, it parallels her own life. We also discuss why her numerous novels—at times funny, at other times, heartbreaking—resonate with her readers worldwide.

On bookshelves now!

(c) 2026 Josie Brown

In Barbara Conrey's tragic contemporary novel of love, lust, family and redemption, A FINE LAYER OF DUST, Attorney Jake Trenton's perfectly ordered life unravels when he loses a promotion and his wife announces she wants to become a surrogate. While he spends even more time at the office to prove his worth, he worries about the effects on their family if Sophia carries a baby for a stranger.

Once Sophia explains how important it is to her to bear a child for someone who can't, Jake reluctantly agrees. However, when the embryo transfer is successful, Jake's carefully constructed world crumbles beneath the memory of his brother's death, which occurred years ago in the same month the baby is due.

With nightmares plaguing his sleep and rage consuming his days, Jake makes a devastating choice that will forever alter the lives of two families. Suddenly, he is the kind of man he never thought he would be. Jake must confront the darkest parts of himself and question everything he thought he knew about love, loss, and what it truly means to heal.

This idea for this novel grew out of a tragedy in Barbara's life. In writing A FINE LAYER OF DUST, Barbara found a sense of clarity, forgiveness, and a semblance of peace. She now shares it with us.

A FINE LAYER OF DUST by Barbara Conrey is in bookstores now.

This is a copyrighted episode of Author Provocateur.

(c) 2025 Josie Brown

In Sara Goodman Confino's humorous historical novel, GOOD GRIEF, it's 1963, and Barbara Feldman, a widow of two years, finds her mother-in-law, Ruth, on her doorstep, and determined to ease Barbara's pain. Instead, her machinations exacerbate Barbara's healing. At times, Ruth's antics are as covert as they are funny, and as exasperating as they are touching.

Could you live with your mother-in-law, especially under such sad circumstances?

Sara explains where and how a similar circumstance became the basis for GOOD GRIEF's plot, and why it made it an even greater joy to write it.

She also gives us a hint of her next historical novel, which will resonate greatly with those who identify as "Spring-Nuts" — a.k.a., uber-fans of the greatly beloved living musical legend, Bruce Springsteen. Sara's tale of her own VERY close encounter with The Boss will give you a chuckle and make you wish you were there, too.

Good Grief by Sara Goodman Confino is in bookstores on August 26, 2025.

(c) 2025 Josie Brown

In Juliette Fay's historical novel, THE HARVEY GIRLS, readers are transported to 1920s America, where trains were the common mode of transportation through the parts of the country filled with tall majestic mountains and wild open ranges. This big-hearted tale of two very different women training for a very unique job—Harvey Restaurants—must learn to trust each other as one tries to save her family and the other to save herself.

THE HARVEY GIRLS IS IN AMAZON AND OTHER BOOKSTORES NOW.

(c) 2025 Josie Brown. All rights reserved.

This is a copyrighted episode of Author Provocateur. Any use by AI is expressly prohibited.

In Meredith Schorr's latest novel, ROOMMATING, sizzling chemistry and tender friendship develop between two accidental roommates in this hilarious rom-com from the author of As Seen on TV.

Sabrina is too busy with grad school and her job as a library page to think about dating. Until her elderly roommate, Marcia, invites her estranged grandson, Adam, to move into their two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan temporarily to "find himself." Sabrina doesn't mind sharing the small space with Adam if it helps Marcia repair her relationship with her grandson. But she's not expecting to fall for him herself. Adam is not only gorgeous, he's kind, funny, shares her love of reading, and clearly adores Marcia. After one too many accidental midnight rendezvous in the bathroom (him shirtless), the tension between them is hotter than ever. But they're not the only ones feeling the heat. After Marcia has a health scare, her doctors advise that one of her younger roommates must go.

In a comical and sexy battle to prove who deserves to stay, the two pull out all the stops. All's fair in love and real estate, But in the end, victory is not so sweet when winning the apartment could mean losing each other.

Meredith and I discuss her plotting process and how she makes her dialogue so downright hilarious: a hallmark of her books, for sure. She also has great insights that unpublished authors should take to heart. This episode is truly one you can't miss.

(c) 2025 Josie Brown. All rights reserved.

This is a copyrighted episode of Author Provocateur. Any use by AI is expressly prohibited.

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