"I don't like when violence is trivialized in any genre... someone's dead, like the little jokes or the puns or the whatever, it doesn't work for me... I can't buy into that atmosphere. There has to be… it's not even a ripple effect. It's a freaking tsunami when there's a violent death. So let the storm come, you know, I want to see it. I want to feel it." — Ellery Adams

Ellery Adams is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of over 40 novels, including the Books by the Bay mysteries, the Charmed Pie Shoppe mysteries, and the Book Retreat mysteries. She grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Adams has held many jobs, including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children’s books, and novels.

Among other things, Ellery and Carter discuss the fluidity of the horror genre, storytelling as a child, and setting a story in the 1980s. At the end of their conversation, they make up a descriptive story using a line from R.H. Herron’s Stolen Things.

"I remember rereading it and being like, 'This is what I have been looking for... through all of these jobs and career to careers, that thing that brings me happiness on a day-to-day level.' And also that macro level satisfaction of like, ‘I'm kind of proud of what I created,’ you know? It's those two levels that I think are really, really hard to find. And I think it's worth trying to go from thing to thing, trying to find that for yourself, whatever that may be." — Angie Kim

Angie Kim moved as a preteen from Seoul, South Korea, to the suburbs of Baltimore. She studied philosophy at Stanford University and attended Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Her debut novel, Miracle Creek, won the Edgar Award and the ITW Thriller Award, and was named one of the 100 best mysteries and thrillers of all time by Time, and one of the best books of the year by Time, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, and the Today show. Happiness Falls, her second novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller and a book club pick for Good Morning America, Barnes & Noble, Belletrist, and Book of the Month Club.

Among other things, Angie and Carter discuss how Angie immigrated from Korea in middle school, using writing as a form of therapy, and how Angie fictionalized her personal life and started her writing career. At the end of their conversation, they make up an intriguing story using a line from Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking.

"Since so many thrillers are based around some kind of crime—which is a break in our social order—it is the perfect vehicle to explore the human condition... Thrillers and crime fiction really allow for an under the microscope, us looking at what happens when the social order breaks down." — Lauren Nossett

Lauren Nossett is a professor turned novelist and the award-winning author of the thrillers The Resemblance and The Professor. Her books have been Amazon Editors picks and featured in The New York Times, Buzzfeed,E! News, and Paste Magazine. Described as "elegant and thoughtful" by The New York Times and "impossible to put down" by Paste Magazine, The Resemblance won the ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel and was chosen as a Book All Georgians Should Read. Her next novel, Indie Darling, will release July 2026.

Among other things, Lauren and Carter discuss their experiences at writing conferences like ThrillerFest, maintaining a fast pace in a thriller, and how she completely rewrote her recent novel. At the end of their conversation, they make up a dark story using a line from Elise Hart Kipness’s Dangerous Play.