Jane Healey welcomes debut author Kayla Hardy to The Jane Healey Happy Hour to discuss The Quarter Queen, a historical fantasy set in 1840s New Orleans. Drawing on her background in Black folklore and Louisiana Creole history, Hardy explores the life and legend of Marie Laveau through a layered mother-daughter story that blends magic with real historical tensions. The conversation highlights how voodoo, Catholicism, and the realities of slavery intersect in the novel, as well as Hardy’s path from TV pilot to published book. Hardy also shares how she approached Marie as both a powerful figure and a flawed, human mother navigating a dangerous world.

Jane Healey welcomes back New York Times bestselling author Allison Pataki to discuss her new novel It Girl, inspired by the real-life story of Evelyn Nesbitt. From her rise out of poverty to becoming one of America’s first celebrities, Nesbitt’s life unfolds against the backdrop of the Gilded Age and the birth of modern fame. Pataki shares how she blended history with fiction to reclaim Evelyn’s voice, explores the darker side of early celebrity culture, and reflects on the enduring parallels between Nesbitt’s story and the treatment of women in the spotlight today.

In this episode of The Jane Healey Happy Hour, Jane Healey speaks with New York Times bestselling author Sadeqa Johnson about her new novel Keeper of Lost Children. Johnson shares the little-known history that inspired the book, including the real story of journalist and adoption advocate Mabel Grammer, who helped place more than 500 mixed-race “brown babies” born in post–World War II Germany into American homes.

In this episode of The Jane Healey Happy Hour, host and bestselling author Jane Healey speaks with novelist Lisa Patton about her new book Kissing the Sky, a story set against the backdrop of the 1969 Woodstock music festival. Patton shares how watching the festival’s 50th anniversary coverage sparked the idea for the novel and how extensive research—including conversations with Woodstock organizers and access to newly discovered archival tapes—helped her recreate the historic event.

New York Times bestselling author Jenna Blum joins Jane Healey to celebrate the fifth anniversary—and rebrand—of the podcast and to discuss her sharp, darkly funny romantic thriller, Murder Your Darlings. The novel follows mid-career historical fiction writer Sam Verner as she embarks on a whirlwind romance with a charismatic, bestselling novelist—only to find herself entangled in a web of obsession, ambition, and mounting bodies. Jenna shares how she pivoted from historical fiction to suspense, why she wanted to explore codependency and narcissism, and how her own writing life inspired the novel’s behind-the-scenes publishing details. From blizzards in Maine to deliciously vile antiheroes, this conversation dives into love, power, and the strange, wonderful world of being a writer.

Bestselling author Heather B. Moore joins Jane Healey to discuss her richly researched new novel, Julia, which explores the extraordinary life of culinary icon Julia Child. From her surprising work in the OSS during World War II to her groundbreaking cooking career that began in Paris, Moore paints a vivid portrait of a woman who found her passion later in life and never looked back. The conversation dives into Julia’s love story with Paul Child, her relentless determination to publish Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and how Moore balanced fact and fiction in this biographical novel.

Bestselling author Erika Robuck joins host Jane Healey to talk about The Last Assignment: A Novel of Dickie Chappelle, her biographical novel about trailblazing war photojournalist Dickie Chappelle, who embedded with Marines and bore witness to Cold War flashpoints from Hungary and Cuba to Vietnam. They explore Dickie’s fearless calling to show civilians the realities of war, her complicated personal life and refusal to be tied down, the deep archival research at the University of Wisconsin that brought her story to life, and how Erika balances fact and fiction when writing about real women in history. The conversation also dives into Erika’s writing process, the strange “alchemy” of research, and a sneak peek at her next projects, including a new intelligence heroine and a Southern Gothic historical horror novel drawn from her own family’s past.

In this episode of Historical Happy Hour, bestselling author Jane Healey welcomes back Rhys Bowen to discuss her latest novel, Mrs. Endicott’s Splendid Adventure. Set in the South of France on the eve of World War II, the book follows Ellie Endicott as she discovers independence, friendship, and courage after being abandoned by her husband. Bowen shares the inspirations behind the novel—from a crumbling Italian villa to her reflections on “invisible women”—and dives into themes of resilience, female friendship, and personal reinvention during tumultuous times. The conversation also explores her research process, writing routines, and the challenges and joys of balancing hope with historical truth.