My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Ken Webb, author of the book Trapped in Deception. Ken Webb is a retired U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel with thirty three years of total service and eighteen years of active duty through mobilizations and deployments. He also spent twenty two years with American Airlines before making a major life transition that led him to relocate to Lima, Peru. There, he focused on personal reinvention, studying Spanish, improving his health, and pursuing the creative work he had long envisioned. His debut crime thriller, Trapped in Deception, launches a developing series shaped by the leadership pressures, complex human dynamics, and lived experiences that defined his career. Ken’s writing explores themes of identity, transformation, and moral conflict, bringing authenticity and depth to crime and intelligence fiction. From his home in Peru, he continues to expand the series while advocating for reinvention at midlife and the healing power of storytelling.

In my book review, I stated Trapped in Deception is a crime thriller by Ken Webb. This is a fast-moving novel that captured my attention quickly. The main character, Shawn Larson, is the kind of guy we've all met: good-looking, charismatic, and a complete con-man. We learn right away that he works the scam and is willing to be deceptive for years in order to get the payout. More than that, Shawn is ruthless.

But what happens when he cons the wrong person, and this person, Eddy, realizes he has the chance to get even? That's the story that Ken weaves, and this story takes us from Dallas to Miami to Peru, as Shawn begins his next con.

I especially love how the 'good guys' though good, aren't pristine. They each have a past, and this past isn't always pretty. Ken did a great job pulling me into the story - and leaving just enough room for a sequel! You're going to love this book!

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You can follow Author Ken Webb

Website: https://www.kenwebb69.com

FB: @Trapped in Deception

IG: @webbinator2000

Purchase Trapped in Deception on Amazon:

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4d1Agzq

Ebook: https://amzn.to/4rYKbdM

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com

FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors

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*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Laura Van Wormer, and we are going to talk about her project of serializing a soap opera about her high school class.

Laura Van Wormer is the creative force behind "The Class of ’74," a serialized fictional podcast that blends nostalgia, drama, and meticulous historical detail. Set in 1971–1974 in a well-heeled Connecticut suburb of New York City, the show has been praised for its authenticity and period-accurate setting, detail and events, and draws on Laura’s decades of experience as a novelist, editor and researcher, with a specialty in the ways the past informs the present.

Her storytelling style is rooted in a good sense of humor, character psychology, the rhythms of small-town life, and creates a world listeners fall in love with. She herself was a member of the Class of '74 in Darien, Connecticut and was infamous for stopping high school parties to read stories she had written.

Laura started her career at Doubleday as a secretary (in the era Jackie Onassis worked there) and worked her way up to editor. She left to pursue her own writing and while learning how to write a novel, supported herself by creating books with the creators of the hit night-time TV serials, "Dynasty," "Dallas" and "Knots Landing."

Laura's first novel, RIVERSIDE DRIVE, was a bestseller when it was published in 1988. She published 13 more novels with major houses but in 2015 she was on her way to the airport to visit Betty White in Los Angeles when a drunk driver going the wrong way on the Merritt Parkway in CT hit her head-on. She woke up a month later in Yale New Haven hospital with a crushed collar bone, 16 broken ribs, torn diaphragm, broken knee, and a severed foot that required four surgeries to save.

Ten years later she attended her 50th high school reunion and was sad because no one could hear her. When she went home her other half suggested why didn’t she write a story as a podcast so her classmates could hear her – and THE CLASS OF ’74 was born, a weekly narrative soap opera about teenagers starting high school in 1971. While the story is fiction, it faithfully recreates the fascinating time before cell phones existed and is guaranteed to take the listeners' minds off their problems – at least for half an hour each week.

Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1

You can follow Author Laura Van Wormer

Website: https://classof74podcast.com/

FB: @Laura Van Wormer

LinkedIn: @Laura Van Wormer

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com

FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors

#lauravanwormer #serializedbooks #theclassof74podcast #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Michael Kell Mahoney, author of the book The Land of Broken Toys. Michael Kell Mahoney is a retired New York City detective who somehow found his way from Manhattan to the Balkans. After his time with the NYPD, Michael spent two decades working internationally for the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations, and the U.S. Department of Justice as a police and security consultant.

Land of Broken Toys: Kosovo is a fictional account, based on real events, from Mr. Mahoney's one year police mission in Kosovo. Michael’s writing blends reportage, reflection, and storytelling, inviting readers—and now listeners—into a landscape where the past is never far away and every story carries weight.

The Land of Broken Toys: Kosovo is a crime thriller by Michael Kell Mahoney. But it is so much more than that. Readers will get a history lesson to help explain the issues in Kosovo, as well as a young cop's journey figuring out what he really wants out of life.

We meet an NYPD cop named JB who wants to be a detective. However, a series of mishaps leaves him shaken and certain that he will never make detective. With that knowledge, he decides to open a chocolate store. But he'll need money, so he signs on for a year-long UN policing mission in Kosovo. What he believes will be a simple 12-months training local police recruits turns into so much more than he bargains for.

We meet a host of characters who have chosen to go on the same mission for a variety of reasons - and with a variety of belief systems in place. We also meet the antagonist, Gashi, an Albanian who hates the Serbs - and anyone who disagrees with him, even Albanians. Gashi's men wreak havoc across the area, and JB is right in the middle of the action.

This story moves quickly, has fun, quirky characters, and keeps you guessing. This is a fun read.

Subscribe to Online for Authors to learn about more great books! https://www.youtube.com/@onlineforauthors?sub_confirmation=1

You can follow Author Michael Kell Mahoney

Website: https://jbbyrnenypd.com/

Purchase a copy of The Land of Broken Toys:

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4v2vWq9​

Kindle: https://amzn.to/4s54zJj

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com

FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

Want to be a guest on Online for Authors? Send Teri M Brown a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/onlineforauthors

#michaelkellmahoney #landofbrokentoys #crimethriller #terimbrownauthor #authorpodcast #onlineforauthors #characterdriven #researchjunkie #awardwinningauthor #podcasthost #podcast #readerpodcast #bookpodcast #writerpodcast #author #books #goodreads #bookclub #fiction #writer #bookreview

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.