J.T. Ellison's Blog

Friday Reads

Welcome to another Friday, friends.

Remember last time, that wall I was worried about us barreling into? Yeah. I think we hit it.

I haven’t slept much this week. Bouchercon was amazing, and my apologies for missing last week’s post in favor of practicing my favorite adage: Be where your feet are. New Orleans was full of so much laughter and camaraderie and great food, and of course, some late nights in the bar. I came home with the conference crud, which is a bummer but couldn’t be better timed, really, since I just turned in the book and had the week off anyway.

And then the complicated world we live in became even more complicated, if that’s possible. If our news cycle was in a book, the editor would flag 90% of the plot points and say “too many notes.”

I didn’t read a thing this week, my head was too icky to think, though I started Hank Phillipi Ryan’s ALL THIS CAN BE YOURS on the plane home and it’s great. I also bought LONESOME DOVE because it’s been ages since I read it and there was a cool meme of L’Amour’s weekly to do list floating around that turned my crank. But when my head got too fuzzy, I watched true crime documentaries and movies instead. Maybe that’s part of how hard this week has been—I’ve been much too immersed in the worst we can do to one another, past and present. I need something happier. Lighter. Easier.

I hope you know I send love to each and every one of you. Compassion, empathy, solace, peace. We don’t agree on everything, I’m sure, but that doesn’t—shouldn’t—matter. I extend grace regardless. We are here to talk about the books that mean so much to us, and that is never going to change. I want to hear your thoughts, and your successes, and your favorites. Always.

As I also mentioned last time, the past few months on deadline have really taken a toll. We have a short vacay planned, plus I’m expecting my edits, so I’m going to be off for a couple of weeks. I’ll be back mid-October, full of bookish recommendations.

In the meantime, suggestions are so welcome. What are your favorite comfort watches and reads? And did you read anything this week that you’d like to talk about?

Be safe out there, loves. We’re in it together, for better or worse.

JTx

Subscribe now

Why Do We Love The Unreliable Narrator?

The unreliable narrator.

They are some of the most compelling and complicated creations we read. If done properly, the reader is left with an icon to forever compare other narrators to.

You’ve been introduced to this concept in myriad books again and again over centuries of literature. These stories have changed over the years. What we’re attracted to as readers fluctuates; trends come and go. Tropes become popular and fall away. Short novels give way to massive tomes, which in turn give way to short novels. What’s new is old, isn’t that the saying?

When Gillian Flynn wrote GONE GIRL, she ushered in the unreliable narrator again after a few decades gap. I, for one, cheered. There is nothing I like more than a worthy unreliable narrator. They are the best kind of anti-hero.

What makes an unreliable narrator great is their own acknowledgment of their complicity. They are justified, they are innocent. Their crimes are done with both a humbled acknowledgement of illegality and a sense of entitlement. The message—you’d do the same way if given the choice—allows the character the ultimate justification of their actions.

And they all have an inherent charm. The anti-hero charm is the spider to the fly. They attract their victims, luring them in, and then find ways to justify their actions in ways that we believe them. Worse, we want them to succeed. We marvel at the train wreck of their actions. We identify with their foibles.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Most modern unreliable narrators lie to the reader. If they are unlikable, we root against them. In my opinion, the most effective unreliable narrators are crafted with such delicacy that we can’t help but root for them. It’s a tricky line, as almost all are criminals. They are the antithesis of the Byronic hero—they are the heroes of their own story, narcissists in the truest sense, and committing evil, not good. But somehow, some way, we are on their side. They are saving their victims from a worse fate; their justification is megalomanic in its proportions.

One example that always comes to mind is Humbert Humbert, in Vladimir Nabokov’s LOLITA. I recall reaching the end of that book and feeling utterly betrayed and shocked. To be honest, I think his self-loathing, combined with a sense of entitlement and savior complex, sparked my fascination with the psychological underpinnings of criminality.

Another fabulous example is Tom Ripley, Patricia Highsmith’s brilliant con man. She treats him with such nuance that we can’t help but root for him, in all his psychopathic glory. We understand him, his desire to fit in, to have a better life, and though he’s nothing to be admired, somehow, he becomes the ultimate anti-hero.

While we often root for the male anti-hero, female unreliable narrators are too often referred to as unlikable, which is a fascinating double standard. Women are expected to be nurturers; they are supposed to be soft and caring. When they are amoral and self-involved, committing crimes for their own reasons, it’s harder to connect with them. So when done well, when we do connect, they are utterly unforgettable.

Amy Dunne, from Flynn’s GONE GIRL, is a superb example of this. She openly admits to manipulating everyone around her—of doing everything to be seen as the “cool girl”—and embraces her sociopathy. Because of her honesty, her disdain for actual approval, we cheer for her as she enacts her revenge.

And of course, one of my all-time favorite unreliables is the second Mrs. De Winter, from Daphne Du Maurier’s classic REBECCA. She breaks the mold, and that makes her utterly captivating. As a reader, we don’t even know her name. Her journey from carefree ingenue to haunted, mad bride to stoic, plotting wife is sheer perfection. I was so entranced by this story that I wrote an homage in HER DARK LIES, taking the story to another surprising yet inevitable conclusion.

My own Catriona (KAH-TRINA) in LAST SEEN is a clever sociopath who is out for revenge but gets herself in way over her head. She is an antihero who finds the light at the end, who sacrifices her well-being to save others. She evolves in a way that many sociopaths cannot, committing crimes for the right reasons. She is justified. She faces off against a psychopathic oppressor and saves many in her efforts. She is an amalgamation of some of the greatest unreliables of all time.

What makes these characters stay with us, decades later? Why do we, as readers, continue to be charmed by these admittedly horrible people? I think we’ve all been face to face with a narcissist, a sociopath, a psychopath—and recognize the close call. The real aren’t nearly as compelling as the fictional. Perhaps that’s the talent of the author, more than the characters themselves. To render evil into sublime is a true talent.

Who are your favorite unreliable narrators?

A version of this essay appeared on Mystery Fanfare on August 11, 2025.

The Creative Edge is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Friday Reads 8.29.25

Welcome to Friday, friends.

Wow. It’s been a week of superb highs and devastating lows. When I sat down to write this piece, the Elvis Costello song popped into my mind. You know the idealist, who has promised a safe place for you each week, has many thoughts. I’m going to focus on the week’s highs here today, but I’m sending love and peace to everyone hurting this week.

I will say this. Sometimes it feels like we’re barreling headlong into a brick wall, about to crash as a society. It happens every generation (you kids get off my lawn), but this moment in time feels especially ominous. I hope we can find a way to mend the schisms, extend grace, and recognize that there is no one right way to live this life we’re given.

OK, on to happier things. Best news first — the Mister and I celebrated our 30/33 anniversary! (We married on our third anniversary, so we get a double celebration.) We took the day off, hung out at the pool, had a nice meal, and a yummy bottle of champagne. Then we watched MY OXFORD YEAR, based on Julia Whelan’s book. It’s such a poignant story, a good reminder to always seize the day.

And…I finished the first draft of YOU KNOW WHY! It was a rough slog, but the end finally came. After the hyper-detailed writing of LAST SEEN, I was determined to return to my pantsing ways. Except… I am apparently not a pantser anymore. I vowed to my agent this week that I will never again set off into uncharted waters without a compass.

I’m editing the book now. This first pass through of the first draft is actually one of my favorite parts of the process. I’ve got enough distance to be surprised by some of the things I’ve written, and not judging it too critically yet. That will come, soon enough. But it means I will make my original deadline, and that is a huge relief.

September is going to be a bit hectic, actually, between travel and deadlines, so heads up now: I may miss a few Fridays, especially toward the end of the month. Next week I’ll be at Bouchercon, so I’ll be reporting in from the Big Easy. I have two panels, one on Thursday and one Friday, and I’m excited to see everyone! I hated missing Thrillerfest, so this is a nice reward for the summer of slog.

Another wonderful something happened, but I can’t share yet. Soon. Trust me when I say it fills me with such joy. 🥹

PSA: Regarding the Anthropic settlement… For any authors out there who are reading this, it has come to light that some publishers have not been registering copyright with the copyright office. Courtney Milan has a very extensive thread on BlueSky about all of this. You definitely want to check it out. And here is a link to check if your books have been registered.

Book-wise, I am deep into Sarah A. Parker’s WHEN THE MOON HATCHED. Wow. While (so far) it falls into the familiar romantasy tropes of stories that have come before it, especially SJM’s earlier works, the writing and world building are simply breathtaking. I am always humbled by the imagination of my fellow authors.

It’s a big book, and with all the excitement and editing, that’s all I’ve been reading this week.

I know I’m missing some new books. Fill me in! What are you reading this weekend? As always, recommendations are welcome!

Wishing you Peace and harmony…

JTx

Subscribe now

Friday Reads 8.22.25

I believe it’s fair to say this year has gotten away from me. I got home late Tuesday night from the fun birthday weekend, and spent Wednesday catching up. Not unusual for a first day back after a trip. Only this catch-up went all the way back to…May.

I am a bullet journal fan. But somewhere between April 1 and today, I lost the habit. I have a very specific ritual on the first of every month. I sit down with my notebook, print out my calendar, tape it in (this saves me from having to build a grid and fill it all in by hand), then do the usual spread with the month on the left and the goals on the right. I also print a calendar and tape it into my Blue Dog wall calendar, so it’s easily viewable. I label each item on the calendar in one of four colored buckets: Writing Day, Personal, Travel, or Event. I love the visuals; they give me a quick breakdown of how the month is shaping up and help me decide when to say no to scheduling an appointment because it’s a Writing Day, etc.

Only… I didn’t do that this year. And then I just stopped printing calendars entirely. And when I sat down on Wednesday, I realized the wall calendar was still on April. April, people.

Part of this I blame on a physical issue—May was rough. I got sick and wasn’t in my office, and then promptly tore my hip flexor, and I couldn’t sit in a chair comfortable for a few weeks. I started working in the living room so I could have my leg up. Then, I had to buy a new, softer desk chair to accommodate the injury. I think I just got used to the living room as my new office. It was streamlined. No notebooks, no desk, just my laptop and me.

And that means my bullet journal is very, very thin. So thin, I’m wondering if it’s my habit anymore. I love the freedom of not being constrained by a certain number of pages for a month. But perhaps, with fewer obligations (ON PURPOSE), I don’t need such a robust system anymore. I’m not juggling two pen names and fourteen thousand other projects anymore, so maybe I just need a notebook to write things down, and a plain old planner.

All things to their season, right?

If you have a great planner you love (I prefer to stay away from spirals and love B5 size), let me know!

Bookwise, I am working on two books, one for an endorsement and one for an interview. And there are more excellent books out there this week!

The astounding Lisa Gardner has a new Frankie book called KISS HER GOODBYE. I wish I could have seen her in Scottsdale, but you can watch it here! The story behind this is amazing.

I scored a galley of Hank Phillipi Ryan's newest, ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS. Can’t wait to read Hank’s take on an author on tour getting into trouble.

I’m deep into my pal Kate White’s 2026 book I CAME BACK FOR YOU, and it’s awesome! More on it soon…

And of course, Stacy Willingham’s FORGET ME NOT is an excellent book from one of my favorite authors! Can’t wait to talk to her Sept 3 at Parnassus!

I’ve also grabbed a couple of fantasy novels that I am very excited for. Sarah A. Parker WHEN THE MOON HATCHED, and SILVERCLOAK, by L.K. Steven. I need to escape, majorly, and this is where I’m headed.

Finally, I left some last thoughts on the 22 Steps series, where I realized I’ve done a lot of work over the past few years.

How about y’all? Anything good happening today? What are you reading this weekend?

Subscribe now

The 22 Steps Series: Final Thoughts

On November 5, 2023, I posted the first entry in this series, not knowing where it would take me. I was so excited to be a part of Substack, to be reinvigorating my blog, to commit to writing about writing. It was a grand experiment, one of those side gig things I tend to find myself doing. I didn’t think it through, not completely. I certainly didn’t know it would grow into such a huge component of my writing life. I just wanted to find a way to be value-add on this platform. The idea of asking people to pay for a blog post was anathema to me. I’d been blogging about writing for 20 years. It’s part of my mission—to share, to demystify, to help. To reach back down the ladder and pull new authors up the way the generation ahead of me did.

So I cooked up this 22 Steps concept as a way to make the project a serious one. If it were a paying gig, not something I was doing out of the goodness of my heart, I could justify the time and effort it would take to psychoanalyze the writing process of LAST SEEN.

While it might have started as just that, it has become so much more. The months of hard work began to pay dividends. I touched base with my earlier writer self, the ingenue who was just so damn happy to be in the game. I found the joy of the work and the sharing of that joy to be incredibly fulfilling. I wrote more. I wrote a lot, in fact.

In the intervening period, since I started writing this series in November of 2023, I have written four and a half books. By any measure, that’s a lot.

When I started, I had just turned in my 2024 novel, A VERY BAD THING, which then took a few months of editorial rounds (hence the half.) Also in the mix, the entirety of my 2025 novel, LAST SEEN, my 2026 novel, YOU KNOW WHY, and 2024’s final book in the Jayne Thorne series, THE SCROLLS OF TIME, under my pen name, Joss Walker. That was all going on in the background as I wrote this series, which is going to be a non-fiction craft book. Adding it all up, that is approximately 420,000 words of usable fiction and non-fiction across almost two years of work. That doesn’t seem possible to me, and yet here we are.

If the anecdotal evidence above is any measure, I’ve proven to myself what I’ve always known: Writing about writing works for me. The discipline of showing up is vital to any creative process—for me, the habit is almost a compulsion. I’ve “quit” blogging several times over the years, and always find myself back in the trenches.

And it proves my thesis of what success looks like to me in this fickle industry: FINISHING.

The more I finish, the more books there are to sell, to be read, to build the backlist. My magical bakery is getting stocked with loads of cupcakes. (This is from Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s wonderful metaphor of your writing life equating a magical bakery. If a reader walks past your magical bakery and sees only one cupcake in the storefront, they will assume you aren’t a very successful bakery. If they see dozens, of all flavors and varieties, they’re very likely to stop in for a sample. It’s a great example of the old adage, success begets success.)

All that said, as far as a paid blog, I haven’t decided where I want to go from here.

I may talk about self-publishing, or I may deep dive into my 2027 novel. I may add to this series as I take the rough draft blog posts and shape them into a craft book. I need to learn how to write a non-fiction proposal, rename the series, find my comps, etc., and that might be of interest. (If it is, let me know.) I don’t know if it’s going to be a traditionally published book or something I do through Two Tales, but it’s worth it to me to go through the process of writing the proposal and sending it to my agent for her thoughts. Where it goes from there, we shall see.

If you have ideas of things you’d like to see here, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

I am beyond grateful for you sticking with me, cheering me on, sharing with friends, and otherwise allowing me into your mailbox on a bi-monthly basis. I hope this has proven illuminating for you. It certainly has for me.

See you soon, friends. Thanks for being a part of this grand experiment!

Subscribe now

This is the final post of my paid craft series delineating the 22 Steps of a novel’s lifecycle from concept to publication day, following my journey as I write my new novel, LAST SEEN. Start here if you’re new and you’d like to follow along in order, and if this is your free post, upgrade your subscription to get the entire series.

I’ve kept the post open to all my subscribers to gauge your interest in more bookish and writing content. If you’re a writer, or want to be, and you haven’t read the 22 Steps series, I highly recommend you do. If you have, please let me know if there’s more you’d like me to cover!

Friday Reads 8.15.25

Hullo, Friday friends. Goodness, what a week. I’m flying south right now to celebrate my dad’s 91st birthday! Can you imagine the amazing things he’s seen? He and my mom (88) are blessed with longevity, mostly good health, and the ability to live at home because of the kind ministrations of my wonderful middle brother. It’s a blessing on all levels. And trust me, when we tee off Monday morning. I will get schooled. Even at 91, the dude’s shooting in the 80s. We’ve had a lifelong bet that if I bet him at 18 holes, he’ll buy me a brand new set of clubs. Guess what’s never happened. 🤷‍♀️

Age is a funny thing, isn’t it? I had an interesting conversation earlier today with my better half about the various turns in a woman’s life. The male gaze on these stereotypical landmarks was hysterical. According to Mr. E, I’ve hit that strange stage where I can identify bird species with no apparent effort. That means I’ve graduated out of the crystals era. (Though I brought home a beautiful pillar of citrine from Sedona. I doubt I’ll ever really move past the crystals stage LOL.)

I have theories about all of this, naturally. These silly designations align with very real phases in our lives. Generalizing, naturally, but the 20s and 30s are job and family-oriented. When you’re suddenly bereft of children needing your every attention and you’ve risen to greater heights in your chosen profession, you go to yoga or pilates and learn how to breathe. And since you haven’t had time to breathe for twenty years, those first truly deep, diaphragmatic breaths are beyond illuminating. Your brain, starved of oxygen for decades, is suddenly flush. With that comes an awareness of the non-negotiable need for healthy food, exercise, and sleep. That becomes the job of your 40s, get healthy, because the beast known as menopause is lurking in the shadows of the cave. Then you get those fantastic few years of “the Change” which is…challenging, and then you coast into your 50s.

This, friends, is the birdwatching era.

Yes, we might be watching birds more, but I posit this is because we’ve simply slowed down. We’ve finally, finally, given ourselves permission to look up. To look outward. We aren’t striving. We aren’t pushing as hard. We’re in our prime, we’ve built our career capital, we know what we want from our life, our partners, and our friends, and we understand the importance of rest, health, and attention to the little things. We know moisturizer and lipstick are more than enough. We like the coastal grandma style in both our clothes and homes. Details we’ve missed for decades instead become our focus. Our joy. Our greatest loves.

Earlier today, I read a complaint that there aren’t enough books about women in this era. And I realized that by jove, I have a mid-fifties detective in YOU KNOW WHY. She’s bright. She’s tough as nails. She’s determined. She’s in love with a long-distance flame, and wants to do something about it. And she’s been stealing my book. So I’m going to let her. Let’s get a good dose of a woman in her prime who takes no prisoners and suffers no fools. You’re welcome. : )

On to the books…

I did a bit of shopping at the indie bookstores I visited on tour for LAST SEEN. I haven’t gotten to read them yet. I’m very far behind on my TBR because I’m cruising hard on the new book. But look at what’s awaiting me this fall! (and this is before the amazing books for A WORD ON WORDS Season 11!)

Sarah Pinborough - WE LIVE HERE NOW

Jeneva Rose - THE PERFECT DIVORCE

Jeneva Rose - THE GIRL I WAS

Maggie Steifvater - THE LISTENERS

Christina Dodd - THUS WITH A KISS I DIE

Sarah MacLean - THESE SUMMER STORMS

Amy McCullough - RUNNER 13

Suleika Jaouad - THE BOOK OF ALCHEMY

I absolutely can’t wait to get this book drafted and be able to let other authors’ voices into my head again.

OH! In absolutely mind-boggling news… I finished the 22 Steps Series with, yes, you guessed it… Step 22 - Publication Day. I will post one last entry in this series on Tuesday, just a wrap-up and final thoughts. But wow. 75k of writing advice from yours truly. This is going to be a fun project—I’m going to make the series into a craft book.

BTW, the last two posts of the series are not paywalled. So feel free to take a peek!

Over to you, friends. I’d love to hear what’s tickled your fancy this week! What are you reading this weekend? Any recommendations for us? And how about books with middle-aged heroines? I’ll go first… THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon….

And happy early birthday to my Daddy!!!

Subscribe now

Step Twenty-Two: Publication Day

Well friends, here we are at the end of the road. Step Twenty-Two!

My friend V.E. Schwab wrote a newsletter this month talking about the strangeness of a book release. To paraphrase: “For readers, this is just the beginning. But for writers, this is the finish line.” It’s so true. And this finish line is bigger than most, because this ends the 22 Steps series. Can you believe that? I can’t. From the concept to the publication, I’ve tracked this journey in intimate, sometimes too intimate, detail. It’s incredible to me to realize we’re here, at this point, at last. The series is done. The book is out.

Because publication day commenced August 1, celebrating the release of LAST SEEN!

It might be a little odd to have a book release on a Friday, but that’s how my publisher works. LAST SEEN was chosen for the First Reads program, which meant the book comes out on the first of the month following that month-long AFR run.

Because of that, LAST SEEN really had two publication days… one July 1 when we got to announce AFR and the digital went on sale, and one August 1, when the print and audio went on sale. It was a month-long celebration and also means the marketing and PR stretches two months instead of one.

I’d spent the whole week leading into Friday doing events: Interviews and TV appearances and podcasts and Lives. I made a bunch of reels and posts to share the fun. You’ve read the post about the marketing and PR campaign, so you know I was busy — there were 8 events that week alone.

And then I waiting with bated breath for Friday to roll around, not sure what to expect. Sometimes, a release can be really anticlimactic. I won’t lie, this is my 33rd book, and yes, I’ve had release days that didn’t feel celebratory. I’ve had books drop unnoticed, and books that went on sale early and cannibalized first week sales. Books that didn’t show up to the bookstore, so the event was just…me. You just never know what release day might bring.

This one was awesome, in spades. It was a really great day. I got a lovely box of chocolates from my publisher to celebrate, and I’d sent flowers to my team to thank them for their hard work, so had a chance to talk to all of them, too. (An aside—reward the people who work hard on your behalf. That makes them very happy.) I did a Substack live with my pal Jayne Ann Krentz, which was a blast for us both, and then I worked on the 2026 book, YOU KNOW WHY, because even though it was a celebratory day, I still needed to get my words in. I packed for the trip to Arizona, got the house, laundry, and cat squared away, interspersing all of these tasks with jumps online to bask in the glory that was release day.

And then we were off to Parnassus for the big release day party. And I do mean big. The store was packed, because we sold out the tickets a week out.

I admit, I was a bit blown away by that. I also found out after the fact that some people I’d invited couldn’t get in because of the RSVP system, (SORRY!) so next time I‘ll know to share my list with the store, too, as backup. But the store was chock full, and as per tradition, my darling Ariel was my in-conversation partner. We both got some butterflies backstage but it all disappeared in the face of the lovely people waiting for us. RJ introduced us, and we walked out to a lovely crowd. Many I knew. Many I didn’t. And THAT is what I want from an event — new faces!

It was a wonderful, thoughtful, funny interview. I will suggest to anyone who is doing a launch to do so with a friend, if you can. Having someone who knows you intimately is really fun for the audience because they will say things that you’ve never thought of. It’s fun!!! And it takes the pressure off. I’m not as comfortable with just standing out in front of a crowd talking about myself as I am being interviewed.

I’ve been doing events for 18 years now. They have run the gamut, from the one person who shows up after I’ve traveled across the country to huge theater and ballrooms packed with people. I never take for granted that anyone is coming. So I was quite surprised to hear the launch event had sold out, especially because a friend of mine opened a bookstore in Franklin and was hosting her own launch party the same night, and many of my usual event participants were heading to that event. I would have been there too, if I could have. I don’t know that many people in Nashville.

A Friday in summer sell out was unexpected, considering. But the wonderful joy of it was the many new to me readers in the audience! I mean, that’s the goal, always, to bring in new readers. And they were there in droves!

We laughed, and we had some very serious conversation about the impetus behind this book, and we took questions from the audience — always a favorite of mine. It was a blast. I signed books late into the evening, then went with my small crew of pals to an Italian restaurant nearby for pizza and champagne.

And yes, I kept an eye on my rankings and reviews and sales figures. Of course I did. 🥰

I never know how a release day is going to go, and I am so incredibly grateful that it was fun, and full of friends and readers and people celebrating the hard work that it takes to get a book into your hands.

I would be remiss not to mention all of the back end work that it takes, too. From the bookstores to the suppliers to the sales and marketing team at APub to my editor and publisher and agent and publicist and assistant who have all had a hand in getting us to the finish line— I send you a hearty, heartfelt, THANK YOU!

And now, since LAST SEEN is on its own out there in the big old world, and I’ve wrapped the bulk of tour, I’m on to the task of finishing YOU KNOW WHY, so we can do it all again next year!

Thank you for buying the book, reading and reviewing, sending me notes of encouragement, sharing the book with your friends and on your social media. There are no books without you!

I’ll be back next week with some final thoughts about the writing of this series. In the meantime, thank you so much for the support, for reading, and for following along on this journey. I hope it’s been educational and as always, ask me anything.

So with that, I will say bon voyage, baby!

This post is part of my paid craft series delineating the 22 Steps of a novel’s lifecycle from concept to publication day, following my journey as I write my new novel, LAST SEEN. Start here if you’re new and you’d like to follow along in order, and if this is your free post, upgrade your subscription to get the entire series as it releases.

I Want LAST SEEN!

The Creative Edge is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Friday Reads 8.8.25

Hello, and Happy Friday!

I come to you from the lobby of our hotel in Scottsdale, where we are killing a couple of hours between check-out and heading to the airport. That plane, friends, goes home to Nashville, and with it, my physical tour for LAST SEEN comes to an (almost) end. It’s been an absolutely fantastic six weeks of interviews, essays, Q&As, podcast tapings, and TV appearances, culminating in the incredible in-person events at Parnassus and Poisoned Pen. All that’s left is Bouchercon and a couple of interviews, and my part of this tour is officially wrapped. The online campaign continues, the Instagram tour goes until he end of the month. (If you’re interested in how all of this is designed and comes together, check this post from the 22 Steps for details.)

It’s always so much fun to talk to readers in person, see old friends (Hey, Beth!) and make new ones. It is also brutal, with travel and constantly being on (there were 8 events last week alone), so I got smart this time and scheduled myself a break at the end so I wouldn’t come back totally burned out. It was the best gift I could give myself. Three days off the grid, up in the mountains of Sedona, in a creekside cabin, chilling out with the skunks and the kittens and the bats. It was 100 degrees, but without humidity, felt more like 85. The food was stellar, the vibe so laid back, and I was able to work, pool, walk, and chill. It was fabulous. I also fell madly in love with a David Devary painting of a cowgirl, and she’s coming home with me to inspire a new character. She already has a name. You know how much I love having a character before there’s a story… So, win-win on all levels.

Then we headed to Scottsdale, into the heart of the inferno. The record-breaking temperature on the day of our event was 118 degrees. Folks, that’s really hot, even without humidity. But Arizonans are hearty stock and came out in droves to see me and Megan Miranda at the Poisoned Pen, which was awesome. You can watch the event here.

I also got to see Diana Gabaldon do a talk about Outlander #10 (!), which was amazing. I broke bread and drank a lovely Corsican Rosé with my friend Barbara Peters, who is one of my favorite people in the world, and Megan and I got a chance to catch up and talk business and toast her #5 hit on the NYT list. All in all, this has been a fantastic trip.

So now, pumped full of guacmole and electrolyte drinks, I head home to get to work on the last parts of YOU KNOW WHY.

Oh, before I forget, Step Twenty-One: The Audiobook, is live! That means I have one step left, Publication Day. I’ll have that for you on Tuesday.

We want some books, though, am I right? I bought a whole stack of awesome titles at the Pen, one of my favorite things to do is shopping their stacks and getting recommendations. I was so jazzed that I barely remember what I bought, so I’ll go into those next week.

I have been waiting and waiting to sit by a pool or on a beach and read Emily Henry’s newest, GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL WORLD, and that is how I rewarded myself this week. I love grumpy sunshine stories, and she’s created an incredible new set of characters who are impossible not to love. Henry is a fantastically witty writer, and I can’t recommend all of her books enough. I also hear the Netflix adaptation of Beach Reads is cooking with fire. Hurrah!

Also snagged BAD DATE by Ellory Lloyd from AFR, and KINGDOM OF TOMORROW by Gena Showalter. So happy to see her on the list this month!

I’m at the point in the book that I need stories that are widely different from my own. So all recs are welcome!

Over to you, friends. I’d love to hear what’s tickled your fancy this week! What are you reading this weekend? Any recommendations for us?

Subscribe now

Step Twenty-One: The Audiobook

I have just received my advance link to listen to the audiobook of LAST SEEN. Trust me when I tell you I downloaded that puppy faster than you can blink. I have been DYING to hear this audio narration. And as I am currently covered in goosebumps… yes, it is wonderful. Creepy and heartfelt and so, so compulsive. If you’re an audiobook fan, you are in for a real treat.

The exceptional Saskia Maarleveld narrates the novel, and we also have a male lead, the legendary Scott Brick, who reads the Monster. And trust me…he is monstrous in the role. Freaked me right out. I actually had to leave my office. It’s one thing to write a dark being into existence. It’s something wholly different to hear him come to life.

And that’s the fascinating thing about audiobooks. Hearing your work read aloud by someone other than you (or the voices in your head—haha) can be…unnerving. I’ve always found it to be so. It makes the story very real. I’ve actually never listened to a complete audiobook of mine, except for LIE TO ME. I will probably listen to LAST SEEN too, because I want to have the whole experience of this book. If I can. It’s an unsettling story on all levels.

Read more

J.T. Ellison and Jayne Ann Krentz LIVE!

Get more from J.T. Ellison in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app