Kristin Harmel discusses Meet Me in Paris

John Charles welcomed Kristin Harmel for her first visit to The Poisoned Pen. Harmel’s new book is Meet Me In Paris, a departure for her. It’s her first contemporary novel in twelve years. It’s sort of a “Love Actually” story. You can order a signed copy of Meet Me in Paris through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/2ft327xp

Here’s the description of Meet Me in Paris.

Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names and The Winemaker’s Wife, returns with a captivating new novel about several intertwined stories of love, loss, courage, and redemption set over the course of one magical week in Paris.

Nine Americans in Paris. Seven intertwined love stories. One City of Light.

Love Actually meets The Notebook in a tale of love, loss, and finding your way home, all set over the course of one life-changing week in Paris.

Julia Glover has brought her twenty-three-year-old daughter, Piper, to Paris for the first time—but they know it will also be their last trip here together. Julia is dying, and as the mother and daughter desperately try to make memories together as the clock ticks down, the world opens up around them. Piper meets a cute French waiter, who might just understand her better than anyone she’s ever met, and Julia meets a man at a dive bar and struggles with how to tell him the truth about her future.

Rock star Jackson Quick’s glory days are behind him. He had a handful of hit songs thirty years ago, but he hasn’t toured in a decade. This week, he’ll launch his reunion tour in Paris, the city where it all began. But he wants more out of life than being defined by fame. When he meets a woman who finally sees him for who he is at his core, the ground shifts beneath his feet.

Henry McGee has been writing hit songs for decades—including Jackson Quick’s biggest hit, City of Light. But his secret is that every love song he’s ever written is for a woman named Celeste, whom he loved a lifetime ago, when they were both teenagers in Paris during World War II. He has spent eighty years believing she died—but when a letter arrives telling him the opposite, he’s on the first flight to France. Can he break through the haze of her dementia, using the songs he’s written all these years, to remind her of who they once were to each other—and to tell her he came back for her?

Henry’s granddaughter, Melody, has just discovered that her husband of twenty years, Gilles, a French cosmetics executive, is having an affair. When she confronts him, he tearfully apologizes and begs her to forgive him. But can she? And, perhaps even more importantly, does she want to? Or is there a different kind of life out there for her if she chooses to be alone?

These intertwining stories—plus several others—unfold over a few breathtaking spring days, as an unforgettable group of Americans in Paris must find their way to their own versions of happily ever after in the City of Light.


Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including The Stolen Life of Colette MarceauThe Paris DaughterThe Forest of Vanishing Stars, and The Book of Lost Names. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives with her husband and son in Orlando, Florida.


Enjoy the conversation with Kristin Harmel.

The Blue Flame by George Pelecanos

Thanks to Oline Cogdill for sharing her review of The Blue Flame by George Pelecanos. Pelecanos will be the guest author for The Poisoned Pen on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 4 PM MST for a virtual event. You can catch the event on the bookstore’s Facebook and YouTube pages. You can also order a signed copy of The Blue Flame through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/AWfWY

Here’s Cogdill’s review, originally published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Book review: Friendship, conspiracies & community at heart of George Pelecanos’ ‘The Blue Flame’

‘The Blue Flame’ by George Pelecanos; Cardinal; 256 pages; $29

When George Pelecanos introduced Derek Strange in 2001’s “Right as Rain,” the private detective was at a pivotal time in his life, firmly established in his career after decades as a cop in Washington, D.C. He was youngish and devoted to finding justice for his clients.

In a stroke of genius, Pelecanos’ subsequent novels took Derek back to the 1970s when, after receiving a “lump-sum payday” on one of his first cases, he hung a neon sign that read “Strange Investigations” outside his office. It was important, he said, for the neighborhood’s younger residents “to see a Black man turning the key of his front door in his own shop every day.”

Through the years, that neon sign has become a talisman for Derek, as Pelecanos shows in “The Blue Flame.”

This latest novel catches up with the private detective 50 years after he first launched his career. That sign is still his touchstone, but it’s now in disrepair, some letters “gone dark” long ago. The sign no longer signifies “strong or successful; it said faded or on its last legs.”

Business is off and Derek can’t afford to repair the sign. But his devotion to justice and doing what is right has not faded and propels the incisive plot of “The Blue Flame,” in which he’s hired by wealthy drug lawyer Billy Lake.

Billy wants Derek’s help to prepare his defense of Antone Anthony for drug distribution (which he freely admits) and murder (which the nonviolent Antone denies). Billy hires Derek because he believes the aging detective will “do just enough,” that Derek won’t have the energy to “turn over too many rocks.” Obviously, Billy underestimates Derek, who has no intention of “just putting in his time” and cashing the paychecks. Overturning rocks is a Derek specialty.

The novel evolves into a look at the bonds of friendship, at conspiracies and at the importance of community in a tightly wound plot.

Charles Salzberg in conversation with Reed Farrel Coleman

Reed Farrel Coleman hosted his friend Charles Salzberg at The Poisoned Pen. They discussed Salzberg’s new book, The Beginning of Everything. There are signed copies of the book available through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/P6vRA

Here’s the description of The Beginning of Everything.

Josh Green has a secret.

Since he was a child, Josh has had troubling visions that allow him to see into other people’s pasts due to his extrasensory perception. Frightened by this ability, he’s told no one about it, except his best friend, Tony. When Tony’s college-age stepdaughter suddenly vanishes, he asks Josh to help him find her, as well as determine the circumstances of her disappearance. For the first time, Josh is forced to embrace his psychic ability to help trace the young woman’s steps. Eventually, this leads him to not only learn why she’s missing, but where she is. Following a trail that unravels familial secrets, Josh finds himself in the middle of a very complicated web.


Charles Salzberg is a former journalist. His work has appeared in articles in EsquireThe New York Times, Redbook, GQ, and Travel + Leisure. He is also the author of From Set Shot to Slam Dunk: The Glory Days of Basketball in the Words of Those Who Played It, Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times, and a number of other nonfiction books. His first novel, Swann’s Last Song, was nominated for a Shamus Award as was Second Story Man, winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award, and Canary in the Coal Mine. His novel Devil in the Hole was named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. He’s been a visiting professor of magazine and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and taught writing at Sarah Lawrence, Hunter College, the Writer’s Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a founding member. He has also served on the board of the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America.


Enjoy the conversation with Charles Salzberg and Reed Farrel Coleman.

Nancy West discusses Agatha Christie: The Mother of the Cozy Mystery

John Charles recently welcomed Nancy West for a virtual event at The Poisoned Pen. West said she had just less than six months to write Agatha Christie: The Mother of the Cozy Mystery. The event has 100 vignettes. You can order a copy of the book through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/SltHZ

Here’s the summary of Agatha Christie: The Mother of the Cozy Mystery.

Embark on a journey through the life behind the mother of cozy mysteries like Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None with this captivating literary biography and stunning celebration of Agatha Christie.

Step into the world of history’s most legendary mystery and crime writer—Agatha Christie!

Through one hundred short entries, you’ll get an intimate glimpse into the life, mind, and works of the mother of the cozy mystery. Featuring quotes about—and from—the literary genius and excerpts from her suspenseful stories, this beautifully crafted biography celebrates Christie’s literary brilliance and timeless creations. With each page, you’ll discover the experiences that shaped her classic detective novels, short stories, and plays, from her early years to her lasting impact on popular culture.

Whether you’re a longtime Christie admirer or just beginning your literary adventure, uncover the unexpected mysteries behind the “Queen of Crime” with Agatha Christie!


Nancy West is professor of English at the University of Missouri and the author of Kodak and the Lens of Nostalgia, and Tabloid, Inc.: Crimes, News, Narratives, as well as the Booklist and Library Journal star-reviewed Masterpiece: America’s Fifty-Year-Old Love Affair with British Television Drama. West’s books have earned her appearances on PBS’s American Experience and the BBC’s The Genius of Photography, as well as keynote talks at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; the London School of Design; and the Amon Carter Museum. She is a regular contributor to Written By magazine, The AtlanticThe Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.


Enjoy Nancy West’s conversation with John Charles.

Deb Lewis’ Picks for August

It’s time to check ou the books that Deb Lewis has picked for August for The Poisoned Pen. If the links don’t take you directly to a book, please check the title in the Webstore, https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

One Good Eye by Kevin Wade

After Johnny Careless, the “fast-moving classic crime novel” (John Sandford), comes the lively next installment in the Jeep Mullane series from veteran screenwriter and Blue Bloods showrunner Kevin Wade.

Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier 

Twenty-five years ago in Seaside, Washington, a charming drifter named Sam met three inseparable teenage girls at the local amusement park. Days later, one of them was found dead, her body surfacing in a flooded cranberry bog not far from where she was murdered.

Barb and Nicolette were shocked to learn that the man they all met at Wonderland was the Carnival Killer. After he’s arrested for the murders of five young women – one of whom was their best friend, Lorelei – Nicolette moved to the city to pursue her dreams of being famous. Barb stayed behind in Seaside, eventually becoming a reporter for the local paper. Their past safely behind them, they’ve both moved on with their lives.

But when the Carnival Killer recants his confession and a new body washes ashore on the eve of Wonderland’s grand reopening, the secrets that Barb and Nicolette have worked so hard to bury begin to resurface, threatening to destroy everything in their carefully constructed lives.

Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty

In her dazzling new novel, award-winning author Jaclyn Moriarty asks the question, if you could revisit one moment in your life, what would it be?

On a bustling road in Sydney, Australia, lies a nondescript storefront known simply as the Time Travel Agency. Inside, you’ll be welcomed by the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, a selection of baked goods…and the question, Where in time do you wish to go?

Saint Delilah by Isabelle Spotts

Delilah is dead. But her story is far from over. In this feminist supernatural suspense novel, she will find her peace—and give hell to the man who killed her.

My Sister Is Going to Kill Me by Nina Simon

From the New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit Mother-Daughter Murder Night, a Reese’s Book Club pick, comes another fun, family-centered whodunnit about two sisters who work together to find a killer as they raft down the rapids of the Grand Canyon.

My Inner Child Wants to Kill by Karsten Dusse

A shady lawyer puts the “meditate” in “premeditated” as he searches for inner peace with blood on his hands the darkly funny and shocking follow-up to Murder Mindfully, now an original series streaming on Netflix.

All We Hide by Robyn Gigl 

The Death Row Club  by V A Vazquez   *Indie Next Pick*

Deb also sent a few reviews to post.

Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier (Aug) 

ITW Best Novel winner Jennifer Hiller (Jar of Hearts) wrote a twisty “who really did it” when a convicted killer recants his confession to murder to a documentary producer on his deathbed while incarcerated. Filled with savvy nods to the smoke-and-mirrors society we currently live in, the main characters are 2 estranged best friends trapped by the guilt they feel over the death of their third high school best friend and their role in it. No one is as they seem in this fast-paced rollercoaster of a story, which centers around a tragic death at an amusement park. A satisfying ending that you root for long before you know it will come makes this the best kind of thriller read. 

One Good Eye by Kevin Wade (Aug) 

A sequel to Johnny Careless brings back our protagonist, Police Chief Jeep Mullane, to Long Island to sort out the haves and have-nots, each involved in their brand of criminal activity. Jenny the Pirate, a childhood friend (and perpetual love) of Jeep’s, is being blackmailed over a tragic, secret incident in her past. Does Kevin’s previous history as a writer for Blue Bloods make me imagine Jeep as Tom Selleck? Or is it a flashback to Robert Parker’s Chief Stone? If you like a detective who has a strong moral compass, is conflicted, and is smart, with an ending you totally did not see coming, this series is for you! 

All We Hide by Robyn Gigl (Aug)

When a police lieutenant transitions from male to female, her fellow officers give her a hard time in this mystery set in a small town. Pushed into a cold case role to mark time until retirement, our detective decides to investigate a cold case involving a trans victim, with far-reaching consequences. Lauren has always been plagued by two things: not being true to herself and guilt over her mother disappearing from their family after an innocent birthday wish. A forty year old mystery comes crashing down when layers of deception are exposed by Lauren’s dogged determination to discover the truth of her mother’s disappearance, despite the emotional costs.  Written by an attorney who has transitioned, this mystery has a surprising emotional depth and is filled with characters so real you might be tempted to reach out and give them a call. Excellent. 

The Witches of Cambridge By Alice Hoffman (Sept) 

Bestselling author Alice Hoffman has written a dazzling addition to her Practical Magic series with this book about 2 young women, from totally different backgrounds, beginning college in the 1950s. One rich, one poor, one polished and sophisticated, one a farm girl: but both bound together by the secret knowledge that their blood runs black, they possess a mysterious 11th finger, have uncontrolled magical powers and are, unknown to them, the descendants of the original witches of Cambridge. Secret letters, flashbacks to the 1660’s, and the oppression of women in both time periods are woven in but the story of the friendship between the 2 girls shines brightly. Highly recommended.

Dervla McTiernan discusses Three Reasons for Revenge

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed Dervla McTiernan for a virtual event. McTiernan is offering a bonus, e-book copies of a novella, “The Wrong One” for anyone who orders a copy of Three Reasons for Revenge through the Pen. Details are in the video. You can order a copy of the book through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/HwuKw

Here’s the description of Three Reasons for Revenge.

“Jaw-dropping. This will keep readers up all night.” –PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review

From the #1 internationally bestselling author of What Happened to Nina? comes a gripping high-stakes novel of suspense about three seemingly unconnected people, caught in a lethal web of deceit and unhealed wounds.

Someone’s watching. Someone’s waiting.

Alexis Turner walks into the police station to report an assault. By the end of the day, she is nowhere to be found.

Soon after she disappears, three identical packages arrive at three very different doors: a respected psychologist’s home, a socialite’s mansion, and a struggling single father’s run-down apartment. Inside, each gift is perfectly tailored to its recipient — and each will tear apart the life of its intended victim.

Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is smart and experienced, but this is no ordinary case. Someone with intimate knowledge of their targets is orchestrating these attacks. Someone who knows exactly how to hurt each victim where they’re most vulnerable.

As she races to uncover the connection between three unrelated people, Judith discovers she’s no longer just investigating the game—she’s being forced to play.

“A riveting psychological thriller with a hugely satisfying mystery at its heart.” -EVELYN CLARK, author of The Ending Writes Itself

McTiernan pulls no punches in this dark, explosive thriller.” -LISA GARDNER, New York Times bestselling author of Kiss Her Goodbye


Dervla McTiernan is the number one internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed author of seven novels, including What Happened to Nina? and The Murder Rule, which were both New York Times thrillers of the year. Dervla has won multiple prizes, including a Ned Kelly Award, Davitt Awards, a Barry Award, and an International Thriller Writers Award. Dervla is also the author of four novellas, and her audio novella, The Sisters, was a four-week number one bestseller in the United States. She lives in Australia with her family.


McTiernan’s conversation with Barbara Peters about reading long-running series is an interesting one. Check out the video.

Bryan Gruley discusses River Deep

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, told Bryan Gruley there aren’t enough mysteries set in the Midwest. Gruley’s latest book, River Deep, is set in Michigan. There are signed copies of River Deep, the second in Gruley’s Biterfrost thriller series, available through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/Mx0KP.

Here’s the summary of River Deep.

Attorney Devyn Payne is left navigating thin ice as her small-town community fractures in the wake of a shocking crime in River Deep, the second in the Bitterfrost thriller series from Edgar nominee and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Bryan Gruley.

“Visceral, vivid, and suspenseful”Meg Gardiner on Bitterfrost

Fighting for the cold, hard truth

Attorney Devyn Payne expects a quieter life when she returns to her hometown of Bitterfrost. Until the bodies of two eight-month-old boys are pulled from the icy depths of the local river. Was it a tragic accident or something more disturbing?

The twins’ distraught parents survived the car crash, but their mother, Catriona Dulaney, was driving. Now she’s charged with killing her babies, and her admission of guilt has leaked online. It should be the most straightforward case Devyn prosecutes all year. And yet, to her, it doesn’t add up.

With time dwindling ahead of the trial, Detective Garth Klimmek questioning Cat’s role in the tragedy, and a suspicious outsider loitering around town, this crime might just be the tip of an iceberg. Devyn’s put two Dulaneys behind bars before. This time, whose side will she take—and what will it cost?

This suspense-drenched drama is perfect for fans of Dennis Lehane, the TV show Mayor of Kingstown, and small-town thrillers by Tim Johnston and John Sandford.


Bryan Gruley is the Edgar-nominated author of six novels and one award-winning work of nonfiction. A lifelong journalist, he shared in The Wall Street Journal‘s Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the September 11 terrorist attacks. He lives in northern lower Michigan with his wife, Pamela.


Enjoy the conversation with Bryan Gruley.

David Heska Wanbli Weiden discusses Wisdom Corner

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, welcomed David Heska Wanbli Weiden. Wisdom Corner is his second book, but he talked about his debut, Winter Counts. He said, according to his research, when he released Winter Counts in 2020, it was the first crime novel published by one of the big five publishers by an indigenous author since 1992. He’s currently editing a book, Native Noir, by Native authors. It’s from Akashic Noir, and will be released in 2027. You can order a signed copy of Wisdom Corner through the Webstore, https://shorturl.at/7kAoA

Here’s the description of Wisdom Corner.

From the award-winning author of Winter Counts comes a new thriller about life—and death—on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Virgil Wounded Horse is desperately trying to escape his past as a hired vigilante on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. But when a legendary figure from the reservation is murdered, Virgil is forced to return to the job. Making matters more complicated, threats are coming from the Pine Ridge 705—a street gang from a neighboring reservation who want to expand their reach into Rosebud—and Mitch Gagnon, a shady politician who will stop at nothing to gain more power.

With a heated tribal council election looming, as well as new revelations regarding past injustices at the local Native boarding school, the stakes grow even higher. Will Virgil find the justice he’s seeking before it’s too late?

David Heska Wanbli Weiden, whose writing “melds the gritty realism of Dashiell Hammett with the lyricism of Tommy Orange” (O, The Oprah Magazine),once again brings us a tour de force of crime fiction—and an expansive look at Native American life in a shifting world.


David Heska Wanbli Weiden, an enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota nation, is the author of Winter Counts, which won the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. He received the PEN America Writing for Justice Fellowship and is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Ucross, Sewanee, and Tin House. A professor of English and Native American and Indigenous Studies at Stony Brook University, he lives in New York and Colorado with his family.


This is a fascinating conversation, if you’re at all interested in Native American history and the current life.

Oline Cogdill Talks “Death by Hot Sauce”

Actually, critic Oline Cogdill discusses Sandra Jackson-Opoku’s latest mystery, Savvy Summers and the Po-boy Perils in her latest review, originally published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, but the headline stresses hot sauce. You can pre-order a copy of the book through The Poisoned Pen’s Webstore, https://shorturl.at/9waZl.

Thank you, Oline, for sharing the review.

Book reviews: Death by hot sauce – plus recipes! – in new Savvy Summers mystery

‘Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils’ by Sandra Jackson-Opoku. Minotaur, 304 pages, $28

The subgenre of culinary mysteries has undergone a sea change in the past 16 years. These mysteries don’t just feature an amateur sleuth who is an expert cook, but they also use food as a way to explore culture, heritage and background, as in Sandra Jackson-Opoku’s new series, the second of which “Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils.”

Jackson-Opoku centers her delightful series around Savvy Summers, the owner of a soul food restaurant on Chicago’s South Side.

Savvy’s restaurant connects her to the community and to her late great-aunt, after whom she named her restaurant, Essie’s Place, and whose recipes fill her menu. Those recipes are one reason for Savvy’s success. The recipes also are part of the restaurateur’s legacy; Aunt Essie brought those recipes with her decades before when she migrated from Mississippi to Chicago. Aunt Essie came to Chicago during The Great Migration, when roughly 6 million Black Americans located from the rural South to urban areas. The Great Migration is considered to be between 1910 and 1970.

Savvy’s expertise in the kitchen is well known in her community, but she can’t seem to master some staples of Creole cooking that she recently added to her menu.

Still, Savvy is able to pull together a Creole menu to cater a friend’s luncheon for business colleagues in “Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils.” Her food receives high praise, but a couple days later, one of her friend’s employees dies, possibly from an overdose of an extremely spicy hot sauce.

Jackson-Opoku keeps the light plot realistic with believable action and characters who could be your neighbors. Savvy’s involvement in the investigation stems from her desire to save her business. To show Savvy’s connection to the community, the novel ends on a major Chicago event that recently happened. And naturally, the author includes recipes that may drive you to the kitchen.

Jackson-Opoku’s series is off to an excellent start. The first novel in this series, “Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes,” was nominated for the 2025 Mary Higgins Clark Award.

Catalano and Runyan in Conversation

John Charles recently welcomed Andrea Catalano and Aimee K. Runyan to The Poisoned Pen. Catalano is the author of The Lacemaker’s Fortune, a historical romance. You could check out Runyan’s magical realism novel featuring time travel, Missed Connections. There are copies of both books available through the Webstore, including signed copies of Missed Connections.https://store.poisonedpen.com/

Here’s the description of The Lacemaker’s Fortune.

In the 1870s, the fate of an immigrant desperate to escape the factories of New York City collides with the ambitions and passion of two men in an enthralling and darkly sensual novel by the author of The First Witch of Boston.

New York City, 1879. Eileen Maguire is a factory lacemaker limited by her humble circumstances and dreaming of a better life. Lawrence Barnard is the sole heir of one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families, but his means keep him confined by the expectations of society. When their paths cross one fateful winter night, Eileen and Lawrence become caught under the spell of the charismatic and enterprising Stanley Jones, who extolls the boundless opportunities awaiting in the West. The millinery shop Eileen dreams of owning with her sister is possible, as is the freedom to make his own choices that Lawrence so craves.

What begins as an idealistic journey westward quickly becomes something unexpected and sinister once the group lands in Leadville, Colorado, a wild silver mining boomtown high in the Rocky Mountains. A love triangle emerges, pitting promises and passion against betrayals and lies. With their starry-eyed intentions gone terribly awry and forbidden desires threatening to undo them, it will take heartbreak and a shocking secret to shake Eileen and Lawrence out of their blinded stupors and remind them that their fortunes are entirely in their own hands. Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, this is a dark tale of dangerous, suspenseful seduction.


Andrea Catalano is the author of the Amazon bestseller The First Witch of Boston, which was a 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards Best Historical Fiction Nominee. A historical novelist, Andrea holds a master of philosophy in historical studies degree from University of Cambridge, UK. Originally from the Boston area, she currently lives in Texas, with her husband, children, two fluffy cats, and many, many books. Find her online at www.andreacatalanoauthor.com.


Here’s the description of Missed Connections.

What if you had the chance to revisit every choice that mattered?

Sabrina Sorensen is 37, single, and just lost a fabulous job as manager of a posh Parisian restaurant. She heads home to California for her younger sister’s engagement party, and it’s an open door for her mother and siblings to chide Sabrina for her inability to commit to any of her previous jobs and relationships. What they don’t know is that Sabrina, for fifteen long years, has been building her résumé in hopes of becoming an inspector for the famed MICHELIN guides—a path that has required keeping her ambitions hidden, even from her family. And, with the job loss, all she’s worked for is in jeopardy. After her mother’s final clumsy attempt to fix her up with the charming “boy next door,” Sabrina leaves the party and retreats to the Burbank Airport.

The problem? She has nowhere to go.

She arrives at the airport, resolved to put the family conflict behind her and focus on her work, but now her mother’s critical voice fills her with doubts. Has she been wasting her life? Faced with the enormity of her next decision, Sabrina breaks down at the ticket counter. The ticket agent pulls her aside and offers her the life-altering opportunity to revisit some of her key life choices, both personal and professional. Sabrina suddenly is given the rare chance to answer the burning question: has she been foolish to sacrifice so much for her dream of becoming a Michelin inspector? And will a spark with an aspiring Danish chef change her priorities altogether?


Internationally bestselling author Aimie K. Runyan writes to celebrate unsung heroines. She has written six historical novels (and counting!) and is delving into the exciting world of contemporary women’s fiction. She has been a finalist for the Colorado Book Award three times, a nominee for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ ‘Writer of the Year,’ and a Historical Novel Society’s Editors’ Choice selection. Aimie is active as a speaker and educator in the writing community in Colorado and beyond. She lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her wonderful husband, two adorable (usually) children, two very sweet cats, and a pet dragon. Visit her online at aimiekrunyan.com; Instagram: @bookishaimie; Facebook: @aimiekrunyan; X: @aimiekrunyan


Enjoy John Charles’ conversation with Catalano and Runyan.