A Very Bad Friday Reads 11.1.24

A VERY BAD THING is here at last!

Nov 01, 2024

Happy Friday! And happy release day to A VERY BAD THING!!!

Wow, y’all. It has been a wild month getting ready for today—tons of backend work, interviews and essays and podcast tapings and appearances. Today, I’m doing two TV shows, then have the launch tonight at Parnassus, and tomorrow I’ll be at Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, then online Sunday night at The Back Room. It’s going to be a fun weekend talking all things pink! I have more events after this weekend, but they’re spread out at an acceptable pace. For me, though, this means I’ve been knocking things off my to-do list, which makes me so very happy.

From the moment I came up with the name Columbia Jones, I knew I needed a story just as unique and special as the woman who could bear that name. When the book’s core question came to me moments later—who killed Columbia Jones? (GASP!)—I knew I’d landed on a compelling story. The trick was to do justice to a main character who dies at the beginning of the book. Quite the challenge. I hope I have shared Columbia’s tale in a way she would be proud of, and I hope you love discovering the truth behind her unfortunate death.

Here’s some more insight into the new book with the seeds that created the story.

What was your inspiration for A VERY BAD THING?

Ironically, it began with a conversation with one of my dear friends, bookseller Barbara Peters, owner of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, where I’ll be tomorrow; yay! We were talking about Agatha Christie, and she told me she’d visited her house once. Her description of the interior was fascinating, and a story idea hit me like a lightning bolt—a young woman inheriting the home of an author who’d died under mysterious circumstances. As happens with nascent ideas, they grow and change and morph, and the end result doesn’t resemble this original idea in anything but spirit. Happily, though, I’m using those first concepts to write another story that is more in line with the original plot idea. It’s a rich tapestry to work from.

How did you choose the novel’s title?

I love titling books—they’re either literal or metaphorical, and this one is so literal. The book’s prologue is a letter from a mother to her daughter, a posthumous admission of guilt, and the second line is: “Many, many years ago, I did a very bad thing.” It gave me chills when I wrote it. It had all the elements of a great title. Happily, everyone agreed. Sometimes, hitting on the perfect title is a lot more challenging, but this time, we got this one right away.

And how did you come up with that pink cover?

Well, that was my fantastic team at APub. I felt like this story was so sensationalized that it needed a shocking cover to really draw people in. The moment they sent the draft with that sinister pink, I was madly in love. I knew immediately it was the one.

Here’s the full interview with Nerd Daily…

More to come on the PR front; I’m making a single document with all the links to share in a few weeks. The audiobook is narrated by Saskia Maarleveld and trust me, it is perfection, and of course, if you’re a Prime member you get the ebook for free, otherwise it’s only $4.99. Also, there is a Goodreads giveaway underway if you’d like to try for a copy like that, too!

Get Your Copy Here!

I haven’t had time for a lot of reading this week because in addition to all the release week fun, we took a last-minute trip to New York for game 3 of the World Series. It was an absolute dream come true, a bucket list moment, to see the Dodgers win in Yankee Stadium and then win the whole shooting match. Congrats to our team!

I mentioned this one last week, but I did get to start reading HEIR by Sabaa Tahir, and gosh, it is so good! I have some nice long flights this weekend so I will be writing and reading then. I feel a short story brewing!

And yes, you’ve heard from me a LOT this week. I promise it will all calm down now.

Step Thirteen came out on Tuesday: