What is the title of your latest release?
THE FELONS’ BALL
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
THE FELONS’ BALL is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where the Macready family has been producing illegal moonshine for generations. Now Trey Macready, the patriarch of the family, has become a legitimate businessman—or so everyone thinks, including his daughter Natalie. On the night of the family’s annual party, the Felons’ Ball, Trey’s business partner (and Natalie’s secret lover) is murdered. It seems now that the Macreadys past might be coming back to haunt them, and Natalie has to decide for herself just how far her family loyalty might lead her.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I grew up in the Blue Ridge and still live there, and I love writing about that area. It’s beautiful but a little mysterious too. You never know what might be happening in the backwoods.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
She’s a yoga teacher, so I’d definitely take a class from her! I’m not sure we’d be friends, though. She’s a bit younger than I am.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Loyal, adventurous, trusting
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I did a lot of research into the federal crackdown on moonshine in the 1990s, particularly in my area of Virginia. I can’t think of a single fact that stood out, but it was interesting to know that the industry was still active at that time.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Both! I try to wait until I have a full draft, but sometimes I can’t resist going back and tinkering.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
ice cream
Describe your writing space/office!
I gave up my office to one of my kids this year, so now I usually write in my bed. It’s not totally ideal, but the important part is that I have a quiet time and space to work.
Who is an author you admire?
My favorite contemporary author is the Irish writer, Tana French. I’ve loved her work from the beginning, but I think she just keeps getting better and better.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
THE FELONS’ BALL sold on an exclusive submission to my editor, but I found out that my previous novel, The Good Ones, had sold while I was teaching a summer class. It was a great day!
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love mysteries and thrillers, but I also love literary fiction.
What’s your favorite movie?
It’s pretty much a tie between Chinatown and Zoolander.
What is your favorite season?
Fall
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like to go for a hike on my birthday when I can. Luckily, it’s in the summer, so I usually don’t have to work.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
It’s not that recent, but I just started watching The Good Place with my kids. I’ve seen it before, but it’s really fun talking about the ethical concepts with them.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
vegetarian
What do you do when you have free time?
I love reading and spending time outside.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on revising my new novel, THE GLASS HOUSE. It’s about a series of murders in a wilderness area in Virginia and the intertwining lives of two families. It’s been a lot of fun to write.
A Novel
The critically acclaimed author of The Good Ones returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller about a powerful Southern family whose dark secrets set in motion a chain of events with deadly consequences.
In their younger years, Trey Macready and his best friend Ben Marsh were distributors and enforcers for the local distillers who made their small hamlet of Ewald, Virginia, the moonshine capital of the world. But that was years ago, and now the only tie to their criminal past is the Felons’ Ball—Trey’s annual birthday party where they regale the crowed with tales of their youthful exploits. But when Ben is found dead after Trey’s fiftieth celebration, it’s clear those connections may not be past at all.
Finding Ben’s body propels his much-younger secret lover, Natalie—Trey’s daughter—to search for Ben’s estranged son, Lanny, and to find the truth about his killing. Her quest will lead to a battle with a police department that refuses to ignore her family’s history, and to form unexpected connections with Hardy, the sheriff investigating the case, and her brother-in-law Jay, who had a very public fight with Ben on the night of his murder.
When Jay goes missing on the morning he planned to meet Natalie, she begins to wonder if her mother was right . . . and if the past should be left in the past.
Fiction Family Life | Thriller Psychological | Thriller Crime [Harper, On Sale: July 15, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780063412064 / eISBN: 9780063412088]
Polly Stewart is the author of The Good Ones, forthcoming from Harper Books in June 2023. As Mary Stewart Atwell, she's also the author of Wild Girls (Scribner 2012). Her essays have appeared in the New York Times and Poets & Writers, among other publications. She runs the Craft of Crime Fiction interview series, formerly published on Fiction Writers Review and now appearing on Instagram.
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