If you love stories packed with small-town secrets, messy family drama, and a good dose of Southern grit, you won’t want to miss my chat with Polly Stewart about her latest novel, THE FELONS’ BALL. Polly shares the real-life places that inspired Ewald, Virginia, the colorful Macready clan, and why she’d personally rather keep the past buried. From moonshine cocktails to dream casting and her next twisty mystery, this interview is like swapping stories on a front porch — come join us!
Jen: This story has a lot of Southern grit and family drama. Did you grow up hearing wild stories like Trey’s Felons’ Ball? What sparked the idea for this cast of characters?
Polly: I wish I could say that I came from a family of great storytellers and big personalities like the Macreadys, but that wouldn’t be true. My parents are both academics, and while my dad’s roots go deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, my mom is from the Midwest and was always a little surprised that she ended up living in Appalachia. Like a lot of people, I spent most of my childhood wishing I could get away from the small-town South, although there’s nowhere I’d rather live now. I think it was more our current political climate that inspired the Macreadys. I wanted to think about how people can justify doing whatever they want to do in the name of heritage or family loyalty.
Jen: Ewald, Virginia feels so real on the page. Is it inspired by a place you know, or did you build it from pieces of your favorite small towns?
Polly: That’s the nicest compliment, because it’s so real to me too! Lake Monroe was inspired by Fontana Lake in North Carolina, which was created by the WPA in the 1930s by flooding the river valley. The town is probably closest to Radford, Virginia, where I grew up. I was there recently for the first time in years, and when I was walking around, I kept thinking things like, “Oh, that’s where Natalie parks when she’s going to see the sheriff.” It probably sounds totally weird to non-writers, but it’s always cool to me to see a place I’ve imagined layered over a place in real life.
Jen: Natalie digs deep into secrets that others might leave buried. If you were in her shoes, would you want to know everything or keep the past hidden?
Polly: Personally, I’m absolutely fine with keeping the past hidden! My characters are always a lot more brave—and reckless—than I would be in the same situation.
Jen: Which character came to you first when you started writing this? Did any of them surprise you or change the story in unexpected ways?
Polly: Natalie came to me first. I’m also trained as a yoga teacher, so that part of her life was immediately accessible, and I understood her role in the family right away. My favorite characters to write were her older sister Cassie and their father, Trey, which did surprise me, since they butt heads a good bit, and Trey is also the most reprehensible character in a lot of ways. I was surprised by how charming and likable he was on the page, at least from my perspective.
Jen: I have to ask — if you could attend the Felons’ Ball, what would your signature drink be? Moonshine or something a little safer?
Polly: Two of my good friends decided that the book needed a signature cocktail, so we got some moonshine from another friend, and they came up with several: the Ginger Moon, Moonmelon, Moonrise, and the Hunter’s Moon. Maybe I would order one of those just to feel cool.
Jen: What books are sitting at the top of your TBR stack right now? Anything you can’t wait to crack open this summer?
Polly: Right now, I’m reading Chris Pavone’s THE DOORMAN, which is absolutely addictive and so well-written. I’ve been traveling so much this summer, and I still need to get to Megan Abbott’s EL DORADO DRIVE and S.A. Cosby’s KING OF ASHES, which I’ve heard such good things about. I’m looking forward to Virginia writer Bruce Holsinger’s CULPABILITY, just named as Oprah’s Book Club selection! Next on my TBR is Meagan Lucas’s HERE IN THE DARK, a collection of short stories from a North Carolina writer whose work focuses on women’s response to crime and trauma. I heard her read this week, and it was fantastic.
Jen: Music can set such a great mood while writing. Did you have a playlist for this book? What songs would be on Natalie’s “hunting for the truth” soundtrack?
Polly: I just heard the writer Audrey Ingram say that she has a playlist for each book and listens to it over and over while she drafts, and I thought that was such a great idea that I might use it for my novel in progress. I don’t usually write to music, but I do tend to have a song that I associate with each book. For THE GOOD ONES it was “Range Rover” by Ben Rector, and for THE FELONS’ BALL it was “Strawberry Wine” by Deana Carter, which is mentioned in the book because Natalie sings it while she’s driving. I’m a total sucker for that song and how it evokes all the rich, swampy sensory detail the South is known for. Also, it’s about alcohol!
Jen: When you’re not plotting secrets and revenge, what’s your favorite way to unwind and clear your head?
Polly: I’ve had a daily yoga practice for over twenty years, and my family knows that I’m a lot less pleasant to be around if I can’t make time for it. I also love hiking and camping in the mountains. I guess I am a lot like my characters in that way.
Jen: This story feels so cinematic. Who would you love to cast as Trey, Natalie, Hardy, and Jay if it were ever to become a film or series?
Polly: I never used to think about this question, but I got asked about casting for THE GOOD ONES a lot, so it was definitely in my mind while writing THE FELONS’ BALL. I think Kyle Chandler would make a great Trey—I love how he can turn from charming to menacing on a dime, and I had his character from Bloodline a little bit in mind. I see Sydney Sweeney as Natalie and Cole Hauser (Rip from Yellowstone) as Hardy. I hesitate to name an actor for Jay because he’s South Asian, and we see so much less representation of actors in those roles.
Jen: And what’s next for you? Are you working on another twisty mystery, more small-town secrets, or something totally new?
Polly: I’m finishing up what I hope will be a final draft (for now) of my next novel, THE GLASS HOUSE. It’s set in a wilderness area in Virginia where four women have been found murdered or disappeared over the course of ten years, and follows the story of two sets of mothers and daughters living nearby. It’s been a challenge, because it’s the first novel I’ve written with multiple points of view, but there are also a lot of buried secrets, so in that way it’s very much on brand for me!
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.
Jennifer Vido writes sweet romances set in the Lowcountry, earning acclaim as the award-winning author of the Gull Island series. Her debut novel, "Serendipity by the Sea," secured the prestigious Best First Book award from the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest. In 2024, Vido's talent garnered further accolades, with Baltimore Magazine readers naming her Best Local Author in their annual Best of Baltimore poll, while the Baltimore Sun acknowledged her with an Honorable Mention in their Best of 2024 Author category. When not writing fiction, she interviews authors for her weekly Jen’s Jewels column, leads water exercise classes, and directs a legal nonprofit. Currently residing in Maryland, she and her husband are proud parents to two grown sons and a rescue dog named Fripp.
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