What is the title of your latest release?
INNOCENCE ROAD
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Set in far West Texas, INNOCENCE ROAD is the story of Leanne Everhart, a police detective who is trying to track down a serial killer whose crime spree spans two decades.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I love the setting of this story—Marfa, Texas, near Big Bend. It’s such a ruggedly beautiful place, and it’s the perfect backdrop for this family saga.
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes. Leanne is the kind of person you want to have a margarita with and hear about all the crazy cases she’s worked over the years.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Gritty. Resourceful. Determined.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I loved learning all about the mythical ranching culture of far West Texas.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I go. When I sit down to write, I get back into the mindset by reading and editing what I wrote last time so that the story starts moving through my head again.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Super dark chocolate.
Describe your writing space/office!
These days, my office is wherever I happen to be with my laptop. I work in coffee shops, bookstores, in my house by a widow. As long as I can tune out distractions with music, anyplace can work.
Who is an author you admire?
I’m a lifelong fan of Stephen King. Lately I’ve been reading Karin Slaughter and Lucy Foley. I love the way they develop a cast of characters, and you’re not sure which ones (if any) are trustworthy. That keeps the suspense sharp.
Is there a book that changed your life?
The first book that made me think of being a writer was Little Women. I wanted to be Jo.
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.
I was outside with my kids when my agent called. Huge rush of joy! It was an offer from Simon & Schuster for my first novel, One Last Breath.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
It changes! I love true crime and any kind of suspense.
What’s your favorite movie?
Silence of the Lambs.
What is your favorite season?
Summer.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Toasting with friends!
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I got addicted to the last season of White Lotus. Also, I recently loved The Perfect Couple with Nicole Kidman.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Tex-Mex.
What do you do when you have free time?
I love getting outside. Hiking, jogging, walking, anything outdoors and away from screens.
What can readers expect from you next?
I am writing a new thriller, THUNDERBIRD GAME, about a Texas family that gets together for a reunion and everything goes sideways. Think Knives Out but on a Texas ranch.
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Detective Leanne Everhart swore she’d never go back to her hometown near Marfa, Texas—but she returns when her brother needs her, only to find a town in need too, still torn apart by a decades-old crime.
Leanne Everhart knows women have something to fear in her artsy hometown, especially so if they’re not rich, white locals. Returning to town after her father’s death, she sees the ugliest sides of an area that draws people for its severe, untamed natural landscape.
While her department faces mounting backlash over a recent wrongful conviction in the long-ago murder case of a popular local teenager—which is now unsolved—Leanne is called to a fresh crime scene at the edge of the desert. A nameless woman was found murdered, with no clues as to her identity. As Leanne digs into the crime scene evidence, she grows convinced this latest murder case is linked with the local teenager’s murder. And to multiple cold cases, all unnamed female victims, that have all been shelved by her department without leads.
Now, with conflicted loyalties and without allies, Leanne must hunt down a serial killer, one who’s been preying on local women for two decades, growing bolder and more ruthless with every strike.
Mystery Woman Sleuth | Mystery Police Procedural [ Berkley, On Sale: November 11, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593819319 / eISBN: 9780593819326 ]
LAURA GRIFFIN is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas, including LIAR’S POINT, a romantic thriller set on the Texas coast. Laura lives in Austin, where she is working on her next novel.
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