January 13th, at 7:00 p.m.

Start the new year off right with Rogue Reads! Talk with Joseph Finder, Melissa Larsen, Jakob Kerr and own Rogue Isabella Maldonado! MC is Tosca Lee.

 It’s all FREE, and you could win one of the authors’ brand-new novels. (U.S. addresses only.) Wishing you the best of luck!

The Oligarch’s Daughter by Joseph Finder
The Lost House by Melissa Larsen
Dead Money by Jakob Kerr
A Killer’s Code by Isabella Maldonado

Be among the first 100 in the Zoom room, and you’ll have the opportunity to personally debrief the authors. Or catch them on Facebook Live and interrogate via comments. This is your chance to talk LIVE with these amazing authors!

As an added treat, sample each author’s favorite snack and drink, with their notes and recipes. Dining and drinking will commence at the start of the show.

Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of 17 suspense novels. His books have won numerous awards, including the Strand Critics Award, International Thriller Writers Best Novel and the Barry. Two of his novels have been made into major motion pictures, including High Crimes and Paranoia. He is a founding member of the International Thriller Writers, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Joe is a graduate of Yale and the Harvard Russian Research Center. He lives in Boston.

The Oligarch’s Daughter, January 28, 2025

Paul Brightman is a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. When his security is breached, Paul is forced to flee into the New Hampshire wilderness. Six years ago, Paul was a rising star on Wall Street who fell in love with a beautiful photographer named Tatyana—unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch and the object of considerable interest from several U.S. intelligence agencies. Now, to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.

Protagonist Paul Brightman’s favorite drink is bourbon—specifically Four Roses.

Melissa Larsen grew up in the Bay Area in a family of writers, believing she was the weird one for not writing. This didn’t last long. Her debut novel, Shutter, was published in June 2021 by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It has been featured in The New York Times Book Review and named a “Most Anticipated Novel” by PopSugar, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and CrimeReads. Melissa received her M.F.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from New York University. When she isn’t traveling somewhere to research her next novel—and somehow hurting herself in the process—she lives in New York City and teaches creative writing.

The Lost House, January 14, 2025

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt. Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. But is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives?

Melissa’s favorite drink is sparkling lemonade, though one of the main characters in The Lost House does drink a gin and tonic with an Icelandic gin.

In addition to his work as an author, Jakob Kerr is a lawyer and communications executive in San Francisco’s tech industry. He was one of the first employees at Airbnb and spent a decade shepherding the company from tiny startup to global phenomenon. Jakob has also been a bartender, sportswriter, and—for one disastrous afternoon—the driver of an ice cream truck. After fifteen years in San Francisco, he recently returned to his native Pacific Northwest, where he now lives with his wife and children. Dead Money is his first novel.

Dead Money, January 28, 2025

The lightning-rod CEO of tech’s hottest startup has just been murdered, leaving behind billions in “dead money” frozen in his will. As the company’s chief investor, Mackenzie’s boss has a fortune on the line—and with the police treading water, it’s up to Mackenzie to step up and resolve things, fast. Not the attorney’s forte, but Mackenzie’s used to being underestimated. In fact, she’s counting on it. Because the way she sees it, this isn’t an investigation. It’s an opportunity. And she’ll do anything it takes to seize it.

Anything at all.

Jakob’s main character, Mackenzie, enjoys white wine—any kind that doesn’t come in a box, whether that be an expensive Sancerre or an eight-dollar Chardonnay.

Our own Rogue Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling Sanchez & Heron series with Jeffery Deaver, FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Lopez), the award-winning Detective Veranda Cruz series, and the FBI Agent Daniela Vega series. Her books are published in 24 languages.

A Killer’s Code, January 21, 2025

During a recent undercover sting gone bad, hit man Gustavo Toro died in the arms of FBI Special Agent Daniela “Dani” Vega. But Toro left behind a video that promises to expose a mysterious mastermind who has been operating with impunity for decades. But there’s a catch. Dani’s team must follow Toro’s cryptic clues on a cross-country hunt for justice, and piecing together his past is more twisted than Dani could have imagined. But this powerful adversary will stop at nothing to keep their secrets—including eliminating those who threaten to reveal them.

Isabella’s main character, Dani Vega, is a former Army Ranger turned FBI agent and still occasionally likes to indulge in treats from her days in the military. She used to stash Caribbean flavored beef jerky in her rucksack whenever she could, and for a beverage, see the recipe for the Army Ranger Cocktail below!

P.S. You can Go Rogue with us! Once a month you can receive news and more before anyone else by signing up for our monthly newsletter!

Our MC:

Tosca Lee is a New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels including The Long March Home (May 2023, coauthored by Marcus Brotherton) The Line Between, The Progeny, Iscariot, and The Legend of Sheba. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and optioned for TV and film. She is the recipient of two International Book Awards, Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion, ECPA Fiction Book of the Year, and the Nebraska Book Award. Her work has finaled for the High Plains Book Award, the Library of Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the Christy Award, and a second ECPA Book of the Year, among others. Lee earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Smith College. A former first runner-up to Mrs. United States, she lives in Nebraska with her husband and two of four children still at home.

Recipes

Army Ranger cocktail (invented with cold weather training exercises in mind):
1/2 oz Bacardi 151 rum (for warmth)
8 oz can of Red Bull energy drink (for a boost)
1 oz Jagermeister herbal liqueur (for flavor)

Mix all three ingredients in a mug.
Top with a wedge of lime and a wedge of lemon.