Hart Hanson was born in the US, moved to Canada at a young age, and came back to the US after entering the film industry. He’s written and created numerous films and TV series, including Bones. He and his wife Brigitte live in Venice, California and have two sons. After seeing every possible kind of character on the Venice Boardwalk, he had to come up with the story of how such diverse people would even know each other.

The Seminarian, May 21, 2024

Xavier “Priest” Priestly is a snarky former seminarian turned private investigator. Dusty Queen is a hard-as-nails professional stuntwoman and freelance bodyguard. When Dusty’s girlfriend suddenly disappears, a woman in a strange blue wig tries to assassinate Priest, and a twelve-year-old boy shows up claiming to be his son, the two friends are thrown into a maelstrom of intrigue and high-stakes violence that’s as convoluted and dangerous as it is hilarious.

Hart and Priest share the same favorites: a cake doughnut with coffee!

Stuart Turton is responsible for The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, The Devil and the Dark Water, and now The Last Murder at the End of the World—otherwise known as the ‘not-a-trilogy’ trilogy. His books have appeared on the Sunday Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and are known for fusing locked-room mysteries with literary fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Stuart’s books have been translated into forty languages and have sold over a million copies, which he says would be impressive if every author wasn’t boasting about exactly the same thing.

The Last Murder at the End of the World, May 21, 2024

Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched.

On the island, an idyllic scene where 122 villagers are content to fish, farm and feast, to obey their nightly curfew, to do what they’re told by the three scientists. Until one is found brutally stabbed to death. The scientist’s murder triggers a lowering of the security system and if the murder isn’t solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island―and everyone on it. But the security system has also wiped everyone’s memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer―and they don’t even know it.

The clock is ticking.

Stuart’s favorite snack is Tunnocks Teacakes—very British. His favourite drink is a Cortado, a Spanish invention of mixing espresso half and half with warm milk!

Delia Pitts’ writing took a turn when she discovered Sherlock Holmes in seventh grade.  Pursuing a doctorate in African history and a career in the United States Foreign Service reinforced her interest in people, places, and writing. Though the settings were not quite so exotic as West Africa, her subsequent career as a university administrator took her to Texas, New Jersey, and around the world recruiting international students and promoting study abroad programs. But she has worked for professional papers in Chicago since her late teens, and has published over sixty fan fiction stories since 2012, under the pen name Blacktop.

Delia says her wonderful husband has been a source of insight and common sense for decades, and their twin sons the inspiration for everything she does.

Trouble in Queenstown, July 16, 2024

Evander “Vandy” Myrick is back in Queenstown, New Jersey, her childhood home, in search of solace and recovery. It’s a small community of nine thousand souls crammed into twelve square miles, fenced by cornfields, warehouses, pharma labs, and tract housing. As a Black woman, privacy is hard to come by in “Q-Town,” and worth guarding.

Vandy agrees to take on a new client, the mayor’s nephew, Leo Hannah, who wants Vandy to tail his soon to be ex-wife. But a racially charged murder with connections to the Hannah family rocks Q-Town. Logic pegs Vandy’s chances of solving the case between slim and hell no, but logic isn’t her strong suit. Neither is backing off.

Vandy is a teetotaler, but loves a mocktail made just for her: The Vandy Myrick. See recipe here!

Peter Kirsanow is a partner with the law firm of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, working within its Labor & Employment Practice Group in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the longest-serving member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights and was previously a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and served as labor counsel for the City of Cleveland. Peter has written articles for National Review and testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on numerous nominations and confirmation hearings.

W.E.B. Griffin’s Zero Option, July 9, 2024

November 1943. Stalin is pressing the Allies to open a second front in Europe in order to ease the pressure on the bloody grinding war in the East. Roosevelt and Churchill agree to meet the Soviet premier in Tehran.

Wild Bill Donovan, the charismatic leader of the OSS, has intelligence that someone is planning to assassinate either or both of the Western leaders at this vital conference, which will shape the course of World War II. He sends his best agent, Dick Canidy, to thwart the plan, but how can he do that when he doesn’t even know if the killer is a Nazi or an Ally?

Peter’s favorite is Johnnie Walker Red—a preference he shares, coincidentally, with Winston Churchill. As for a snack, he likes bannock, a Scottish bread, especially eaten with smoked salmon.

Robyn Gigl (pronounced Guy-gull, not ‘giggle’), is an author, attorney and advocate. Her novel, Survivor’s Guilt, was selected by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best Mystery and Thriller books of all time, and her first novel, By Way of Sorrow, was declared one of the best of 2021 by CrimeReads. Robyn handles complex commercial and employment litigation and has been honored by the ACLU-NJ and the NJ Pride Network for her work on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. She has been named as one of the Top 100 Lawyers and one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in New Jersey. She has tried cases in both state and federal courts and was one of the defense attorneys in a 21-month federal trial—the longest criminal trial in the state’s history—in which all the defendants were acquitted.

Nothing But the Truth, June 25, 2024

New Jersey State Trooper Jon Mazer has been charged with killing Black investigative reporter Stewart Marshall in a racially charged, headline-making murder. The evidence is overwhelming, but Mazer swears he was the source for Marshall’s exposé about the Lords of Discipline. The covert gang operating within the New Jersey State Police is notorious for playing their rogue and racist games. With everyone from the governor to the county prosecutor on the wrong side of justice, Erin and her partner Duane find themselves mired in a conspiracy of corruption deeper than they imagined—and far more dangerous than they feared.

Erin’s favorite drink is Chardonnay. Her favorite snack (to the extent one is ever mentioned) would be plain M&Ms.