Hi, Laura. Welcome to What your next podcast.

Thanks for having me. I'm so glad to be here with you.

I'm so happy to chat with you. Laura, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Well, I got my writing start as a newspaper reporter. After graduation I moved to the Chicago area and I was covering news and when I was a new reporter, I really enjoyed when I would have holidays or weekends, they would send me to cover just any news events that happened. And I really enjoyed covering the hard news stories. If there was a fire, a robbery, maybe there was a kidnapping, whatever was happening, I would have to go cover that and I liked talking to the police and the investigators. Learning about, the solving crimes. And so when I started trying to write fiction I thought that would be a fun place to start. I really wanted to write crime fiction, and so that's how I got started.

I love this. I love this. A fun fact about myself is that actually I work for private insurance, as an investigator, so white collar.

Oh, wow.

The sleuthing

I

the stuff,

That is great.

so I love reading about crime fiction 'cause I do interact with from law enforcement and actual law

Yeah. Yeah.

you know how

Yeah.

a case. And, I love that you're diving into DNA detectives like in other books and they're diving into small town crime fiction like. So it gives you a sense of it. So what was like you from that experience? 'cause you're a journalist, so you love interviewing. What's your favorite part of gathering that the experience to write this as realistic as we can because every case is different.

Every case is different, and I usually start with the people because I really think that's kind of the heart of your story is the characters that you're writing about. And so when I'm starting a new story, a new book I kind of zero in on what is my. Central character, what do they do? And in this case, she's a police officer. I want to interview people in that job. I wanna find out about their day to day. I've done police ride alongs, interviewing investigators, interviewing crime scene investigators, which is a different specialty. And I just love to talk to people and I think that's kind of leftover from my reporter days that I like to go talk to people, especially in person. Now you can do a lot of research on the internet and you can do a lot. Just on the phone. But to really get a feel for a person and their world, and the day-to-day that they live in it's best to go talk to them in person. And so I love to do that. And I had a lot of fun researching this book, innocence Road, because it's set in far West Texas. It's a fictional setting called Madone. It's a small town, but it's inspired by a real small town in Texas called Marfa. And if you've never visited Marfa or you've never visited the Big Bend area, it's a really amazing place. It's just, it's very, it's this very severe beauty. It's very vast and empty and it's this. Arid desert. And so the topography is beautiful and Big Bend National Park is beautiful, and hiking around there is beautiful, but it's very rugged. There's not a lot of people, there's a lot of places where you're not gonna get cell phone service. I wanted to weave all those things into the story somehow. So that was fun. I really loved, being out there and kind of absorbing the setting that I wanted to put into the story.

Yeah. My experience with Marfa was actually a few years ago, there was a lot of influencers going to this high-end store in the middle of this town,

The Prada store? Yes.

it looks like this. Out of the box, like you dare West Texas,

yes.

It's

Well.

rugged.

It's very full of contradictions because on one hand it's this very remote area with

Yeah.

few people live there, and it's just this vast desert landscape. But they have this Marfa is this tiny little town and they've got an art scene,

yeah.

Live music and they've got art galleries and installations and they just got this vibrant art scene. The thing that you're talking about is one of their magnets for tourism. They have glamping hotels and. A lot of camping out there, so it's kind of a tourist destination, oddly enough because it's so small, and it's also at the gateway to Big Bend, national Park and some other parks. And so they get a lot of people that are on their way to the parks. And then they take a little detour at Go to Marfa. And so that whole geography kind of played into the story too, and part of the mystery of the story it's a murder mystery and I wanted to kind of have the setting be part of the whole story. So that's what I did.

Yeah, so did you I'm assuming you went to visit,

Yeah.

lights and

Yeah. Yeah, I got to eat the burritos and drink the margaritas and, talk to people that work in the coffee shops and, go to the bars and all these places kind of inspire different settings in the book different things that happen in the book. So that's one of the fun things about doing it in person is that you get all these surprise inspirations, if you do everything over the phone or just do it on the internet, you're not gonna encounter all these unexpected. Things that can be part of your story if you weave it in. So that's fun.

So taking into the idea of the idea, the story first, and then coming out building this, body research and writing. 'cause it's more, I think for you it's much more lived experience writing, like you're actually experiencing from your experience and then infusing into writing. does, how long does it take from. Idea to actual production of the book. I'm not

Mm-hmm.

publishing. 'cause publishing takes,

that's a whole other process.

Process,

Yeah.

for you? Or do you have different ideas, marinating and you're just

yeah.

letting it just work with it,

it can take anywhere from, six months to a year.

Mm-hmm.

this one took about a year because I kind of really wanted to get out there and do, like I said, a lot of in-person research and then kind of come back and sift through all my photographs and my ideas and kind of, come together with a plot that I wanted. But you know, I start with an idea. I start with a pretty detailed outline about my characters and the story. But what happens is as I'm writing along, things change and there will be kind of unexpected twists and turns, and that can take a little longer. But I try to use my gut instincts on the story. If I feel like the pace is too slow, then I wanna make it faster. If I feel like it's getting too much. Action. Action. I wanna kind of take a pause and let it, let's absorb some things. Pacing is important if you're writing suspense. And so that's part of the process is trying to keep the pacing how you want it.

So you actually wrote in crime fiction, but you wrote Roman Suspense,

That's right.

romances and then suspense, and then this is a thriller,

Mm-hmm.

Roman suspense. What is like, how do you pace? Because in Romans suspense you have two competing plot lines. You have the internal conversation between the two characters and falling in love, and then the external conflict that's happening. Whatever it's gonna, the stakes are

Mm-hmm.

how do you balance both of them and then, moving forward with.

Well, romantic suspense. I've written a lot of romantic suspense novels and it can actually help you with pacing because, when you have these action scenes where something is happening with your suspense plot, they're learning, they're doing investigation, and they're uncovering new clues. You can have some quieter moments where they're mulling over their clues, but they're also kind of getting to know each other better. Usually the characters are, maybe they're falling in love or maybe they're not falling in love at all. They're fighting and they're head betting, but it's more of an emotional plot line that you're going with. So you kind of toggle back and forth between. The suspense of what's gonna happen with these two characters and the suspense of what's gonna happen with the story and the investigation. And so you kind of go back and forth with a straight suspense, like this book, innocence Road is a thriller. I mean there's certainly relationships in the story. You get to know more about her relationships with her family. And there is a little bit of a underlying romance because one of her ex-boyfriends is another cop in her area that is kind of helping her with the investigation. So there's some kind of, there's a little bit of tension there. The focal point of the story is this unfolding mystery of what happened with the cold case many years ago, that they've recently learned that the man who was convicted of a murder many years ago in their small town has been released from prison after new evidence came to light and he was exonerated. There's a current mystery of a new murder investigation. There's an unidentified victim on the outskirts of town, and leanne Everhart, the protagonist. She's trying to figure out what's going on, and as she gets more and more into her investigation, she learns that the two crimes are connected. And so that's unfolding as you move along.

Yes. And so what's your writing process? Do you do a murder wall? Like of some sort of have like post-its? I'm like, okay, because I think when you're talking about, thrillers and suspense, you have to think about red herrings. You have to think about pledge twist. You have to think about, chapters that are compulsively readable chapters or you kind of have to the working with the pacing. How do you do you act like a detective? So here's

Yes.

is and let me connect the dots and let me just take things outside of the order.

Well, usually when I'm working on a new book, I have, I actually, I love to have two boards. One, I'm a very visual person. And so when I go research, a place or research. A character, and I'm out there, I love to take pictures and have this storyboard with all these pictures on it. Some of it's photographs that I took. Others it might be clippings from magazines, clippings of the setting. Maybe, the truck they drive or whatever it is. Something from the story, the setting, the people. And so I've got a visual storyboard, and then in addition, I've got more of a plot storyboard, and that one is note cards. And I write down, little things about what's gonna happen in the plot and I can move them around. And that's how I, that helps me keep the pacing moving. Because if I feel like there's too many slow things happening, I'll kind of move around some things. And it also, when you're writing suspense, some of those. Small details turn out to be really important to your plot and they might be little twists in the story. So it is, you wanna keep track of those details so that they can kind of come back later and you can tie up the loose ends. And then when you're writing suspense, one of the important things is when are you gonna reveal information? And I love to read suspense and I love to read mysteries and intrigue and, anything with kind of a. The story poses like a question, it's an investigation or there's some, like something happened and they're trying to understand puzzles, but you wanna pace out your reveals. And as a reader, I don't like it when I get to the end of the story and everything is revealed all at once and there weren't a whole lot of clues, it just kind of comes outta nowhere. So it's important to put the clues in, but not in such a way that it is all very obvious what happened. You wanna make some surprises in there?

That's why you're a writer. That's why you're a fine area. 'cause I was like, I would not, I as someone who justice for a living and like sometimes it's, the answer is the most simplest answer and sometimes it's, you'll be surprised with it.

Yeah.

like you have to connect the dots. But yeah, I think as a writer there is the magic of giving you a clue is giving your Easter eggs, giving you places. And then having the reader work for it too, along with

Yeah.

and be surprised,

yes.

the reader knowing the answer of the character.

Well, I mean, as a reader myself, I love to be surprised at the end, but then what I really love is when I'm surprised, but then when I think back on the story and I go back and. Reflect on the clues were there and I maybe didn't see how they all fit together, but they were right there.

Yes.

love. If an author can pull that off I'm really impressed.

Yes. All right. So La Laura, tell us what kind of books do you tend to read? You mentioned you read mysteries, crime fiction

Mm-hmm.

maybe I'm assuming like some romances you don't understand Romance romantics po. But what's your go-to for

Well, I kind of read everything I love to read, and it just depends on my mood.

Yeah.

If it's, I love to read romance, historical fiction true crime prime fiction. When I'm researching a new book, I find myself reading a lot of true crime or maybe some forensic. S things like that. Nonfiction. I might read a biography. I have a couple of books where the hero is a former military, and so I had to learn all about that because I'm not in the, I wasn't in the military and I don't have any close family members, so I launched into a big research project researching, Navy Seals and Army Rangers and all these different. Parts of the military, so I might research a character or I have a series, the Tracer series, and it's very focused on a forensic crime lab. That's kind of the overarching theme of this series. And each book focuses on a different set of characters who are trying to solve an investigation and they're using the forensic. Forensic technology to help solve the crime. I might learn about a forensic anthropologist or a DNA specialist or a ballistic specialist, and they might be part of the story. And so then I'm researching that. So I do some research books and then I just love to read for fun, I'll read something light, I'll read a romcom, I'll read, something a friend of mine wrote. Sometimes people send me books to blurb and yeah, that's all. It's all fun.

It's all fun.

Yeah.

to recommend our listeners? 'cause

mm-hmm.

your back list, would you do have a healthy back list

Yeah.

who are looking for romantic suspense with thrillers and everything in

Uhhuh.

you have a great place, but do you have any wants to recommend our listeners to.

Well, one of the if they like suspense. One of the best suspense books I've read in quite a while was Karen Slaughter's new book. I don't know if you've read her, but she's amazing. She has a new book called We Are All Guilty Here.

Yes.

I got to interview her about her book at one of her books, events that was here in Austin where I live. She's just amazing. She really comes up with this. Rich cast of characters. Even when the book finished, I was just dying to read more about the characters. 'cause I felt like there were so many unanswered questions about some of the secondary characters. Of course it's the start of a series, so we're gonna learn more about them and other books. So that's always fun when there's future books. Karen Slaughter is really amazing one of my friends, Julia London, if you're in the mood for something lighter my friend Julia London just had a release and it's a rom-com and it's a Christmas book and it's called While It Was Snowing. So it's more along the lines of light, kind of get into the holiday spirit, kind of a read. Well, let's see what else? I'm reading the new Ava Glass novel that's coming out in 2026, she asked me if I would read an advanced copy of that. So I'm reading that now. And what else? I mean my TV we read Stack is really tall. I've got a book there that so many people have recommended to me. Maybe you have read it. It's called Atmosphere by Tara Jenkins Read.

Yes.

And so I'm looking forward to that 'cause I read her book, Daisy Jones and The Six and Loved it. There's always a big stack on my night table and I try to. Is between projects. I'll start, I'll launch and do, catching up on my reading.

Yeah. Well, atmosphere. Just have some tissues. 'cause you're

Oh, you've read it?

Yeah.

Okay. Well, everyone said it was a ride. It was emotional

It is you was like, okay, we're

okay.

and stuff, I

Mm-hmm.

Like writing, like it's just it's dark and it is done so Right.

Yeah.

you on your toes. So yes,

This was a book. It's been a long time since I read a book where I was reading along and I turned the page and I just gasped. I was like, what? And when someone can pull that off, I mean, that's amazing. So I was just, I've been recommending it to everyone. 'cause it was really, it was a really gripping story.

Yes. I think that's like a book along with your book. Like the books are like, you should definitely read if you're in that darker, like gritty mood and space

Yeah. They're dark, but very well done.

Yes. Awesome. Laura, tell us, we gonna find online.

Oh, online. Well, I'm on social media, so I'm on Instagram and Facebook, and all my little buttons are on my website@lauragriffin.com so you can reach out there and I love to hear from readers, so reach out and love to hear from people.

Awesome. Thank you, Laura, for the shower.

Thank you, Laura.

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