Hi, Laia. Welcome to the What Your Next podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

So happy to have you here. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Okay, so I'm the author of a killer kind of romance. I am from Italy. Although I live in Sweden prior to writing romance books, I studied criminology. So I ended up doing something completely different I'm kind of happy worked out that way, honestly.

what kind of criminology did you do? Because there's different types of crime. There is actually white collar which I do work in that area. In that field. But there is also like the crimes, the true crimes that we hear, the murders and the things that happen. So what kind of crimes do you focus on?

Focused on white collar and specifically on environmental crimes.

Gosh, I love this. I do healthcare

Okay.

Yeah, so it's a fun thing 'cause it's like people don't think about it like, but there's actually crimes here

Yeah.

And they're just as fascinating to investigate.

And they often look victimless, but they actually make way more victims than

yes.

many violent crimes.

Yes, it feels like victimless, like people are like, oh, this doesn't hurt anyone. I was like, oh, it can hurt millions of people and it

Yeah.

your rates, it can hurt your environment. It can hurt

Yeah,

collusion. There's things that happen that can actually affect you in the bottom line for money and Like your environmental, take on like how you interact with the world.

Exactly. Entire communities as well, and yeah,

Awesome. So talk to us about your Roman's journey. How did you get started from going for criminology to being a Roman's author?

Right. So actually I've always read a ton of romance books. When I was younger

Mm-hmm.

stopped at some point, in favor of TV and friends and all those things that teenagers love,

Yeah.

books. And then I ended up working. An editor for an author who was translating their books in Italian. So I was looking at their Italian translations and I fell back in love with the genre. So then I started reading again and I figured, I have a couple of ideas. Let me try. I failed brutally until I found the right idea and then I never stopped since.

Yeah. And you've been writing romcoms, which I love, but your journey, you were an indie to traditional publishing. So how was the journey from coming from indie author to thread publish author?

It was great. Difficult in some ways because you pass from being kind of like an entrepreneur to being just a small part in a much bigger machine. But at the same time, you get. The support that you don't get as an indie author from your publisher. So it's been different and I would love to continue also the indie side of things 'cause I think like hybrid is definitely the way. But I love it. I love working with a publisher. Definitely.

Awesome. All right. Let's talk about A Killer Kind of Romance by you, which is a criminal. Aficionado, podcaster has to host a Romans podcast, but there's some murders happening, so we get a little bit of mystery, a little bit true crime a. Space. We got a really interesting meet. Cute. Or meet. Interesting bet. That's happening. Talk to us about the elaborative pitch about this romance

Yes. The book is about Scarlet Moore, who is a crime fiction podcaster who is asked by her boss to also take on the romance podcast. And she is definitely not happy about that because she does not know, or like romance, she's kind of snobbish about it actually. At the same time in her small town, these murders start happening and they kind of resemble the books that she discusses on her podcast if that were not enough there is her neighbor and the childhood crush who mysteriously disappeared five years prior to this, who is suddenly back in town and he is hiding a few things. And she starts wondering if he could be behind this crimes.

Yes. So this book's under a happily after, so don't be worried. It does, it feels like a little bit like a thriller. 'cause we do. Get the serial killer, the

Right.

and stuff, but at the same time it does kill, happily after. So all is well in the world.

Absolutely.

cat, this book actually will be okay for you,

Absolutely,

So what

yes.

What was your favorite part about researching and writing this book? Because you do have this component of mystery thriller element along with the romance speeds. 'cause every chapter starts with the Roman speed or a specific thing that talks about, yeah.

Right. So I think the most interesting part was actually figuring out how to balance these two things. Because you don't want one to overpower the other. You don't want the romance to be more than the mystery or the mystery to take over the romance.

Yeah.

but actually I've always been told that I'm good at, revealing pieces of information at the right time to kind of build up to a reveal. So that ended up being like my favorite part. And like sometimes you think that comedy or romance doesn't really belong with thriller. But you know, the danger of death and all these like kind of heavier themes actually go really well with heightened emotions. So with romance and comedy is kind of the way that we cope with this, like darker themes. So I think the mix turns out to be like really pleasant actually.

Yeah, I think like I really enjoy this. I would consider it like a dark romcom, 'cause it does have some boring elements, but there's actually like a lot of comedic. I think Scarlet's Journey to Romance was helpful to see like those comedic elements of her. First of all, she's I don't wanna do this at all. And then. falling, finding the Roman beats in her own personal life,

Right,

well as trying to figure out like this mystery part.

Right.

good mesh of someone who likes a romcom but wants a little bit more darker, like a good entry point to darker stuff.

Yeah. It's not exactly a dark rocom, more like a murder,

Yeah.

Rocom.

like a thriller rom-com.

Exactly. Exactly. But yeah, that was definitely fun. Like writing how she passes from being like an absolute romance hater and as I said, kind of snobbish to falling in love with romance was definitely my favorite, arc to write. And when she does finally admit that she now loves romance, that is kind of like my love letter to romance. I'm not a romance snob. I will inhale anything that is romance. So fun for me to write this kind of like change in her. when she talks about how she feels about romance, when. The podcast kind of taken, gets taken away from her. That's my favorite quote in the whole book. I absolutely love it.

Yeah.

I.

talk to us about writing this book in turns. Did you plot it or did you pants your way? Were you surprised of the twists and turns, or you were.

Oh my God. I am not a plotter. I will write and then rewrite and then change, and then rewrite again. Definitely a pencil all the way through. I kind of had. An idea of who I wanted it to be to, the bad guy in the scenario. But that also sort of changed as I was writing it. The way it all unfolds, changed the role of the cat, which is extremely important in the book. Also came about as I wrote, so definitely a pencil all the way through.

All right, so listeners, the book comes out this week, so make sure we buy it or get it an audiobook ebook. Paperback. It is a beautiful paperback, by the way. The cover is beautiful. That's a killer kind of romance by let this Leticia Lordi. All right, so we're gonna talk some book recommendations. What kind of books do you tend to read?

I'll read anything. I definitely read more rocom style books rather than, deeply emotional romance with a lot of trauma. And, I wanna laugh. That's what I want to do when I write and when I read. But I will read. Almost anything. This year, my highlights, oh my gosh. I really loved the Brave and Reckless by Dylan Dyer. I thought it was brilliant. I'm not super. Big on like cowboy romance,

Yeah.

but this was amazing. She did it in such a brilliant way with the theme park. I absolutely recommend it a hundred percent. Another highlight was hoax and kisses by my friend Ard which is a small town romance with fake dating elements. And he's he's a florist. The, just the sweetest book. Very wholesome. The small town vibes are just perfect. Loved it. What else? Brain Weaver. Absolutely love anything she publishes. Absolutely love the beginning to this new series. Cannot wait for number two. Yeah, these I think are my top three books of the year. Also, Elliot Fletcher, I don't know if you Yeah, those are, her series is amazing. I loved Whiskey Business. I loved Scotch on the Rocks. If you Scottish Romance, that's. Just perfection.

Yes. And you also love Poison Abbey, which I read and love by Ava Rainey. I actually discovered the biotech billions the same way that you probably discover them, which is a trilogy of brown billions, we are falling in love and we got the heir, the spare and the charmer. I think it's the third

Yes.

then Ivy is, max Hall meets Rory Gilmer. Logan Vibes like we got perfection.

I'm a big Logan stand, so I was like, yes. Sold immediately.

Yeah, it's so good.

Yeah.

was just like perfection. I listen

Perfection.

it's duet and it's done so well because

didn't listen.

similar to your book, it has a mystery. So there's a running mystery that they're trying to solve together, which is kinda I have to appreciate from your book and even Poisoned Ivy, is that. an external conflict, there's like a group project that they're working on.

Right,

to having to just do the, I appreciate sometimes in moments like contemporary moments where it's like the relationship and the stuff, but sometimes you need like something else,

right. Yes. Some shenanigans from the outside throwing wrenches in their plants. Yes, absolutely.

Tell us where can find you online.

You can find me on Instagram you can find me on substack and you can find me on my website, letizialorini.com. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Awesome. Thank you, Leticia, for being at a shower.

Thank you for having me.

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