A little behind-the-scenes peek at the life of an author: for some conferences, you assemble a panel and pitch it yourselves, while for others, you apply as an individual and the conference organizers take charge of putting you together in pairs or groups. A couple of years ago I attended Fall For the Book for the first time. I found myself paired with Deanna Raybourn, whose books I adored, and we clicked so well as paired presenters, we then started pitching ourselves as a double act for other conferences. It’s always a pleasure to appear with Deanna, who’s every bit as clever and entertaining as you’d expect the author of the Veronica Speedwell mysteries to be.

The biographical highlights: Deanna Raybourn grew up in San Antonio, Texas. At the age of 23 she wrote her first novel. She married her college sweetheart and after the birth of their first child she left teaching to become a mom and full-time writer. Her debut novel, SILENT IN THE GRAVE, was published in January 2007. It is the first in the Lady Julia Grey Mystery series. SILENT IN THE GRAVE won the 2008 RITA Award for Novel with Strong Romantic Elements. The Lady Julia Grey series has been nominated for several other awards, including an Agatha, a Daphne du Maurier, a Last Laugh, and two Dilys Winns, and is currently in development for a TV series in the UK. Her newest mystery series featuring Victorian lepidopterist Veronica Speedwell began in 2016 with A CURIOUS BEGINNING, and continues with A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING, A TREACHEROUS CURSE, A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION, and now A MURDEROUS RELATION.

[Editor’s note: A MURDEROUS RELATION comes out tomorrow, March 10! And I, for one, cannot wait.]

Deanna’s #read99women recommendation is MY SISTER THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite. Says Deanna: “This is one of the tightest, most riveting books I've ever read. I devoured it in an afternoon and loved every twisted minute. It's the book I'm recommending to everyone--including people who never asked for book recs.”