Beyond the Next Chapter with Whitney Clark

When an unarmed Black teenager is shot by police while walking home from school, the grief and outrage ripples through the city of Philadelphia in the novel "We Are Not Like Them." The shooting calls for changes in policing, revealing deep divisions among those who experience systemic racism and those who deny it exists.  For lifelong best friends Jen and Riley, the shooting is a deeply personal c...

Erick Rickstad is a New York Times and international bestselling author of novels including "What Remains of Her" and "The Silent Girls." He joined the podcast to talk to Olivia about his latest dark, psychological mystery, "I Am Not Who You Think I Am." It's a tale that starts in 1976, with a tragic act of violence witnessed by then 8-year-old Maynard, who is not only shaped by the trauma and los...

Seven psychopaths enjoy a free ride to a prestigious east coast school, in exchange for being participating in a psychopathy study. What could go wrong? For one, students keep getting killed. One study participant, Chloe, isn't at worried for her safety because she considers herself the dangerous one. Debut novelist Vera Kurian joins the podcast to talk about "Never Saw Me Coming," and why readers...

Emily Itami is a debut novelist who uses her expertise as a travel writer to transport her readers to Tokyo in "Fault Lines." The book focuses on Mizuki, a wealthy and beautiful Tokyo wife and mother, who is profoundly bored. Her witty internal dialogue reveals there are cracks beneath the shiny surface which, like the fault lines running through the city, threaten to damage or destroy.  Emily joi...

Fans of Riley Sager's work know that he is a master at delivering twist after twist in suspenseful thrillers like "Home Before Dark," "Lock Every Door," and his latest, "Survive The Night." Sager joins the podcast to talk to Olivia about the novel, its protagonist Charlie, and why the film student fears she may be the Campus Killer's next victim. He set the book in 1991, the same time that Sager w...

Halloween is creeping up and it is time for some suspenseful reads, and no one does it better than Lisa Jewell.  This time, Jewell takes us to a posh boarding school in the English countryside where many secrets lurk in the beauty, in her latest thriller, The Night She Disappeared.  The author joins the podcast to talk about the book and tells Olivia the surprising way she approached the novel: be...

Bestselling author of The Paris Wife , Paula McLain, tackles a new genre in her powerful, emotionally charged  thriller, When The Stars Go Dark . Following a personal tragedy, Detective Anna Hart launches herself into a missing persons investigation that takes her down a path right into her own painful past, wrestling with what it means to be a woman, a mother, a victim, survivor, and savior. McLa...

Jenn McKinlay is a prolific writer who is best known for the Library Lover's and Cupcake Bakery Mysteries. McKinlay is quickly building a loyal following for her women's fiction and romantic comedies, and her latest is "Wait for It." When the protagonist, Annabelle, moves from Boston to Phoenix, McKinlay brings readers a slice of life in the desert, a setting the author calls home. She talks about...

"Dream Girl" is NYT bestselling author Laura Lippman's latest suspenseful novel.  Lippman calls it "a book lover's book." Told from the perspective of an acclaimed novelist, Gerry Anderson, whose literary relevance was cemented with publication of a book called "Dream Girl." The story finds Gerry bed-ridden and isolated, recovering from physical injury and the passing of his mother, when he starts...

Allison Larkin's novel The People We Keep takes readers back to the early 1990s, with teenage April lives mostly alone in a motorhome in a rundown town in rural New York. The People We Keep is the coming-of-age story of a talented young woman who seems to always go without- without a mom, often without a dad, without opportunity, without understanding, without stability, without much of a safety n...

In "The Husbands," Chandler Baker takes readers to a suburban, Stepford-inspired, impossibly idyllic Texas community of Dynasty Ranch, which seems to offer Nora Spangler everything she needs. The New York Times bestselling author of "The Whisper Network" joins the podcast to talk about her new novel, her career as an attorney that inspired the character, the sexism women face in the corporate worl...

As a former journalist, novelist Kristin Harmel fully embraces the research required to craft accurate and immersive historical fiction. Harmel became more deeply immersed in World War II Poland and the Jews who her protagonist, Yona, helps to hide and keep alive in the forest against the odds. Along the way, Harmel discovered that she is directly descended from the Polish Jews.  Sharing personal...

One of the most talked about books of 2021, Zakiya Dalila Harris' debut novel is a genre-bending, searing look at race, office politics, and the micro-aggressions that people of color endure when working in a predominantly white industry. Harris' "The Other Black Girl" is the story of Nella, a publishing assistant who is used to being the only black voice in the room. When Hazel arrives, dynamics...

Witnessing a suicide of a married lover, while at dinner with another married lover, is the moment that sends Lisa Taddeo's "Animal" narrator, Joan, out of New York and headed to California. A dive into grief, rage, and sexual power, the novel is powerfully written and in moments deeply moving and even disturbing. Taddeo reveals she's far from the darkly intense author many expect is behind her wo...

Jennifer Deibel spent nearly a decade living in Ireland and Austria, building a family and a deep love for all things Irish. That passion for the Emerald Isle and the Gaelic tongue is still with the Arizona schoolteacher, and fueled her passion for writing her debut novel, "A Dance in Donegal" from Revell Books. Jennifer talks to Olivia about making a "perfect cuppa", life in the desert as compare...

Be honest, it IS all exhausting! Over the years, Sophia Benoit has sharpened her fierce wit as a means for survival: dealing in with life as a woman in a sexist world, finding love in the age of apps, accepting yourself even when society considers you fat, the push and pull of life as a child of divorce… Benoit, a relationship and sex columnist discusses her collection of essays with Olivia, refle...

Christina Baker Kline talks about the research and writing of her powerful work of historical fiction, THE EXILES. The novel tells the story of Evangeline, Hazel, and Matthina, three women who must tap into incredible resilience in the face of oppression and injustice. The setting is "the land beyond the seas," Van Diemen's Island, a penal colony established by the British, where 25,000 British wo...

Can you fall in love with a stranger? Is anything a mystery anymore? "To Sir, With Love" is a romantic comedy written by Lauren Layne who serves up a satisfying look at modern love in Manhattan. Part "Love Is Blind" meets "You've Got Mail," the novel's protagonist Gracie Cooper is holding down the fort of her champagne shop/ family business, while falling for anonymous stranger on a dating app she...

Falling in love and getting engaged without ever looking at each other? That's the premise of the Netflix hit reality show, Love Is Blind . The unique dating show was a huge hit and launched not only a marriage but new careers for Lauren and Cameron. Fans follow their video content and now they can read about their relationship. Olivia talked with the duo about their book, "Leap of Faith" which is...

Even the casual reader who glanced at the lists of the Best Books of 2021, or Most Anticipated Fiction of '21 knew of THE PUSH. Ashley Audrain's debut novel explores a women's greatest fears about motherhood through the suspenseful, gripping story of Blythe and her daughter, Violet. She talks with Olivia about how her professional experience as a literary publicist both shaped and shook her as a w...

If you didn't already know what a guncle is, the character of Patrick in Steven Rowley's "The Guncle" is here to help.  As the Palm Springs dwelling, mimosa loving, sitcom celebrity gay uncle to Maisie and Grant, Patrick opens his heart and his home to the kids in a time of crisis. Olivia talks with the author of "Lily and the Octopus" and "The Editor" about this heartfelt and humorous novel of gr...

T.J. Newman's life changes dramatically this summer. The author is a former indie bookstore book seller, turned flight attendant, turned novelist. "Falling" is already a bestseller in the UK and is poised for a huge release at home July 7th. Overcoming dozens of rejections from literary agents to get here, Newman's suspenseful tale of a kidnapping plot targeting the family of an airline pilot ulti...

In "I'm So Effing Tired" wellness expert Dr. Amy Shah tackles what we're doing that's making us feel fatigued, outlining a plan for readers to implement changes that will create an energy surge. From what you eat, to when you eat, to managing stress, Dr. Shah talks to Olivia about the energy trifecta, and the personal moment that led her to make a change. From surviving shift work to evaluating wh...

For so many fiction readers, JoJo Moyes is a household name. The British novelist and screenwriter talked to Olivia and Margaret about the research that went into her latest novel, "The Giver of Stars." The book is now in paperback, and to write it, the British novelist made numerous trips to America's heartland for research. She shares why it was important to ride horses in rural Kentucky (combin...

Best-selling author (more times than even he can count with certainty,) Dr. Kevin Leman likely wrote a book on any issue in your family you'd like to address and improve. From parenting, to romantic intimacy, to his theories on birth order that still have people talking decades later, Dr. Leman is a deep well of common sense who delivers hilarious truth bombs in a way only he can. Leman talks to O...