February 12, 7 PM ET
Join authors Yasmin Angoe, J.T. Ellison, Shannon Kirk, and Connor Sullivan along with Back Room hosts Karen Dionne and Hank Phillippi Ryan for an evening of great conversation!
The Authors
Yasmin Angoe is the Anthony-nominated author of the critically acclaimed thriller Her Name Is Knight and They Come At Knight of the Nena Knight series. She is a first-generation Ghanaian American and, in 2020, was the recipient of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color from Sisters in Crime.
Her Name Is Knight was an Amazon Best Book of the Month for Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, and an Editor’s Pick. Yasmin’s work has received numerous recognitions, a billboard in Time’s Square, Best Of lists, and a Library Journal Starred Review. Her Name Is Knight has appeared in the New York Times Book Review, OprahDaily.com, POPSUGAR, Nerd Daily, the Washington Independent Review of Books, The Guardian, and other platforms.
Her Name Is Knight has been optioned for TV series and is currently in development. She is a proud member of several prestigious organizations such as Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Crime Writers of Color, International Thriller Writers, and the Women’s National Book Association. Yasmin is an educator. She and her blended family of six live in South Carolina. Learn more at yasminangoe.com.
J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of the literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS. She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker.
With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim and prestigious awards. Her titles have been optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.
J.T. lives with her husband and twin kittens in Nashville, where she is hard at work on her next novel. Learn more at jtellison.com.
Shannon Kirk is a multiple-award winning author of Method 15/33, which is optioned for film and an international best seller, Viebury Grove, Gretchen, In the Vines, and The Extraordinary Journey of Vivienne Marshall. She is a practicing attorney and former law professor in Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and son.
Shannon writes in several genres: literary fiction, suspense/thriller, and young adult. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America.
Learn more at shannonkirkbooks.com.
Connor Sullivan attended the University of Southern California, where he was the recipient of the Edward W. Moses Award for Creative Writing.
During college, he worked for Warner Brothers reading screenplays before relocating with his family to the Gallatin Valley in Montana.
Sleeping Bear, his debut, won the 2022 Barry Award for best first mystery/crime novel. Learn more at connorsullivanauthor.com.
Authors’ Books
They Come At Knight by Yasmin Angoe
For elite assassin Nena Knight, eliminating dangerous players on the world stage is part of the job. The Tribe, a powerful business syndicate in Africa, ensures that she has those opportunities. But for Nena, the Tribe is more than just her employer; it’s an organization that supports the African people–until it turns on itself.
As Nena embarks on a new mission, a violent siege by a paramilitary group throws the Tribe into chaos, and mysterious acts of violence plague the Tribe’s territories. As the attacks escalate, Nena suspects a different kind of enemy at play: someone on the inside, determined to undermine the Tribe’s leaders.
As this new threat closes in on her own family, Nena enlists a team to root out the danger. But as she gets closer to the truth, she will have to risk everything to protect the future she holds dear–even if it means facing off with an enemy she never expected.
Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.
Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.
It’s One of Us by J.T. Ellison
Olivia Bender designs exquisite home interiors that satisfy the most demanding clients. But her own deepest desire can’t be fulfilled by marble counters or the perfect rug. She desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park.
DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park’s son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don’t have any children. Then comes the confession. Many years ago, Park donated sperm to a clinic. He has no idea how many times it was sold–or how many children he has sired.
As the murder investigation goes deeper, more terrible truths come to light. With every revelation, Olivia must face the unthinkable. The man she married has fathered a killer. But can she hold that against him when she keeps such dark secrets of her own?
Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.
Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.
Tenkill by Shannon Kirk
Greta Vinet Seville, E-Discovery Counsel and Deputy General Counsel at the international law firm of Coarse & Cotton, finds herself on the run from her own firm after absconding with firm data to conduct her investigation, and enlists a diverse cast of friends and experts to help her comb through the mountains of data that confirms a trail of corruption that has shaped generations.
Her off-the-books, rag-tag legal team includes a genius litigation technology professional, a possibly psychopathic (but effective) summer associate, an AP investigative reporter, a classical painting art restorer, Greta’s philosophy professor brother, and Greta’s love interest, a compliance attorney at Tenkill. Romance, action, technology law, corruption are all explored, and married with Greta’s personal backstory about a renegade, vigilante aunt who’s been on the run for decades and fighting her own politically-charged battles. They create a make-shift war room in a historic Salem, Massachusetts home, and their pursuit of more evidence leads them in action-packed chases around Boston…and a massive hospital–Tenkill–that is at the center of the corruption.
But this investigation is like no other Greta has ever conducted, as people who have millions to lose and careers to ruin have and will kill to keep what she seeks to uncover secret. A surrealist thriller for fans of early John Grisham, with an all-female-led cast, and a secret at the end that will shake you to your core.
Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.
Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.
Wolf Trap by Connor Sullivan
Under the direction of the Special Activities Center in the Operations Directorate of the CIA, over three hundred highly trained agents operate in the darkest shadows of the country’s covert wars. Plucked from the highest echelons of America’s special mission units, these individuals go through rigorous training by the Agency to perfect the arts of assassination, sabotage, infiltration, and guerrilla warfare.
According to the United States government, this Ground Branch of the CIA does not exist. But when diplomacy and military intervention fails, the President of the United States calls upon it to solve America’s most dangerous crises.
Brian Rhome, a former Ground Branch paramilitary officer, thought his time within this elite group was over. But now, he’s on a desperate race against time around the globe as he confronts the traumas of his past and unravels a deadly conspiracy that threatens the highest levels of American democracy.
Purchase at an independent bookstore near you.
Purchase online at www.bookshop.org.
Your Hosts
Karen Dionne is the USA Today and #1 internationally bestselling author of the award-winning psychological suspense novel The Marsh King’s Daughter, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons in the US and in 26 other languages. Her follow up novel, The Wicked Sister (August 2020, G.P. Putnam’s Sons), is also an international bestseller and was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their Best Books of 2020.
The Marsh King’s Daughter was also chosen as one of the best books of 2017 by iBooks, Hudson Booksellers, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Irish Independent, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness and many other booksellers and reviewers, and is soon to be a major motion picture starring Daisy Ridley and Ben Mendelsohn.
Both The Wicked Sister and The Marsh King’s Daughter were selected by the Library of Michigan as Michigan Notable Books, and The Marsh King’s Daughter took home the Barry and the Crimson Scribe Awards for Best Novel. Visit Karen at www.karen-dionne.com
Karen’s newest novel is The Wicked Sister. “Dionne paints a haunting portrait of a family hurtling toward the tragic destiny they can foresee but are powerless to stop.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Purchase The Wicked Sister at an independent bookstore near you.
Purchase The Wicked Sister online at www.bookshop.org.
Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of thirteen novels of suspense. She has won five Agathas, four Anthonys, two Macavitys, the Daphne, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark award. National reviews have called her a “master at crafting suspenseful mysteries” and “a superb and gifted storyteller.” Her 2019 book The Murder List won the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the year. Her 2020 book is The First to Lie, of which the Publishers Weekly starred review said, “Stellar.” It was a nominee for the Anthony Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her upcoming thriller, The House Guest, will be published in January 2023.
Hank is also an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston’s WHDH-TV. In addition to 37 EMMYs and 14 Edward R. Murrow awards, Hank’s won dozens of other honors for her ground-breaking journalism. Hank is the co-host of First Chapter Fun, hosts the online mystery interview program for the acclaimed A Mighty Blaze, is a founding teacher at Mystery Writers of America University and served as past president of national Sisters in Crime. Learn more at www.HankPhillippiRyan.com.
Hank’s current novel, Her Perfect Life, published September 14, 2021 with starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. “Superlative…this is a fast-paced, surprise-packed treat.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review) It was chosen a Best of 2021 by The Strand magazine and Suspense Magazine, and is now an Agatha Award nominee for Best Contemporary Novel.
Purchase Her Perfect Life at an independent bookstore near you.
Purchase Her Perfect Life online at www.bookshop.org.
