Justice for Emerson
by Karen e. Osborne
TPP EP 24

TPP Episode 24 with Karen E. Osborne

Mark: [00:00:00] Coming up on the Thriller Pitch podcast.

Karen: And so I whip at my notebook and I write down the way she looked and the way she stood and the way she spoke, because I know that’s what my character looked like or sounded like.

Mark: What makes a great thriller tick, and what does it take to write one? Welcome to the Thriller Pitch Podcast, where bestselling award-winning and emerging thriller authors share the craft research and real world experiences that power today’s most gripping stories. I’m your host, Mark P.J. Nadon.

Whether you’re writing thrillers or can’t get enough of reading them, this show takes you inside the minds of the authors, behind the twist, characters and moments that keep us turning the page.

This week I’m joined by Karen E. Osborne, author of Justice for Emerson. We talk about writing dual timelines, how she builds characters by observing real people in their everyday [00:01:00] life, and how some of her personal history, including her husband’s Vietnam experiences helped shape Emerson’s story.

If you’re interested in writing characters who feel fully alive and managing multiple timelines without losing clarity, this is a conversation worth hearings.

Karen, hello. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here today.

Karen: Oh, thank you so much for having me. I’m delighted to be here.

Mark: I am pumped to talk about your book, and I have it here for those who are watching the video, justice for Emerson. I love this book and I, I cannot wait to, to dig into it. So

Karen: Thank

Mark: let’s start with the pitch.

Karen: Yeah. So could the murder of a 77-year-old Vietnam vet beloved volunteer be somehow tied to a murder in 1968? [00:02:00] Hmm. So this is a dual timeline murder mystery. Present day. And Aria comes home, comes to work. She runs a not-for-profit. She’s 50 years old, she’s five foot two. She has a real issue about her height.

She comes to work and she finds a beloved volunteer, 77-year-old, cow Emerson murdered in the basement. The murderer sees her and she sees the murderer, and we are off and running. The book one 2025 Best Mystery of the Year by best thrillers.com and, and that’s my pitch.

Mark: Thank you. Congratulations on that award. I saw that. That’s awesome.

Karen: Thank you.

Mark: And well deserved. ’cause this was just so well done in so many ways. So let’s get [00:03:00] into that start. Let’s start with just where the idea came from. How did you form this?

Karen: So all of my books, this is my fifth book, and all of my stories start with characters. So characters talk to me, and then I figure out how their story is gonna evolve. I’m not a plotter. I write, you know, I think and solve as I go. When, when I was about three quarters of the way through Justice for Emerson, my husband, who’s helping me with the research because of all the Vietnam stuff, so he’s a Vietnam vet.

So he was helping me with the, with the, you know, all of the things that were going on in Vietnam. That’s the dual timeline part. And he’s three quarters of the way reading it. And I, and I, ’cause that’s where I was in the writing and he says, Karen, this is so good. I can’t figure out who the murderer is. I said, I know I can’t either.

I keep waiting to, I want the murderer to reveal [00:04:00] himself. Like he said, you don’t know who did it. I said, I don’t. So I start with characters and, and I wanted, you know, the experience, the whole Vietnam experience. And I read the women from Ha by Hannah, Kristin, you know, she wrote about the women in Vietnam.

And so I wanted to do something that honored the black Vietnam vets who, who faced a lot of extra, a lot of extra. And, and then I also, aria just, you know, said this was really her story. So I had to do a, to a dual timeline.

Mark: So when you wrote this, I guess you wrote it then in order, ’cause you didn’t outline it, you would’ve written Emerson’s story and then just switched the next chapter to Aria’s story back and forth. Wow.

Karen: cause I don’t outline, you know, it’s, it’s, I had a, a book that I’m writing [00:05:00] now. I actually had a character yell at me and say, no, I am not a middle class on my way to college person, because this never would’ve happened if that was the case. I am poor Karen, I am poor. And I thought, oh, she’s right.

I had to go back and go back and change it. So, yes, I just, I follow, I mean, I’m, I’m always thinking of the plot, you know, as I’m writing, I’m thinking about what could, what’s gonna happen next? What could happen next? What if this happened next? But I don’t outline all the way. Do you outline, are you an outliner?

Mark: I am in between. So I have a good idea where the story’s going. I have the book blurb. I have an idea of the book cover. ’cause I like to do that as like an inspiration. But I don’t do chapter by chapter ’cause the stories never follow. I’ve tried it and the stories never follow that path.

Karen: I love that you think of your, your book cover first. That is so cool.[00:06:00]

Mark: It’s fun. It brings it all to life for me.

Karen: Yeah,

Mark: So when you were building these characters, like you said, they talk to you. Are you writing, taking notes as they talk to you so you can keep track of them and their story?

Karen: I do with when I was writing my first book. I actually would have to like, pull over in my car and blow on the side of the road and like, oh my goodness. Or I’m sitting on an airplane and I see somebody and I realize that that person looks just like, you know, one of the characters. And so I whip out my notebook and I, I always, I always, always, always have paper with me no matter where I am.

And so I whip at my notebook and I, and I write down the way she looked and the way she stood and the way she spoke, because I know that’s what my character, you know, looked like or sounded like. So yes, always, you know, pieces come to me. Pieces come to [00:07:00] me and I try to keep track. You know, I keep notes about what I said somebody looked like, but they’re, they’re so alive that I rarely get mixed up.

I really forget that this one had a certain color eyes, and now she, you know, I can’t remember what color her eyes were because. You know, they’re, they’re living, breathing people.

Mark: So do you find you go through life in the world through a writer’s lens, where you’re constantly looking at people in situations and asking those what if questions all the time. Just through?

Karen: that terrible? Yes.

Mark: Yeah.

Karen: I mean, every time somebody tells me, tells me anything, they’re telling me something that happened to them in their life. And I’m thinking, oh, you know, like I could use that. Maybe not in the book I’m writing now, but I don’t wanna forget that. And I also sometimes I struggle with humor, you know? ‘Cause you need a little, especially when you’re writing really intense suspense, paint turning stuff. You need a little, you [00:08:00] need those light moments. So when somebody tells me something that really strikes me as amusing, and I think that would work, that would work. And but sometimes I don’t know where it’ll work.

And so I just have to keep it in my notebook until sometime comes around. So yes, beware. Don’t talk to me because I will

Mark: Watch

Karen: watch out.

Mark: When you crafted this story justice for Emerson, do you ask yourself if you’re writing a darker, deeper story, or is that just the way you like to tell your stories?

Karen: No thank you for asking that. That’s such a, that’s, that’s so important to me. So all of my stories have behind them social issues that matter to me. I don’t want the book to be about that in the sense of, you know what, I want you to learn about this. But I, I weave them in. I weave in moments when [00:09:00] somebody will realize what it means to be unhoused.

What it means to be a 13-year-old girl that doesn’t have access to you know, sanitation, you know, um, products, what it means to a, so this one has addiction in it. It has, you know, parents who are not together. It has stepfather. Is that a real father, poverty. I, I just, I try to lift every book I have.

I try to lift social issues that I think are important and weave them through, you know, a suspenseful page turning.

Mark: How do you decide what weaving is versus talking too much about it because, I think you did an excellent job of weaving it in because I noticed them all. I’m reading to notice as well, [00:10:00] but I noticed it all and it was all just very well done. It was just enough to give me an insight, but not overdone. So to pull me from the story.

Karen: Yeah, it’s a balancing act and I have to correct myself sometimes when I’ve gone too far. I, you know, I, I, I realize that when I’m reading, when I’m rereading, you know, I love to rewrite. Matter of fact, you can’t be a successful lawyer, successful author if you’re not like up for rewriting. You know, those beta readers will slam you and tell you what you need to fix.

So I really look, so when I’m doing my rewrites, when. I, I’m constantly asking myself, did I play that too heavy? Is that okay? Is is it the right balance? But the, the characters help with that because Aria, who is 50 years old, she’s the mother of a college age student, a freshman in college, [00:11:00] and she’s a widow at 50, and she cares deeply about the unhoused.

She cares deeply about people who are hungry and marginalized. So as long as I keep her true to her character, while her story is going, it’s easier to get the right balance because, because it’s her life, you know? Yeah.

Mark: I appreciated her also that little romance love story with Jax in the middle of the book because she’s older. But it was so nice that she’s feeling those feelings and finding that love for herself again. And she’s obviously doubtful and been through a lot and am I too old and stuff. But yeah, it was, it was great.

Karen: You know, I have, I had a, somebody bought my book and a link on LinkedIn. He’s a contact on LinkedIn, and so, he sends me a note on LinkedIn. He says, [00:12:00] Karen, I’m just bordering up a bordering a plane. I’m on my way to Atlanta, but I’m just telling you, if you kill Jax, I’m never speaking to you again.

And then the next day he says, okay, I’m leaving Atlanta. And Jax is cool, he’s good. Okay, but oh, what you did to Wally, poor Wally. And he’s giving me this commentary all the way through. So, yeah, I like Jacks a lot. I, I wanted her to, I hoped that she would find her way to him. You know, I mean, he’s, he’s just a good, good guy and she had all these things that he was to this and to that and to this and to that. And you know, it’s not okay, but he’s just a really nice guy.

Mark: Yeah. And speaking of that support for her, at the beginning of your book, you have a dedication to your husband, and I have always found it in all [00:13:00] these conversations I’ve had with authors, that there’s a big support network behind successful authors. And I’m curious how he supported you through this journey. It’s not necessarily just for this book, but the journey of becoming a writer as well.

Karen: You know, so we met when I was 13 and he was 14 years old, and we met at a party. I don’t actually remember the party or meeting him, but he says that he met me at a party and at 14 years old, he decided he was gonna marry me. He told his 15-year-old brother who said, what whatcha talking about?

He said, no, that’s her, that’s her, that’s the one. So he, he has been on my side. We’ve been married for 57 years and he has been on my side for the whole time. And he’s believed in me when I didn’t believe in me, you know, when I would like, is this any good or Will I ever, ever be able to get published or is, is [00:14:00] there just, you know, another book in me.

I don’t think there’s another book in me. He was always, always on my side, he would give me honest feedback, you know, he would, he would tell me if he thought something was off or, but he has read all of my books at least five or six times because he’s one of my paid readers. So he’s been a wonderful a wonderful support and never lets me get discouraged for long, long.

Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We always have that voice in our head.

Karen: Yes.

Mark: So let’s go to research a little bit. When we were you, you had mentioned the, some of the historical facts that you like to put in there. You have Vietnam. What kind of research went into all the book?

Karen: So I, first of all, I lived through Vietnam with Bob, so I knew it from [00:15:00] my wife Lee. You know, perspective. I mean, we, we would, he and his mom and dad would sit and watch the TV and watch the name scrolling to see if, if his plane went down and if his name was, I mean, it was a terrible time. When you, you, that, that’s one of the ways you found out people were dead, you know, on the news.

So, I, I had you know, feelings about the time and, but I had to ask him so many questions, but, and I asked his brother too, ’cause his brother had been in Vietnam. They, they weren’t allowed to be there at the same time. So his brother was there first, and then his brother came home and Bob went next.

But then he doesn’t, no, like, he’s an old guy. He doesn’t remember everything. So I had to, I had to go and, and check and see, like, I asked him questions like. You know, I said in, in Kristen Hannah’s book, the Women, the Dust she said was orange. Do you remember the dust being orange? Were like in, in ua. [00:16:00] Was it orange?

He goes, Karen, I don’t remember that. I said, okay, I’m gonna, I’m gonna go and research and see what color the sand was, or the dust was at UA, Vietnam in 1968, and it turned out it wasn’t orange. So, it was a combination of asking questions, remembering things, researching things. And and I thought I didn’t like research Mark, I I, but until I wrote true Grace, which is my historical novel, I always avoided anything that I had to research.

So my first three books were all contemporary, so I could just draw on my own experiences and stuff. But then I found out research is so fun. You find out like the coolest, coolest things. So that was the other thing. After writing True Grace, which is set in 1924, I wanted this book to have some historical part of it since I, I enjoyed writing [00:17:00] for the first time, historical fiction.

Mark: Were there moments in this book that your husband had mentioned, things that he wanted you to put in because they were more authentic to the experience that he had?

Karen: Hmm. You know, it’s interesting, he never only true Grace. Did he ever, ’cause he knew my grandmother and it was inspired by my grandmother. Did he say, well, how come you’re not putting this in? Or how come you’re not putting that in? But with Justice for Emerson, he was just, you know, he just made sure he read it and said, yeah, that makes sense.

I remember that that’s how it felt. You know, for example, addiction became, people came out heavily addicted. Many people, not everybody. Not Bob, but lots of people came out heavily addicted. And he said to me, you know, it cost a dollar and a quarter to buy a whole bottle of scotch. They made it, the, the, the services, the armed services [00:18:00] made it so easy for these men to purchase and drink alcohol. That alcoholism, you know, when you’re, you’re in a war, you’re scared you’re,

Mark: Yeah.

Karen: You know, and, and it’s dirt cheap to, you know, to grab a, to grab a bottle. So I’m very, very grateful that Bob came back sober and, you know, okay, that he, that he didn’t get caught up. But, but I did want Emerson to experience and overcome

Mark: Mm-hmm.

Karen: He could, it was such, and go there for a while. Right. You weren’t sure that Emerson was gonna make it.

Mark: No. How hard was that for you to write? I was, I mean, Emerson probably impacted me emotionally the most for the roller coaster that he went through from losing his fri [00:19:00] well, sorry, I won’t try not to get spoiler, spoiler From what, what happened in the book to him to like the addiction and the back and forth and everything that he’d lost, and I just felt so bad for him. How do you write that? Like, you must feel terrible as you’re writing it.

Karen: Yeah. You know what I tried to do is not judge. So I wanna make sure that my readers see people as whole human beings and they’re not, they’re not judging.

Mark: Hmm.

Karen: And I did. I do have somebody in my life who went through two people who went through, that journey, that addiction journey. And I loved them both so much and watched their struggle and watched losing ground.

And then and they weren’t, you know, Emerson’s age. And it wasn’t Emerson’s story, but I saw that path, [00:20:00] and I wanted to make sure that my readers didn’t judge Judge Emerson, that they, you know, I, or if they did, they did, but not because I wrote it in a way that, that I was judging here. Here’s the story. And so many of the reviews say that they so respected how I, how I handled that without it being, yeah.

Mark: Yeah, it was, it was touching. ’cause it was, I, I was really rooting for a moment and I, I don’t give spoilers, but

Karen: Even though we know he’s dead.

Mark: Yeah, That’s right. Yeah. We know the end result. Yeah,

Karen: opens with Emerson dead in the, in the basement, and so many people said to me, you know, I just put that outta my mind. I was just rooting for him

Mark: yeah,

Karen: the whole, the whole time until we got to the end and like, oh, that’s right. Emon is dead and we’re trying to solve this murder.

Mark: yeah, [00:21:00] yeah. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, okay, he’s, he’s gonna get to a good place where everything was just great and then he dies tragically, and I can handle that, but I don’t want it to go the other way.

Karen: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanted him to get to that good place where he was living a good life, and Aria really cared. Everybody at the Way Station really cared about him.

Mark: Yeah. When readers put down this book, what are you hoping they’re gonna feel, or what are you building toward at the end?

Karen: Yeah. So one of the things that I love that readers have, have said to me is that the plight of the unhoused, even though there was just moments in the book, not whole, you know, heavy duty handling, that it got them thinking differently, thinking differently about and so Bob and I with our church, we [00:22:00] volunteer every week.

We go out and we feed folks. We, we at the church, we pack up the food, hot, hot food, and we bring sandwiches to, for takeaway, and we drive to seven, eight places where they’re living and hiding in a town that’s north of us. And so this is something that matters to me a lot. And, and I hope that when people put down the book they’ll look, you know, ’cause we walk past people sitting on the street wrapped up in cardboard and, and judge or ignore or don’t even see, don’t even notice.

So that was one of the things I was hoping that people would have a, a different thought about that. And then I also wanted them to be happy for Aria, you know, to, there’s a splat for your listeners and viewers. There is a big SP splash of romance in this book.[00:23:00]

But that was my hope that they would have empathy for people who struggle ’cause so many of the unhoused also are struggling with addiction. They’re not all, but that’s one of the things that often comes together and. So I hope that people would, would care a little bit more, see a little bit more, think how they might help a little bit more.

Mark: Yeah. That’s awesome. So the protest that was being staged in the food that they fed, was that like kind of almost your, almost like reliving that moment of your own life then when they went out and gave sandwiches and went a little differently for them than you? I am, I hope, but.

Karen: Yes. And it’s interesting, you know, because back in the Vietnam War, I was a pro peace marcher, you know, with the black armband. And, [00:24:00] and, and you know, I was in high, we were in, I was in college and so we were young and protesting the war that Bob was out fighting. You know, he said, you can’t get arrested, Karen, stop it.

You know, it’s gonna affect, it’s gonna affect my future. So I did wanna capture some, some of that, some of the, the activism,

Mark: Yeah,

Karen: That yeah, that was happening.

Mark: it’s so impressive how many things you packed into this book and managed to do it so well.

Karen: Thank you. Thank you very much.

Mark: listeners definitely pick up and read this book. It is so good. One of the interesting things you did was switching point of view, and I hadn’t seen that. I didn’t think I had seen it very much until recently, where you also switched point of view, but tense, or, sorry, not tense.

First persons third

Karen: First person. Yes. Yes. So that the first time I [00:25:00] always wrote in third person, my first three books. We’re, and then when I wrote True Grace, I decided to write it in first person. And so Grace is telling her story when I did. And, and I’ve often done different points of view, you know, switching back and forth.

When I wrote this one, I thought, you know what? This is, yes, this is Emerson’s story, but this is also Aria’s story. So I wanted her to tell her story. But then the other points of view are, are not in first person. And I like trying new things and learning new things. And so one of the lovely, lovely reviews that Best Thriller did when they gave me the, you know, when they made the award for best mystery was they said, I often find the right, the reviewers, and I often find multiple points of view annoying and dual [00:26:00] timelines never, you know, one timeline doesn’t live up to the other, but not so in this case, Karen Osborne pulled this off seamlessly, so that made me feel very, very good because I was, I was experimenting, I was trying something, something new. ’cause it’s fun.

Mark: It did work very well. I hadn’t seen it very much until recently. There’s been a few authors I’ve seen that, that have gone from first person to third person in different chapters

Karen: Yeah,

Mark: But yeah, you did pull it off very well. I have been confused in the past with, with what was happening and, but the titles, the dates at the beginning, the chapter titles of characters when appropriate really helped with that

Karen: yeah. Like grounding the reader where we are, whose point of view are we in? What year is it?

Mark: yeah.

Karen: Yeah. I

Mark: it’s not enough to just start with a sentence that you think makes perfect sense, but the, the reader is trying to understand

Karen: Who is this? Where [00:27:00] are

Mark: Yeah. Who is this again? What am I doing here? Yeah. And where am I? Yeah.

Karen: and where am I?

Mark: What advice would you give to someone who just published their first or second book?

Karen: Wow. So marketing is a bear. It’s a bear. Writers. I know, I know writers who love the marketing part of it, but to me it’s, you have to make some real decisions about how much time you’re going to spend marketing, the two books that you already wrote, or the one book that you already wrote, and how much time are you gonna spend writing the next book?

And then of course there’s the rest of your life. There’s all the other things, you know, in your life. And, and so I, I think really making some decisions about time and money because [00:28:00] no matter who, like I’m traditionally published with a small press, my cousin is self-published with a hybrid press. I have a good friend who’s published with Simon and Schuster, so one of the, you know, the Big five.

All of us have the same problem because unless you’re a big fish, you know, unless you’re, you know, you’re Connolly or Grisham or the, they don’t spend a lot of time helping you promote. I have a friend who is published by a big house, but she’s rich and so she has a publicist, and so her publicist is just getting her on every podcast, every show, every, you know, and getting her out there. So you really have to make, you have to decide, you know, about your budget, your time budget, your money budget, talk to other writers, figure out what works for you. ’cause what works for you might be different, you know, for what works [00:29:00] for, for them.

And I mean, and you, that, that was the biggest like, aha for me after, especially after the second book, because the first book, I was still working. And so I would, people would invite me to come speak and teach and I’d say, oh, may I bring my books with me? And they’d say, oh, absolutely.

And, you know, we’ll set up a table for you. So they’re paying me to speak, they’re flying me to where I am, and I got to sell my books. Well, the second book, I wasn’t working full-time anymore. And so. Now I had to make real decisions. Like for example, I flew all the way to San Francisco from Florida to speak at a winery.

Now it was a real market. It was such a cool gig. They bought 30 books. They had a wine pairing with the book. This is the wine that goes with it, but 30 books does not cover [00:30:00] airfare, hotel food, rental car.

Mark: no.

Karen: you have to make, just, you have to make decisions, even though it was really a cool gig.

Mark: How do you balance when you’re writing versus when you’re marketing? Do you go hard at writing for a while and then switch like to marketing mode after you’re done writing almost like periodical throughout the year, or are you always kind of trying to do both?

Karen: I’m always trying to do both. You know, my son is a very gifted literary writer. He writes short stories, and he gets into really good magazines, like probably two, three a year. And he’s working full time and he has a family, and he said, mom, just find at least 15 minutes a day when you can write, maybe it’ll end up being three hours, maybe, you know, but if you promise yourself 15 minutes a day, you’ll be so surprised at how well, you know, you’d, [00:31:00] how you could keep, keep going.

I tried the novel writing November Nano Rmo, you know, writing your novel, and I was doing it with my grandson, and he said, Grammy, you are behind. Do the math, you won’t make it. So I know that, that, so 15 minutes seems reasonable. Doing 1600 words a day didn’t. And so I have to find the right, you know, the right blend for me.

Yeah. And, and you do have to get the marketing and don’t you, I mean, I know, I know you know this. Yeah.

Mark: The interesting thing about what you say about 15 minutes is I have found the stress of sometimes sitting down at the keyboard and thinking I need to put out 2000 words today can be a lot. The stress of sitting down and saying 15 minutes is not so bad, and sometimes we, I can spend 10, 15 minutes and almost get nothing, and then the words flow because I’ve [00:32:00] taken the time to get into, into, the world, into the moment, into the people, and then all of a sudden that 15 minutes can turn into two hours.

But the first 15 minutes were not productive. It was the next hour and a half that we’re the most productive. Yeah,

Karen: Yeah, but it’s right. It’s less, it’s less daunting. I’m gonna do 15 minutes. The other thing with the marketing is if the person can sprinkle in, in person, you know, don’t just rely on social media, don’t just rely on podcasts as wonderful as they are. Know I have my own as well and promote authors.

But when you meet readers, there’s no, it’s, it’s like the best, best part of it. And it reminds you why you’re writing and, and it reminds you what this, what a gift this is gift to you. It is that you have the privilege that you’ve, that you’ve been published. So I find that if you just can find ways that that in [00:33:00] person, you know, the local library. A local bookstore go to a fair, you know, a fair, that’s not even a book fair because book fairs you’re competing with, you know, I don’t know, 50 other writers. You go to a, you know, a gr a market, you know, a green market, what is it? Market, you know what I mean? The, the, you know, like a ve you know, the fresh market or whatever it is when you’re going out to, when people are out there selling their vegetables and there are other kinds of vendors and you are the only bookseller, that’s great. ‘Cause people will come up to you, they’ll ask you about your books, you know, and I’ll say, are you a reader? No, no, but my mother is. Which one do you think my mother would like? Well, tell me about your mom. You know, it’s, it just, it, it, it gives you really great, connection meeting, meeting readers. It’s, it’s a beautiful thing.

Mark: that’s a great idea. I’ve never thought of going to a non author event to promote, or non-book event to promote a book, [00:34:00] and I’m gonna have to give that a shot.

Karen: You should I sell, I sell more books in non author events than I do in author events.

Mark: Okay. And do you have a table with a banner and all your books laid out and is

Karen: I have a tent, I have a beautiful tent, and, and then I, you know, have all the books displayed. And I have my square, you know, on my phone so I can do credit cards and I can, and I have my all singles. I can do cash and I have all my bookmarks, you know, that we give away free bookmarks and then I, I make sure I’m standing and not sitting, I see a lot of people just sit behind their table and wait for somebody. I’m standing in front of my table. Hey Mark, how are you? Are you a reader? Can I show you something? So

Mark: Oh, I love that. Okay.

Karen: it’s, it’s all, it’s all good. And if you sell, usually they only cost like [00:35:00] $35 for a table, you know that they charge you to be there. So if you sell two books, you’re at least on your way.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah. And you never know if you’re gonna have a, your next great fan outta super fans, right?

Karen: That’s the other thing that’s so cool is to have, I was at a local event and at least five of the people that came by and bought another book were people who’d read who of my other books. And so they came over and said, oh, you know, I just love this one. And, I’m, I’m thinking about the new one, but I haven’t read this one. And so that’s cool too, to meet people. And, and I always take, pictures so, you know, with the reader holding the books. For social media, I can post it and so people can see that, you know, that somebody likes them.

Mark: yeah, yeah. Are all your books standalones?

Karen: [00:36:00] Yes. I am writing my first sequel ever. ’cause I like trying new

Mark: Mm-hmm.

Karen: So this and that’s, it’s tricky, right? Do you write sequels?

Mark: I did a trilogy that was, that was a lot of work.

Karen: Yes. Oh my goodness. I have to pick your brain later because trying to keep up with, you know, with all of the things and all of the characteristics of the people before and keeping things true to who they were. And, but bringing in new people and it’s, it’s been really, it’s been fun. I’ve been learning a lot and, and I think I’m gonna try it again. I think I’m gonna do a sequel to . To Justice Emerson. I think I’m gonna do an Aria Jacks story.

Mark: Okay. Another thriller.

Karen: Yes. How much trouble can two people keep

Mark: I was just thinking

Karen: you know, [00:37:00] but, but I’m thinking about it, but I, but I gotta get this other one and this one. How much trouble can these two people get into? But here they are once again in trouble. So.

Mark: Where can people find your books?

Karen: So first of all, they’re sold every place you buy books, right? You go, you go to the library. If they’re not on the shelf, just ask for them. You can go to Barnes and Noble, you can go to Amazon. You can go to your independent bookstore. Please do, you know, ask for them. If you don’t see them, chances are you won’t see them, and you should ask for them.

And then, and then you can come to my web website. I’m www.kareneosborne.com. And the e is like, super important because there is a lovely, amazing writer whose name is Karen Osborne, and she got the name first. So I had to add my, you know, she got published before I did. [00:38:00] So I had to add my e She writes mystical and dystopian and I actually interviewed her.

We met.

Mark: Oh wow.

Karen: yeah, she, she saw that I was speaking and it happened to be in a town that she lived in. This is an upstate New York. And this woman walks in and she goes, Hey Karen. E I’m Karen Osborn. She shook my hand. She brought her mother and her daughter. It was so fun. ’cause if you Google Karen Osborne, we both show up.

Mark: Okay. Karen E. Osborn. I’ll link to that in the show notes to make sure I don’t get it

Karen: Thank you. Karen e osborne.com. All my books. Are there links to the places that you can buy them? Are there discussion questions are there. If you’re doing a book club there’s a trailer book, trailer for Justice for Emerson. You can, can watch and then all of my podcasts are there.

Mark: Oh, that’s great. Well, thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun. I’ve, [00:39:00] I’ve loved learning more about this book. I’m excited for the next book that you’re writing. And I have four other books to go back to because I will have to read more of your books. This one was just so good. I have to, I have to read the other ones you’ve written. Thank you for sending that copy is a, a real pleasure to read.

Karen: Thank you so much.

Mark: If you don’t mind sticking around for a, a few extra minutes, we’re gonna get into a rapid fire question for our Patreon members. Thank you.

Thanks for listening and make sure you follow the show so you don’t miss next week’s conversation with Wesley Smith, author of They Came At Night. We talk about blending psychological thriller with action thriller writing from lived trauma, and how he balances outlining with discovery writing to keep tension tight on the page.

If you want the after show with the rapid fire questions, it’s free right now on Patreon, and we include with that some novellas and short stories from guests on the show. The after shows where authors [00:40:00] open up about their writing routines, the scenes they’d least wanna survive, and the strange things they’ve Googled.

Links are in the show notes.