"All of the characters—those who didn't die in book one—were so ready to jump into a new story."

Author Kaira Rouda on revisiting a cast of characters, publishing at a breakneck pace, and her diabolical new thriller, UNDER THE PALMS

Check out the collection of past Words With (Author) Friends, wherein I g-chat with an author and you get to read over my shoulder, and order Kaira’s juicy, glitzy book, out now!

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Me: Kaira, hello!

Kaira: Hello!

How are you doing? How are you even upright?! lol

(Re: how wild a year you're having, I mean!)

You know, I was wondering the same thing. I think I'm doing well! We shall see with this interview!

Ha! Well, the more unfiltered, the better...

You've got it!

You have three books coming out in six months and I want to hear ALL about how that happened, but let's start with Under the Palms!

Can you share a little about it?

And by the way, congratulations on this -- what you're doing here! I was on a panel this weekend and an attendee asked about book publicity, and we sent him to your Substack! Great job!

Oh wow, thank you! That warms my heart!! I am all about TALKING ABOUT THINGS and empowering writers with info, you know?

And every author I've asked is so on-board with this mission. It's only mystifying if we aren't upfront (especially about the tricky parts)

Under the Palms is book two of the Kingsley family. Book one, Beneath the Surface, came out last September. I like to describe the series as Succession meets White Lotus, and also grown ups behaving badly. It's also a little tribute to the prime time soaps of the 1980s

And yes totally get it about demystifying!! It's so important

Succession meets White Lotus is SUCH a killer comp. What can readers expect from Under the Palms?

Hopefully, they'll find a fast-paced, gripping read told via multiple POVs. My uncle literally just wrote me and said he raced through the book. I think he was surprised he liked it so much. He's an academic, they are tough, mostly nonfiction readers in my experience. I like to make people smile, and try to infuse my novels with dark humor. In addition to murder, of course.

Humor and murder go hand-in-hand in a good thriller, imho! I want to read about smart people doing interesting things, and smart people tend to be funny.

Agree. You do it so well!

Ah, well thank you!

You're welcome!

I've only ever written stand-alone novels—what's it like revisiting a cast of characters and sending them on a new adventure?