Here’s some cool news. I’ve written a story for this amazing upcoming anthology — The End of the World as We Know It: Tales of Stephen King’s The Stand. The book has been in the works for a while, but I held back on announcing my part in it until I completed the story and the book’s editors accepted it. Which they have now done!
I can’t tell you how excited I am about this project, or how honored I am that I was invited to take part. The Stand was my introduction to Stephen King. I read the book in college and have never been the same. The novel is a towering, monumental, moving, frightening, thrilling work. To dive into its world and add my own bit of lore to its tapestry has been a privilege and a joy.
And just look at that partial list of contributors. Hoo boy. I cannot wait to read all their stories.
And of course, I can’t wait to read Stephen King’s introduction.
“FBI Special Agent Cailtin Hendrix is back and this time she’s dealing with two serial killers. Efram Judah Goode draws eerie portraits of women he claims he killed and across the country, families seek answers in his drawings. In New York City, a nameless killer poses duct-taped bodies at the locations of Goode’s murders. Now, in order to stop the killings and put an end to two competing serial killers, Caitlin Hendrix has to find the connection between Goode and the Broken Heart Killer before it’s too late.”
Yes, the novel is available for preorder. And yes, I’m going to keep reminding everyone of that. Few things make authors, and their publishers, happier.
Hey, Columbus! I’m heading to the Public Library Association national conference. I’ll be at the Blackstone Publishing booth Thursday afternoon, April 4, to meet everyone and tell you about my upcoming novel Shadowheart.
I’ve attended the PLA conference before. It’s always great. Librarians are enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and they’re coming to talk about books. What could be better? These days, they’re also in the vanguard supporting intellectual freedom, the right to read, and access to the cultural wealth of humanity. As I said: What could be better?
Because I love the cover for the novel. And because it is my sworn duty to remind you that the book will be published June 18. Here, for the uninitiated, is the synopsis:
What happens when two serial killers begin to compete with each other?
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Gardiner comes a new high-octane thriller in the acclaimed UNSUB series.
FBI Special Agent Caitlin Hendrix faces a case from nightmares.
In a Tennessee prison, Efrem Judah Goode draws haunting portraits of women he claims he has killed. Around the country, desperate families of the missing seek answers in his eerie drawings. And on darkened back roads and New York City streets, a new killer poses duct-taped bodies at the sites of Goode’s murders.
Two serial killers are locked in a twisted rivalry. To stop the brutal slayings, FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix must unravel the connection between Goode and the Broken Heart Killer. Their warped competition destroys anyone in their path. Caught between a manipulative psychopath and a ruthless UNSUB, Caitlin has to dive into not one, but two dark and twisted minds. She will risk everything, plunging into the depths of their depraved clash to hunt down an unstoppable killer.
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Mann has set his second novel collaboration with Edgar-winning author Meg Gardiner. After starting out with Heat 2, a novel that topped the bestseller charts and hatched a movie that Mann is writing to direct at Warner Bros, Mann and Gardiner set up a new original novel that explores an intense global manhunt launched by a renegade federal agent and a stateless operator on a vendetta, in a highly authentic global arena.
“A total mind trip of a story, Gardiner delivers her most unputdownable book since UNSUB. It’s been four years since the last Caitlin Hendrix novel, but it’s safe to say that the beloved FBI profiler is back and better than ever… much like Heat 2, expect Shadow Heart to stand among the year’s best thrillers when it’s all said and done.”
2023 was a big year for me — in a bunch of good ways that didn’t all get posted about here on the blog. Yes, Heat 2 was published in paperback. My short story “Complicated Shadows” was included in the wonderful anthology Brutal & Strange: Stories Inspired by the Songs of Elvis Costello. And I was interviewed by CBS Saturday Morning. But all the really big, life-changing and life-enhancing events were family related. Births! Weddings! Marathons! Game shows!
Out of the blue, I was elected to my high school’s Hall of Fame. Gotta say, I was delightfully shocked. Thank you, Dos Pueblos High School, and go, Chargers.
We added new little members to the family, who will eventually introduce themselves when their parents decide they’re old enough to have their own social media accounts. And we added wonderful new daughter-in-law Melissa in October, when she married my son Mark on a lovely, romantically rainy New York City afternoon.
Two days later, my daughter Kate, who, like me, is a Jeopardy! champion (we may be the only mother-daughter champions from the show) was invited back to play in the 2023 Champions Wildcard Tournament. It was my absolute pleasure and honor to get to cheer her on from the studio audience.
Yeah. Travel. Lots. To SFO and JFK and LAX and back to Austin many, many times. Three weeks after the wedding, we were back on the streets of New York, cheering Mark in the NY City Marathon. ‘Cause the kid didn’t have enough on his plate. What a massive, city-wide celebration. Personal best for the boy, too.
After the pandemic, and some serious family medical issues, and our house burning down, it felt amazing to live a year when so much felt restorative and celebratory. What have I learned from all that? Maybe… that of course life has ups and downs. When something great comes along, cherish it. It’s good for you.
In 2024 I’m looking forward to the publication of book #4 in the UNSUB series, Shadowheart. And I’m working on a new novel. News on that soon. Here’s to new adventures, joy, love, and great books in the next twelve months.
I’m delighted to have a short story in the upcoming anthology Brutal & Strange: Stories Inspired by the Songs of Elvis Costello. Mine is “Complicated Shadows.”
From the publisher, Down and Out Books:
One of popular music’s most prolific and creative composers, Elvis Costello has written songs in every conceivable genre: pop, reggae, rock, country, funk, soul and jazz, but also for full orchestras and string quartets. What you may not have noticed is that a surprising number of these songs are crime stories—not mere nods toward unsavory events featuring questionable characters, but complete tales of murder and violence told in verse.
Costello’s song titles alone confirm one of his preferred themes: “Accidents will Happen,” “American Gangster Time,” “Bullets for the Newborn King,” “Coal-Train Robberies,” “The Final Mrs. Curtain,” “Hetty O’Hara Confidential,” “Kinder Murder,” “My Thief,” “Shabby Doll,” “Shot with His Own Gun,” “That’s How You Got Killed Before” and “Watching the Detectives,” among them. His album titles include “Blood & Chocolate,” “Brutal Youth,” “National Ransom” and “When I Was Cruel.” You can just imagine the so-called pulp mysteries of the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s bearing identical titles accompanied by lurid, evocative cover art.
In “Brutal & Strange,” contemporary masters of crime fiction dig into Costello’s catalogue for inspiration. The marriage of Costello’s themes and these award-winning authors’ creativity will seem an inevitable match when you experience the results. Whether it’s Meg Gardiner and “Complicated Shadows,” Catriona McPherson and “Tramp the Dirt Down,” Alex Segura and “I Want You” Mark Billingham and “Our Little Angel” or many other virtuoso interpretations, the stories match the composer’s high standards and suggest there’s even more stirring beneath the surface of his songs.
In his “Everyday I Write the Book”—explored here by Gar Anthony Hayward—Costello portrays an author as sinister, controlling and vengeful. That’s not to say the authors who contributed to “Brutal & Strange” are anything of the kind. But you will find their questionable characters engaged in unsavory events. One imagines Costello himself would approve.
The book will be published December 4. What a holiday gift, right? Preorder:
What an absolute thrill it is to see that my interview with CBS Saturday Morning turned out so well. Jeff Glor made it a pleasure to talk about my career and everything that led to me being the writer I am today. The entire CBS News crew, from producer Dan Ruetenik to the production team that drove from Houston to my house in Austin, were professional, generous, and seamless to work with.
I know what a rare opportunity it is for a novelist to get to speak to a national television audience. I hope that what I said in the interview will encourage others to persevere in reaching for their dreams. That might sound cliched, but it’s true. Keep going, folks. Learn, try again, try something new, keep at it.
And I have to thank my agent, Shane Salerno, for doing just that — persevering in telling CBS that I would be worth talking to. I can’t sufficiently express my gratitude.
As for the interview, I’ll leave you with one behind-the-scenes nugget. The crew asked me to sit down at my desk and “just type.” I typed gibberish for a minute but they were still filming, so I thought: really do it, and wrote a scene for a short story. 500 words in 9 minutes. Not great words, but words. Thanks for that, CBS!
Heads up: My interview with Jeff Glor for CBS Saturday Morning is tentatively scheduled for broadcast on November 11. It can always be moved to another date, but for now, that’s when I’m setting my DVR to record it.
By the way, you’ll never see my desk so clean again.
UPDATE: Airdate CONFIRMED. The segment will air 11/11/23!!
Book news update: the publication date for my upcoming UNSUB novel, Shadowheart, is now June 18, 2024. Thank you to everyone who has preordered! I hope you will not be too disappointed that you’ll have to wait a while longer for the book to arrive.
To all the readers out there: I’m looking forward to having you crack the novel and (I hope) enjoy it. I will be keeping you informed about book events and tour dates.
So a cool, exciting, fantastic thing happened this week: Jeff Glor, host of CBS Saturday Morning, came to Austin to interview me for the show. We talked all things books, writing, Heat 2, burned-down houses, and Shadowheart. The entire crew was great, and made me feel like a queen.
The interview will air in late October. I still feel like I’m floating.
“Meg Gardiner once again delivers a top-of-the-line thriller with Shadowheart. One of the most intriguing and pulse-pounding novels I’ve read in some time, I couldn’t put it down … It was literally hair-raising (I took a picture of the goosebumps one of the parts gave me). Gardiner is second to none when it comes to crafting a twisting and turning plot, creating lovable and hateable characters, and keeping readers locked in from page one until well after the book is over. This is a novel I will remember for a long time — Gardiner’s best book to date.” –Stuart Ashenbrenner
I write thrillers, including the #1 New York Times best seller Heat 2, co-authored with Michael Mann. You can find me in Austin, Texas. Read here about the writing life and the lies that pay my bills.
"A delight." One of the top blogging writers - Guardian.co.uk
lying for a living 