BooksChatter: ✉ Santa Barbara Suspense: Where Wealth & Privilege Run Amok

Today author Catharine Riggs takes over our blog to tell us about her "Santa Barbara Suspense: Where Wealth & Privilege Run Amok".

What She Never Said (10 September 2019, Thomas & Mercer, 338 pages), a Psychological Suspense, book two in the Santa Barbara Suspense series, is Catharine's latest release.

“Riggs keeps the tension high to the dramatic climax.” —Publishers Weekly

"What She Never Said is a fast-paced, compulsive read—and I speak as a slow-paced, easily distracted reader." —Ashley Dyer, award-winning author of the Lake & Carver series.

“A compelling read that will keep you awake well into the night.” —T.R. Ragan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

“Beneath the weight of metastasizing secrets, idyllic veneers buckle to reveal shocking truths that will haunt readers long after the final page.” —P. J. Vernon, acclaimed author of the debut thriller, When You Find Me

|| Synopsis || Teaser: Excerpt || The Series || Author Guest Post || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

Santa Barbara Suspense: Where Wealth & Privilege Run Amok

by Catharine Riggs

It took over a decade and three unpublished novels to secure my agent and a two-book deal with publisher Thomas & Mercer. During that long and arduous period, I received mountains of industry advice, some good, some bad, much of it forgotten. However, the words of one perceptive agent stand clear. She urged me to write closer to my heart, to allow my inner feelings to work their way onto the page. Her advice paved my way to success.

Having grown up in a large Catholic family in the wealthy enclave of Montecito, California, I found that even as I child I was interested in peeling back the veneer of wealth and status to see what lay beneath. Exploiting this interest, I decided to write a loosely linked series of thrillers entitled Santa Barbara Suspense. The overarching theme would be the illumination of the dark side of wealth and privilege, revealing the toxic effects of keeping up appearances while hiding from bitter truths.

Santa Barbara, CA

The first in my Santa Barbara Suspense series, What She Gave Away, was published in September of 2018. The novel follows the calculated actions of a young woman who moves to a wealthy beachside community to exact revenge on the family she believes has done her wrong. Taking a job as a loan analyst at a community bank, she unearths a long-hidden secret and forces a mother who has spent decades in denial to confront the dark decision in her past.

Secrets and denial also play a part in the loosely linked sequel, What She Never Said. The story is centered in an exclusive retirement community where a series of unusual deaths have come to light, producing rumors about corporate corruption and a possible Angel of Mercy…or Angel of Death. Behind the scenes, my dual protagonists wrestle with the outing of long-hidden secret that has been kept under wraps for two decades, only to be exposed with disastrous results.

When they stop paying, they stop breathing.