CANR
WORK TITLE: Her Prodigal Husband
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://beckymasterman.com/
CITY: Tucson
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 340
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1952; married Frederick J. Masterman (a writer and retired Episcopal priest); children: Rebecca.
EDUCATION:Florida Atlantic University, M.A., 2002.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. CRC Press, marketing director, 1979-98; Taylor & Francis Group/CRC press, senior acquisitions editor, 1998-2014. Has also directed children’s theater.
AWARDS:Rage Against the Dying was a finalist for the Edgar Awards, CWA Gold Dagger, Macavity, Barry, International Thriller Writers, Audie, and Anthony awards.
WRITINGS
Also author of stage plays for adults and children.
Entertainment rights for Rage Against the Dying were purchased by Tomorrow-ITV Studios.
SIDELIGHTS
Becky Masterman is a writer. Raised in Florida, she became interested in writing and producing stage plays after she secured the role of Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz production in which her daughter was also acting.
Masterman subsequently decided to pursue a master’s degree in creative writing from Florida Atlantic University and began working as a forensic science acquisitions editor with a book publisher. Masterman then moved to Arizona and spontaneously challenged her husband to enter a competition to write a novel during the National Novel Writing Month of November.
Masterman published her first book, Rage against the Dying, in 2013 as a result of the story she created during this month-long competition, even if it did take her slightly more than a month to complete the first draft. In the novel, retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn was forced out of the agency for shooting an unarmed man. She is distraught to find out that her protégé, Jessica, has gone missing. When a suspect confesses to Jessica’s kidnapping, new agent Laura Coleman confides that the confession does not seem genuine. When Laura goes missing, too, Brigid decides she is not going to stand by idly while more agents disappear.
In an interview with Pam Lambert in Publishers Weekly, Masterman talked about her background in forensic publishing and the impact it had on her writing. Masterman also shared her thoughts on her protagonist, admitting that she hoped “that readers will connect with Brigid’s not going gentle into that good night.” She added: “I guess what distinguishes her is the fact that she’s lived her whole life trying to save the world without ever knowing what it was like to live in the world.”
In a “Q&A” section on the author’s website, Masterman acknowledged that her debut novel had an unrealistic plot similar to a James Bond story. She confessed: “My book is a fantasy of power written for those of us, no matter what our age, who have heard the ring of our heels across an empty parking lot after dark.” On the same site, Masterman elaborated on her protagonist while she was still in the early writing stage. Masterman admitted: “I loved this vibrant, big-hearted character, at once angry and sad, so wise in the ways of evil but so stymied by cooking a meal. Also, with my having a bit of a limp due to post polio syndrome, it’s lovely to imagine a still physically powerful woman who can fight an attacker and win. Maybe somebody else would like her, too.”
Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Janet Maslin remarked that “Masterman’s gamesmanship is as visual as it is verbal,” and noted that at a crucial point in the plot, “Masterman has the strategic wisdom to save the requisite flashback—to what Brigid, Jessica and their team were doing when Jessica disappeared—for very late in this book.” Maslin observed: “Masterman hides important evidence in the unlikeliest place: within plain sight. But this book is too cleverly manipulative for readers to get ahead of Brigid in making such startling discoveries.” Concluding her review, Maslin claimed: “ Rage against the Dying has a layer of visceral detail that perhaps comes from Ms. Masterman’s knowledge of those forensic textbooks.” In a review in the Washington Post Book World, Patrick Anderson insisted that “there’s a lot to admire in Becky Masterman’s first novel, starting with her heroine: petite, white-haired, 59-year-old FBI agent Brigid Quinn,” appending that “the search for the serial killer is nicely plotted.” Anderson claimed that any reader “who appreciates graceful, thoughtful, suspenseful writing will be glad to meet sexy, tough, conflicted and compassionate Brigid Quinn. When the nominations are made for the best crime-novel debut of the year, we should be hearing her name again.”
Reviewing the novel in Maclean’s, Sarah Weinman declared that readers will know they are “in the hands of a talented new crime writer when a seemingly run-of-the-mill prologue from the vantage point of a psychotic killer takes a sudden, delicious twist.” Booklist contributor Stacy Alesi opined that “Brigid is a marvelous character,” suggesting that “fans of Lisa Gardner and Tess Gerritsen will love this book.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called Rage against the Dying “a scorching, humane first novel that reads as if Masterman’s been sitting for a long time on some truly ugly secrets.”
Brigid returns in Fear the Darkness, the sequel to Rage against the Dying. She receives news of her sister’s death and is asked to take in Gemma-Kate, her sister’s daughter, who had been living in Florida. Gemma-Kate wants to live with Brigid in order to gain Arizona residency, so that she can attend college at the University of Arizona. It becomes clear early that Gemma-Kate has an evil side. When one of Brigid’s pugs is poisoned, she believes Gemma-Kate may be responsible. Brigid turns to her friend, Mallory, to express her concerns about her niece. Mallory, however, has her own problems, as she is nursing her injured husband back to health. Meanwhile, Brigid is asked to investigate the drowning death of a teenager named Joe. Throughout the book, Brigid feels increasingly ill, eventually realizes that she is being poisoned. Again, she suspects Gemma-Kate to be involved.
Reviews of Fear the Darkness were mixed. A critic in Kirkus Reviews described the narrative as “overly talky with too many heavy-handed efforts at misdirection.” “We can only hope the old Brigid will be revived in time for the next episode,” commented Nancy McNicol in Library Journal. In a more favorable review of the book, which appeared in the Boston Globe Online, Daneet Steffens suggested: “Resourceful, direct, and determined—especially in the face of pure, murderous evil—in her second outing, Brigid Quinn remains a fun force to be reckoned with.” “Ms. Masterman once again shows herself to be an expert manipulator of readers’ expectations. She also slyly changes the way some of her characters are perceived as the story moves along, and she’s particularly good at slipping those changes past notice,” remarked Janet Maslin in the New York Times Online. Michael Leonard, a contributor to the Curled Up with a Good Book website, stated: “Masterman stays true to her plucky, no-nonsense heroine.” “Tough, cunning Brigid Quinn will certainly appeal to thriller readers,” noted Christine Tran in Booklist.
A Twist of the Knife follows Brigid as she heads to Fort Lauderdale to support her family. Brigid’s elderly father has been hospitalized, and her mother is understandably distraught. After she gets into town, Brigid reconnects with Laura Coleman, an old colleague who’s gone to work at the Innocence Project. Laura is working to exonerate death row inmate Marcus Creighton, and she asks Brigid to help her investigate. Although Brigid suspects that Marcus is in fact guilty, the investigation offers a welcome distraction from her family crises.
Praising the novel in Publishers Weekly, a critic declared A Twist of the Knife to be “a compassionate, clear-eyed depiction of the painful foibles of human nature.” Stuart Shiffman, writing on Bookreporter.com, was equally laudatory, and he stated that the novel “is thoughtful, timely and poignant. It raises serious issues and offers deep insight into the debate surrounding the death penalty. Becky Masterman provides a balanced discussion on the question of how capital punishment is imposed in America.” Shiffman went on to state that “Brigid Quinn is a complex character who is not easily defined by her years in the FBI. After three books, she remains a heroine to be read and enjoyed.”
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We Were Killers Once, Masterman’s fourth book in the “Brigid Quinn” series, provides an alternate history for one of America’s most notorious murders. The 1959 murder of the Clutter family in Kansas and execution of Perry Smith and Dick Hickok was the subject of Truman Capote’s popular In Cold Blood novel. In Masterman’s book, retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn suspects that the killers murdered another family in Florida, were never held accountable for it, and a third killer was involved, Jerry Beaufort, who was 15 at the time. Now at age 70 Beaufort has been released from prison for other offenses. Believing that modern forensics could implicate him in the Florida murders, he goes after Quinn’s husband, Carlo, who was a prison chaplain at the time, to silence him. Reviewing Masterman’s book for Booklist, Connie Fletcher said that despite some long chunks of dialog that slow down the narrative, “overall, the plot never loses its drive, and the characters are truly intriguing.” In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer commented: “Masterman keeps the tension high throughout this page-turner.”
In an interview with Mindy McHorse online at American Writers & Artists Institute, Masterman noted that she knew the story behind Capote’s book so she found inspiration for We Were Killers Once by asking: “what if in all the death row interviews, Perry Smith was lying to Capote, and hiding the existence of a third killer?” She also explained in general how she gets ideas for stories: “You never know where an idea is going to come from. It could appear in a book, or in watching two strangers interact, or a news item, or a magazine article, or a friend telling you their troubles. That means you have to stay alert and ready to make that leap into story.”
The fifth book in the series, Her Prodigal Husband, finds failed novelist Alice Einstein enlisting the services of private investigator Brigid Quinn to look into the history of her younger sister Liesl’s handsome but manipulative husband Sam Kinsey, who disappeared a decade ago and then suddenly reappeared. Alice wants Brigid to learn what he was up to all that time. While Liesl eagerly accepts Sam’s return, Alice, a teller of tall tales herself, knows a fellow liar when she sees one. And if Sam expects to rekindle his affair with Alice, he’s in for a surprise. But the true surprise is what Brigid is uncovering about Liesl.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer praises Masterman who “piles on the twists, schemes, and false assumptions but grounds each revelation in the lives of her three-dimensional characters.” Writing in Kirkus Reviews, a critic noted: “Masterman takes her time weaving together all these threads, but Alice is such an engaging and self-deprecating narrator that she makes even the doldrums entertaining.” Booklist reviewer Susan Macguire said: “the focus of the story is Alice and her relationship to her sister, her career, and the truth. Gritty, timely, and page-turning.”
In Masterman’s gothic standalone, Maternal Instinct, widow Althea Deming is incensed when her husband Robert’s will leaves the enormous house to his stepson, Hal, his wife Grace, and granddaughter Shyla. Hal relegates Althea to a mother-in-law suite in the house, providing motive for Althea’s increasing resentment and brutal attacks on perceived slights against her, especially coming from Grace. While everyone says Althea is a darling, Grace is not so sure, and will do anything to keep herself and Shyla safe. Meanwhile, information comes to light about what happened to Robert’s first wife, Clare, and a murder in the house signals an escalation. A writer in Kirkus Reviews declared: “every member of this shattered family is suspicious of the others, and…they all have abundant justification. A fever dream of family gone disastrously wrong.” Writing in Booklist, Susan Maguire noted that the book “features two appealingly unlikable narrators and a smooth ratcheting up of the suspense. A must-read.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, February 1, 2013, Stacy Alesi, review of Rage against the Dying, p. 29; January 1, 2015, Christine Tran, review of Fear the Darkness, p. 46; December 1, 2023, Susan Maguire, review of Maternal Instinct, p. 105; January 2025, Susan Maguire, review of Her Prodigal Husband, p. 33.
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2013, review of Rage against the Dying; February 1, 2017, review of A Twist of the Knife.; October 15, 2023, review of Maternal Instinct; December 15, 2024, review of Her Prodigal Husband.
Library Journal, December 1, 2014, Nancy McNicol, review of Fear the Darkness, p. 94.
Maclean’s, March 25, 2013, Sarah Weinman, review of Rage against the Dying, p. 71.
New York Times Book Review, March 7, 2013, Janet Maslin, review of Rage against the Dying.
Publishers Weekly, January 18, 2013, Pam Lambert, “One Tough Broad: PW Talks with Becky Masterman,” author interview; November 17, 2014, review of Fear the Darkness, p. 37; December 19, 2016, review of A Twist of the Knife; April 1, 2019, review of We Were Killers Once, p. 43; October 28, 2024, review of Her Prodigal Husband, p. 54.
Washington Post Book World, March 18, 2013, Patrick Anderson, review of Rage against the Dying.
ONLINE
American Writers & Artists Institute website, https://www.awai.com/ (June 8, 2019), Mindy McHorse, “8 Key Insights about Writing from Award-Winning Author Becky Masterman.”
Barefoot Writers, http://www.awaionline.com/ (March 4, 2018), Mindy McHorse, author interview.
Becky Masterman Website, http://beckymasterman.com (March 4, 2018).
Booklist, https://www.booklistonline.com/ (June 2019), Connie Fletcher, review of We Were Killers Once.
Bookreporter.com, https://www.bookreporter.com/ (March 4, 2018), Stuart Shiffman, review of A Twist of the Knife.
Boston Globe Online, http://www.bostonglobe.com/ (January 26, 2015), Daneet Steffens, review of Fear the Darkness.
Curled Up with a Good Book, http://www.curledup.com/ (September 18, 2015), Michael Leonard, review of Fear the Darkness.
New York Times Online, http://www.nytimes.com/ (January 14, 2015), Janet Maslin, review of Fear the Darkness.*
Becky Masterman is the author of MATERNAL INSTINCT and the Brigid Quinn series, including HER PRODIGAL HUSBAND.
While working as a forensic science acquisitions editor, Becky got to meet (and publish) some of the most famous people in that profession, and the idea for Brigid Quinn was born. The four novels in this series—RAGE AGAINST THE DYING, FEAR THE DARKNESS, A TWIST OF THE KNIFE, and WE WERE KILLERS ONCE—feature this FBI special agent who only in her retirement is finally getting married, making friends, owning Pugs, and trying to fit into the civilian world she always sought to protect for others, all while keeping her book club from finding out she can kill people with her bare hands. RAGE AGAINST THE DYING was a finalist for the Edgar Awards and the CWA Gold Dagger, as well as the Macavity, Barry, ITW and Anthony awards.
With MATERNAL INSTINCT, Becky introduces readers to Grace and Althea Deming in a domestic suspense novel that challenges everything we take for granted about families.
Becky lives in Arizona with her husband and dog Boodle.
8 Key Insights about Writing from Award-Winning Author Becky Masterman
By Mindy McHorse
Thriller author Becky Masterman and her friend Scully at a forensic conference
Becky Masterman, author of a four-book series, is both a connoisseur and creator of enticing phrases and fascinating storylines.
After getting her start from a friendly NaNoWriMo-based competition with her husband, the seed of Becky’s first published novel was born, called Rage Against the Dying.
A debut thriller, Rage went on to be nominated for seven awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Gold Dagger, Macavity, Barry, International Thriller Writers, and Audie. On top of that, the entertainment rights were purchased by Tomorrow-ITV Studios.
Since publication, Becky has amassed a healthy number of fans who celebrated the second and third books in her series, titled Fear the Darkness, and A Twist of the Knife.
Now, Becky’s fourth book in the series, We Were Killers Once, was just published June 4th.
She was kind enough to give us an interview from her home in Tucson, Arizona, where she shared some backstory into her writing journey, including how she’s able to enjoy the (sometimes painful) process.
Born with a true love for reading, Becky is proof you can successfully pursue the writing dream at any age. Note her entertaining “sweater” take on the rewriting process!
Plus, she’s got great insights about what to do once your book is scheduled for publication. Read on for more …
Was writing a lifelong dream or something you grew into?
I only started studying the craft in earnest when I was 40, writing plays. But I think there are qualities that fit us for being writers from early on. A love of stories, and a tendency to ask “what if?” Being comfortable on the outside of a group, observing. And those times I would make my mother a card and she’d burst into tears reading it. I thought that was pretty cool, being able to move someone to tears.
The New York Times review of your book, Rage Against the Dying, called it a “scorching debut” and “cleverly manipulative,” among other compliments. Did this — plus the seven awards you were nominated for — make it harder or easier to write the sequel?
Those were heady times. It was very hard to write the second book but I think if the first had been an abysmal failure that would have been worse. Because I prefer to read something new, rather than a repetition with, say, a higher body count, I tried to throw an entirely different problem at my protagonist. As a result, there are a few people who tell me they liked the first book better. I don’t feel badly about that, just grateful for their honesty so I can try to do better. It’s not about satisfying my own creative drive, it’s about delighting readers.
A photo posted by the Facebook Community, Readers of New York, shows a woman reading your book on the subway. What does it feel like to see a stranger who chose, out of all the thousands of books out there, to read your book?
This is such a good point. Writers feel badly when their books don’t sell as well as anticipated, but I always said, hey, there are 100,000 new books published every year, not counting those published in previous years! That any one person should choose mine is a miracle.
You’ve said that one of the best things about writing is attending book clubs. As a writer, what do you gain from that experience?
It’s like a free focus group. Once the club trusts that they’re not going to hurt my feelings, I can ask what worked for them and what didn’t, and get better. Accountability groups can work the same way for copywriters. If you listen really well, the suggestions and questions can spark a whole new perspective. I like this collaborative view of writing.
Where do you find the inspiration behind your writing?
You never know where an idea is going to come from. It could appear in a book, or in watching two strangers interact, or a news item, or a magazine article, or a friend telling you their troubles. That means you have to stay alert and ready to make that leap into story. You have to be “writing” all the time.
Your bio mentions experience as a copywriter. What kind of copywriting did you do, and does that background help when it comes to fiction writing?
It’s embarrassing to talk about this with AWAI folks who really write copy. In my job, I just described scientific reference books for catalogs. Most of the time I didn’t even know what I was writing about, like schistosomiasis (it’s a parasite) or electromagnetics. But it’s always valuable to write on deadline, and what I was able to learn in science and medicine (especially forensics) has served well in writing my stories.
Do you think someone can earn a living successfully as a copywriter by day and a novelist by night?
Every author, at least at first, needs to have a day job. Anthony Trollope, the 19th century British author, worked at a post office his whole life. He would write from 5:30 to 7:30 in the morning, sometimes stopping mid-sentence. That’s how disciplined you need to be. It took me nearly 25 years before I was able to support myself on fiction writing alone. Besides, just think of all the great material you collect while moving through the world, working with other people, in copywriting or any other profession.
You’ve said you go through several revisions in the editorial process. What does that entail — assuming it’s more than just tweaking a sentence here and there?
In attempting to cut down to three drafts instead of the seven I was doing for the first two books, I submitted a 50,000-word rough draft of my third book. Here are just a few of the comments I got from my agent and editor: “Change the motive for the villain.” “Have a different villain, one who isn’t dead before the story starts, it’s not satisfying.” “Place the final reveal at a more dramatic moment.” “Give the loan shark a bigger part to play, and go deeper into his character because right now he’s cartoonish.” “Move that murder into the second act.” You see, rewriting is more like reknitting a sweater from the inside out, changing the stars to polka dots. It’s often agonizing, but it makes a better book, and that’s what you want, right?
You wrote six books that were never published, prior to Rage Against the Dying. What did you gain from those?
There’s a story about a conductor who was recording a symphony. After the 85th take, he said, “Go ahead and use it, but I think I could do better.” This is the glory of the creative process, always reaching for an unobtainable vision. I may be a genre writer, but that doesn’t mean I’m a hack writer. Those first six books taught me the craft of character and plotting, and how, as Roger Rosenblatt says in his book on writing, how to move the human heart. I learn more with each successive book I write.
Career Day with a 5th grade class. Becky Masterman collaborated with the kids on stories to show what authors do.
How do you measure your success as a writer?
Certainly, advances on royalties are gratifying, and I suppose that’s one way to measure success, but once you have enough to survive, the rest is a game. If money is your measure, you’ll never feel like a success because someone out there will always be making a lot more. And what felt like a lot of money in your bank account this year, next year doesn’t feel like so much. No, success is measured in those moments when you look at a sentence you’ve written and think, “Now that’s original.”
Congratulations on the publication of your fourth book in your Brigid Quinn series! Tell us a little bit about We Were Killers Once …
In 1959, a family of four was brutally murdered in a small Kansas town. Truman Capote immortalized them and their killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, in a new kind of journalistic account called In Cold Blood. Capote called his book ‘immaculately factual.’ But since then, investigative writers have cited details that show it’s not factual at all. So, what if in all the death row interviews, Perry Smith was lying to Capote, and hiding the existence of a third killer? That killer was just a child at the time of the mass murders, is still alive, and is now coming after Brigid Quinn’s beloved husband for reasons known only to himself.
Becky’s first four books in her thriller series featuring detective Brigid Quinn, a highly original heroine. Her books have been translated in 20 countries so far.
What are your future book-writing plans?
Besides the potential of a fifth Brigid Quinn story, I’m developing an idea for a stand-alone domestic thriller.
What’s your top advice for someone who wants to get published someday, regardless of the type of book?
Read, read, read. Did you know Stephen King reads about 80 books a year? And be grateful for criticism. Use it to become a better writer. Praise is useless.
Once your book is scheduled for publication, will the publisher promote the book for you?
Publishers are crazy about debut novels that offer something different, or alternatively ride along on the latest popular theme. In that case, there will be many ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) sent to the media, Goodreads, booksellers, prize committees, and to famous authors to seek blurbs.
For later books, the publisher has asked me to provide content (for free) to online magazines (sort of like actors who appear on late night talk shows). I just finished two articles on elements of We Were Killers Once and, believe it or not, an essay about my dog Boodle.
Whether or not this happens, your job is to be present on social media, say yes to anyone who wants you to speak, and think of any promotional angles to explore. For example, my protagonist is aging, but doesn’t bake or knit. She has an earthy vitality and sometimes makes rookie mistakes. So it’s understandable that my books should be recommended by the AARP, and even that I should be invited to speak to the Arizona Gerontological Nursing Society. Who would have guessed that? You can hone your speaking skills by talking to book clubs and observing what thrills them.
Above all, while your writing may necessarily be the most important thing in your life, keep it in perspective with a sense of humor and a love of friends and family. And movies. And good food. And the certainty that your most important function in life is to provide a lap on which your dog may fall asleep.
We Were Killers Once
Becky Masterman. Minotaur, $27.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-07452-2
Inspired by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Masterman's intriguing fourth Brigid Quinn thriller (after 2017's A Twist of the Knife) supposes that Dick Hickock and Perry Smith didn't act alone when they killed the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959. For Brigid's upcoming wedding anniversary, her husband, Carlo DiForenza, has the perfect gift, a memento from his days as a prison chaplain--a sketch by Hickock. Retired FBI agent Brigid has been obsessed with the notion that Hickock and Smith were also guilty of murdering a family of four in Florida a month after the Clutter slayings, a crime that was never solved. Brigid discovers a letter hidden behind the sketch that leads to a written confession by Hickock implicating a third person, Jerry Beaufort, who was 15 at the time. Now nearly 70, Jerry, who was recently released from a Mississippi prison after serving time for trafficking and drug possession, decides to track down a detective and others involved in the Clutter case. Fearful that modern-day forensics could expose his role in the murders, he's prepared to kill anyone who could implicate him. After his research reveals Carlo's link to Hickock, Jerry sets out for Arizona to silence Carlo. Masterman keeps the tension high throughout this page-turner. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (June)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"We Were Killers Once." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 13, 1 Apr. 2019, p. 43. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A582056392/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2f2390a9. Accessed 4 June 2025.
Masterman, Becky MATERNAL INSTINCT Severn House (Fiction None) $31.99 12, 5 ISBN: 9781448311958
A Florida man who's lost his father opens his home to his stepmother. Nightmare complications ensue.
In the two years since Robert Deming succumbed to kidney disease, Althea Deming, his second wife, has been living in a group facility. Now that Hal Deming has moved back into the house where he grew up and refurbished a sumptuous suite worthy of his imperious stepmother, he and his wife and daughter are ready to welcome Althea into their household. Maybe "welcome" isn't the best word, since Grace Deming instantly recoils at what she sees as her mother-in-law's resentment of the arrangements they've made, and her 13-year-old daughter, Shyla, is soon grieving the effects of the lethal games that Althea's cat, Ruth, plays with Shyla's tortoise, Gonzo. For her part, Althea, who encouraged her husband to roam through Europe searching for Joan, the daughter who ran away from home when she was a teenager, keeps remembering or imagining conversations with Robert in which he confesses to having killed Clare, his first wife, in an episode that pays explicit homage to Rebecca. The seal is set on the dysfunctional family when Grace's mother suggests that Hal and Grace take some time off together, leaving Althea and Shyla to fester with her in their absence. A series of increasingly dreamlike scenes leaves one person dead and the others at odds. Masterman's most original addition to the neo-Gothic canon is the conviction that every member of this shattered family is suspicious of the others, and that they all have abundant justification.
A fever dream of family gone disastrously wrong.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Masterman, Becky: MATERNAL INSTINCT." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A768633798/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f12baef5. Accessed 4 June 2025.
Maternal Instinct.
By Becky Masterman.
Dec. 2023. 288p. Severn, $31.99 (9781448311958); e-book
(9781448311965).
Everyone thinks Althea Deming is a saint. She is a devout Catholic convert; she performs small acts of service that sometimes go unnoticed. Even her late husband, who silently visits her, agrees. The one person who disagrees is her daughter-in-law, Grace. As a condition of Althea's husband's will, her son and his family must move into the family home, which they renovated to provide an in-law suite for her. Grace endures Althea's passive-aggressive comments and tries to connect with her mother-in-law with little success. Meanwhile, Althea keeps track of the slights she suffers, exacting her revenge in increasingly gruesome ways. But nobody believes Althea capable of a bad deed, and certainly not of murder. When an unexpected ally arrives for Grace, she may be able to be free of Althea forever--but does she have the guts to go through with it? Masterman's latest (after her last Brigid Quinn novel, We Were Killers Once, 2019) features two appealingly unlikable narrators and a smooth ratcheting up of the suspense. A must-read for fans of domestic thrillers.--Susan Maguire
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Maguire, Susan. "Maternal Instinct." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 7-8, 1 Dec. 2023, p. 105. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A777512481/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4c07ce2d. Accessed 4 June 2025.
Her Prodigal Husband
Becky Masterman. Severn House, $29.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4483-1198-9
In this canny spin-off of her Brigid Quinn series, Masterman (Maternal Instinct) turns the focus to frustrated novelist Alice Einstein. After failing to make good on her early literary promise, Alice has spent the last several years writing greeting card messages while living with her younger sister, Liesl, in Saddlebrooke, Ariz. Ever since Liesl's husband, Sam, disappeared a decade earlier, kindhearted Liesl has concerned herself with such causes as migrant housing and environmental conservation. Chaos swoops into the sisters' lives when Sam suddenly returns to Saddlebrooke; Alice is skeptical of his motives, but an ecstatic Liesl welcomes him with open arms. As Alice tries--with the help of PI Brigid Quinn--to find out why Sam has reappeared, she realizes she may have the material for a thriller that'll put her back in the publishing game--or at least get her agent to return her calls. What Alice doesn't bet on, however, is just how much she'll learn about her sister over the course of her and Brigid's investigation. Masterman piles on the twists, schemes, and false assumptions but grounds each revelation in the lives of her three-dimensional characters. The results are wickedly satisfying. (Jan.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 PWxyz, LLC
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"Her Prodigal Husband." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 41, 28 Oct. 2024, p. 54. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A815443613/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f0c40aaf. Accessed 4 June 2025.
Masterman, Becky HER PRODIGAL HUSBAND Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 1, 7 ISBN: 9781448311989
Ten years after he left her, Liesl Einstein's husband is back in the picture. But exactly what sort of picture is it?
The marriage between Liesl and Samson Kinsey was never idyllic, overshadowed as it was by both something that happened to Liesl when she was 13--an infant she was babysitting succumbed to sudden infant death syndrome while she was doing her math homework--and Sam's earlier romance with her older sister, Alice, our narrator, a novelist whose recent books have been met with limited success. So, it was no great surprise when Sam dumped a significant fraction of his trust fund on Liesl and left. But why has he returned? Maybe it's because he's suffering from myositis and needs special care. Maybe his wanderings in the decade he's been on his own have persuaded him that he can't do better than Liesl. Or maybe he just wants an excuse to rekindle his relationship with Alice, who tells him in no uncertain terms that she wishes he'd leave and die and wonders whether Brigid Quinn, an FBI agent turned private investigator with her own fraught backstory, might turn up any dirt on Sam that would force his hand. In the meantime, Liesl's political activism leads her to invite Salvadoran asylum seeker Marisol Gutierrez and her son, Juan, into a household that suddenly includes Sam, and Alice starts to spin pitches for a new novel tentatively titledHer Prodigal Husband based on her untenable family situation. Masterman takes her time weaving together all these threads, but Alice is such an engaging and self-deprecating narrator that she makes even the doldrums entertaining.
A high-IQ, low-key domestic thriller with more than a touch of the metafictional.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Masterman, Becky: HER PRODIGAL HUSBAND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A819570335/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d3448bbd. Accessed 4 June 2025.
Her Prodigal Husband.
By Becky Masterman.
Jan. 2025. 272p. Severn, $29.99 (9781448311989); e-book
(9781448311972).
Alice Einstein's writing career has faltered, and now she earns a meager living writing greeting cards while living with her sister Liesl in the Tucson suburbs. Liesl, due to a traumatic past, takes care of everyone--migrants, children, dogs--so Alice takes care of Liesl. When Liesl's ex-husband Sam returns, broke and sick, Alice is afraid Liesl will take pity and fall for his charms again. She enlists the help of private investigator Brigid Quinn (last seen in We Were Killers Once, 2019) to dig up dirt on Sam, while her thriller writer's imagination looks for ways to get rid of him. Meanwhile, Liesl takes in an asylum seeker and her young son. Sam continues to act in a slightly dodgy manner, but it's nothing solid enough for Alice to make the case to cast him out. Masterman's fans will be thrilled with the return of Brigid Quinn, but series newbies will not be lost, as the focus of the story is Alice and her relationship to her sister, her career, and the truth. Gritty, timely, and page-turning.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 American Library Association
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Maguire, Susan. "Her Prodigal Husband." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 9-10, Jan. 2025, p. 33. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A829739335/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bbb78c16. Accessed 4 June 2025.
We Were Killers Once.
By Becky Masterman.
June 2019. 320p. Minotaur, $27.99 (9781250074522).
REVIEW. First published April 19, 2019 (Booklist Online).
The fourth entry in the Brigid Quinn series explores the enticing possibility that the two murderers portrayed in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood may have been accompanied by a third murderer and that the trio went from killing the Clutter family in Kansas to killing the Walker family in Florida one month later (an actual case, still unsolved). Masterman shuttles between the investigation of retired FBI agent Quinn and the movements of the possible third killer, named Beaufort, just out of prison for an unrelated crime and determined to destroy a written confession left by one of the convicted killers. What makes this latest Quinn mystery especially nerve-racking is the fact that Quinn’s husband, a former prison chaplain, may have the evidence that Beaufort seeks. Quinn and husband explore the cold case, unaware that the killer is hot to find the evidence, with the path leading right to Quinn. The narrative is slowed down a bit by overly long chunks of dialogue, but, overall, the plot never loses its drive, and the characters are truly intriguing.
— Connie Fletcher
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