CANR
WORK TITLE: Dog Days
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WEBSITE: http://www.wendycorsistaub.com/
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NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 317
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PERSONAL
Born October 29, 1964, in Dunkirk, NY; married Mark J. Staub, 1991; children: Morgan James, Brody Alexander.
EDUCATION:State University of New York at Fredonia, B.A., 1986.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Worked in book stores during college; Macmillan, New York, NY, textbook marketing division administrator, c. 1986; worked as a temporary in other publishing houses, c. 1987-88; Backer Spielvogel Bates (advertising), New York, NY, account coordinator, 1988-90; Silhouette Books, New York, editor, 1990-92; freelance writer, 1993—. Long Ridge Writer’s Institute, Redding, CT, writing instructor, 1993-95; owner of Cupid Literary Services (literary consulting business).
MEMBER:Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Young Adult Network.
AWARDS:Two Rita Awards, Romance Writers of America; two Washington Irving prizes, Westchester Library Association, for fiction; named Millennial Author, Westchester Library Association, 2000; Golden Apple Award for lifetime achievement, Romance Writers of America/New York City, 2007; Romantic Times Online award for career achievement in suspense, Romance Writers of America, 2008.
WRITINGS
Also author of novellas, including Cold Hearted, Curtis Brown Unlimited (New York, NY), 2014. Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Writer’s Digest and Writer; contributor of poetry to Seventeen.
Hello, It’s Me was adapted as a TV movie in 2015.
SIDELIGHTS
Since serving as an editor for Silhouette, Wendy Corsi Staub has gone on to become the author of many books, sometimes using the pseudonyms Wendy Markham and Wendy Morgan. Staub has written for juvenile, young-adult, and adult audiences in the genres of romance, suspense, and mystery. She has also collaborated with celebrity authors, including male model and romance cover-boy Fabio and former New York City mayor Ed Koch.
Staub’s first book, Summer Lightning, was aimed at young adult readers. The novel features a young female protagonist who must choose between a boyfriend in the flesh and an attractive visitor from the spirit world. Another of Staub’s young adult titles is Witch Hunt, in which Abbey Harmon, a teenager from 1963, time-travels back to colonial Salem to save two girls accused of witchcraft. Jeanne Triner, writing in Booklist, pronounced Abbey “intelligent, witty, and believable, without being too good to be true,” and went on to praise Witch Hunt as “a refreshing step up” from much young adult horror fiction.
Help Me deals with an adolescent girl’s struggle with depression—a struggle she acknowledges only after her mother’s suicide. The author also penned several titles about a group of high-school friends who die and become angels, assigned to help troubled young people. These include Brittany Butterfield and the Back-to-School Blues, Henry Hopkins and the Horrible Halloween Happening, and Mitzi Malloy and the Anything-but-Heavenly Summer.
Cameron, Zara, and Kim
In 1997 another of Staub’s novel sets for young adults hit the bookstores. Each “College Life 101” book chronicles the experience of one of a group of friends from the same New York high school who attends a different college. As the subtitle of Cameron: The Sorority suggests, Cameron finds herself matriculating at South Florida State and is completely obsessed with getting into the right sorority. Complicating matters is Tad, a handsome Cuban American who has nothing but contempt for the fraternity/sorority system, and Cameron’s own mixed racial heritage, which makes her the target of prejudice on the part of some of her peers.
Zara: The Roommate addresses not only the difficulties of getting along with one’s college roommate, but the trials of attending a tough New England girls’ school. Zara has always succeeded in high school, but now finds herself fighting to keep her grades high enough to stay in the pre-med program. The protagonist of Kim: The Party chooses a midwestern party school and constantly goes to her classes with a hangover. Oddly, though, she finds herself attracted to one of the most studious young men on campus.
Bridget and Allison
In Bridget: The Fling, Bridget had planned to go off to a university in Seattle with her longtime boyfriend, Grant, but the sudden death of his father postpones his education by a semester. While they are apart, Bridget fears his attraction to their mutual friend Allison must also contend with her own burgeoning feelings for the single father who hires her to babysit.
As the subtitle of Allison: The Townie indicates, she is the only one of the group who must attend their local state university. While studying, she remains in her parents’ home, works as a waitress, and must beg to be allowed to drive the family car. The friends come back together in the sixth book, Christmas Break: The Reunion.
Getting It Together, Getting Attached, and Getting Hitched
While continuing to write novels for young people, Staub also published books for adults. Her first three romances, published under the auspices of her former employer, Silhouette, featured the same protagonist. In Getting It Together, C.J. Clarke starts out feeling like a failure at everything from dieting to her career. Her life gradually improves through Getting Attached, and she plans to live out the title of Getting Hitched if her intended’s discovery of something in her past does not destroy their love. Dearly Beloved is a suspense novel in which three women are drawn together by a sinister man who wants revenge on each of them.
Murder on Broadway and Murder on 34th Street
Though Staub did not collaborate on the first of former New York City mayor Ed Koch’s mystery novels, she joined him for his second, Murder on Broadway. Koch casts his fictional alter ego as the mayor of New York City in Murder on Broadway, in which he is attending a play in which one of the characters is killed. For this performance, however, the bullets are real, and the actor dies. Suspects include the role’s former actor, whose attempt to make it big in Hollywood has not been successful; the actress who pulled the trigger, who was betrothed to the victim; and the actress’s lover, who is possibly jealous of the dead man. The mayor manages to find the killer before the police do. Emily Melton, writing in Booklist, proclaimed Murder on Broadway to be “flamboyant” and “over the top” but “also clever and entertaining.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer found it better than Koch’s previous effort and predicted that “readers will still wish for more.”
Staub also teamed with Koch for Murder on 34th Street and The Senator Must Die. In the former, department-store Santas are being shot and killed, but the mayor manages to solve the crime despite a nasty cold caught at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. In the latter, Koch is on hand for an assassination attempt on his fictional friend Senator Anson Hubbard. In another Booklist review, Melton affirmed that The Senator Must Die is “mildly entertaining” and “should delight Koch’s many fans.”
Wild
With long-haired male model Fabio, Staub penned three contemporary romance novels, Dangerous, Wild, and Mysterious. Wild features female protagonist A.J. Sutton, who must go into hiding after witnessing a murder at a drug lord’s palatial home. A.J. feels she must also fight her attraction to Marco Esteves—who bears a strong resemblance to the male half of Wild ‘s writing team—because she thinks he works for the drug lord. Fortunately, Marco is really working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. A critic for Publishers Weekly applauded Staub’s second collaboration with Fabio as “a finely plotted story filled with nonstop action and well-developed characters.”
Fade to Black
One of Staub’s more recent novels aimed at adults is the suspense story Fade to Black. This concerns Mallory Eden, a rising young actress who fakes her own death after being shot and robbed of her childbearing capability by a stalker. She assumes the identity of Elizabeth Baxter, a woman who actually is dead, and lives as a freelance writer in a quiet Rhode Island town until she begins receiving threatening letters that indicate her stalker has figured out her ruse.
Toni Hyde, writing in Booklist, reported that “plenty of flashbacks and not-too-subtle innuendos cause the reader to peg the stalker, mistakenly, again and again.” She summed up Fade to Black as being “entertaining.” A Publishers Weekly critic, however, felt the novel is not sufficiently suspenseful, though the reviewer conceded that “it’s easy to sympathize with scared, lonely Elizabeth, and the plotting is competent.” A critic for Kirkus Reviews concluded that “a hissy catfight during the cliff-hanging finale is a hoot.”
All the Way Home and The Last to Know
All the Way Home finds Rory Connolly returning home to Lake Charlotte, New York, after the death of her father to care for her rebellious younger sister, Molly, and their mother, who was traumatized by the disappearance, ten years earlier, of her daughter Carleen, Carleen’s friend and next-door neighbor Emily Anghardt, and two other girls. When Molly’s best friend, Rebecca, disappears, it seems that the nightmare may continue. The Last to Know involves another killing in an affluent community where Tasha Banks is a stay-at-home mother to three children.
In the Blink of an Eye and She Loves Me Not
Paine Landry’s girlfriend, Kristin, and now her mother have died in nearly identical fashion, by drowning in a gated community where the residents are mediums and spiritualists. Paine is responsible for settling the woman’s affairs, which takes him to the Victorian home that was left to his six-year-old blind daughter. When she arrives in the house, the girl “sees” a ghost in the house. In reviewing In the Blink of an Eye, a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that “Staub’s prose is energetic, and her characters possess enough genuine warmth to keep readers captivated.”
In She Loves Me Not, single mother Rose Larabee is working through financial difficulties, made worse by her heart-transplant surgery. Now Rose has a stalker who sends gifts that are all in the shape of a heart. Kiss Her Goodbye opens with the disappearance of a teen living in an idyllic community. Resident Kathleen Carmody now fears for the life of her daughter, Jen, who plays soccer in a field where a suspicious figure has been seen prowling.
Awakening and Believing
Staub started the “Lily Dale” series in 2007 with the publication of Awakening. High school senior Calla mourns her mother’s sudden death and spends the summer with her medium grandmother in the spiritualist community of Lily Dale, New York. She dislikes the town but keeps an open mind about sharing her grandmother’s powers. Midge Bork, writing for Curled Up with a Good Kid’s Book, commented that “Staub’s depiction of the Lily Dale community is quite accurate, and she does not tie up all the loose ends of the story, leaving plenty of room for sequels.” Sarah Sawtelle, writing on TeenReads.com, suggested that “readers will find this novel difficult to put down and will look forward to the second installment.”
The following year Staub published Believing. After moving permanently to Lily Dale, Calla embraces her spiritual powers. On a tip from a spirit, she investigates her mother’s death, suspecting it was not an accident. She also helps to find a serial killer in the town. Sawtelle, again writing on TeenReads.com, noted that “while the book features the unfortunate but very real topic of teen abduction, it also presents a story of the strength of family connections, even from the other side.” Writing in School Library Journal, Lillian Hecker labeled the novel “exciting.”
Connecting and Most Likely to Die
The third novel in the series, Connecting, was also published in 2008. Calla continues to ponder over her mother’s death, investigating through real-world applications and supernatural connections. Sawtelle, reviewing the novel on TeenReads.com, claimed that “fans of Wendy Corsi Staub’s suspenseful series are in for plenty of surprises here.” Booklist contributor Gillian Engberg took note of the novel’s “cliff-hanger ending.”
In 2007 Staub published Don’t Scream. Four sorority sisters vow never to talk about their friend’s death. But after ten years, they begin receiving mysterious letters, bringing up that dark past and fresh murders. A contributor to Publishers Weekly commented that “though her prose is strictly utilitarian, Staub keep things taut and unpredictable, changing perspective often.”
With Lisa Jackson and Beverly Barton, Staub wrote Most Likely to Die that same year. Murders abound at a twenty-year high school reunion as a payback for an old grievance. A contributor to Publishers Weekly observed that the group of “authors don’t do very much to keep the identity of the murderer hidden from the reader.”
Dying Breath and Dead before Dark
In 2008 Staub published the novel Dying Breath. Camden Hastings is disturbed by gruesome visions she has had since she was a teen. She tries to set her life straight and even help police with her visions that resemble missing children cases. But everything changes for her when her own teen daughter goes missing. Joe Hartlaub advised on Bookreporter.com: “Once you pick up Dying Breath, don’t even think about doing anything else other than reading. Staub keeps Hastings’s domestic difficulties interesting but they are not overwhelming, and the shadowy presence of the child abductor lurks within the pages even as metaphoric sharks haunt the waters of [Long Beach Island] just below the ocean’s surface.” RT Book Reviews contributor Page Traynor declared that “Staub’s books, filled with emotion and terrifying details, are impossible to put down.”
Staub published Dead before Dark in 2009. Psychic Lucinda Sloan becomes the target of a lipstick-obsessed murderer who has been released from prison. She ends up on the case of finding him before he finds her. L. Dean Murphy, writing on Bookreporter.com, said that “Staub has a unique, strong style that pulls the reader into Lucinda’s world,” adding that she has a “funny, clever style” of writing. Murphy concluded: “An easy read with fast-paced intrigue, Dead before Dark is dead-on with thrills and spills, like Disney World’s Space Mountain.” Sandra Martin, reviewing the novel for RT Book Reviews, commented that “Staub’s masterful use of suspense keeps readers turning the pages of this twisted tale,” and Betty Cox observed in Fresh Fiction that “this is a first class tale written by an equally first class author.” She added: “‘Beach reading’ doesn’t get any better than this one.”
Once upon a Blind Date, Slightly Single, Slightly Settled, and Slightly Engaged
Staub continues to add to the considerable list of romances she has written under the pen name Wendy Markham. Once upon a Blind Date finds Maggie trying to locate a match for her friend Dominic on a Web site where Charlie is doing the same for Julie. They arrange for Julie and Dominic to go to a Knicks game, and tag along to make sure everything goes smoothly. Charlie, who vows never to marry, and Maggie, who already has plans to marry her doctor boyfriend, have nothing in common but are instantly attracted to each other.
Tracey Spadolini appears in a trio of stories, beginning with Slightly Single, in which she spends the summer alone in New York while her actor boyfriend is in upstate New York performing in summer stock theater. Will is unwilling to commit, and Tracey takes advantage of the time to lose weight and otherwise improve herself, hoping to please him. She meets freelance writer Buckley, who is more considerate and attentive than Will, but Tracey is torn, still wanting to make her relationship with Will work. In Slightly Settled, Tracey has dumped Will, although he is still on her mind, and Buckley is dating Sonja. Jack enters the romantic picture, but his roommate is Tracey’s boss, which complicates their relationship. Tracey is in a committed relationship with Jack in Slightly Engaged, but a year goes by without a proposal from him, in spite of the fact that his mother let it slip that he had asked for the family ring. In this installment, Tracey takes control of her career.
Slightly Married and Slightly Suburban
In 2007 Markham published Slightly Married. Neurotic Tracey Spadolini is back, finally engaged to Jack Candell, but they diverge greatly on the kind of wedding they should have. She also second-guesses her choice of Jack over her friend Buckley. Booklist contributor Huntley noticed that “there are plenty of laughs this time around.”
In Slightly Suburban, Tracey is happy with Jack but longs to get out of the city, suggesting that the pair take their chances by moving out of the urban environment altogether. Writing on RT Book Reviews, Jennifer Madsen suggested that “readers from all walks of life will relate to the imposition of too-close best friends.” Booklist contributor Huntley opined that “readers who have followed Tracey’s adventures to this point will find humor aplenty in her big move.”
Hello, It's Me, Mike, Mike & Me, and If Only in My Dreams
In Hello, It’s Me, Annie Harlowe continues to pay her husband’s cell phone bill and call his phone so she can hear his recorded voice, but she wonders if he is trying to contact her from beyond when someone answers. There are two Mikes in the life of Beau in Mike, Mike & Me, in which she marries one but wonders what life would have been like with the other. Clara McCallum fights breast cancer as she acts in a World War II-era film, then passes through time to 1941 to fall in love with the soldier character of the story in If Only in My Dreams, a book described by Booklist reviewer Kristine Huntley as “a delight.” A critic on the Publishers Weekly Web site called the volume “a subtle, effective and enjoyable entry into the growing field of time-travel romance.”
Love, Suburban Style, That's Amore, and Ask Me Again
Published in 2007, Love, Suburban Style features Tony Award-winning actress Meg Addams, who becomes depressed after continuously losing roles to younger actresses. She returns to her childhood home in suburban Westchester County and tries to start her life fresh there. Booklist contributor Patty Engelmann described the novel as “a vastly entertaining romance and a real standout laced with otherworldly intervention.”
In That’s Amore, perpetual wanderer Daria Marshall is out of her first marriage and back on the road, convinced she will never find happiness in one place. After meeting Ralphie, her exact opposite, she starts to see things differently. Bunny Callahan, reviewing the novel in RT Book Reviews, found that “the point-of-view shifts are a little jerky and confusing. Still, the premise is one we can all identify with.”
Writing under the pseudonym Wendy Morgan, Staub published Ask Me Again in 2000. The tale pairs the class brainiac with his roommate’s girlfriend. Years later they meet again and find love. Writing on RT Book Reviews, Teresa Roebuck described the novel as “a sensuous yet lighthearted tale.”
Live to Tell, Scared to Death, and Hell to Pay
Live to Tell features various characters whose stories converge. Among them are a congressman, a grieving Connecticut couple, and a single mom. “Staub is a master of making the everyday somehow terrifying and giving a seemingly innocuous action life-altering implications,” asserted Sandra Garcia-Myers on the RT Book Reviews Web site. A Publishers Weekly writer commented: “Once Staub’s brilliant characterizations and … narrative skills grab hold, they don’t let go.”
In Scared to Death, a mother still thinks about her adopted son, Jeremy, who was kidnapped fifteen years earlier and reportedly killed. However, it is revealed that Jeremy is still alive and watching both his birth mother and his adopted mother. A Publishers Weekly contributor described the book as a “compelling, well-crafted suspense novel.”
A woman escapes prison and vows to take revenge on a couple in Hell to Pay. Roseann Marlett, a critic on the RT Book Reviews Web site, suggested: “The lead characters are not developed enough.” “Staub brings nothing new to the familiar psychotic pursuing-a-vendetta plot line,” remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer.
Nightwatcher and Sleepwalker
A woman named Allison experiences the September 11th attacks in New York and is also stalked by a serial killer in Nightwatcher. “With a bit of a patience, the reader can get to the interesting and rewarding ending,” suggested a writer on the Mystery Tribune Web site. Robyn Glazer, a contributor to the RT Book Reviews Web site, asserted: “Staub really nails the atmosphere of New York.”
In Sleepwalker, the serial killer who targets Allison returns after ten years of silence. John Valeri, a contributor to Examiner.com, remarked: “ Sleepwalker is a strong and skillfully executed follow-up to Nightwatcher that works well, both as a sequel or a standalone. Staub’s decision to move the action from the city to the suburbs is a savvy one. … The book’s ending is entirely satisfactory, and there’s a final jaw-dropper that beautifully opens the door to the final installment.” A critic on the Mystery Tribune Web iste suggested: “Staub is a master of twists and turns and does a great job in this book to keep the reader guessing about the identity of the killer.” Glazer, writing on the RT Book Reviews Web site, called the book “a suspense-filled ride that keeps the shocks coming.”
Shadowkiller and The Good Sister
Allison’s life is threatened once again in Shadowkiller. Valeri, writing on Examiner.com, commented: “While longtime fans may miss trying to discern the malevolent force masked behind a familiar face, Staub’s strong characterizations and skillful exploration of the seemingly ordinary events that suddenly morph into extraordinary ones will sustain them.”
A serial killer named Adrian (also known as Angel) is the main character in The Good Sister. He recalls childhood traumas and focuses on a young neighbor, who may be his next victim. “The suspense will keep you turning pages,” predicted Marlett on the RT Book Reviews Web site. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked: “The pace is slow, but … it leads to a surprising and terrifying conclusion.” A critic in Kirkus Reviews noted: “Fans of Criminal Minds will especially love this book.”
The Perfect Stranger and The Black Widow
In The Perfect Stranger, five breast cancer survivors connect online. One of them is killed, and police suspect another of the women to be the murderer. Marlett, writing on the RT Book Reviews Web site, called the novel a “well-plotted mystery.” A contributor to the Mysterious Reviews Web site remarked: “ The Perfect Stranger is in many ways an unnerving novel. The characters are well-drawn individuals, seemingly approachable but then again, maybe not.”
A divorcée goes on a dating Web site where a serial killer is searching for a victim in The Black Widow. Writing on the RT Book Reviews Web site, B. Nakia Garner remarked: “Despite the multiple storylines and characters, this novel flows amazingly well, making it easy to follow.” A contributor to Examiner.com suggested: “With The Black Widow, Staub has crafted a superb tale of suspense that will haunt readers long after the last page has been turned. It’s a slow burn, as she draws you in with her rich character portraits and vivid depictions of everyday life, but the tension steadily mounts.” A critic on the Mysterious Reviews Web site commented: “ The Black Widow is a spine-tingling tale of heartbreak and madness. … Overall, a very good book for those readers who enjoy their thrillers edgy and electrifying.”
Blood Red and Blue Moon
Blood Red, set in Mundy’s Landing, New York, finds a serial killer descending on the town to murder his ideal victim, a mother and schoolteacher named Rowan Mundy. Jennifer Wilson, a contributor to the RT Book Reviews Web site, described the novel as “a thrilling read.” A reviewer on Examiner.com commented: “ Blood Red is an auspicious launch to the “Mundy’s Landing” trilogy, and Staub more than lives up to the promise by delivering both a satisfying stand-alone mystery and a tantalizing glimpse into the origins of a town that has earned its infamy.” “Staub mostly maintains the suspense throughout, despite a few too many coincidences,” asserted a Kirkus Reviews critic.
Blue Moon, a sequel to Blood Red, finds Mundy’s Landing preparing for Mundypalooza. Additionally, the town recognizes the centennial anniversary of the Sleepy Beauty murders, and a serial killer walks the streets. A reviewer on the Bless Their Hearts Mom Web site asserted: “Wendi is a master at sleight of hand, and once again she gives us a winner of a tale.”
Nine Lives and Something Buried, Something Blue
[open new/revised]With Nine Lives, Staub opens her spin-off “Lily Dale Mystery” series. While on their way to Chicago, Isabella and her five-year-old son Max rescue a loose cat and stop in Lily Dale, New York, only to find that the cat’s owner recently drowned. Leona also owned a guesthouse, and since the town is a spiritualist tourist destination, residents persuade Bella to stay and take over the business. As she wonders about contacting her dead husband, Sam, Bella realizes Leona’s death may have been no accident. Ayers, writing for RT Book Reviews, described the book as “a tantalizing tale mixed with small-town politics and secrets.”
Hoping to make the Valley View Guesthouse a success in Something Buried, Something Blue, Bella secures a deal to host a destination wedding. But a blizzard bodes ill for the outdoor ceremony, Bella’s blustering mother-in-law appears, and a spirit guide has a terrible premonition. When the bride turns blue and keels over, heart failure seems possible, but murder seems likely. A Publishers Weekly reviewer was led by the second “Lily Dale Mystery” book to affirm that shades of the “paranormal, a hint of romance, and a sweet and sympathetic protagonist will lure readers to enchanting Lily Dale” time and again.
Dead of Winter and Prose and Cons
In Dead of Winter, Bella witnesses the aftermath of a murder: an Elvis look-alike dumping something in Cassadaga Lake, which turns out to be a body. Meanwhile concerned that the mother of Max’s close friend Jiffy, local psychic Misty, is too distracted by her military husband’s Christmastime absence, Bella’s worst fears are realized when Jiffy goes missing. Max mentions that Jiffy dreamed of getting kidnapped, and perhaps he has been, by the same perpetrator as before. A Kirkus Reviews writer noted that “Staub’s look at divisiveness within communities, especially differences over child-rearing, addresses some serious real-world concerns.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer affirmed that the “endearing town, its quirky psychic medium residents, and a hint of romance … carry through to a suspenseful ending.”
Staub strings out the action in Prose and Cons, which finds Bella caving to neighbor—and former guesthouse owner—Pandora Feeney’s insistence that visiting Auntie Eudora and Nigel be permitted to stay for free. As Bella and Pandora gradually realize something about the visitors is off, “musings about Pandora’s bad marriage, the love stories of other Lily Dale inhabitants, and Bella’s quiet interest in the local vet” carry the narrative, as a Publishers Weekly reviewer noted.
The Other Family and Windfall
Among Staub’s stand-alone novels, The Other Family is a domestic thriller revolving around the Howell family, who have moved from L.A. to Brooklyn. While handsome Keith and perfect housewife Nora tend to their marriage and young teen Piper gets excited about the city, older teen Stacey learns from a neighbor boy that a family was murdered in the Howell’s new home. Between a box in the garden, an unsettling photo, and overtures from the neighbors, something sinister is in the air. In a Library Journal review, B. Allison Gray declared, “Creating unbearable tension, Staub is brilliant at the slow build.” Affirming that the “suspense rises as it emerges that the Howell family’s chances of surviving hang on … a dark secret,” a Publishers Weekly reviewer affirmed that Staub “reliably entertains.”
Windfall finds former college roommates Leila, Molly, and J.J. trying to revive their friendship with a Las Vegas getaway, during which they jointly purchase a lottery ticket that wins a billion dollars. United with famous money manager Shea Daniels, the trio hole up in a California mansion plotting their next moves—until the one holding the ticket goes missing. Either she ran off to claim the loot, or foul play is afoot. In Booklist, David Pitt affirmed that Staub’s “strength has always been her characters,” with this “first-rate thriller” featuring “some of her best in a story packed with surprises.”[close new]
Author Comments
Staub once told CA: “As a third-grader with a voracious appetite for books, I declared to anyone who would listen that I would one day become an author. I would spend the remainder of my childhood and young adulthood in single-minded pursuit of that goal, following a precisely laid plan that now seems, as an adult looking back on my precocious younger self, to be highly calculated and ambitious. I read everything I could get my hands on (from Judy Blume books to the World Almanac to my mother’s Jacqueline Susann novels), published poetry in Seventeen magazine, and held editorial posts on school newspapers and yearbooks. I sought jobs that would provide experience helpful to my future career. In college, I worked part time as a clerk in two different bookstores, where I observed firsthand the tangible elements that influence browsing buyers to select books by whim—title, cover design, art, copy.
“At twenty-one, I moved—alone and penniless—500 miles away from my small hometown to New York City. My goal in landing an entry-level job in publishing was not to launch an editorial career; rather, it was to establish contacts with agents and editors who might assist me in launching my writing career. I began with an administrative position in the textbook marketing division of Macmillan; then—after temping in various publishing houses before finding it necessary to take a full-time advertising agency job with benefits—I landed an editorial post at Harlequin Enterprises. There, as an acquiring editor of Silhouette romance novels, I found myself in a unique and rewarding situation for an aspiring writer. Establishing contacts with editors and agents through daily contact and at conferences was only part of the process that led to the launch of my career. I also learned how to approach publishers with the utmost level of professionalism, and grasped what elements cause an unpublished author’s manuscript to stand out in the slush pile, both favorably and unfavorably. In addition, I participated in various behind-the-scenes publishing processes, from contract negotiation to manuscript preparation to cover design to marketing strategy.
“I sold my own first novel two years after becoming an editor, and have virtually been a full-time author ever since. I’m aware that I might have eventually realized my dream without following the precise career-oriented stepping stones I laid in place according to that arduous childhood plan. I doubt, however, that a more laid-back approach would have allowed me to achieve my goals as quickly and completely as I have, or to, along the way, continually indulge my love of reading and writing as well as my fascination with the book business.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 1995, Jeanne Triner, review of Witch Hunt, p. 1563; July, 1996, Emily Melton, review of Murder on Broadway, p. 1808; April 15, 1998, Toni Hyde, review of Fade to Black, p. 1394; September 1, 1998, Emily Melton, review of The Senator Must Die, pp. 70-71; August, 1999, Mary Frances Wilkens, review of All the Way Home, p. 2033; March 25, 2001, review of More than This, p. 1384; December 15, 2001, Kristine Huntley, review of Slightly Single, p. 708; February 15, 2004, Kristine Huntley, review of Slightly Settled, p. 1046; March 15, 2004, Kristine Huntley, review of Once upon a Blind Date, p. 1276; November 15, 2004, Kristine Huntley, review of Mike, Mike & Me, p. 567; March 15, 2005, Kristine Huntley, review of Hello, It’s Me, p. 1274; February 1, 2006, Kristine Huntley, review of Slightly Engaged, p. 36; October 15, 2006, Kristine Huntley, review of If Only in My Dreams, p. 35; May 15, 2007, Kristine Huntley, review of Slightly Married, p. 27; June 1, 2007, Patty Engelmann, review of Love, Suburban Style, p. 49; November 1, 2007, Ilene Cooper, review of Awakening, p. 41; July 1, 2008, Kristine Huntley, review of Slightly Suburban, p. 47; July 1, 2008, Patty Engelmann, review of That’s Amore, p. 46; February 1, 2009, Gillian Engberg, review of Connecting, p. 44; October 1, 2015, Carissa Chesanek, review of Nine Lives, p. 27; May 1, 2019, Tracy Gossage, review of Dead of Winter, p. 46; June 1, 2023, David Pitt, review of Windfall, p. 40.
Drood Review of Mystery, January 1, 2001, review of The Last to Know, p. 23.
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 1998, review of Fade to Black, p. 220; May 1, 2008, review of Believing; May 1, 2013, review of The Good Sister; July 15, 2015, review of Blood Red; September 1, 2015, review of Nine Lives; September 15, 2017, review of Dead of Winter; October 1, 2021, review of Prose and Cons; August 15, 2022, review of The Stranger Vanishes; May 15, 2024, review of Dog Days.
Kliatt, September 1, 1995, review of Help Me, p. 15.
Library Journal, July 1, 1996, Rex E. Klett, review of Murder on Broadway, p. 170; December 1, 2006, Kristin Ramsdell, review of If Only in My Dreams, p. 103; June, 2022, B. Allison Gray, review of The Other Family (audiobook), p. 79.
Locus, September 11, 1993, review of Summer Lightning, p. 67.
Midwest Book Review, January 1, 2005, Harriet Klausner, review of Mike, Mike & Me; March 1, 2005, Harriet Klausner, review of Hello, It’s Me; August 1, 2008, review of Believing; October 1, 2008, review of Believing.
Publishers Weekly, June 3, 1996, review of Murder on Broadway, p. 65; May 12, 1997, review of Wild, pp. 73-74; November 17, 1997, review of Cameron: The Sorority, p. 63; March 16, 1998, review of Fade to Black, p. 54; July 26, 1999, review of All the Way Home, p. 61; February 5, 2001, review of The Last to Know, p. 73; November 26, 2001, review of Slightly Single, p. 40; February 4, 2002, review of In the Blink of an Eye, p. 59; January 27, 2003, review of She Loves Me Not, p. 243; May 17, 2004, review of Kiss Her Goodbye, p. 39; October 23, 2006, review of If Only in My Dreams, p. 37; December 18, 2006, review of Most Likely to Die, p. 50; March 12, 2007, review of Don’t Scream, p. 43; May 21, 2007, review of Love, Suburban Style, p. 41; September 17, 2007, review of Awakening, p. 55; May 12, 2008, review of That’s Amore, p. 41; March 2, 2009, review of Dead before Dark, p. 49; January 25, 2010, review of Live to Tell, p. 102; November 22, 2010, review of Scared to Death, p. 43; August 15, 2011, review of Hell to Pay, p. 52; September 2, 2013, review of The Good Sister, p. 36; August 17, 2015, review of Nine Lives, p. 50; August 15, 2016, review of Something Buried, Something Blue, p. 52; September 18, 2017, review of Dead of Winter, p. 55; October 11, 2021, review of Prose and Cons, p. 52; November 22, 2021, review of The Other Family, p. 78, and “PW Talks with Wendy Corsi Staub,” p. 81; August 22, 2022, review of The Stranger Vanishes, p. 51.
School Library Journal, November 1, 2007, Eva Mitnick, review of Awakening, p. 138; August 1, 2008, Lillian Hecker, review of Believing, p. 134; February 1, 2009, Sharon Grover, review of Connecting, p. 110.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October 1, 1995, review of Help Me, p. 224; December 1, 2007, review of More than This, p. 342, and review of Awakening, p. 454; August 1, 2008, review of Believing, p. 270.
ONLINE
Bless Their Hearts Mom, http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com/ (May 31, 2016), review of Blue Moon.
BookLoons, http://www.bookloons.com/ (August 11, 2016), Mary Ann Smyth, review of Shadowkiller.
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, https://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ (February 10, 2022), author Q&A.
Bookreporter, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (October 29, 2009), L. Dean Murphy, review of Dead before Dark; Joe Hartlaub, review of Dying Breath.
Curled Up with a Good Kid’s Book, http://www.curledupkids.com/ (October 29, 2009), Midge Bork, review of Awakening.
Dear Author, http://dearauthor.com/ (April 12, 2007), review of If Only in My Dreams.
Examiner.com, http://www.examiner.com/ (September 25, 2012), John Valeri, review of Sleepwalker; (January 29, 2013), John Valeri, review of Shadowkiller; (February 23, 2015), review of The Black Widow; (September 29, 2015), review of Blood Red.
Fresh Fiction, http://freshfiction.com/ (June 22, 2009), Betty Cox, review of Dead before Dark.
Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ (September 27, 2014), Mark Rubinstein, author interview.
International Thriller Writers website, http://www.thrillerwriters.org/ (October 29, 2009), Karen Harper, author interview.
Mysterious Reviews, http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/ (August 11, 2016), review of The Perfect Stranger; (August 11, 2016), review of The Black Widow.
Mystery Tribune, http://www.mysterytribune.com/ (August 22, 2012), review of Nightwatcher; (September 28, 2012), review of Sleepwalker.
Nerd Daily, https://thenerddaily.com/ (January 26, 2022), Elise Dumpleton, “Q&A: Wendy Corsi Staub, Author of The Other Family.”
Publishers Weekly, http://www.publishersweekly.com/ (August 11, 2016), review of If Only in My Dreams.
Romance Reader, http://theromancereader.com/ (September 22, 2003), review of The Nine-Month Plan; (November 8, 2003), review of A Thoroughly Modern Princess.
RT Book Reviews, http://www.rtbookreviews.com/ (October 29, 2009), Bunny Callahan, review of That’s Amore; Jennifer Madsen, review of Slightly Suburban; Teresa Roebuck, review of Ask Me Again; Page Traynor, review of Dying Breath; Sandra Martin, review of Dead before Dark; (August 11, 2016), Jeff Ayers, reviews of Shadowkiller and Nine Lives; (August 11, 2016), Jennifer Wilson, review of Blood Red; (August 11, 2016), B. Nakia Garner, review of The Black Widow; (August 11, 2016), Roseann Marlett, reviews of The Perfect Stranger, Hell to Pay, and The Good Sister; (August 11, 2016), Robyn Glazer, reviews of Nightwatcher, Scared to Death, and Sleepwalker; (August 11, 2016), Sandra Garcia-Myers, review of Live to Tell.
TeenReads, http://www.teenreads.com/ (October 29, 2009), Sarah Sawtelle, reviews of Believing, Connecting, and Awakening.
Wendy Corsi Staub website, http://www.wendycorsistaub.com (June 14, 2024).
Wendy Corsi Staub
USA flag (b.1964)
aka Wendy Markham, Wendy Morgan
Wendy Corsi Staub is fast gaining a place alongside today's most popular and successful writers of suspense fiction.
Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Romance, Horror
New and upcoming books
July 2024
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Dog Days
(Lily Dale Mystery, book 6)
Series
Obsession (as by Wendy Morgan)
1. Obsession (1996)
2. Possession (2003)
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Campus Life 101
1. Cameron: The Sorority (1997)
2. Zara: The Roommate (1997)
3. Kim: The Party (1997)
4. Bridget: The Fling (1997)
5. Allison: The Townie (1998)
6. The Reunion (1998)
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Edward Koch
2. Murder on 34th Street (1997) (with Edward I Koch and Herbert Resnicow)
The Senator Must Die (1998) (with Edward I Koch)
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Lily Dale
1. The Awakening (2007)
2. Believing (2008)
3. Connecting (2008)
4. Discovering (2009)
5. In the Blink of an Eye (2002)
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Psychic Killer
1. Dying Breath (2008)
aka Dying Light
2. Dead Before Dark (2009)
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Live to Tell
1. Live to Tell (2010)
2. Scared to Death (2010)
3. Hell to Pay (2011)
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Nightwatcher
1. Nightwatcher (2012)
2. Sleepwalker (2012)
3. Shadowkiller (2013)
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Social Media
1. The Good Sister (2013)
1.5. Cold Hearted (2014)
2. The Perfect Stranger (2014)
3. The Black Widow (2015)
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Mundy's Landing
1. Blood Red (2015)
2. Blue Moon (2016)
3. Bone White (2017)
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Lily Dale Mystery
1. Nine Lives (2015)
2. Something Buried, Something Blue (2016)
3. Dead of Winter (2017)
4. Prose and Cons (2021)
5. The Stranger Vanishes (2022)
6. Dog Days (2024)
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Foundlings Trilogy
1. Little Girl Lost (2018)
2. Dead Silence (2019)
aka Little Boy Blue
3. The Butcher's Daughter (2020)
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Novels
Summer Lightning (1993)
Henry Hopkins and the Horrible Halloween Happening (1995)
Witch Hunt (1995)
Help Me! (Real Life) (1995)
Mitzi Malloy and the Anything-But-Heavenly Summer (1995)
Brittany Butterfield and the Back-To-School Blues (1995)
Dearly Beloved (1996)
Murder On Broadway (1996) (with Edward I Koch)
Party of Five: A Family Album (1998)
Fade to Black (1998)
Loving Max (1999) (as by Wendy Morgan)
All the Way Home (1999)
Halloween Party (2000)
Gossip (2000)
Ask Me Again (2000) (as by Wendy Morgan)
The Last to Know (2001)
She Loves Me Not (2003)
Kiss Her Goodbye (2004)
Lullaby and Goodnight (2005)
Final Victim (2006)
Most Likely to Die (2007) (with Beverly Barton and Lisa Jackson)
Don't Scream (2007)
The Other Family (2022)
Windfall (2023)
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Series contributed to
Loop
1. Getting It Together (1994)
5. Getting Attached (1994)
12. Getting Hitched (1995)
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Charmed
5. Voodoo Moon (2000) (with Constance M Burge)
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Turning Seventeen
2. More Than This (2000)
6. This Boy Is Mine (2001)
Wendy Corsi Staub
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wendy Corsi Staub
Born October 29, 1964 (age 59)
Dunkirk, New York, U.S.
Pen name Wendy Brody
Wendy Markham
Wendy Morgan
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Alma mater State University of New York at Fredonia
Genre Young adult fiction
Notable awards RITA Award (1994)
Spouse Mark J. Staub (m. 1991)
Children 2
Website
wendycorsistaub.com
Wendy Corsi Staub (born October 29, 1964) is an American writer of suspense novels and young adult fiction.[1] She has written under her own name as well as Wendy Brody, Wendy Markham, and Wendy Morgan.
Career
Staub was born in Dunkirk, New York on October 29, 1964. She enjoyed reading as a child, serving on her student newspaper and yearbooks and publishing poetry in Seventeen.[2] After graduating from State University of New York at Fredonia, Staub joined the publishing industry.[3]
Awards and adaptations
Staub has won various awards during her career. Summer Lightning won a Romance Writers of America Rita Award in 1994.[4]
Staub won the Romance Writers of America-NYC Golden Apple Award for lifetime achievement in 2007.[5] She has won several Washington Irving Book Awards from the Westchester Library Association, including one for Nightwatcher in 2012.[6][2]
Her book Live to Tell received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.[7]
Blue Moon was nominated for a Mary Higgins Clark award.[8][9]
Hello, It's Me was adapted into a television movie starring Kellie Martin.[10]
Personal life
She married Mark J. Staub in 1991. She has two sons, Morgan and Brody.[11][2]
Works
The Foundlings trilogy
Little Girl Lost. William Morrow, 2018. ISBN 9780062742056
Dead Silence (also published as Little Boy Blue). William Morrow, 2019. ISBN 9780062742063
The Mundy’s Landing trilogy
Blood Red. William Morrow, 2015. ISBN 9780062349736[12]
Blue Moon. William Morrow, 2015. ISBN 9780062349750
Bone White. William Morrow, 2017. ISBN 9780062349774[13]
The Lily Dale series
Nine Lives. Crooked Lane Books, 2015. ISBN 9781629532486[14][15]
Something Buried, Something Blue. Crooked Lane Books, 2016. ISBN 9781629537726[16]
Dead of Winter. Crooked Lane Books, 2017. ISBN 9781683313335[17][18]
Social Media series
The Good Sister. Harper, 2013. ISBN 9780062222374[19][20]
The Perfect Stranger. Harper, 2014. ISBN 9780062222404[21]
The Black Widow. Harper, 2015. ISBN 9780062222435
Nightwatcher trilogy
Nightwatcher. Harper, 2012. ISBN 9780062070289[22][23]
Sleepwalker. Harper, 2012. ISBN 9780062070302[24]
Shadowkiller. Harper, 2013. ISBN 9780062070326
Live to Tell trilogy
Live to Tell. Avon, 2010. ISBN 9780061895067[7]
Scared to Death. Avon, 2010. ISBN 9780061895074[25]
Hell to Pay. Avon, 2011. ISBN 9780061895081[26]
Standalones
Dying Breath (original title: Dying Light). Zebra, 2008. ISBN 9781420101317
Dead Before Dark (sequel to Dying Breath). Zebra, 2009. ISBN 9781420101324[27]
Lullaby and Goodnight. Pinnacle, 2005. ISBN 9780786016426
Kiss Her Goodbye. Pinnacle, 2004. ISBN 9780786016419[28]
Most Likely to Die (with Lisa Jackson and Beverly Barton). Zebra, 2007. ISBN 9780821775769[29]
The Final Victim. Kensington, 2006. ISBN 9780821779712
She Loves Me Not. Pinnacle, 2003. ISBN 9780786014248[30]
In the Blink of an Eye. Pinnacle, 2002. ISBN 9780786014231[31]
The Last To Know. Pinnacle, 2001. ISBN 9780786011964
All The Way Home. Pinnacle, 2000. ISBN 9780786010929[32][33]
Fade to Black. Pinnacle, 2002. ISBN 9780786014880[34]
Dearly Beloved. Pinnacle, 2003. ISBN 9780786014897
Written as Wendy Markham
Standalone books
Hello, It’s Me. Forever, 2005. ISBN 9780446614535
If Only in My Dreams. Signet, 2006. ISBN 9780451220035[35]
The Best Gift (sequel to If Only in My Dreams). Signet, 2009. ISBN 9780451228444
Love, Suburban Style. Forever, 2007. ISBN 9780446618434[36]
Mike, Mike and Me. Red Dress Ink, 2004. ISBN 9780373895076
Thoroughly Modern Princess. Avon, 2003. ISBN 9780380820542
The Long Way Home. Jove, 1999. ISBN 9780515124408
“Slightly” series
Slightly Single. Harlequin, 2004. ISBN 9780373810796[37]
Slightly Settled. Red Dress Ink, 2004. ISBN 9780373250479
Slightly Engaged. Red Dress Ink, 2004. ISBN 9780373895649[38]
Slightly Married. Red Dress Ink, 2007. ISBN 9781426833694
Slightly Suburban. Red Dress Ink, 2008. ISBN 9780373895618
Chickalini Family series
The Nine Month Plan. Forever, 2003. ISBN 9780446611756
Once Upon a Blind Date. Warner Books, 2005. ISBN 9780446696609
Bride Needs Groom. Forever, 2005. ISBN 9780446614542
That’s Amore. Forever, 2008. ISBN 9780446618441[39]
Young adult works
Standalone and short stories
Scream and Scream Again (contributor). HarperCollins, 2018. ISBN 9780062495662
Witch Hunt. Zebra, 1995. ISBN 9780821748787
Sweet Valley University: Rush Week (Ghostwritten for Francine Pascal). ISBN 9780553493061
Halloween Party. Zebra, 1994. ISBN 9780821747322
Summer Lightning. HarperPrism, 1993. ISBN 9780061067785
Real Life: Help Me. Simon Pulse, 1995. ISBN 9780671872748
Turning 17: More Than This. HarperCollins, 2000. ISBN 9780064472388
Turning 17: This Boy Is Mine. HarperCollins, 2001. ISBN 9780064472425
Charmed: Voodoo Moon. Pocket Books, 1999. ISBN 9780743409292
Lily Dale series
Lily Dale: Awakening. Walker Books for Young Readers, 2007. ISBN 9780802796547[40]
Lily Dale: Believing. Walker Books for Young Readers, 2008. ISBN 9780802796561[41]
Lily Dale: Connecting. Walker Books for Young Readers, 2008. ISBN 9780802797858
Lily Dale: Discovering. Walker Books for Young Readers, 2009. ISBN 9780802797865
Teen Angels series
Mitzi Malloy and the Anything but Heavenly Summer. Zebra, 1995. ISBN 9780821749869
Brittany Butterfield and the Back to School Blues. Zebra, 1995. ISBN 9780821750575
Henry Hopkins and the Horrible Halloween Happening. Zebra, 1995. ISBN 9780821751220
Candace Caine and the Bah, Humbug Christmas. Zebra, 1995. ISBN 9780821751794
The Loop series
Getting Attached. Silhouette, 1994. ISBN 9780373202058
Getting Hitched. Silhouette, 1995. ISBN 9780373202126
Getting It Together. Silhouette, 1994. ISBN 9780373202010
Voodoo series
Obsession (Written as Wendy Morgan). Pinnacle, 1996. ISBN 9780786015597
Possession (Written as Wendy Morgan). Zebra, 1996. ISBN 9780821751534
Other writings
Gossip (Movie tie-in/screenplay novelization). Avon Books, 1999. ISBN 9780380814824
Party of Five: A Family Album (TV Tie-In). Berkley Trade, 1998. ISBN 9780425164952
Prince Harry (Written as Wendy Brody). Pinnacle, 2000. ISBN 9780786011452
Never on a Sundae (contributor). Berkley Trade, 2004. ISBN 9780425198964
Ask Me Again (Written as Wendy Morgan). Zebra, 2000. ISBN 9780821766699
Loving Max (Written as Wendy Morgan). Zebra, 1999. ISBN 9780821763483
Murder on Broadway (with Ed Koch). Kensington, 1996. ISBN 9781575660493[42]
Murder on 34th Street (with Ed Koch). Kensington, 1997. ISBN 9781575662329
The Senator Must Die (with Ed Koch). Kensington, 1998. ISBN 9781575663258[43]
Dangerous (Written with Fabio). Pinnacle, 1996. ISBN 9780786002832
Wild (Written with Fabio). Pinnacle, 1997. ISBN 9780786004119
Mysterious (Written with Fabio). Pinnacle, 1998. ISBN 9780786004911
New York Times and USA Today bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of nearly one hundred novels. She lives in the New York City suburbs with her husband, one or more of their sons, and two or more rescue kitties, depending on the season.
FULL BIOGRAPHY
New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of more than ninety novels, best known for the single title psychological suspense novels she writes under her own name. Those books and the women’s fiction written under the pseudonym Wendy Markham have also appeared on the USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookscan bestseller lists.
Her current standalone suspense novel, WINDFALL, is about a trio of friends who chip in for a lottery ticket, win a billion-dollar jackpot—and the one who’s holding the ticket goes missing. According to Booklist, “Staub’s strength has always been her characters and in this first-rate thriller, she’s created some of her best in a story packed with surprises.”
Her critically acclaimed Lily Dale traditional mystery series centers around a widowed single mom—and skeptic—who moves to a town populated by spiritualists who talk to the dead. Titles include NINE LIVES; SOMETHING BURIED, SOMETHING BLUE; DEAD OF WINTER; PROSE AND CONS, and THE STRANGER VANISHES, with two more under contract.
Her previous standalone thriller, THE OTHER FAMILY, is about a picture-perfect family that that moves into a picture-perfect house. But not everything is as it seems, and the page-turner concludes “with a wallop of a twist,” according to #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben.
In addition to a long backlist of standalone suspense novels, Wendy has written five suspense trilogies for HarperCollins/William Morrow. The most recent, The Foundlings (LITTLE GIRL LOST, DEAD SILENCE, and THE BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER), spans fifty years in the life of a woman left as a newborn in a Harlem church, now an investigative genealogist helping others uncover their biological roots while still searching for her own.
Written as Wendy Markham, Wendy’s novel HELLO, IT’S ME was a recent Hallmark television movie starring Kellie Martin. Her short story “Cat Got Your Tongue” appeared in R.L. Stine’s MWA middle grade anthology SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN and her short story “The Elephant in the Room” is included in the Anthony Award-nominated inaugural anthology SHATTERING GLASS.
A three-time finalist for the Simon and Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award, she’s won an RWA Rita Award, an RT Award for Career Achievement in Suspense, the 2007 RWA-NYC Golden Apple Award for Lifetime Achievement, and five WLA Washington Irving Prizes for Fiction.
She previously published a dozen adult suspense novels with Kensington Books and the critically-acclaimed young adult paranormal series “Lily Dale” (Walker/Bloomsbury), which recently sold to NBC Peacock television. Earlier in her career, she published a broad range of genres under her own name and pseudonyms, and was a co-author/ghostwriter for several celebrities.
Raised in Dunkirk, NY, Wendy graduated from SUNY Fredonia and launched a publishing career in New York City. She was Associate Editor at Silhouette Books before selling her first novel in 1992. Married with two sons, she lives in the NYC suburbs. An active supporter of the American Cancer Society, she was a featured speaker at Northern Westchester’s 2015 Relay for Life and 2012 National Spokesperson for the Sandy Rollman Ovarian Cancer Foundation. She has fostered for various animal rescue organizations.
Q&A: Wendy Corsi Staub, Author of ‘The Other Family’
Elise Dumpleton·Writers Corner·January 26, 2022·6 min read
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New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub makes her trade paperback debut with a fast-paced thriller in the vein of Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs and Megan Collins’ The Winter Sister. Here, a family making a fresh start moves into a house which was the site of an unsolved triple homicide–and are watched by an unknown person…
We chat with Wendy about her latest book release The Other Family, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Wendy! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I grew up in a large, close-knit family in Dunkirk, NY, in the heart of the Great Lakes snow belt, moved to New York City after college to become an author…and did. J Three decades and nearly a hundred novels into my career, I’m grateful to make a living telling stories, and work hard to keep them fresh and entertaining. I live in a vintage 1920s Sears catalogue house with my husband, a couple of cats (give or take) and occasionally, depending on circumstances and pandemics, one or more twenty-something sons.
Welcome to 2022! What are you looking forward to over the next 12 months and have you set any goals or resolutions for the year?
Oh, yes, and most of them are probably the same as yours, and the rest of the world’s! I plan to spend more in person time with loved ones, and get back to traveling. There are so many family, friends, and colleagues I’ve been longing to hug, and I’m hoping to occupy a beach chair beside a warm sea and/or an aisle seat on a transatlantic flight sometime in the year ahead!
When did you first discover your love for writing?
February, 1973. School 4, Dunkirk, NY. Mrs. Pizzolanti’s Third Grade Classroom.
How’s that for specificity? But that’s where it all began, with the first writing assignment I ever received. I wrote an essay about my obsession at that time, Abraham Lincoln, and my teacher praised it, saying I was a talented writer. I went home from school that afternoon and announced to my parents that I was going to be a writer when I grew up. I never wavered from that goal. You might say I was obsessed. I’m pretty Type A.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
The first I remember clearly was one of those orange biographies from the Childhoods of Famous American series—it was about Clara Barton, and I remember a scene involving :::shudder:::: leeches.
The Little House series inspired me to become an author, when I realized they were autobiographical and that the oh-so-relatable heroine, Laura, had grown up to do just that. I wanted to be just like her.
The one I can’t stop thinking about? I pretty much remember all the books I read in childhood; I’ve kept them and added to my collection over the years–I comb used book stores, vintage shops, and the internet for the beloved titles I borrowed from the library but never owned.
Your new novel, The Other Family, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Twisty, domestic, standalone, complex, blindside!
What can readers expect?
The unexpected. As in any effective suspense novel, things aren’t as they seem, and clues that will keep you guessing, but even when you think you’ve figured it out—you probably haven’t. The story unfolds in multiple viewpoints, like most of my novels, but in a more streamlined format than I’ve used before.
Where did the inspiration for The Other Family come from?
The final twist came to me first – a “what if” that captivated me and nagged at me. I knew it would be challenging to pull it off, and would need a certain kind of plot, setting, characters…those elements came later—in essence, this book wrote itself in my head in reverse, the beginning coming after the end.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing this particular novel and how you were able to overcome them?
I had finished my previous novel in February 2020 and was up for a new contract, so I began working on this one in March 2020—just as life as we knew it ground to a halt. I live in the New York City area, the first pandemic hotspot.
I’m used to working from home, but literally overnight, my household became a crowded isolation zone– my husband and older son were also here working their advertising jobs remotely, and we had to move my younger son, a college senior at the time, back home without warning to finish his courses from his childhood bedroom—he was understandably horrified and miserable. We were all stressed and claustrophobic and by turns frustrated, angry, fearful…it was just a traumatic time, and of course it wasn’t just us—it was universal.
So that spring, there were times when working on THE OTHER FAMILY felt like an escape, and times when I just could not focus because life was just overwhelming. In ordinary times, I process stress, nurse my long-damaged spine, and clear my head for the writing day with a daily pre-dawn hourlong lap swim, but of course the gym was closed, so that complicated things. In our area, each household had to designate one person for supermarket runs, and that was me. Supplies were short, and I was suddenly solely responsible for the care and feeding of four previously self-sufficient adults (and a couple of cats). I had to strategize my missions—and then, you know, spend a few hours Lysoling the bananas afterward–when it was still possible to get Lysol.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I really enjoyed writing about the city—I mean, I live right in the suburbs and am used to constantly popping in and out of the city, but suddenly, I was cut off—it might as well have been located on another continent. But as I wrote the book, I was able to transport myself back to ordinary days in familiar places. Making the setting come alive for readers was, I think, a way of reminding myself that it was all still out there somewhere.
See also
Q&A: Kathleen Peacock, Author of ‘You Were Never Here’
And I loved writing the teenaged daughter, Stacey—self-proclaimed Howell family blacksheep, and true crime afficionado. Her obsession with Lizzie Borden was inspired by my own at that age (and it used to make my parents a little nervous!).
You’ve written more than 90 novels. What are some tips and tricks you’ve taken onboard over the years when it comes to writing?
If you want to sustain a writing career, you can never afford to step back, relax, stop doing the work. It’s a job like any other, and demands productivity. Whenever I sell a novel, I look at my calendar and plot out exactly how many words I need to have written each week so that I can meet my deadline. Often—and currently—I’m working with two different publishers and have multiple books under contract. So it takes careful planning, and a lot of basic math, which was never my strong suit. I put a weekly word quota on every Friday of my calendar, and I know that if I blow it one week, those words will be added onto the next week to keep me on track.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently writing a new standalone suspense novel for Harper/William Morrow, about a trio of former college roommates who chip in for lottery tickets during a girls’ getaway reunion—and win an astronomical jackpot! But before they can claim their prize, the one holding the bearer-specific winning ticket disappears. And I just finished writing the fifth title in my Lily Dale Mysteries series, THE STRANGER VANISHES, coming from Severn House later this year—the fourth, PROSE AND CONS, was out last month.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
Yes! Brand new or coming in the next few weeks: Laura Lippman’s story collection SEASONAL WORK, Alafair Burke’s thriller FIND ME, Kellye Garrett’s mystery LIKE A SISTER, or for those who prefer true crime, Sarah Weinman’s SCOUNDREL.
You can find Wendy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Goodreads, as well as at her website,
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Q&A with Wendy Corsi Staub
Wendy Corsi Staub is the author of the new novel The Other Family. She has written more than 90 novels, including the Lily Dale Mystery series. She lives in the New York City suburbs.
Q: What inspired you to write The Other Family, and how did you create your character Nora and her family?
A: First, Deborah, I so appreciate this opportunity to chat with you! Thanks for having me!
The Other Family started with the twist—the blindside at the very end. I thought of it first—a very basic What If. I knew would be complicated to pull off.
Once I had that, I had to figure out what kind of characters would make it most interesting. In this case, the family dynamics really grabbed me, particularly the mother-daughter relationship between Nora and Stacey.
Having parented sons through adolescence, I have personally never been on the receiving end of an angsty teenaged girl’s complex relationship with her mom, but I certainly doled out more than my share of frustrations and resentment to my own poor mom back in the day. That relationship drives much of the emotional tension in this plot.
Q: The house the family moves to is in Brooklyn. How important is setting to you in your writing?
A: Setting has always been a key element for me—particularly New York. I loved exploring how this family—sunny California transplants—would react and adapt to landing in gritty Brookyn.
Beyond that, the house is so important. It’s the scene of a notorious unsolved triple homicide, and has some creepy secrets in its past.
I have always had an affinity for cool old houses—I grew up in one, and have lived in/owned one since our first son was born. You never know what you’re going to find under a floorboard or buried in the yard. I’ve personally unearthed some interesting artifacts while gardening, and that works its way into the book, too!
Q: Can you say more about how you wrote the novel?
A: As I said, I conceived the ending before anything else. But when I was working on the proposal and sort of thinking aloud with my younger son, he had an idea on how to twist the twist. I liked it in theory, but thought it would be really hard to do.
I sent the proposal to my editor without that and never mentioned it. But one of the editors at Harper who read it gave feedback suggesting exactly that second twist on the twist. I think it was organic to the story after all, because once I started writing it from that angle, it really took off
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: If I did my job, then they’ll feel like the clues were there, and that in retrospect the surprise ending was inevitable.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m under contract for another standalone psychological suspense novel with William Morrow. The working title (that I’d love to keep) is Windfall, and it’s about a trio of former college roommates who buy a lottery ticket on a girls’ reunion weekend, and win an astronomical jackpot. The one holding the ticket, which is bearer-specific, vanishes before they can claim the money.
It’ll be out around this time next year!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Prose and Cons, the fourth book in my traditional Lily Dale Mystery series with Severn House, was out last month and I just finished writing the fifth, The Stranger Vanishes, also coming this year.
And finally, after three decades in this business, I’m more grateful than ever for my loyal booksellers, librarians, and readers. I absolutely love hearing from everyone and connecting on social media, so please come find me there!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Staub, Wendy Corsi DOG DAYS Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 7, 2 ISBN: 9781448312481
The manager of the guest house in a town of spiritualists may fit in better when her dead husband reaches out to her.
On the way back from her former mother-in-law's wedding in Chicago, Bella Jordan swears she sees Sam, her dead husband. Is she overtired and overwhelmed, or is there something more at play? Seeing someone who's passed away might be normal in Lily Dale, where Bella's adopted neighbors and friends are spiritualists and mediums all connected to the supernatural through a phenomenon the citizens call Spirit rather than ghosts or apparitions. But Bella isn't part of Lily Dale's history. And though she still feels a strong connection to Sam, especially through their young son, Max, she has no history of seeing the dead. She returns to Lily Dale unsure what to make of her sighting but too distracted by what's been going on in her absence to dwell on it. Bella's love interest, local vet Dr. Drew Bailey, has been taking care of the Valley View guest house in her absence as well as a new litter of puppies Max has been asking to keep as pets along with Chance and Spidey, their cats. As she explains that the guest house can have only so many pets, Bella also tries to help her hippie neighbor Misty Starr navigate a separation from Misty's nonspiritual husband and ponders how to explain it all to Misty's son, Jiffy, a troublemaker and a smart one. No sooner does she feel as if she's got everything under control than Sam texts her, apparently from beyond the grave, and Bella has to figure out whether she's finally seeing the dead or something more nefarious is in play.
Lots to dig into, though the mysteries take second place to the comings and goings of the townsfolk.
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"Staub, Wendy Corsi: DOG DAYS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A793537260/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=49a26310. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Windfall. By Wendy Corsi Staub. July 2023.336p. Morrow, paper, $18.99 (9780063235311); e-book (9780063235328).
Leila, Molly, and J.J. are the kind of friends who are always there for one another. Or at least they used to be, when they were college roommates. Now, not so much: they live in different cities, and their lives are no longer intertwined. But all that's about to change. During a weekend getaway in Las Vegas, they bought a lottery ticket, and, miraculously, it's the winning ticket. A billion dollars, split three ways. It's so much money that one of the friends suggests they consult a money manager. Which sounds like a good idea, until the one who happens to be in possession of the billion-dollar ticket disappears. Has she decided to keep all the money for herself? Or is there another, more tragic explanation? Staub (The Other Family, 2022) keeps the reader in a constant state of apprehension. Who is this famous money manager? Could one of them know more than they're letting on? Staub's strength has always been her characters and in this first-rate thriller, she's created some of her best in a story packed with surprises. --David Pitt
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Pitt, David. "Windfall." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 19-20, 1 June 2023, p. 40. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A754223070/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=21f3a288. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Windfall
Wendy Corsi Staub
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
www.harpercollins.com
Blackstone Audiobooks
https://www.blackstonelibrary.com
9780063235311, $18.99, PB, 336pp
https://www.amazon.com/Windfall-Suspense-Wendy-Corsi-Staub/dp/0063235315
Synopsis: J.J., Molly, and Leila had once been inseparable, but it's been a long time since college, and life (not to mention distance) have disrupted the former roommates' friendship.
When the three reunite for a birthday weekend in Las Vegas, the lottery ticket they buy on a whim has the winning numbers--giving them a billion-dollar windfall. Shell-shocked, they turn to Shea Daniels, a "sudden wealth manager" who promises to guide them through the pitfalls of having more money than they'd ever imagined. But it would be the girls' weekend they would live to regret.
The trio travels to a secluded California mansion, where Shea and her staff cater to their every whim, promising to teach them to navigate their newfound wealthy lifestyles with ease. The house is luxurious beyond their wildest dreams--and purportedly cursed, the last place a missing movie star was seen alive. Their weekend turns to terror when they discover they are trapped--the roads are blocked and communication disrupted by the wildfires raging around them.
And when history repeats itself and one of them disappears (the one who's holding the billion-dollar ticket) the others must face the fact that either their friend has betrayed them--or a predator is lurking!
Critique: Another original and gem of a suspense thriller from the mind and imagination of novelist Wendy Corsi Staub, "Windfall" will prove to be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to the personal reading lists of Staub's legions of fans, as well as community library Mystery/Suspense collections. It should be noted that "Windfall" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (Blackstone Audio, $36.99, CD).
Editorial Note: Wendy Corsi Staub (https://wendycorsistaub.com) is the award-winning author of more than seventy novels and has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Midwest Book Review
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"Windfall." Wisconsin Bookwatch, Sept. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A768565257/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=543413b0. Accessed 26 May 2024.
The Stranger Vanishes
Wendy Corsi Staub. Severn, $29.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-5017-1
The disappearance of a visitor to Lily Dale, N.Y., home of psychics, mystics, and mediums drives Staub's busy fifth Lily Dale mystery (after 2021 's Pros and Cons). On Juneteenth, widow Bella Jordan, Valley View Guesthouse's manager, is startled by a tall Black man seeking shelter. By morning, he's gone, leaving only a satchel containing an old diary as evidence of his existence. Bella's inquiries into her missing guest lead nowhere. Still, she and her writer friend, Calla Delaney, become fascinated by the pre-Civil War diary revealing a local murder by a traitorous member of the Underground Railroad. Meanwhile, Calla, frustrated with her novel's progress and her slacker boyfriend Blue, son of the wealthy and politically ambitious David Slayton, reluctantly becomes swept up in Slayton's run for governor. As days pass with no sighting of the stranger, spirits of enslaved people who fled captivity appear to Calla and urge her to "Help him!" But who is Calla supposed to help, and why does someone desperately want the diary? Keeping track of the many characters can be hard, and the updates on these characters don't leave much room for plot development. This one's for established fans. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson. Curtis Brown. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Stranger Vanishes." Publishers Weekly, vol. 269, no. 35, 22 Aug. 2022, p. 51. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A715675389/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8fe32e2e. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Staub, Wendy Corsi THE STRANGER VANISHES Severn House (Fiction None) $29.99 10, 4 ISBN: 978-0-7278-5017-1
An innkeeper in a Spirit-filled little New York town hopes a 19th-century diary will help her find the whereabouts of a missing guest.
Juneteenth marks a year since Bella Jordan came to Lily Dale with her young son, Max. The cottage community isn't the sort of place she thought she'd end up after the sudden death of her husband, Sam, but it turns out to be the perfect spot to heal and renew herself. While most of the community is involved in the woo-woo--think clairvoyance and natural healing--Bella's job as the local innkeeper keeps her engaged in the community without obliging her to draw on a connection to the town's capital-S Spirit. Not that she doesn't feel some sort of connection to Spirit, but she's not yet ready to open herself to it. When Max spends his first night away from home at a sleepover with mischievous neighbor Jiffy, Bella's left alone to welcome an unanticipated visitor to the inn. Lemuel is a soft-spoken Black man whom Bella implicitly trusts when she sees his gentleness with her cats, Chance and Spidey. Even though her boyfriend, local vet Drew Bailey, has discouraged Bella from opening the place to guests when she's alone, she's not worried when she offers Lemuel the Seaside Room for the night. But the next day, Lemuel has vanished without a trace except for the satchel he's left behind. Worrying overnight about Lemuel's disappearance, Bella wonders if the old diary in his bag might have clues. As Bella reads the diary, the thoughts of a young woman in the 1800s, she begins to wonder if a link to the past may provide answers about her missing guest.
While the mystery of the moment suffices, the real treat is the slow-growing development of the characters.
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"Staub, Wendy Corsi: THE STRANGER VANISHES." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A713722840/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3ac5a5d5. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Staub, Wendy Corsi. The Other Family. HarperAudio. Feb. 2022.9:07 hrs. ISBN 9780063084629. $26.99. THRILLER
Nora Howell, her Brad Pitt-lookalike husband, and their two daughters have moved from California to New York City for a year. Nicknamed "Barbie," she seems like the perfect little housewife. One daughter takes after her, and the other is obsessed with true crime and looks nothing like the rest of the family. Stacey, the older, sullen daughter, finds out that the house in which her family lives was the scene of a brutal murder some 25 years ago. There are other sinister touches to the house such as a macabre family portrait. This book is all about secrets, and someone in the Howell family is keeping a real whopper. Hillary Huber's narration is deft. She sets a brisk pace and has a different voice for each character. She also makes everyone sound suspicious, which lends to the thrill of listening to the story. VERDICT Creating unbearable tension, Staub (Don't Scream) is brilliant at the slow build, and the recording is paced and voiced perfectly. A must-have for public libraries.--B. Allison Gray
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2022 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Gray, B. Allison. "The Other Family." Library Journal, vol. 147, no. 6, June 2022, p. 79. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A706701778/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=50ab406e. Accessed 26 May 2024.
The Other Family
Wendy Corsi Staub. Morrow, $16.99 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-308460-5
This chilling domestic thriller from bestseller Staub (The Black Widow) opens with the arrival of Nora and Keirh Howell and their daughters, 14-year-old Piper and 17-year-old Stacey, in Brooklyn from L.A. Nora and Keith hope to piece their marriage back together; Piper is looking forward to exploring New York City; and true crime aficionado Stacey is soon captivated by the boy down the street, who tells her that, 25 years earlier in the Howells' new brownstone home, someone killed a family--father, mother, and teenage daughter--as they slept. The murders are still unsolved. Stacey is unnerved as she learns more about the house's history and realizes a stranger is stalking her. Nora's discovery of a metal box in the garden and a creepy photo puts her on edge, and she becomes certain that the house's bloody past is reaching out to ensnare her family. Are the neighbors just welcoming, or are they too anxious to befriend the Howells? The suspense rises as it emerges that the Howell family's chances of surviving hang on one of its members revealing a dark secret. Staub reliably entertains. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown. (Jan.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Other Family." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 47, 22 Nov. 2021, p. 78. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A684623963/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4fe7e289. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Always on Edge
In Staub's The Other Family (Morrow, Jan.; reviewed on p. 78), the
Howell family moves from California to a brownstone in Brooklyn.
Bad things soon start to happen.
What's your affinity for Brooklyn? I love that it's vast and diverse and edgy; that its neighborhoods are so distinct and maintain a strong sense of community. I'm also drawn to its dichotomy. There are gleaming skyscrapers and centuries-old row houses; factories and picturesque beaches. It's rich in historic lore and the latest hipster trends. It's populated by everyone from working-class immigrants to wealthy celebrities.
Stacy, the Howelis' eldest daughter, is a true crime aficionado. Why do you think people are still fascinated by true crime stories, and particularly those that took place so long ago? If you were engrossed in a mystery novel only to discover that the last chapter was missing, you'd have a hard time putting it aside without knowing what happened. An unsolved crime feeds that same sense of curiosity, accompanied by an openended invitation to play detective with the facts. That's especially true of a notorious historic crime where the killer is ever elusive yet long dead. That's appealing in this era of pervasive news--bad news--we often perceive as hitting precariously close to home, courtesy of media and social media. Certainly it's human nature to be captivated by any dramatic turn of events, but when time and distance separate us from those events, there's a measure of safety and perhaps of control.
What helped inspire the family down the street?
Heathet and Jules and their kids are a contemporary family--characters who reflect the world we live in and the matter-of-fact heterogeneity that I tend to embrace in my life and in my fiction. Because preconception is a key theme in this novel, they--especially Jules--reflect my own experiences with meeting people around the neighborhood, becoming friends, and months--or years--later finding out that the yoga instructor has an Oscar on her mantel or the homeroom mom spent years in rehab. How well do we really know the people we see every day?
You've fostered dogs/cats for animal rescue organizations. Is this why the Howelis' pug has such a presence in The Other Family?
I often write pets into my novels, and my own have cameos in quite a few. The Howelis' Kato exists only in my head, but I adore that lovable, lazy little dog. He plays an important role in this plot, quite literally unearthing a key clue.
--JACKIE MILLER
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"PW TALKS WITH WENDY CORSI STAUB." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 47, 22 Nov. 2021, p. 81. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A684623971/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=986eaadd. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Wendy Corsi Staub. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-5016-4
In Staub's good-natured fourth Lily Dale mystery (after 2017's Dead of Winter), widow Bella Jordan, the manager of Valley View Manor, a guesthouse in Lily Dale, N.Y., "the world's largest center for the religion of Spiritualism," has to deal with some unusual guests. One morning, Bella's neighbor, haughty Pandora Feeney, charges into the Victorian manor demanding free accommodations for her Auntie Eudora and Eudora's traveling companion, Nigel, who will be arriving by ship from England the next day. As the former mistress of Valley View, Pandora maintains a proprietary interest in the place, though she lost it years ago in a messy divorce. Soon the ever-obliging Bella is pretending to be Pandora's servant in order to allow the woman to save face in front of demanding Eudora and smarmy Nigel. Meanwhile, there's been a murder at sea. The investigation takes a back seat to musings about Pandora's bad marriage, the love stories of other Lily Dale inhabitants, and Bella's quiet interest in the local vet. Cozy fans will enjoy the company of Bella and crew. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown. (Dec.)
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"Prose and Cons." Publishers Weekly, vol. 268, no. 41, 11 Oct. 2021, p. 52. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A679527044/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9b964151. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Staub, Wendy Corsi PROSE AND CONS Severn House (Fiction None) $28.99 12, 7 ISBN: 978-0-7278-5016-4
When a guesthouse's former owner invites herself to stay along with a couple of unwelcome relatives, the new owner has a feeling that something is off.
Although Bella Jordan runs the Valley View Manor guesthouse in Lily Dale, New York, Pandora Feeney still feels a certain possessiveness as its former owner, and she hasn't been able to mention to her dear Auntie Eudora and Eudora's gentleman friend, Nigel, that the house is no longer hers. In inviting herself and her guests into the home Bella shares with her young son, Max, and their two cats, Chance and Spidey, Pandora can't imagine there'll be problems. After all, who isn't eager for genteel company? Even though she's too nice to complain, however, that's not how Bella experiences the visit. Eudora and Nigel are high-maintenance guests, and Pandora won't even let her charge them. Soon enough, Pandora's not even sure she's enjoying their company herself. Something about Eudora and Nigel seems off, but she can't put her finger on what it is. Perhaps Bella could help articulate what's going on, maybe with the help of Lily Dale's resident presence, Spirit. But Bella's distracted by the time she's been spending with Drew Bailey and her guilt over moving on from the recent death of her husband, Sam. Plus, Bella's got to keep Max out of trouble, a task that would be much easier without the influence of Max's neighbor and friend, Jiffy. Can Bella and Pandora figure out why their guests are so suspicious before readers find out why they should be worried?
Just the thing for those willing to wait till the closing chapters for anything to happen.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Staub, Wendy Corsi: PROSE AND CONS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Oct. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A677072977/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6c416004. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Dead of Winter. By Wendy Corsi Staub. Read by Melanie Ewbank. 2018. 11hr. Blackstone, CD, $34.95 (9781982556310).
Once again hotel owner Bella Jordan is thrust into the middle of a mystery when a body washes up on the lakeshore and a child goes missing during a snowstorm. Melanie Ewbank's narration is mainly through Bella's perspective, which is relatable and grounded in comparison to the quirky characters who otherwise inhabit the spiritually centered town of Lily Dale. The secondary characters are often narrated in a wry tone that adds to the humor even when the characters don't quite realize how funny they are, such as a precocious six-year-old boy next door who talks to spirits. Yet Ewbank avoids stereotypical readings of characters, with the hilarious exception of a shrill-yet-posh British accent for a larger-than-life medium named Pandora. Ewbank also doesn't shy away from earnest emotion during the more dramatic moments in the book. A satisfying visit to the strange but inviting town of Lily Dale.--Tracy Gossage
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
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Gossage, Tracy. "Dead of Winter." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 17, 1 May 2019, pp. 46+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A587366734/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b5e1e605. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Dead of Winter: A Lily Dale Mystery
Wendy Corsi Staub. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-68331-333-5
At the start of bestseller Corsi's entertaining third mystery set in the real-life spiritualist community of Lily Dale, N.Y. (after 2016's Something Buried, Something Blue), Bella Jordan, Valley View Manor's innkeeper, witnesses a killer dump a corpse into Cassadaga Lake. Bella doesn't fully realize what she's seen from her kitchen window until she finds the corpse on the lakeshore. The killer, an Elvis Presley look-alike, knows Bella called the police and wants to make her pay. A brutal blizzard, however, complicates his plans. During the storm, six-year-old Jiffy Arden, a friend of Bella's son, Max, goes missing. Bella worries Jiffy wandered off again, no thanks to his absentee mother. Max is convinced Jiffy, who recently dreamed of being kidnapped on a snowy day, has in fact been kidnapped. When another body turns up, Bella fears Jiffy's disappearance is related to the earlier murder and that he may be a victim of the Elvis look-alike. Bella's deep love and concern for a child that isn't her own is a nice facet to her character. The endearing town, its quirky psychic medium residents, and a hint of romance offset the slow ramp-up and carry through to a suspenseful ending. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown. (Nov.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
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"Dead of Winter: A Lily Dale Mystery." Publishers Weekly, vol. 264, no. 38, 18 Sept. 2017, pp. 55+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A523623336/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0252ebc2. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Staub, Wendy Corsi DEAD OF WINTER Crooked Lane (Adult Fiction) $26.99 11, 7 ISBN: 978-1-68331-333-5
Spirit, an omniscient guide, helps residents of a small town find a missing boy who may have been kidnapped.Living in the idyllic town of Lily Dale has felt like a dream for Bella Jordan, who moved from New York City following the sudden death of her husband. Now Bella runs the Valley View Manor guesthouse and spends most of her time trying to keep Max, her young son, out of trouble. But Max is easy to take care of compared to neighbor Misty Starr's son, Jiffy, a curious kid who doesn't know when to quit. Bella prides herself on values like common sense, something Misty lacks, and she feels more like admonishing the young mother than expressing kinship with her, even though Max and Jiffy are close friends. Misty tries to keep an eye on Jiffy through his daily ramblings, but she's been distracted more than usual lately by the news that her military husband won't be home for Christmas. Michael refuses to call Lily Dale his home, and he's wary of the very idea of a guiding Spirit, even though Spirit is what brings most people to Lily Dale. In her role as a psychic, Misty is a natural believer, and even Bella finds herself thinking that Spirit may be communicating with her. When Jiffy doesn't come home from school one day as a winter storm approaches, both Bella and Misty worry that something has gone wrong, and when Max cheerfully announces that Jiffy knew he was going to get kidnapped, the two mothers must spring into action and work together despite their very different parenting styles. Though Staub's look at divisiveness within communities, especially differences over child-rearing, addresses some serious real-world concerns, the lack of focus in her small-town setting and her use of outsiders as the bad guys do little to develop the world of Lily Dale (Something Buried, Something Blue, 2016, etc.).
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Staub, Wendy Corsi: DEAD OF WINTER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A504217676/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=780521e8. Accessed 26 May 2024.
Something Buried, Something Blue: A Lily Dale Mystery
Wendy Corsi Staub. Crooked Lane, $25.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-62953-772-6
Bestseller Staub's charming second Lily Dale Mystery (after 2015's Nine Lives) finds widowed Isabella Jordan and her five-year-old son, Max, settled in Lily Dale, N.Y., a spiritualist center. Her neighbors are eccentric but warmhearted, and Bella loves managing the Valley View Guesthouse. If the guesthouse can turn a profit in the off season, Bella hopes that she and Max will be able to live there permanently, so she agrees to host a destination wedding at the inn. But it will be hard to pull off the perfect outdoor wedding when her loathed mother-in-law unexpectedly shows up, a blizzard is brewing, and a spirit guide is warning Bella that something is sorely amiss--not that Bella believes in that sort of thing, or so she tells herself, until the bride turns blue and collapses. Perhaps it was heart failure, or perhaps there's a murderer in the house. A touch of the paranormal, a hint of romance, and a sweet and sympathetic protagonist will lure readers to enchanting Lily Dale again and again. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
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"Something Buried, Something Blue: A Lily Dale Mystery." Publishers Weekly, vol. 263, no. 33, 15 Aug. 2016, p. 52. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A461444529/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=619b9be8. Accessed 26 May 2024.