Carter Wilson's Blog

I’ve been posting blogs for seven years (my very first was September 2017) and it dawned on me recently: I’ve never written an essay about my agent. Which is weird, because Pam (Ahearn) has been in my life for 21 years. Hell, that’s longer than most marriages.

I found her the old-fashioned way: stalking the acknowledgments pages of books I admired. This was before electronic submissions were a thing, so I was licking envelopes, slapping stamps, and overthinking the quality of my printer paper. Back then, you’d mail out a one-page query letter (no manuscript, God forbid) and then wait months for someone to send you back a rejection slip in your own SASE. More often than not, you wouldn’t hear back at all.

After seventy-five rejections, Pam was the one who said yes. I remember she really liked my manuscript, but had a ton of changes. I was such a newbie I’d even given a POV to a bug in that book. But, like a good client, I did everything she said, because she was the smart one and I was eager to learn.

The road wasn’t smooth. My first three books didn’t sell. Each one spent about a year making the slow rounds before being declared dead on arrival. Every time that happened, I panicked and immediately wrote another book, like I was trying to outrun failure. So Pam always had something new to shop, and on the fourth try, we finally landed a deal. Since then, we’ve sold nine more books, with two more on the way. Moral of the story: it’s a long road. While you’re waiting for success, the key is not being a pain in the ass. Have a voice, but also—do what you’re told. Your agent knows what they’re doing.

What doesn’t show up in the highlight reel are the quieter things. Pam has talked me off ledges more than once (I once remember asking her why she stuck with me and she just sighed and said I was easy to deal with… most of the time). She gives sharp editorial feedback, which not all agents bother with. And she doles out life advice. Early on she told me, “Don’t get divorced. Writers languish in their own misery if they do, and their production stalls.” Naturally, I got divorced, and I was so fucking scared to tell her. Thankfully, my career is still intact.

I know writers who hop from agent to agent like they’re speed-dating, always convinced the problem isn’t the manuscript, it’s the representation. I’ve never had that itch. Pam has been steady, honest, occasionally blunt, and always pointing me in the right direction.

Here’s the funny part: for all these years, I didn’t have a single photo of us together. To be fair, over two decades we’ve probably been in the same room a grand total of ten times. But last week at Bouchercon in New Orleans, where she lives, she treated me to a fancy dinner and we finally remembered to snap a picture. Proof she exists. Proof I didn’t make her up.

So here’s to Pam. Twenty-one years of rejection slips, sales, edits, pep talks, and life coaching. My longest professional relationship, my fiercest advocate, and the person who can still look me in the eye and say, “Eh… I don’t love this.”

New episodes of my podcast Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 196: Lori Roy – Edgar Award–winning author of Bent Road, Let Me Die in His Footsteps, and more. Lori and I talked about researching to capture place, why social media still matters, and the surprise of not always knowing what your novel is about until it’s done.

Episode 195: Robert Bailey – Wall Street Journal bestselling author of multiple thriller series, including Jason Rich and McMurtrie & Drake. Robert shared what it’s like balancing law and fiction, learning to trust your editor, and why publishing struggles don’t disappear just because you’ve had success.

Episode 194: Mailan Doquang – Architectural historian turned debut novelist with Blood Rubies. Mailan and I discussed her leap from academia to fiction, the discipline of cutting unnecessary words, and the imposter syndrome that sneaks up at writing conferences.

Episode 193: Kaira Rouda – USA Today, Amazon #1, and international bestselling author. Kaira and I talked about setting thrillers in the suburbs, writing teenagers that feel real, and the importance of celebrating your own wins instead of racing past them.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

A fantastic conversation with Karin Slaughter last month in front of a crowd of 400 thriller fans.

REVIEWS

On the Page

The Feather Thief, Kirk Wallace Johnson (Viking, 2018)

Every once in a while I stumble across a book so strange I have to keep reminding myself it’s nonfiction. The Feather Thief is one of those.

Here’s the setup: a young American flautist named Edwin Rist, studying music in London, breaks into the British Museum of Natural History in 2009 and makes off with hundreds of rare bird specimens (some of them collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1800s). Why? Not for money. Not for science. For fly-tying. Yes, the kid was obsessed with the Victorian art of salmon flies, these absurdly ornate fishing lures that require exotic feathers. So he steals priceless specimens and plucks them bald so he can…craft fishing lures. And sell them to other enthusiasts.

This is where I had to keep putting the book down just to mutter, What the fuck?

But the real magic of Kirk Wallace Johnson’s reporting is that he takes you deep into this bizarre subculture. Fly-tiers so consumed by the beauty of a perfectly tied salmon fly that they’re willing to ignore (or excuse) the fact that feathers are being sourced from endangered or extinct species. It’s equal parts hilarious, horrifying, and hypnotic.

If you like stories that make you shake your head, laugh out loud, and maybe rethink the limits of human obsession, The Feather Thief is an absolute gem.

On the Screen

***COMMUNITY SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ON  THE DEVIL’S HOUR , SEASON 2***

Last month I sang the praises of The Devil’s Hour Season 1. Creepy, clever, layered, unsettling. I loved it. Then I made the mistake of watching Season 2. Consider this my apology.

Because holy hell, it’s bad. Not just bad. IT SUCKS ASS.

Season 2 takes everything brilliant about the first season and flushes it straight down the toilet. Instead of dread, we get endless exposition. Instead of paranoia, we get bargain-bin sci-fi. Plot holes abound. Characters become insufferable. Illogic pairs with bad acting and worse writing. The dumb grandmother comes out of her fugue state and somehow becomes even more boring. (Her worst line of the series: “He sees the birds, and the birds see him.”) WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU HAVE NEVER MENTIONED BIRDS BEFORE.

So here’s your warning: The Devil’s Hour Season 1 is worth it. Season 2 is like staring at your phone battery dying and realizing you left your charger at home. A slow, inevitable disappointment. Spare yourself.

Photo of the Month

A fun night out with Jessica in Denver last month.

Update from my Kids
I love not knowing what text I’ll get next from my kids.

Update from my Pets

Scully is almost as excited for football season as I am.

My hero

Word of mouth is the lifeblood of book sales. More than ads, reviews, or social media, it’s that moment when one reader, or one bookseller, says, “You’ve got to read this.” That kind of passion is what gives a story its wings.

Which brings me to my hero: Michelle, a bookseller at the Barnes & Noble in Exton, PA. Michelle has just hand-sold her 200th copy of TELL ME WHAT YOU DID. Two hundred! That means two hundred conversations where she cared enough about my book to press it into someone’s hands and tell them it was worth their time.

As an author, there’s nothing more meaningful. To know that your work resonates enough for someone to champion it again and again. That’s the dream.

Michelle, I’m floored. I’m grateful. And I’m raising a glass to you. Thank you for believing in my book and for sharing that belief with so many others.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Latest offering from my company Unbound Writer

So many of my books take place in October. There’s just something about the fall — the shadows stretching longer, the air turning sharp, the sense that anything could be lurking in the dark. It’s the season when I feel most alive on the page. Which makes this the perfect time of year to teach a class on the craft (and psychology) of writing dark, breathless, suspenseful fiction.

This isn’t just about learning how to write thrillers (though we’ll cover that in detail). It’s about the psychology of writing: the discipline, the resilience, the way you train your brain to show up even when you don’t feel like it. Because the scariest thing about writing isn’t the blank page… it’s about that page remaining blank.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why thrillers tap so deeply into human emotion and fear

• How to create characters under relentless pressure

• The secret to high-stakes premises, twists, and unforgettable endings

• How to write consistently (even when inspiration disappears)

• Editing strategies that sharpen suspense

• Career mindset: chasing improvement, not perfection

Whether you’ve written ten novels or none, this course will give you tools to make your stories more gripping, more intense, and more unforgettable.

When: Saturday, October 18 12PM – 2PM (Mountain Time)

Cost:  $75, live class with replay access

Register at: www.unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Writers are fucking weird. That’s probably why I love talking to them so much.

We’re solitary by nature, prone to obsession, usually carrying a few psychological idiosyncrasies that we’ve either turned into art or denial. But sit two of us down with microphones and a shared love of storytelling and magic tends to happen. That’s what my podcast Making It Up has become—a space where writers drop the mask and get real. No prep, no PR spin, no bullshit.

When I started the show, I figured it’d be a fun excuse to talk shop. I didn’t expect it to lead to keynote gigs, big-stage interviews, or being hired to coach other writers on how moderate panels or pitch prospective agents in person. But here we are. People crave real interaction, real insights, live flubs, and a reason to connect. I can’t understate the importance of showing up with your own authentic energy, being real, being human. Being authentic.

And here’s the thing: it’s only going to matter more. AI is here, and it’s not going anywhere. It can generate content in your voice, sure. But it can’t be you. It can’t sweat under stage lights or forget what it was saying mid-sentence and recover with an f-bomb. It can’t take a moment of silence and turn it into tension. And it sure as hell can’t make someone laugh, cry, or feel seen just by being real.

If you’re a writer right now, your edge isn’t speed or clever marketing or whatever genre’s trending on TikTok. It’s presence. It’s voice. It’s your ability to be an actual person in a world increasingly filled with synthetic noise. And that means you have to get out there, in front of people, and make a name for yourself that extends beyond the pages of your books.

So yeah, keep writing. But also: show up. Say the thing. Get weird. Be human.

People can tell the difference.

(photo: Talking writing with C.J. Box.)

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 191: Laura Resau – Author of The Alchemy of Flowers, her debut adult novel after a long career writing award-winning books for young readers. We talked about how cultural curiosity fuels imagination, the blissful naiveté of querying her first agent, and what it’s like straddling the worlds of YA and adult fiction.

Episode 190: Bryan Gruley – Journalist and award-winning author of Bitterfrost and the Starvation Lake trilogy. Bryan shared what it was like to get 26 rejections before landing a three-book deal with Simon & Schuster, how suspense is all about unanswered questions, and what designing your own book merch does to your soul.

Episode 189: Ellen Birkett Morris – Novelist, short story writer, poet. Ellen and I talked about the shift from poetry to fiction, supporting other writers without losing yourself, and how writing a novel sometimes feels like chipping away at a mountain with a pair of nail scissors.

Episode 188: A. J. Finn – #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window. We covered his time in publishing, the decision to use a pseudonym, and how hitting the top of the bestseller list changes (and doesn’t change) your life. Also: we discussed whether a broken leg or a broken mind makes for better suspense.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

REVIEWS

On the Page

Blade, Wendy Walker (Thomas & Mercer, January 2026)

I love Wendy. She’s a good friend and a helluva thriller writer, and I was lucky to get a glimpse at her stunning new novel releasing in January of 2026. About the book:

Ana Robbins was an Olympic star in the making―until tragedy forced her to leave that world behind. At the age of sixteen, she gave up her dream and never looked back. Fourteen years later, she’s a successful defense attorney, revered for her work with minors. But when her former coach turns up dead, Ana lands right back where it all began, and abruptly ended: The Palace, a world-renowned skating facility nestled high in the mountains of Colorado.

Ana returns to The Palace to defend the young skater accused of the brutal crime―Grace Montgomery. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

My thoughts? In short: brilliant. Here’s my blurb:

“Wendy Walker has always written with razor precision, but Blade cuts deeper. It’s not just about murder or memory or justice—it’s about the brutal cost of silence, and the impossible choices we make to survive. What the author’s done here feels intensely personal. You can feel it in every sentence—the weight of trauma, the pulse of fear, the aching need for redemption. Ana Robbins is a fascinating, morally complex narrator, and her return to Echo, Colorado unearths far more than a murder case. This is a deeply psychological, fiercely feminist, and emotionally devastating reckoning. is Wendy Walker at her boldest: unflinching, urgent, and unforgettable.”  

In short: pre-order this NOW.

Photo: Wendy and me at Thrillerfest

On the Screen

The Devil’s Hour (Prime Video, 2025)

Jessica and I just finished The Devil’s Hour, and damn, it’s a ride. The show follows a social worker named Lucy who keeps waking up at exactly 3:33 a.m. every night (aka the devil’s hour), haunted by strange visions and a son who feels…off. As her reality starts to unravel, she gets drawn into a string of murders and a mysterious man who seems to know far too much.

This show is trippy as hell. It’s intentionally confusing, full of strange timelines, odd behavior, and moments that make you question everything. But it’s not weird for the sake of weird. It builds toward something. Yes, there are flaws, most notably the character of Lucy’s estranged husband, who is overwritten and, at times, a caricature. And while it doesn’t tie everything up in a neat little bow, the show lands in a way that feels earned. If you like your thrillers layered, unsettling, and just a little bit existential, this one’s worth the watch.

Oh, and the best part of the show? Gideon. He’s a fucking head case.

Photo of the Month

Sometimes a sunrise can be as creepy as a full moon over a graveyard. This was my Colorado sunrise a few weeks ago.

Update from my Kids
After a week of Wilson birthdays, I’m no longer the father of teenagers. Though I still have a toddler golden retriever.

Update from my Pets

Yes, another pup cup.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

Eighteen months ago, I founded Unbound Writer out of my love for storytelling—and for talking to other writers about how they do it.

Since then, it’s grown into so much more:
✍️ One-on-one coaching
🏞️ Writing retreats and seminars
🎥 Online classes for writers at every stage

And now, the How I Write series is live—honest, self-guided classes from bestselling authors sharing how they actually get the work done. No formulas. No gatekeeping. Just the real process behind the words.

If you’re ready to level up your writing, start here: unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Every book starts with a question.

Sometimes it’s big: what happens when the past catches up with you? How far would you go to protect the truth?

But sometimes it’s… different. More like: What’s the best musical instrument case to hide a body in?

These are the questions that show up when I’m halfway through a manuscript, deep in a character’s head, and suddenly need to know something no normal person should ever need to know. I’m not sorry. The better the questions, the better the story.

So here you go. Real things I’ve had to figure out while writing. May you find this information useful.

“What happens to the brain when someone gets punched full-force in the head?”
It’s not like the movies. One solid punch can cause a concussion, temporary blackout, nausea, or worse—depending on the angle, force, and whether the head hits something else on the way down. The brain doesn’t like being jostled. It floats in fluid, and when it slams against the skull? That’s when things get real. You don’t need a weapon to do damage. Just rage.

“How long does it take a body to decompose in the snow?”
Slower than you’d hope. Cold preserves. Snow buys you time. But if animals show up? Game over.

“Can you wipe fingerprints with snow?”
Nope. Snow smears, but it doesn’t erase. All you’re doing is adding moisture and false hope (you can see I write a lot about the snow).

“What’s the best thing to buy at a music store if you need to transport a body?”
Tuba case. Big, wheeled, and no one wants to help you carry it. Instant plausible deniability.

“What naturally growing plant in Idaho can poison someone?”
Oleander. Gorgeous. Deadly. Common in decorative landscaping. Nature’s gift to thriller writers. But be careful – oleander is fragile and often won’t survive the winter.

“Where near NYC could someone dump a body without being noticed?”
The Meadowlands. Just across the river from Manhattan. Marshy, remote, and full of urban legend. A burial site with bonus mob lore. All that being said, it’s a bit of a cliché. so best to find a comparable location.

“How much physical effort does it take to stab someone in the chest with a dull kitchen knife?”
More than you’d think, and it’s not clean. The human chest is built to protect the heart and lungs, which means ribs, cartilage, muscle, and resistance. A dull knife doesn’t glide. It drags, snags, and requires serious force, especially to penetrate deep. It’s not graceful. It’s messy, violent, exhausting. You’d be sweating, slipping, maybe needing multiple tries. The movies lie. Real violence takes strength, commitment, and a stomach for the sound of it.

“Can someone who’s experienced trauma go into a fugue state and lose time?”
Yes—and it’s terrifying. People can wander off, forget who they are, live entire days under a new identity, and then snap back with no memory of what happened. For fiction, it’s a goldmine. For real life? A nightmare.

“How do people get caught using burner phones?”
By being dumb. They turn it on at home, call their real phone, or carry both devices together. Cell towers connect the dots. “Untraceable” is a myth if you’re sloppy.

“Is it possible to clean up a large pool of blood from a hardwood floor without leaving a trace?”
Not really. You can bleach, sand, and refinish, but luminol sees everything. If you want it gone for good, you’re tearing up floorboards and hoping no one checks your trash.

“What are the odds a white, suburban woman in her 30s will get caught if she murders someone?”

Pretty damn high, but not guaranteed. Most murders are solved, especially when committed by someone in the victim’s inner circle. That means if our hypothetical suburban thirtysomething kills her husband, boyfriend, boss, or frenemy… she’s likely toast. The clearance rate for homicide in the U.S. hovers around 60–65%, and it’s even higher when the suspect is known to the victim.

But here’s the twist: she has some natural camouflage. Women are less likely to be seen as violent, and white women in particular are often underestimated by law enforcement, juries, and even investigators—especially if they present as cooperative, emotional, or “just not the type.”

That gives her an edge in manipulation, misdirection, or straight-up bluffing. Statistically, women commit far fewer murders (only about 10% of homicides), and when they do, it’s often in domestic contexts, which are easier to solve.

So: if she’s sloppy? She gets caught. If she’s methodical, careful, and patient? She might slip through.

I don’t ask these questions because I’m trying to be creepy. I ask them because I want to get it right. Because if a character is going to go off the rails, I want to make sure the rails are mapped accurately. That the horror is believable. That the blood doesn’t magically disappear just because the chapter ends.

So no, I’m not a killer. I’m just a writer with a lot of strange knowledge, a private browser window, and a commitment to making the page feel real.

Still, if I ever vanish… maybe check my notes before you call the cops.

The ever useful tuba case.

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Episode 188: Matt Goldman – New York Times bestselling author and Emmy-winning TV writer (Seinfeld, among others), himself no stranger to plotting tight turns and comedic timing. Matt and I dug into how stand-up comedy sharpened his sense of timing, how he stays true to his comedic voice even when writing for legacy shows, and what relentless brevity taught him about suspense.Episode 187: Joshua Moehling – USA Today bestselling author of the Ben Packard series (And There He Kept Her, Where the Dead Sleep). In this one, Joshua shares the thrill (and terror) of quitting the day job and going full-time author—and yes, he really did make the leap.Episode 186: Traci Hunter Abramson – CIA alum turned award-winningsuspense author (Royal Intrigue, Novel Threat). We dug into how her years in intelligence shape her plots (yes, there’s a cover-board review process), why she treats writing like a day job, and how balancing family life keeps her grounded.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Have I had as much fun at book event as I did at the Hamptons Whodunit? Hell, I don’t think so.

REVIEWS

On the Page

How to Survive a Horror Story, Mallory Arnold (Poisoned Pen Press, July 2025)

A wicked blend of horror satire and psychological suspense, Mallory Arnold’s How to Survive a Horror Story turns the haunted-house trope inside out. A group of horror writers are trapped in a haunted mansion where surviving means confronting the darkest chapters of their own lives. Imagine if Agatha Christie, Shirley Jackson, and the ghost of a very pissed-off editor threw a party—and then murdered the guests one by one. It’s funny until it’s not, smart until it’s brutal, and deeply unsettling all the way through. Arnold’s voice is razor-sharp—darkly funny, emotionally devastating, and entirely her own. This is one hell of a debut.

On the Screen

Department Q (Netflix, 2025)

Jessica and I are five episodes into Department Q on Netflix, and I’m hooked. It’s dark, brooding, and gorgeously shot—but what really gets me is this: I don’t like anyone in it. At all. And that’s exactly why it works.

What makes it great isn’t just the crime solving. It’s the emotional mess underneath—the way guilt, trauma, and apathy keep leaking through the cracks. No one’s playing hero here. These are deeply damaged people barely doing their jobs, and that low hum of dysfunction is the perfect backdrop for the cold-case mysteries they’re digging up. You don’t root for them because they’re charming. You root for them because somehow, in all their unlikability, they still care—even if they don’t admit it.

If you like your crime fiction cold, slow-burn, and full of unresolved tension, Department Q delivers. Just don’t expect anyone to smile. Ever.

Photo of the Month

Sometimes when I’m feeling my little Colorado town is getting too big for my tastes, I take a turn and find peace again.

Update from my Kids
The girl is back home! The girl is back home!

Update from my Pets

This was a precursor to a major battle.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

Eighteen months ago, I founded Unbound Writer out of my love for storytelling—and for talking to other writers about how they do it.

Since then, it’s grown into so much more:
✍️ One-on-one coaching
🏞️ Writing retreats and seminars
🎥 Online classes for writers at every stage

And now, the How I Write series is live—honest, self-guided classes from bestselling authors sharing how they actually get the work done. No formulas. No gatekeeping. Just the real process behind the words.

If you’re ready to level up your writing, start here: unboundwriter.com

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Here’s how I usually write books.

I don’t pitch them. I don’t outline them. I don’t (usually) send early pages to my agent. My editor often has no idea what I’m working on until the manuscript shows up in her inbox, fully formed, bleeding from the corners.

It’s not about secrecy. It’s just how I operate. I get an idea—sometimes it’s a voice, sometimes it’s a scene, sometimes it’s just a feeling—and I follow it. I usually know the general shape of the story. I know the tone, the mood, the kind of mess the characters are in. But the specifics? The mechanics? Those come later. I build the road as I’m driving. That’s just how my brain works.

I’ve (almost) always worked this way. One-book deals. No safety net. No pressure, other than the voice in my head reminding me I’ve got about a year to turn this seed of an idea into a novel that won’t completely suck. And there’s freedom in that. And yeah, there’s a kind of isolation, too. No one’s waiting for the book by a specific date. No one’s asking a lot of questions. I’m the only one who has to believe it exists.

All this to say things are changing a bit.

I’m about to sign a two-book deal (standalone psychological thrillers). Which means more deadlines. Which means less time for editing and revisions.  And that all comes with a new kind of responsibility: telling people what the hell I’m writing about.

That’s the part that doesn’t come naturally.

Because when I say I don’t outline, I mean I don’t outline. Not because I’m rebellious or lazy, but because I genuinely find it hard to see the story until I’m inside it, until my fingers are on the keys and all the what if questions start bubbling up.

But now I’m working on being… let’s call it “less chaotic.” I’m trying to meet people halfway. I’ve started putting together short synopses—not because I suddenly know how everything unfolds, but because it helps to lay down a little groundwork. Gives my editor a map. Gives me a check on whether the story has a spine or just a really compelling limp. After Tell Me What You Did, expectations are higher than ever—and I’d rather not completely tank the follow-up.

And you know what? It’s helping. Not in a “wow, I should’ve been doing this all along” kind of way, but in a “hey, maybe I don’t have to suffer quite so much during the rewrite” kind of way.

So no, I’m not suddenly becoming a plotter. But I’m learning how to talk about what I think I’m writing while I’m writing it. I’m learning how to share a story before it’s finished.

The story still starts in the same place. A strange idea. A single scene. A gut feeling that there’s something here worth chasing.

But now, someone’s chasing with me.

And honestly? That’s kind of cool.

Just don’t expect me to start using index cards.

Here’s a clue about my next book…Let’s just say it starts with snow and ends with a scream.

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Cynthia Pelayo, Bram Stoker Award-winning author who blends fairy tales with themes of grief and violence; she talks about balancing a day job with writing, her take on social media, and creates an impromptu story inspired by a line from A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia.Bob Johnson, award-winning short story writer who opens up about growing up with undiagnosed ADD, writing despite the odds, and what it’s like to be reviewed by The New York Times; the episode ends with a fast-paced story sparked by Sean Eads’ Seventeen Stitches.G.T. Karber, creator of the Murdle puzzle series and mystery writer, shares how puzzle logic fuels his storytelling, why clarity beats cleverness, and spins a suspenseful tale based on Stuart Turton’s The Last Murder at the End of the World.Emily Carpenter, critically acclaimed suspense author and former actor and screenwriter, talks about navigating different storytelling mediums, building tension, and co-creating a story using a line from Jennifer Chase’s Count Their Graves.Lori Brand, emotionally rich novelist who dives into character complexity, her balance between plot and emotion, and ends the episode with an imaginative short story drawn from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian.

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Went to the Gaithersburg Book Festival in MD (wonderful event!) and after my panel I had the chance to meet my humor-writer hero, Dave Barry!

REVIEWS

On the Page

A World of Hurt, Mindy Mejia

Mindy Mejia’s A World of Hurt, the second in her Iowa Mysteries series, punches hard and fast. This is rural noir with teeth—gritty, unflinching, and soaked in emotional fallout. Mejia gives us bruised hearts, bad choices, and broken people trying like hell to outrun their pasts. The darkness here isn’t just atmospheric—it’s personal, and it cuts deep. Mejia doesn’t flinch; she builds a propulsive, emotionally raw thriller from the wreckage. I tore through this one and didn’t want it to let me go.

On a side note, I got a chance to meet Mindy a couple of months ago at Joshua Moehling’s book-launch party in Minnesota. She seemed like a totally normal person—not nearly as dark and disturbed as her writing. I just love thriller writers.

On the Screen

Sirens (Netflix, 2025)

I watched the first episode of Sirens, and that was enough.

I usually love shows about rich people behaving badly—there’s something endlessly fascinating about power, entitlement, and quiet, razor-sharp cruelty. But Sirens? Sirens is what happens when the trope gets dragged out behind the barn and bludgeoned with a bottle of champagne.

Everything about the premiere felt over the top and cartoonish. Characters didn’t talk like people. The plot was a mess, straining so hard to be edgy it slipped into self-parody. I kept waiting for the moment it would settle down and show some valid intrigue. It never did. The stakes felt hollow. The world felt thin.

For comparison? Succession nailed it. That show was brutal, funny, mean as hell—and somehow still grounded. You believed those people. You hated them, feared them, pitied them. Sirens doesn’t come close.

Photo of the Month

Meet Michelle, my new best friend. She made it her mission to hand-sell 100 copies of Tell Me What You Did at the Barnes & Noble in Exton, PA where she works. She did! And what a cool display she made for my books! I think I owe her a steak dinner.

Update from my Kids
My Christmas gift to Sawyer last year was a trip to Nashville in May 2025 to see AC/DC in concert (one of his top 5 bands). What a show—those dudes are pushing 80 but sound amazing!

Update from my Pets

Some pupper is happy the boy is home from college.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

I’ve spent years navigating the chaos of writing novels—figuring out plot (usually way too late), building suspense, developing characters who make terrible decisions for what they think are good reasons, landing agents, and learning how to survive the weird, winding maze that is the publishing industry. Somewhere along the way, I realized I love talking about that process just as much as I love doing it.

So I built something: Unbound Writer.

It’s a space for writers at any stage—just-getting-started writers, burned-out writers, curious writers, you-name-it. I teach live workshops, offer one-on-one coaching, and have a growing catalog of online classes taught by some seriously talented bestselling authors. (Not just me—soon we’ll be announcing three new classes!)

The goal? Help writers get unstuck. Build better stories. Write with more confidence and maybe even have some fun along the way. Imagine that.

So if you’ve ever wondered how to build a book from scratch—or rebuild one that fell apart mid-draft—I’ve probably been there. And I’ve probably got something for you.

P.S. I always offer a free Zoom consult to answer any questions you have about our services. Check us out!

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

How many of you saw “necessary evil” in the subject line and thought this would be another A.I. rant? Wrong! I’m onto social media now.

Years ago, my publicist audited my social-media presence, because that’s a thing. What I was doing right, what needed work, what was downright abysmal. I had plenty to improve, but she assured me in that soothing publicist way: You don’t have to do everything. Find one or two things you enjoy, and do them well.

I remember thinking: Enjoy? Do I enjoy any of this?

Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate every reader, every follower, every bit of digital love. Truly. I’m endlessly grateful for the people who follow along with my posts, leave comments, share photos of my books, and make me feel like I’m not shouting into the void. And Bookstagrammers? Some of the best people on the planet. You all keep me inspired.

But if I’m being honest, I didn’t get into writing so I could film 15-second videos of myself holding books like they’re puppies up for adoption. When I started writing, being a novelist meant—well—writing novels. Maybe you had a website. Social media was in its infancy. But now? You’re expected to be a content creator, branding expert, amateur videographer, SEO tactician, and online personality—all while still crafting 90,000 words that don’t suck.

These things are all true:

If you’re not on social, you don’t exist.If you’re on social too much, you’re wasting time when you should be writing.If you’re bad at it, you’re hurting your brand.If you’re too good at it, people forget you’re a writer.

What a racket.

So, what works? I wish I had the answer. All I know is what works for me: I show up. Not every day. Not with Pulitzer-worthy posts. But I show up honestly. I post photos of my book travels, my kids, my pets, Making It Up highlights, and the occasional creature I find in my backyard. And I try not to overdo it with all the promotion.

I try to offer value, not just volume. Whether I succeed or not is entirely up to you.

One thing I always promise: If you post about my book and tag me, I will reply—because I’m genuinely grateful you took the time to read and review. Unless you give it three stars or less. Then your name goes into a special journal I keep.

So yeah, I’ll keep posting. Not because I love it, but because it connects me to you. And that connection—however fleeting, however virtual—reminds me why I do this in the first place. Not for algorithms. Not for likes. But for the readers who care enough to keep showing up. Just like I do.

FIND ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA

IG/FB/Bluesky: @carterwilsonauthor

TikTok: @carter.wilson.author

X: Not on it, because fuck those guys

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, author and psychotherapist specializing in complex trauma and racial identity, and former ballet dancerDouglas Brunt, former tech CEO and New York Times bestselling author of The Mysterious Case of Rudolf DieselJames L’Etoile, former associate warden and hostage negotiator turned crime-fiction author of River of Lies

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

What a thrill to interview C.J. Box last month in front of 1,400 people! Special thanks to Jefferson County Library and Sean Eads, who asked me to emcee. (Photo credit: Mile Hi Church)

REVIEWS

On the Page

I recently made a booklist for Shepherd.com of scary books that force you to ask, what would I do?

Check it out!

On the Screen

MobLand (Paramount Plus, 2025)

The premise of MobLand is classic: two crime families on the brink of war, with one very smooth operator stuck in the middle. It’s the kind of setup that promises blood, betrayal, and expensive suits. This show delivers on all three.

This could’ve been a mess. Mob shows often lean so hard into grit they forget to be fun. But MobLand is slick, fast, and surprisingly funny (Guy Ritchie directed two episodes). The dialogue snaps, the double-crosses are satisfying, and the story moves like it’s trying to outrun a bullet.

And Pierce Brosnan? He’s having a fucking blast. This is not Bond Pierce. This is “I will burn your empire to the ground with a half-smile” Pierce. Every scene he’s in gets better just by him existing in it. Give him a cigar, a monologue, and a vendetta, and get out of his way.

I didn’t expect to like this show as much as I do. Now I can’t look away.

Photo of the Month

We just got back from my daughter’s graduation from Michigan State University, where we rented out an entire bed and breakfast. Best part? It was on a llama farm!

Update from my Kids
And what a fun graduation it was! So proud of this girl, who (truly) hasn’t gotten a B in her life. She’s off to law school in the fall at Ohio State.

Update from my Pets

This is the daily view from my desk as I’m trying to work.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

Did you know I also coach writing? Through my company Unbound Writer, I offer one-on-one coaching services, self-guided online courses, workshops, and immersive retreats.  What do I love to teach?

Writing craft (style, pacing, story structure, character development, and editing)Finding time to writeAccountabilityOvercoming fear of failureBeing perfectly imperfectIgnoring the muse and writing every dayUnderstanding the publishing industryNavigating non-writing essentials (social media, newsletters, public speaking)

And I always offer a free Zoom consult to answer any questions you have about our services. Check us out!

Learn More

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

(Note: This following is best read in the internal voice of an angry old man yelling at kids skateboarding in his driveway.)

Goddamnit. A.I. is taking over the world and I hate it.

I hate A.I. because, by and large, it makes life easier, and things that are easy don’t go away. They grow. They refine themselves, continuing to make things easier and easier, until at some point we’ve lost all ability to think critically. That’s when the robots take over and kill us all.

And, by god, we’ll deserve it.

A recent article in The Atlantic made myself and all other novelists throw up in our mouths. Sorry, the article’s behind a paywall (though there’s a free-trial option), but the gist is that the overlords at Meta wanted to feed their A.I. model Llama 3 (a deceptively cute name) a massive amount of high-quality writing. So, basically, millions of published novels. But they were worried that, you know, GETTING PERMISSION would be too costly and time consuming. So why not just pirate the books instead? A much easier solution. But instead of doing the pirating themselves, they simply downloaded the contents of LibGen, a massive library of pirated publications (7.5 million books and 81 million research papers, as of March 2025). For complete clarification, LibGen is COMPLETELY ILLEGAL and was developed in Russia in 2008.

Meta admitted that incorporating the LibGen library into their Llama model posed “medium-high legal risk”, but, fuck it, let’s do it anyway. Their argument, at its cellular level, is that using copyrighted material to train A.I. models should be allowed, since it will be used to create something altogether different. But this overlooks the fact they still downloaded millions of pirated works and distributed them to others, which is so explicitly illegal it makes my teeth itch.

I searched LibGen. Nine of my ten novels are in there, and I’m sure it’s only a matter of weeks before my latest release is fed to the beast. This is also true for all my author friends. No published author is likely immune, and if they are, their books must really suck (no offense). And LibGen doesn’t just exist as a research source and tool. No, you can download pirated books for free. LibGen is Napster for novels.

All authors whose books have been pirated are automatically included in a class-action lawsuit, but I don’t expect hefty legal awards hitting my pockets anytime soon. Of course authors want and deserve to be paid for all their work, but the bigger issue here is…why?

A.I., WHY do you need my books? Is someone out there going to write a novella in the style of Carter Wilson and self-publish it on Amazon? You won’t get it right. You won’t know just the right place to put motherfucker in a line of dialogue, where it sounds both funny and devastating. And you’ll describe too many goddamn things. (A yucca plant stands, a sentinel of sun-scorched lands, its spears of green like frozen fire, piercing through the hush of sand). Fucking gross.

My biggest gripe with A.I. (old-man voice really loud now), at least in terms of writing, is that it removes problem-solving. Every book is a problem to solve, and the author’s job is to THINK REALLY HARD and make endless mistakes until they get it right (and often they don’t, which is part of the magic). Critical thinking is what keeps us alive as a species, and we all know what it looks like when the national frontal lobe gets lobotomized. Writing a book with A.I. is like googling the day’s Wordle answer, falsely solving it in one guess, then posting on social media what a genius you are. Hell, my college-teacher friends are now giving essay assignments that have to be completed in class with pen and paper, because otherwise all the students would use A.I. It’s making us lazy (lazier).

And if you’re an aspiring writer using A.I., good luck with that. Readers can spot soulless writing, even GOOD soulless writing.

And…and…

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Okay. I’m stopping myself here. Rant over.

Anyway, I do use A.I. for non-writing things and it’s awesome.

Now get off my lawn.

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling novelist with 40 million copies soldAndrew DeYoung, domestic-thriller writer and author of The Temps, a speculative novel about the end of the worldSydney Leigh,  cozy-mystery writer, member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, and served on the board of Crime Writers of CanadaMeredith Lyons, award-winning novelist, actor, and professional martial artist

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

REVIEWS

On the Page

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, Ben McIntyre (Crown, September 2018)

Coming up from air after several books of required reading (blurbs, event prep, etc), I picked up a copy of The Spy and the Traitor, a beautiful piece of Cold War non-fiction written by the author of Operation Mincemeat and Rogue Heroes.

From the publisher: If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation’s communism as both criminal and philistine.  For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States’s nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war.

What a read! McIntyre takes what, in reality, is a very dense plot with seemingly countless characters and makes this blaze like a thriller (which, of course, it very much is). The access to decades-old information is amazing, and no detail is left unwritten. The reader feels the pressure of the stakes: personal, political, global. And with all the high-tech subterfuge at hand, these spies are decidedly human, and the slightest mistake, the tiniest tell, could result not only in the death of the agent, but could trigger nuclear war. The story’s edge-of-your-seat excitement is dampened only by the reality all of it is true, a reminder of what a miserable species we can be.

On the Screen

Dope Thief (Apple+, 2025)

The premise of this brilliant new show is simple and intriguing (from IMBD):  Long-time friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob a house in the countryside end up unintentionally revealing and unraveling the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard.

This is the kind of premise that could easily be executed poorly. Whenever there’s an “on the run” kind of show, the main ingredient HAS to be the viewer’s emotional investment in the person doing the running; otherwise, all the action renders itself two dimensional. And when the folks on the run are delinquents, the writers set the bar rather high.

Fortunately, the writing is fantastic (edgy, realistic, just the right amount of humor), but the reason to watch this show is lead  Brian Tyree Henry. If he doesn’t win an Emmy for this show it will be criminal. He so inhabits his character it’s like watching a documentary, and the final scene of episode 2 had my jaw on the floor. What a masterclass in acting.

Photo of the Month

Flashback to my last international trip—Iceland in November 2023. I’m feeling the need for a trip out of the country. Any suggestions where I can go and not break the bank? Let me know!

Update from my Kids
The Toledo Public Library hosted me for a lovely, sold-out event last month and my daughter was able to drive down from Michigan for it! It was so good to see her, and I’ll say the Toledo Main Library—at nearly 300,000 square feet, is one of the most impressive libraries I’ve ever seen.

Update from my Pets

Her first time in the hail (click to play).

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

All you writers!

This spring I’m offering two classes, one online and one in-person in Denver, called Commit to Your Novel.   This four-hour workshop focuses not just on the craft of writing, but the commitment to it. Writing a novel is hard, but not impossible, and the more you write the easier it becomes. It takes consistency, a vulnerable mind, and being willing not just to fail, but to embrace those failures.

Topics covered in the workshop include:

Finding time to writeOvercoming fear of failureBeing perfectly imperfectIgnoring the muse and writing every dayWriting craft (style, pacing, story structure, character development, and editing)Understanding the publishing industryNavigating non-writing essentials (social media, newsletters, public speaking)Take four hours out of your life and learn how to get and stay on the path you were meant to be on.

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Hoo, boy.  To say I’ve been surprised with the success of Tell Me What You Did is an understatement. It spent about a week as the #1 paperback (of all fiction and non-fiction) on Barnes & Noble and is currently #5 on B&N and in its fifth week on the Publishers Weekly bestsellers list. As the saying among writers go, it only took 20 years to become an overnight success.  

A common question I’ve received over the years: what was your big break?

I can tell you–big breaks for writers are scarce. I know this from my own experience and in interviewing hundreds of writers over the years. Impossibly rare is the person who suddenly gets an idea for a book, writes it, and sells it for a six-figure advance. Those writers are unicorns, and I know of, perhaps, two.

Nearly all writers don’t have a big break, but instead a prolonged series of small ones. It’s easy for me to grouse about my first three books not selling and then the publisher of my debut novel going out of business. But profound joy is found in those small breaks. A series of small breaks can look like this:

Small break #1: Writing a novel. If you’ve done this, you have accomplished a task most folks will never do. I don’t care if your book stinks–celebrate yourself!

Small break #2: Getting an agent. Of course this doesn’t mean your book will sell, but landing an agent is incredibly difficult. I had over 75 agent rejections before getting mine, and nowadays it’s even more difficult.

Small break #3: Selling your book to a publisher. Yes, there was no advance and your eventual royalties were outpaced by what you spent on self-marketing, but you’ve got your foot in the door.

Small break #4: Getting favorable, critical reviews. Your third book got a starred review from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly. That’s a big deal, even if it doesn’t seem to move the needle much on sales.

Small break #5: Winning awards. You beat out the competition! Even if it’s a small award, you took home the gold. Take time to savor the victory.

Small break #6: Making a bestseller list. Depending on the list, this could be classified as a big break and you should toast yourself. Even if you’re on the list for a day (or sometimes, just hours), you’re rising to the top.

Small break #7: Seeing your book in the airport. Whoa. Is that really my book?

Small break #8: Attaining national recognition. You did it. Your new book is in nearly every bookstore in the country.  This doesn’t mean you have enough money to retire or that your next book will do as well, but you reached place you always thought unattainable. Go out to dinner and order the most expensive thing on the menu.

Those eight small breaks took me ten published novels (thirteen total) and 22 years. I am clearly not an overnight success, nor are most writers. But success isn’t just the destination, it’s finding the joy in the journey, never giving up, learning from your mistakes, and always finding new ways to rediscover your love of writing.

If you have the passion, success will follow. It might just take a little time.

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Chad Boudreaux, thriller novelist and former Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland SecurityKyle Prue, TikTok star and bestselling authorCharlotte Vassell,  award-nominated mystery novelistAllyson Ryan and Patrick Zeller, voice actors who narrated Tell Me What You Did

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

As far as I know, these are the places I’m supposed to be where you can meet me and stuff. Check my event calendar for the latest updates.

March 29th, 2025 4:00 PM
Carter Wilson in conversation with C.J. Box
(local author panel immediately preceding)
Teel Sanctuary, Mile Hi Church
Lakewood, Colorado

April 10-13, 2025
Hamptons Whodunnit
Featured author
East Hampton, New York

May 17th, 2025
Gaithersburg Book Festival
Attending author
Gaithersburg, Maryland

May 31st, 2025 9AM
“Commit to Your Novel” – a 4-hour workshop
Instructor: Carter Wilson
Denver, Colorado
Details in link

June 9, 2025 4-6PM
Lighthouse Writers LitFest
Instructor: “Writing Thrillers”
Denver, Colorado

June 18-22, 2025
Thrillerfest
Attending author/Speaker
New York, New York

July 12-13, 2025
Columbus Book Festival
Featured author
Columbus, Ohio

September 3-7, 2025
Bouchercon
Attending author/Speaker
New Orleans, Louisiana

REVIEWS

On the Page

James: A Novel, Percival Everett (Doubleday, May 2024)

I was a little late to the game on this one, but am so glad I picked up a copy of James, the book that was both a #1 New York Times bestseller and ALSO a National Book Award winner. Whew.

The setup is simple: the story is a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn, but told from the POV of Jim, not Huck. Question: with such a brilliant premise, how had this not been done before? Everett pays a respectful homage to the original while seizing on the far more compelling perspective, that of a slave doing anything and everything he can to avoid being resold and torn from his family. It’s a fast read, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy one. The story is emotion-forward, and there are times you might be tempted to put it down or take a break due to its casual brutality. But this is a book worthy of savoring every word, which is the sign of a true storyteller. A book to buy in hardcover and keep on your shelves with your other favorites. A book to be grateful for.

On the Screen

Rogue Heroes (MGM+, 2022-)

With a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, I decided to give Rogue Heroes a try. Now, I usually shy away from shows/movies about war because, when done well, they fuck me up (I’m looking at you Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers). I think I was a soldier in a former life who got bayonetted by his own troops or something. But I decided to give this show a try and am so glad I did.

Based on the book by Ben McIntyre, Rogue Heroes tells the (mostly) true story of the formation of the British forces SAS group in WWII. From the deserts of North Africa to the invasion of Sicily (and eventually leading up to D-Day), the SAS were essentially an “off the books” division with orders to advance on the enemy by any means necessary. Think of the Island of Misfit Toys with guns and grenades.  Now, be forewarned, there’s absolutely some brutal, realistic violence in the show, but it doesn’t lean into it as much as it plays to the comradery and humor of the men.

There are two, six-episode seasons currently available on MGM+, with a third season in the works.

Photo of the Month

I was thrilled to receive this photo in my inbox the other day…a Barnes & Noble in Pasadena, TX held a book club featuring my book! Though I’d say that kid in the front row may be a tad young for all my filthy language.

Update from my Kids
Sawyer and a group of friends took advantage of a school holiday to drive from Louisiana up to Arkansas to go camping for a few days. While up there, far from any campground, they found a stranded puppy in the middle of the road (and, of course, it was near-freezing, raining, and massive wind gusts). The puppy seemed underfed with some other signs of potential abuse. No collar, no tags. The nearest vet was 50 miles away and it was closed anyway, so they drove back to Baton Rouge with the dog they named Odie, making sure it got puppy food, water, and love along they way.

Back in Baton Rouge they took Odie to the vet—no microchip or any other identification was found. So Odie is now on his way to a happy life with the local family of one of the students. Sawyer of course wanted him, but it’s too impractical to have a dog at school (and not fair for the dog.) But Odie did cuddle on Sawyer’s lap for the entire 8-hour drive home from camping.

Update from my Pets

Sometimes when it’s extra chilly she gets to wear her fuzzy vest.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Always appreciate historical humor in a warehouse.

All you writers!

My company Unbound Writer offers one-on-one writing coaching with me, online classes, retreats, and seminars. I offer free consultations to answer your questions and to see if Unbound Writer is right for you—head to the website to sign up.

Later this spring I’m offering two classes, one online and one in-person in Denver, called Commit to Your Novel.   This four-hour workshop focuses not just on the craft of writing, but the commitment to it. Writing a novel is hard, but not impossible, and the more you write the easier it becomes. It takes consistency, a vulnerable mind, and being willing not just to fail, but to embrace those failures.

Topics covered in the workshop include:

Finding time to writeOvercoming fear of failureBeing perfectly imperfectIgnoring the muse and writing every dayWriting craft (style, pacing, story structure, character development, and editing)Understanding the publishing industryNavigating non-writing essentials (social media, newsletters, public speaking)Take four hours out of your life and learn how to get and stay on the path you were meant to be on.

Learn More & Sign Up

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

Twenty-one years ago, it was my brand-new agent who told me I had written a thriller. Cool! I thought. Followed by, what’s a thriller?

I had no business writing a book. I had no training. No English degree. Knew nothing about books other than I enjoyed reading them. All I knew is I had a story to tell, and that story was apparently a thriller. Now, ten published books later, I have a better idea what a thriller is, at least as well as anyone does. But the details are still murky, the definition opaque at best (non-existent at worst). So when I set out to write a new book, I don’t think I’m going to write another thriller. I think about the mood of the story. The conflict. The stakes, both real and imagined. I think about what I would do in the situations my characters find themselves in, then add in about fifty percent more courage and twenty percent more fear.

The mood of my 10th thriller, Tell Me What You Did, is angry. I didn’t know the story when I started writing (my brain is incapable of outlining), but I knew this was going to be an unforgiving, in-your-face kind of book. Short chapters, propulsive narrative. I knew it was going to feature a female protagonist. Knew there was going to be a dog. Figured there would be some violence, perhaps of the vengeful variety. I promised myself the dog would make it through okay.

My buddy Blake told me about a podcast he’d listened to where folks could call a voicemail line and anonymously leave an apology to whomever in the world they had wronged. I was immediately intrigued, but my imagination took the premise a step further. What if it wasn’t an apology, I thought, but a confession? That was the moment I had the loosest of ideas for what my angry book was going to be about. I never did listen to that podcast.

When I crafted my protagonist, Poe Webb, I knew she was just right. Smart and foolish, broken and strong. She’s as morally gray as they come, and that’s what I love most about her. I love characters who are certain they’re doing the right thing, whether or not society at large would agree with that assessment. Heroic heroes and villainous villains are boring as hell. Instead, heroes and villains should have way more in common than not, and that thin line separating the two is what makes a story interesting.

My primary hope is that Tell Me What You Did will make you ask the same questions of yourself that Poe is forced to ask. My secondary hope is that you get a little surprised by your answers.

Happy reading.

Barnes & Noble Monthly Pick!

I’m over the moon to announce Tell Me What You Did has been selected as the Barnes & Noble Monthly Pick for February in the Mystery/Suspense category. What does that mean? Of all mystery/thrillers launching this month, B&N selected my title to showcase in every one of their 600+ stores.

If you happen to stop by a Barnes & Noble store in February, please keep an eye out for the display with my book, and if you want to send me a photo I’d love to hear from you!

ORDER NOW

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Pamela Statz, debut thriller novelistEmily Jon Tobias, Pushcart Prize nomineeSandra Block,  crime writer and ITW award finalistBarbara Nickless, #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling authorMidge Raymond and John Yunker, married co-authors of Devil’s Island

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

REVIEWS

On the Page

No Lie Lasts Forever, Mark Stevens (Thomas & Mercer, June 2025)

Oh, I love a sneak peek at a great thriller! This one releases in June and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an early review copy.

Mark Stevens’s powerful thriller No Lie Lasts Forever has all the right ingredients for an emotional, suspenseful read. It has a beautifully fleshed-out and flawed protagonist in Flynn Martin, whose professional curiosity and personal need-to-help often lead to her dark and dangerous places. It has bodies—both old and fresh—with questions around the connections between them. It has lots of cops, and Stevens is very careful in making the reader uncertain which ones to trust. And, to the reader’s delight, it has Harry Kugel, a serial killer who prides himself on having “gotten better” without help, this declaration one of many wonderful examples of Kugel’s sociopathic narcissism. In Harry, Stevens has crafted a bad guy for the ages, and the chapters from the killer’s viewpoint will have you checking the locks on your door. NO LIE LASTS FOREVER is a brilliant, compelling read, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Mark Stevens.

On the Screen

Heretic (A24, 2024)

Hugh Grant as the boogeyman? Sign me up.

In short, the story follows two 20ish Mormon women on a mission in Boulder, Colorado, and they knock on Grant’s door because he’d signed up to learn more about the Latter Day Saints. The story is predictable—you know immediately those girls aren’t getting out of that house, much less converting Grant. But the beauty of the film is Hugh Grant playing Hugh Grant, and all those stutters, self-effacing jabs, and quirky apologies that work so well in a rom-com simply shine in a thriller/horror movie. You want to like him. You want to believe he’s just a simple lost soul looking for direction. You want to eat the blueberry pie his supposed wife made off-camera.

Yes, the writing on religion can be a bit preachy and reductive, and the last twenty minutes devolves in the way you expect but hope it doesn’t. But this is worth a watch for Grant.

Photo of the Month

Jess and I did a driving tour of Barnes & Noble stores in the Denver metro area—eight in all—to sign stock copies of Tell Me What You Did. So exciting to see the book on its own display in every store, even with a cool little “monthly pick” poster. Just wish February had more than 28 days.

Update from my Kids
My son is a sophomore at Louisiana State University. One of the reasons he chose a southern school was to get away from the Colorado cold. Well, Baton Rouge got 8 inches of snow in a freak storm, and it was the most exciting thing that ever happened to him.

Update from my Pets

Scully doesn’t much care for football, but the Puppy Bowl certainly caught her attention.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

Well, this is more of a fun fact. And a Colorado one!

All you writers!

My company Unbound Writer offers one-on-one writing coaching with me, online classes, retreats, and seminars. I offer free consultations to answer your questions and to see if Unbound Writer is right for you—head to the website to sign up.

Later this spring I’m offering two classes, one online and in-person in Denver, called Commit to Your Novel.   This four-hour workshop focuses not just on the craft of writing, but the commitment to it. Writing a novel is hard, but not impossible, and the more you write the easier it becomes. It takes consistency, a vulnerable mind, and being willing not just to fail, but to embrace those failures.

Topics covered in the workshop include:

Finding time to writeOvercoming fear of failureBeing perfectly imperfectIgnoring the muse and writing every dayWriting craft (style, pacing, story structure, character development, and editing)Understanding the publishing industryNavigating non-writing essentials (social media, newsletters, public speaking)Take four hours out of your life and learn how to get and stay on the path you were meant to be on.

Learn More

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…

There are four QR codes in my latest thriller Tell Me What You Did. Three of these codes contains video scenes from the book, and the final code is a video version of my acknowledgments. If you are having trouble accessing the links behind the codes, you can reach them directly here:

Code One – End of Chapter 28
bit.ly/Case_J4-3125A47_Recovered_Clip_1

Code Two – End of Chapter 52
bit.ly/Case_J4-3125A47_Recovered_Clip_2

Code Three – End of Chapter 72
bit.ly/Case_J4-3125A47_Recovered_Clip_3

Acknowledgments
bit.ly/CW_ACK

Happy reading (and viewing).

Happy New Year! My new thriller, Tell Me What You Did, will be out on January 28. This is an angry, scary book that’s gotten a lot of pre-release attention—more so than any of my earlier nine releases—and I can’t wait to see what happens with it. Like most of my books, it’s told from a single, first-person point-of-view (along with some transcripts), and like some of my earlier books, there’s a little multimedia hidden throughout the pages.

I have a history of including more than just words in my books. In Mister Tender’s Girl, astute readers can find a website and password in the book which unveils artwork and a fake message board that both play roles in the book. In The Dead Girl in 2A, art from a fictitious (and dark) children’s book were placed throughout the story. In the case of Tell Me What You Did, there’s video. Let me explain.

The protagonist, Poe Webb, hosts a successful true-crime podcast. She interviews everyday callers who have something to confess, and while she records the online conversations, she always deletes the recordings a week later to preserve the guests’ anonymity. But, unknown to her callers, Poe always records video of her side of the conversation on her iPhone.

I decided I wanted to see what those recordings might look like, so I hired the wonderful actor Rebekah Kennedy to play the role of Poe and recreate those recorded scenes. She did an amazing job, and I get goosebumps every time I watch these short scenes. The three videos are linked by QR codes in the book, so all the reader has to do is scan the code with their phone to watch. Even my acknowledgements are done by video.

This is my 10th book and I’m proud as hell of it. I’d love for you all to buy a copy, and you can pre-order at the link below. Enjoy the new year, stay healthy, chase happiness, and read thrillers.

PRE-ORDER NOW

Library Reads!

Absolutely THRILLED for my upcoming novel to be voted one of the top 10 books of all new January titles, as judged by the nation’s librarians. And Sourcebooks is well represented, with 3 of the 10 books making the Library Reads list.

Thank you, wonderful librarians!

New episodes of my podcast  Making It Up are out! Over the past month I chatted with:

Elise Hart Kipness, thriller novelist and 2nd-time guestRebecca McKanna, mystery novelist and short-story writerGeorgia Jeffries,  writer of Emmy Award-winning drama and acclaimed noir fictionAlex Kenna, prosecutor and mystery author

All episodes are available on my website, my YouTube channel, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

As far as I know, these are the places I’m supposed to be where you can meet me and stuff. Check my event calendar for the latest updates.

FEATURED EVENT:

ALL EVENTS:
January 21st, 2025 4:15PM
Scary Campfire Stories: Tween Writing Workshop
Carter Wilson – Instructor
Erie Community Library
Erie, Colorado

January 29th, 2025 6PM
Joint Book-Launch Event
Carter Wilson & Barbara Nickless
Tattered Cover Colfax
Denver, Colorado

February 5, 2025 4:30PM
Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour
Lowell Inn
Stillwater, MinnesotaFebruary 12, 2025 6PM
Author Talk & Book Signing
Boswell Books
2559 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53211

February 22nd, 2025 2PM
Thriller Afternoon
Carter Wilson & Barbara Nickless
Douglas County Libraries, Philip & Jerry Miller Library
Castle Rock, ColoradoMarch 7th, 2025 3:30 PM
Writers LIVE! Series with Oline Cogdill
Palm Beach County Library System, Gardens Branch Library
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

March 13th, 2025 7PM
Authors! Series
Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Main Library
Toledo, Ohio

March 29th, 2025 4:00 PM
Carter Wilson in conversation with C.J. Box
(local author panel immediately preceding)
Teel Sanctuary, Mile Hi Church
Lakewood, Colorado

May 17th
Gaithersburg Book Festival
Attending author
Gaithersburg, Maryland

June 18-22
Thrillerfest
Attending author/Speaker
New York, New York

September 3-7
BoucherconAttending author/Speaker
New Orleans, Louisiana

REVIEWS

On the Page

Whispers of Dead Girls, Marlee Bush (Poisoned Pen Press, May 2025)

This beauty doesn’t come out until May and I was lucky to get a sneak peek. Here’s what I wrote about it for the publisher:

“Whispers of Dead Girls, Marlee Bush’s propulsive new thriller, forces readers to wonder if a damaged person can ever truly heal. In the case of Bush’s exquisitely crafted protagonist, Ren Taylor, the jury is decidedly out…much to our pleasure. Ren is the most morally gray of all heroes, which not only rings true but allows us to see ourselves in her. Could we let our fractured pasts go, or would we forever chase absolution, only to realize that only serves to keep us imprisoned? There is no clear answer, and there shouldn’t be, but the chase itself makes for a hell of story. I devoured this powerful, gutsy book, and you will, too.”  

Put this book on you radar or pre-order it today.

On the Screen

Day of the Jackal (Peacock, 2024)

Well, I just loved this. I’d read the great Frederick Forsyth novel decades ago, and was a bit wary when I saw this pop up on Peacock. I always think the show is going to ruin the novel. But Peacock’s Jackal is excellent, not only in its gritty portrayal of an assassin for hire, but in its pace of storytelling, its use of locations as characters, its tightness of writing, and the outstanding acting by Eddie Redmayne (I can’t picture anyone else in that role). If you’re in the mood for a smart action thriller told over a ten-episode arc, check this show out.

Photo of the Month

Spotted this gorgeous gal near my house about a few weeks ago. Did you know the bald eagle wasn’t the official U.S. national bird until signed into legislation just this month? It was always the national emblem, but not bird. There’s your next fun fact for cocktail-party small talk. You’re welcome.

Update from my Kids
My sister’s family came out to Colorado from New York for a few days to visit and my kids got a chance to spend time with their cousins (the two in the middle).  Hard to believe that, at one point years ago, Uncle Carter used to play monster and chase them down, pick them up, and throw them to the floor. They still turned out mostly okay!

Update from my Pets

This is the excitement of a Friday night for me.

Humor of the Month sent to me by a friend

One of the best Far Side panels of all time.

That’s it for now!

Just a reminder to subscribe to my newsletter for more content and access to contests and giveaways. Oh, and if you follow me on social media you’ll see a lot more pictures of my goddamn pets. Until next month…