Episodes

  • Friends & Fiction with C.J. Box
    Feb 28 2025

    On this episode, Ron Block and Mary Kay Andrews welcome #1 New York Times bestselling author C. J. Box to discuss the riveting 25th installment in his fan-favorite Joe Pickett series, BATTLE MOUNTAIN, in which outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski is off the grid and out for revenge. C. J. Box is the author of 25 Joe Pickett novels, 8 stand-alone novels, and a story collection. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and two Barry awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38, the Western Heritage Award for Literature, and two Spur Awards. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He has served as executive producer on television series based on his books, including ABC TV’s "Big Sky" and "Joe Pickett" on Paramount+. He joins us to discuss BATTLE MOUNTAIN, which Mystery & Suspense calls “an explosive, highly atmospheric masterpiece of tautly woven plot lines, insane pacing, and relentless suspense.”

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    30 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Pam Jenoff
    Feb 21 2025

    On this episode, the Fab Four (Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodsdon Harvey & Patti Callahan Henry) gather to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, Pam Jenoff, to discuss our February 2025 Pick of the Month, her brand-new instant New York Times bestseller, Last Twilight in Paris, a riveting novel of love and survival about a Parisian department store, a mysterious necklace, and a woman's quest to unlock a decade-old mystery. Pam Jenoff is the author of several books of historical fiction, including the NYT bestsellers The Lost Girls of Paris and The Woman with the Blue Star. She holds a degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a degree in history from Cambridge, and she earned her J.D. from UPenn. She lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia, where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school. She joins us to discuss Last Twilight in Paris, “a compelling novel that illuminates a shocking and little-known piece of WWII history—a Parisian store where Jews were imprisoned and forced to sell plunder from Jewish homes” (Lisa Scottoline) — which just debuted on the NYT list at #9 in its first week out.

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    59 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Christina Clancy
    Feb 14 2025

    On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews and Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome author Christina Clancy to discuss The Snowbirds, her latest page-turning story of a couple who flee winter in the Midwest for Palm Springs, where they find their relationship at a crossroads. Christina Clancy is the author of two previous novels, The Second Home and Shoulder Season, which have been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, and Travel & Leisure. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, The Sun magazine, and in various literary journals. A former college English professor with a PhD in creative writing, she splits her time between Madison, Wisconsin, and Palm Springs. Described as The Last Thing He Told Me meets Fleishman Is in Trouble, The Snowbirds has gotten raves from Annabel Monaghan (“emotionally wise and beautifully written”) and Fiona Davis (“an absolute treat”) and has been called “a riveting exploration of midlife yearning,” by People magazine.

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    36 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Victoria Christopher Murray
    Feb 7 2025

    On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Ron Block welcome New York Times bestselling author Victoria Christopher Murray to discuss her gripping new historical novel, Harlem Rhapsody, about Jessie Redmon Fauset, the powerhouse civil rights activist and literary sensation who ignited the Harlem Renaissance. Victoria Christopher Murray is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including The Personal Librarian (a Good Morning America book club pick), and The First Ladies, (Target’s Book of the Year), both of which she co-authored with Marie Benedict. Victoria won the NAACP Image Award for her social commentary novel, Stand Your Ground, which was also a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Four of her novels, Lust, Envy, Wrath and Greed have been made into TV movies for Lifetime. She joins us to discuss her new novel, Harlem Rhapsody, which Sadeqa Johnson calls “powerful” and “simply stunning,” and Tayari Jones calls, “a page turner and history lesson at once.”

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    45 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Lisa Genova
    Jan 31 2025

    On this episode, Kristy Woodson Harvey & Mary Kay Andrews welcome neuroscientist turned New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova to discuss her breathless, riveting new novel, More or Less Maddy, about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy. Acclaimed as the Oliver Sacks of fiction and the Michael Crichton of brain science, Lisa Genova is the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice, Left Neglected, Love Anthony, Inside the O'Briens, and Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard. Her TED talks on Alzheimer's and memory have been viewed over 11-million times. She joins us to discuss More or Less Maddy, which Booklist calls, “a visceral, harrowing, and undeniably powerful read,” and Publishers Weekly dubs “a remarkable achievement.”

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    35 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Scott Turow
    Jan 24 2025

    On this episode, Mary Kay Andrews & Ron Block welcome #1 New York Times bestselling master of the legal thriller, Scott Turow, to discuss his riveting new courtroom drama, Presumed Guilty, which sees the return of Rusty Sabich from Presumed Innocent, the phenomenon that redefined the genre. A writer and former practicing lawyer, Scott Turow is the author of 13 bestselling works of fiction, including Presumed Innocent and Suspect. Scott has also published two nonfiction books, including the perennial bestseller, One L, about his experience as a Harvard Law student. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30-million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects. Recently, Presumed Innocent was the basis for Apple TV+’s most-watched drama series ever, starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Scott joins us to discuss his new novel, Presumed Guilty, in which Rusty returns to court one last time to defend his fiancé’s son and to find out whether the system to which he has devoted his life can ever provide true justice for those who are presumed guilty.

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    54 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Tara Dorabji
    Jan 17 2025

    On this episode, the Fab Four — Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Patti Callahan Henry — gather to welcome this month’s F&F Featured Author, debut novelist Tara Dorabji, to discuss our January 2025 Pick of the Month, Call Her Freedom, a sweeping family saga following one woman’s struggle to protect her culture and her family amidst the backdrop of a military occupation. Tara Dorabji is the daughter of Parsi-Indian and German-Italian migrants. Her documentary film series on human rights defenders in Kashmir won awards at over a dozen film festivals throughout Asia and the US. Her writing has been featured in publications such as Al Jazeera, The Chicago Quarterly, Huizache, and in the acclaimed anthologies: Good Girls Marry Doctors and All the Women in My Family Sing. She joins us from her home in Northern California to discuss her debut novel, Call Her Freedom, which was chosen as the winner of Simon & Schuster’s Books Like Us First Novel Contest for underrepresented writers.

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    48 mins
  • Friends & Fiction with Kate Fagan
    Jan 10 2025

    On this episode, Patti Callahan Henry & Kristy Woodson Harvey welcome Emmy-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Kate Fagan to discuss her electric, voice-driven debut novel, The Three Lives Of Cate Kay, about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past. Kate Fagan has published four previous books including What Made Maddy Run, a semi-finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting; All The Colors Came Out, a memoir of basketball and the enduring father/daughter bond; and Hoop Muses, an insider’s guide to pop culture and the women’s game on which she collaborated with WNBA legend Seimone Augustus and artist Sophia Chang. Kate spent seven years as a columnist and feature writer for espnW, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine, was a regular panelist on ESPN's “Around the Horn,” and a host of “Outside the Lines.” Kate covered the Philadelphia 76ers for three seasons and played college basketball at the University of Colorado. She joins us from her home in Charleston to discuss her fiction debut, The Three Lives Of Cate Kay, which has been described as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins.

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    49 mins