Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in New York City, the only child of a busy editor/publisher and a classical musician. We lived in a two-hundred-year-old brownstone that was full of history and books. Often, my fictional and real worlds overlapped. I explored the dark spaces in our old house and imagined the ghosts that might still dwell there. I sat in eight-foot-high windows in the summer and near fireplaces with Victorian marble mantels in winter and read Nancy Drew, Alice in Wonderland, Tolkien, Poe, Shakespeare, and more. Those stories dropped like seeds into my psyche and eventually bloomed into the thrillers and mysteries I write today.


I wrote

The Cliff House

By Greta Boris,

Book cover of The Cliff House

What is my book about?

Welcome to Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California.…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Lock Every Door

Greta Boris Why did I love this book?

The trope: The monster in the house.

Sager does an amazing job building the atmosphere in this one. The protagonist gets a job in an apartment in one of the oldest buildings in New York City. Between the gargoyle stationed outside the window, the eclectic neighbors, and the weird nighttime noises, I was riveted.

Since I grew up in New York City, this story was very nostalgic for me, but anyone who loves things that go bump in the night will be spellbound.  

By Riley Sager,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lock Every Door as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

They've offered you a luxury apartment, rent free. THE CATCH: you may not live long enough to enjoy it...

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents.
These are the only rules for Jules Larson's new job as apartment sitter for an elusive resident of the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile private buildings and home to the rich and famous.

Recently heartbroken and practically homeless, Jules readily accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

Out of place among the extremely wealthy, Jules finds herself pulled toward other apartment sitter Ingrid.…


Book cover of None of This is True

Greta Boris Why did I love this book?

The Trope: The Unknown Threat

Lisa Jewell is a master of psychological suspense, and I felt this was one of her best. I love true crime podcasts, so using a podcaster as a protagonist and having clips from her show in the story added a layer of reality to the fiction. 

The main character meets a woman with the same birthday as her while out celebrating. She decides to do a podcast series around the theme of birthday twins—an innocent, even fun beginning to a story that becomes anything but. For much of the book, the main character knew something was very, very wrong but had no idea where the menace was coming from. It made me squirm—in a good way. I couldn’t put it down.

By Lisa Jewell,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked None of This is True as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Buy now and prepare to be hooked from the Number One bestselling thriller author . . .

* AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER *
* OVER 6,000 FIVE STAR REVIEWS *
* AUDIBLE NO.1 SIX WEEKS IN A ROW *

'Gloriously dark' Lucy Foley
'A moody, slippery novel' Gillian McAllister
'One hundred percent brilliant' Clare Mackintosh
'Shocking and creepy and glorious' Nicola Walker
'Utterly addictive' Claire Douglas
___________

Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie is also celebrating her 45th.

A few days later, they bump…


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Book cover of Always Orchid

Always Orchid By Carol Van Den Hende,

Always Orchid is the moving, award-winning finale to the Goodbye Orchid series that Glamour Magazine called "a modern, important take on the power of love." With themes of identity, disability, and the redemptive power of love, Always Orchid is perfect for fans of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle…

Book cover of Destroyer Angel

Greta Boris Why did I love this book?

The Trope: The Home Invasion

I love vacation-themed stories when I’m on vacation. I read this one while camping, and it kept me up at night. Nevada Barr does a brilliant job twisting the home invasion trope into a wilderness survival story. Her protagonist, a park ranger, goes on a canoe trip with a group of friends. Their vacation is waylaid by men bent on murder and mayhem.

Nothing is scarier than having your happy place invaded by evil, and nothing more inspiring than watching the underdog use her superior knowledge of the surroundings to defeat it. 

By Nevada Barr,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Destroyer Angel as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bringing you a gripping mystery, Nevada Barr transports you to the wild and dangerous landscapes of America's National Parks and is sure to appeal if you like Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich.

After a summer fighting wildfire, US Park Ranger Anna Pigeon sets off on a camping trip to the Iron Range in upstate Minnesota. With her are four women: Heath, Leah and their two teenage daughters. For Heath, who is paraplegic, it is the chance to test out a new, cutting edge line of outdoor equipment, designed by Leah to make the wilderness more accessible to disabled campers. On…


Book cover of Rebecca

Greta Boris Why did I love this book?

The Trope: The Gothic Suspense

Rebecca is a classic. I’ve read it and watched the movie so many times I’ve lost count. It was my introduction to what has become one of my favorite thriller tropes—Gothic Suspense. All the elements are there: the sprawling mansion, the romantic lead with a dark, mysterious past, the insecure heroine, and the evil servant.

For me, it’s a world that’s both familiar and unsettling. I love almost any book in this subgenre, but Rebecca is the star.

By Daphne du Maurier,

Why should I read it?

47 authors picked Rebecca as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* 'The greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY
* 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century' SARAH WATERS
* 'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .'

Working as a lady's companion, our heroine's outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the south of France, she meets a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory…


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Book cover of A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France

A Long Way from Iowa By Janet Hulstrand,

This memoir chronicles the lives of three generations of women with a passion for reading, writing, and travel. The story begins in 1992 in an unfinished attic in Brooklyn as the author reads a notebook written by her grandmother nearly 100 years earlier. This sets her on a 30-year search…

Book cover of An Unwanted Guest

Greta Boris Why did I love this book?

The Trope: The Locked Room Mystery

The first locked room mystery I ever read was Agatha Christy’s, And Then There Were None. I fell in love with the trope. I’m a complete patsy for any story that holds a group of unsuspecting characters captive and starts killing them off individually.

Shari Lapena uses a ski resort and a snowstorm to do just that. This book is a fabulously creepy and claustrophobic read for a winter night. 

By Shari Lapena,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked An Unwanted Guest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

AS FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 2: 'Properly gripping' Romesh Ranganathan

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER from the number one bestselling author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR.

'Crafted like a vintage Christie and just as tense, this will be a smash hit.' Heat
'Tense. Unpredictable. Unputdownable. Shari Lapena's novels are domestic noir at its finest.' Simon Kernick

____________________

We can't choose the strangers we meet.

As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchell's Inn, they're all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.

Usually we…


Explore my book 😀

The Cliff House

By Greta Boris,

Book cover of The Cliff House

What is my book about?

Welcome to Murders Under the Sun, a podcast that takes a trip to the dark side of sunny Southern California. I’m Molly Shure, your host.

Our journey begins on the stunning cliffs of Laguna Beach, the bright sun shining on the turquoise water below. But this idyllic setting quickly becomes a nightmare for real estate agent Gwen Bishop.

She has just landed her dream listing, a multimillion-dollar beachfront property. The home has a dark past, however. Three months ago, another agent was found dead in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Gwen believes the unsolved murder was random. When unsettling things occur, she tells herself the menace she feels is her imagination. When even stranger things happen—things that throw a wrench in her plans to get the home on the market—she brushes off the icy dread creeping through her.

The house itself couldn’t be evil…could it?

Gwen’s story is the first of seven linked by an almost invisible thread across five years. A thread I noticed while working as a crime journalist. In Season One, I pull that thread to see what unravels.

Travel with me to The Cliff House to learn what lay beyond its door.

Book cover of Lock Every Door
Book cover of None of This is True
Book cover of Destroyer Angel

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