Tucson Festival of Books

Getting Away with Murder?


How do regular people go down such dark roads? In this session, authors Alissa Lee, Kaira Rouda and Marisa Walz will discuss how they create such disturbing characters.


Panelists
Alissa Lee

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Alissa Lee is a writer and lawyer. she grew up in New Jersey and lives in the San Francisco Bay area. "With Friends Like These," a heady mix of dark academia, spiraling stakes and tangled loyalties, is her first novel....

Visit website | Instagram

Kaira Rouda

Kaira Rouda is the USA Today and No. 1 Amazon bestselling author of "We Were Never Friends." Her novels have been selected by Library Reads, Amazon and Apple books editors as Best Books of the Month, Most Anticipated by Zibby Media, and Strand magazine’s and Suspense magazine’s Best Book of the Year....

Visit website | Facebook Twitter Substack Instagram YouTube TikTok

Marisa Walz

Marisa Walz is a Federal Reserve executive who also writes novels about people behaving badly. A lifelong writer and an alum of The Writers' Loft in Chicago, Walz's authorly aspirations started at an early age with her painstkingly detailed childhood diaries....

Visit website | Facebook Substack Instagram TikTok


Books:
With Friends Like These
A Novel
Alissa Lee
Mystery / Thrillers
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
November 2025
ISBN 9781668094006
240 pages
Buy now

We Were Never Friends
A Novel
Kaira Rouda
Mystery / Thrillers
Sourcebooks, Incorporated
January 2026
ISBN 9781464244995
288 pages
Buy now

Good Intentions
A Novel
Marisa Walz
Mystery / Thrillers
St. Martin's Publishing Group
February 2026
ISBN 9781250397409
336 pages
Buy now