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Today's guest blogger is thriller writer Michele Martinez, who shares ideas for injecting some mystery into book clubs. Michele is a board member of the Mystery Writers of America and the author of the novels Most Wanted, The Finishing School, Cover-Up and, most recently, Notorious. She once served as a federal prosecutor in New York City, the occupation employed by Melanie Vargas, the main character in her suspense-filled stories.


Reading groups are wonderful places for authors and readers to meet. I've been lucky to have my books chosen by lots of book clubs, and even luckier to get to talk to these clubs either in person or by phone. They all tell me the same thing --- they picked my books as one of their "fun" reads and were then delighted to find them full of compelling issues to discuss.

I write a thriller series featuring a young federal prosecutor named Melanie Vargas. It's set in New York, has lots of sex and romance in it as well as gritty suspense, and has been described as Law & Order meets Sex and the City. But like many thrillers and mysteries, it's very modern and cutting-edge, and chock full of life as we live it now. My heroine faces problems many women face in their everyday lives. Office politics. A difficult boss. The difficulty of juggling work and motherhood. The heartbreak of a cheating spouse. Overcoming past traumas. Fitting into a lifestyle she didn't grow up with. Great topics for discussion go down easily when mixed in with the page-turning suspense and spine-tingling romance of a romantic thriller.

More and more, reading groups are realizing they don't have to choose "issue books" or classics for every session. Sometimes those are the right selections, but it's important to change it up sometimes and give your group a dose of fun. You can choose a book set right here in America, featuring a modern-day heroine you can identify with, that's so fun to read that you can't stop turning the pages, and still get a great discussion out of it. That kind of variety is what keeps reading exciting.

As the Mystery Writers of America give their Edgar Awards for the best of 2007 this week in New York, now is the perfect time. Pick a great mystery or thriller for your next selection and see how much fun your next meeting can be.

---Michele Martinez


Click here to see pictures of book clubs that have read Michele's thrillers.