Diane Thomas

Diane Thomas is the author of the psychological thriller In Wilderness (Bantam, March 2015) and The Year the Music Changed: The Letters of Achsa McEachern-Isaacs and Elvis Presley (The Toby Press, 2005). Her favorite setting for her stories is in the mountains of north Georgia, but she loves reading a good yarn set most anywhere.

Late last month I asked Thomas about what she was reading. Her reply:

At this moment, I’m snowed in at our friends’ empty house on the side of a steep mountain in the wilds of far north Georgia, captive until at least tomorrow afternoon, maybe longer. Right now I’m finishing up an early Laura Lippman called In Big Trouble. Chose it from what’s available because (a) plotting doesn’t come easy for me and I thought it might be useful to read some books—like private eye books—where good plotting is essential, and (b) I think I’m about to become fascinated by noir fiction written by women. Can’t wait to read Sara Gran.

After In Big Trouble, I’ve lined up Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter just because I know it’s lovely and I haven’t read it since college, and college was a long, long time ago.

If the beautiful white stuff outside isn’t gone by the time I finish Carson McCullers’ book, I’ll swipe the Scott Turow my husband is guarding, something called Identical. I remember all the way back to Presumed Innocent that Turow’s plotting left me breathless.

Georgia’s governor, no less, warned north Georgians early this afternoon to leave work and go home, so spouse and I went to the supermarket and now won’t run out of food. What a fun way to spend a day or two—marooned with good food and good books.

Visit Diane Thomas's website.

--Marshal Zeringue