Leigh Dunlap

Leigh Dunlap is the screenwriter of the hit Warner Bros. movie A Cinderella Story. A native of Los Angeles, she attended film school at the University of Southern California. She now splits time and personalities between South Carolina and South Kensington and dreams of one day giving it all up and searching for buried treasure. Until then, she writes movies and books. Including Bless Your Heart, her debut novel.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Dunlap's reply:

I’m a big reader of non-fiction. I love nothing more than a 900-page book on, say, Andrew Carnegie. Having written a murder/mystery, however, I’ve been playing catch up on all the current writers in that genre.

Such a Lovely Family - Aggie Blum Thompson

Spoiler alert – they really weren’t all that lovely. The members of the Calhoun family were complicated and devious and funny and awful and a wonderful family to spend a book with. The characters in this upper-crust Chevy Chase family spin around the murder of the family’s patriarch. I loved that the novel weaved so much humor into a not so humorous premise. Thompson is great with detail and brings richness to the pages as well as red herrings and fantastic plotting that kept me turning the pages and trying to guess who did it in this whodunnit.

Tell Me What You Did - Carter Wilson

This book has such a great premise. The host of a true crime podcast who interviews people about the terrible crimes they’ve committed has the tables turned on her. I won’t say more for fear of spoiling the fun – but what fun! I couldn’t help thinking what a great tv show it would be. I hope Hollywood is paying attention.

All the Colors of the Dark – Chris Whitaker

Whitaker beautifully takes the reader on a journey into darkness. It may be about a serial killer, but it’s about so much more. Imperfect parents and misfit children and the loss of innocence and the need for belonging and connection in a dark world. I felt like I went on a journey to a new place even though it takes place in Missouri, where I’m from.

Gothictown – Emily Carpenter

Like my novel, Gothictown takes place in Georgia, so it was definitely something I wanted to check out. Carpenter’s small-town North Georgia setting, however, is a world away from the upscale Atlanta of my book. An offer of $100 houses in a struggling southern town entices a New York chef in search of a simpler life to move her family to Juliana, a place that isn’t, of course, what it appears to be. One-hundred-dollar mansions usually come with strings attached. Let the buyer beware! This is a suspenseful page-turning thriller that had me believing this fictional town must be real. I had to check the map several times just to make sure it wasn’t!

When Cicadas Cry – Caroline Cleveland

I live in South Carolina, the location of the novel, so that was definitely an extra added reason to read the book. Cleveland is a native of the state and it shows on every page. This is the classic southern murder/mystery. You can almost feel the humidity on every page and see the Spanish moss on every branch of every oak tree. The main characters are a lawyer and his investigator girlfriend and the added element of the dynamics of a couple just trying to live their lives and find equilibrium in their relationship added so much to the story.

Visit Leigh Dunlap's website.

Q&A with Leigh Dunlap.

--Marshal Zeringue