What is Meg Gardiner reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Meg Gardiner, author of Ransom River.

The entry begins:

I just finished the first two books in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga: A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. I have never been a reader of fantasy or medieval swordfighting epics. But to stay current with the culture, I wanted to know what these novels were about. (That is, I wanted to understand what my kids were talking about at the dinner table.) And I loved these books. With a big love. The stories are sweeping, gripping, and written with an absolutely assured hand. I love the characters and love the way Martin continually surprises the reader, twists the knife of the plot, and sets the heroes ever more...[read on]

About the book, from the publisher:

A stunningly complex and atmospheric novel from Edgar Award–winning author Meg Gardiner, featuring a deeply flawed, compelling heroine, a murder trial, and the long-unsolved mystery it exposes.

Rory Mackenzie is juror number seven on a high-profile murder case in her hometown of Ransom River, California. It’s a place she vowed never to visit again, after leaving behind its surfeit of regret and misfortune and the specter of a troubled past that threatened to disturb the town’s peaceful façade.

Brilliant yet guarded, Rory has always felt like an outsider. She retreated into herself when both her career aspirations and her love affair with a childhood friend, undercover cop Seth Colder, were destroyed in a tragic accident.

While most of the town is focused on the tense and shocking circumstances of the trial, Rory’s return to Ransom River dredges up troubling memories from her childhood that she can no longer ignore. But in the wake of a desperate attack on the courthouse, Rory realizes that exposing these dark skeletons has connected her to an old case that was never solved, and bringing the truth to light just might destroy her.

Departing from her popular series novels, Meg Gardiner has gone deeper than ever into the utterly convincing lives and compelling pasts of her characters. Ransom River is an intimate crime thriller with a dark mystery at its heart—one that will keep readers breathless until the very last page.

Learn more about the author and her work at Meg Gardiner's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: The Dirty Secrets Club.

The Page 69 Test: The Memory Collector.

My Book, The Movie: Meg Gardiner's Evan Delaney series.

Writers Read: Meg Gardiner (July 2010).

The Page 69 Test: The Liar's Lullaby.

My Book, The Movie: Meg Gardiner's Jo Beckett series.

The Page 69 Test: The Nightmare Thief.

Writers Read: Meg Gardiner (August 2011).

The Page 69 Test: Ransom River.

Writers Read: Meg Gardiner.

--Marshal Zeringue