Paradise as a Locked Room: Why I Set My New Thriller in the Florida Keys

I don't talk a lot about it, but I got divorced almost two years ago. After being partnered for so long (20 years in my case), it's been a fun process of learning to enjoy my own company. I'd never eaten at a restaurant alone, gone to a movie solo, and certainly I'd never taken a vacation by myself.

In the winter of 2024, I decided it was time to take my first solo vacation. I chose Key West. I don't know why. Tropical plus Ernest Hemingway, ok, GO! was probably what my brain did, knowing me. It was a blast.

Wind-blown joy! This trip was food for my soul

At that time, I'd been mulling over the idea of a locked room thriller for months. I'd read The Guest List by Lucy Foley and loved the aura of secrets and betrayal. I'd been planning to set my book in a cabin in Idaho, and I'm one-thousand percent positive that I'll be returning to cabins in the Pacific Northwest because I love a cabin in the woods thriller! But I'd just spent a whole book in one for The Final Scene, and then promptly put myself in the mountains for Last One Out after that. I was ripe for a change of scenery and it was my trip to Key West that inspired me to choose a setting outside of the Pacific Northwest. (A first for me!)

I both loved and was unnerved by the fact that I could walk Duval Street from the Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. It was cute and quaint. But it also struck a chord of isolation for me. I remember walking back to my bed and breakfast one evening mentally giving myself permission to set my isolated thriller outside of the PNW. Up until this moment the story had been snowbound and flipping to July in Florida was certainly a change. I liked the idea of contrasting the beauty of an island with the horror of what the girls experience. As a reader, I gravitate toward those books too.

I knew my location would have to be more isolated than Key West, and from there I created Lost Key and channeled White Lotus vibes.

Hemingway's study

My intention with this book was to write something a bit lighter than The Final Scene and Last One Out. A thriller beach-read, if you will. I wanted it to have a lot of twists, and that was a fun toy for my brain.

Each of these four women have a tiny piece of me in them. Maybe more than any of my other characters. Courtney's people-pleasing, Reese's anxieties, Tori's zodiac obsession, and Paige's bossy streak. It's funny that my lightest book feels like it might be my most vulnerable, too.

Sloppy Joe's was Hemingway's hangout. It's also where Tori and Rawson meet for the first time in my book

I hope more than anything that if you read Don't Ask Why, you just have a damn good time. Full stop. And you know where to find me if you want to talk zodiac signs. Haha.

XO,

Steph

P.S. Read more about Don't Ask Why or get your copy here.