In this episode of In Conversation, award-winning broadcaster Terry Shepherd sits down with UK-based author MJ Dyer to dive deep into her debut psychological thriller, We Are Monsters.

Set against the brooding, atmospheric backdrop of Bodmin Moor, the novel follows Elara, a young woman who has spent her life eclipsed by her identical twin half-sisters. When one of the twins is found dead under suspicious circumstances, Elara’s hunt for the truth spirals into a dark, dangerous descent into rivalry, identity, and the fragile line between victimhood and monstrosity.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• The Nightmare Behind the Book: How a severe brain inflammation illness, vivid hospital hallucinations, and a haunting old photograph inspired the eerie premise of the novel.
• The Allure of the Morally Gray: Why MJ Dyer loves writing "unlikable" characters and how Elara’s desperate desire to be noticed drives her ambiguous motivations.
• A Style Reborn: How recovering from a brain injury unexpectedly transformed MJ's writing style from plot-driven fantasy into poetic, lyrical, and deeply psychological prose.
• The Reality of the Publishing Business: MJ shares her transparent, twisty journey through the querying trenches, dealing with rejection, and how she ultimately landed her third literary agent.
• A Sneak Peek at What's Next: Inside the writing process of her second psychological thriller, Toxic Girls, arriving this November.

Connect with the Author:

• Website: mjdyerbooks.com
• Featured Books: We Are Monsters (Releasing July 7th) and Toxic Girls (Coming November).

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Deconstructing the Whodunit: A Conversation with Bestselling Author & Renaissance Man Lee Goldberg.

What happens when you take the classic, eccentric detective formula and turn it completely on its head?

In this episode of In Conversation, host Terry Shepherd sits down with bestselling author, television producer, and media renaissance man Lee Goldberg to celebrate the launch of his highly anticipated new mystery novel, Murder by Design.

Known for his masterful ability to balance laugh-out-loud humor with high-stakes plotting , Lee gives us an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of his fascinating new protagonist, Edison Bixby. Unlike the reclusive, celibate, or socially inept sleuths of classic detective fiction, Bixby is wealthy, handsome, and highly successful —but a traumatic brain injury has stripped away his internal filter, leaving him with a hilarious and dangerous knack for saying exactly the wrong thing at the absolute wrong time.

Lee and Terry dive deep into:

• The Architecture of Murder: How Murder by Design explores the terrifying ways the built environment, layout, and lighting can be manipulated to shape human behavior—and become instruments of crime.
• Twisting the Tropes: Why Lee deliberately paired his brilliant "design sociopath" with Wally Nash, a struggling actor hired as a social buffer, to honor and simultaneously subvert the classic "Watson" tradition.
• The Cinematic Writing Secrets: How Lee’s extensive career writing and producing for television (including his hit new series You're Killing Me) led him to an unconventional noveling process—writing his books as top-secret screenplays first to lock down pacing and dialogue.
• The Reality of the Writer's Life: A candid, humorous look at the rhythms of storytelling, navigating collaboration in Hollywood versus solo writing, and why Lee still feels like the same 10-year-old kid fueling his imagination with junk food and Diet Coke.

Whether you are a die-hard mystery fan, an aspiring writer curious about script-to-novel structures, or just love a witty conversation about how the literary "sausage is made", this interview is packed with creative wisdom, Hollywood anecdotes, and plenty of laughs.

About the Guest:Lee Goldberg is a two-time Edgar Award nominee and a prolific author and TV producer whose work spans decades of hit print series and television blockbusters. He is also the co-founder of Brash Books. Learn more about Lee and purchase your copy of Murder by Design at Leegoldberg.com.

Connect with Us:

• Follow In Conversation with Terry Shepherd for more deep dives into the writer's craft with the artists who create the stories you love.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo