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Corruption is the plot of these books. Betrayal is the wound. Every story in the series turns on someone trusting the wrong person, a partner, a colleague, an institution, and paying for it. Which is worse to you: being betrayed by a person, or by a system?

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 6h

People keep asking which one to read first, so, here is the honest answer. It depends what you are in the mood for. Swipe through, then tell me which lane you fall into. I am genuinely curious how this splits.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 16h

Verity opens today. The book's real engine is a manuscript no one can fact-check, one unverifiable account. Film has a hard time with that, because the camera always has a point of view. Curious whether the adaptation keeps the doubt or picks a side. #BookSky #CrimeFiction #Verity #rowanprosepub

Two plain doors side by side in a fog-lit wall, the left one ajar with light spilling through the gap.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Every one of my books begins with a single sentence that shows up before I know the story. If I Go Quiet started with: "If I go quiet, I didn't choose it." What arrives first for you when an idea hits, a line, an image, a character, or a feeling?

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Something is happening in the Portland Murders series that I planned quietly and am only now allowed to enjoy. Characters who first appeared in one book are walking into others. Cont...

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Years as a psychiatrist taught me something about people: we walk into the restaurant that already has diners. Books work the same way. The first reviews decide who reads next. Play Me Once opens its doors January 26. 20 seats left on my advance reader team. marydesch.com/arc

Play Me Once wrapped in brown kraft paper and twine, a torn hole showing a woman's eye behind cracked glass. Text: Read it ten weeks early. Advance reader team closes Nov 1.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

What does an advance reader actually do? November 17: an advance copy of Play Me Once lands in your inbox, ten weeks early. No cost. You read at your own pace. Launch week: one honest review wherever you already review books. That's the whole ask. The team closes November 1. marydesch.com/arc

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Currently living inside two Portland Murders books at the same time. One belongs to a detective and his brother. One belongs to a woman being framed for a murder she didn't commit. They don't respect each other's deadlines. I've stopped asking them to.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If you met Kate Nichols in Lethal Loyalty, you already know how she operates. She offers you exactly what you want. Then you find out what it costs. Kate returns in Play Me Once. Advance copies go out November 17. The team closes November 1. marydesch.com/arc

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Leslie Schoen rebuilt everything after her addiction nearly took it all, her career, her sobriety, her marriage. Now there's a baby coming and a second chance she doesn't quite believe she deserves. Which is the worst possible moment for the past to come looking for her.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Play Me Once is out January 26. If you'd rather a robot told you than me, follow on BookBub — one email on the day, nothing else. It only alerts people already following when it goes live. www.bookbub.com/authors/mm-d... #rowanprosepub

A house doorway ajar at night with warm light showing in the gap, thick fog pressing in around the porch.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Grace fell for someone mysterious. Then a reporter turned up dead, and Grace became the prime suspect. To clear herself, she has to face what the woman she loves has been hiding. Play Me Once, Book 2, is on its way.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Every domestic thriller needs one place the character calls safe, early and sincerely. The rest of the book is the slow business of taking that word away from her. #rowanprosepub

A neatly made bed in a grey-lit room with a red folded blanket, the door open onto a dim hallway.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There's real, careful research into psychoactive compounds and healing. I respect it. If I Go Quiet is about the opposite: what happens when someone takes those same tools and uses them to control people instead of help them. The line between the two is thinner than you'd like.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Play Me Once comes out January 26. My advance reader team gets it November 17, ten weeks early, at no cost. The ask: one honest review during launch week, wherever you already review books. Thirty readers are in. I'm looking for twenty more. The team closes November 1. marydesch.com/arc

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

There is a free novella waiting at the other end of this. A whole one, not a sample, and it's yours whether you stay on the list or leave a fortnight later. marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

A plain blank envelope on a wet grey slate doorstep, fog beyond and a red-painted iron railing.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Good news for anyone eyeing the Portland Murders series and unsure where to jump in: Each book stands on its own. You won't be lost. But read a few, and you'll start catching names and faces returning and that's a different kind of pleasure entirely.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Kiersten Modglin has a book finished and recorded for audio that she still hasn't announced. Some writers build a runway. Some just turn up one morning holding a book. I genuinely don't know which one I am. #rowanprosepub

A closed office door at the end of a grey hallway with a thin strip of warm light glowing underneath.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The domestic thriller's real trick: it doesn't add a threat to your life, it reclassifies one you already have. The house. The spouse. The friend who is a little too helpful. Nothing new ever enters the room. #rowanprosepub

A house key with a red leather tag on a slate counter, a foggy window behind.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

A coat still on its hook four days later does more work than a paragraph of interiority. Thrillers run on objects that quietly contradict the story someone is telling you. #rowanprosepub

A kitchen doorway half open onto a grey-lit hall, a red wool coat on a hook, fog at the far window.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

If I Go Quiet is set at an isolated retreat where no one can quite trust the people around them. So I have to ask: do you read this kind of book alone in a quiet house on purpose, or is that exactly the thing you refuse to do?

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

A trope isn't a cliché — it's a promise. The unreliable narrator promises you'll be lied to and enjoy it. What each psychological-suspense trope actually promises: marydesch.com/psychologica... #rowanprosepub

A blank torn sheet of paper lying on wet dark slate, warm lamplight and drifting fog.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

When I was building Ascension Grove for If I Go Quiet, one detail unsettled me more than any other. Integration rooms, the spaces meant for gentle reflection after a session, wired like recording studios. And a so-called Quiet Room reserved for guests who asked the wrong questions. Cont...

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Last call: If I Go Quiet is free through this week for newsletter readers. Sapphic. Medical. The quiet ones always know more than they say. marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

If I Go Quiet book cover against a fogged-glass hospital corridor glowing teal

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Writing rule I keep relearning: if a scene isn't working, it's usually because everyone in it is telling the truth. Give one person something small to hide and the whole thing starts moving. #rowanprosepub

Two coffee mugs on a wooden kitchen table, one set apart, foggy firs through the window.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If I Go Quiet is free. A psychiatrist checks into a wellness retreat in Portland's West Hills to find her missing brother-in-law. Sapphic, medical, about 22,000 words. One evening. marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

The If I Go Quiet book cover against a misty wooded hillside at sunrise.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Portland Murders series lives in two places: The rain-slicked streets of Portland, Oregon. And the sun-scorched mesas around Durango, Colorado. Different weather. Same grit underneath. The crime won't be contained to one map.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A psychiatrist. A city attorney. A financial specialist. A farm owner. Every woman at the center of my series is an expert at something and every time, that expertise becomes both her weapon and the reason she's in danger. That's the thread running through all of it.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Britney King writes what she calls polished lives with ugly cracks. Thirty-plus indie thrillers, her own imprint, and a premise engine that never leaves the neighbourhood. The threat is the person with a reason to be in your house. #rowanprosepub

A craftsman house porch at dusk with one warm window glowing and a red doormat, mist over the lawn.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A detective finds his brother's lighter under a murder victim. To protect his family, should he hide the evidence himself? The Brother's Word is coming.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Some places are dangerous because they look like safety. That's the engine of If I Go Quiet — my sapphic medical thriller. Free when you join the newsletter: marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

A still reservoir at first light with mist on the water, a dark treeline and a single red buoy.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Here's the moment that anchors the next book I'm working on. A Portland homicide detective, Aaron Davis, finds a familiar lighter beneath a murder victim. He recognizes it instantly. It belongs to his estranged brother, Cecil. Cont...

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

In If I Go Quiet, the danger at the retreat is real. But the thing Leslie is most afraid of is the honesty her pregnant wife is asking her for at home. She's used her judgment as armor her whole life. This is the book where it stops working.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

A psychiatrist who hears too much. A patient who says too little. If I Go Quiet — my sapphic medical thriller — is free for newsletter readers: marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Olivia wants a man back badly enough to make a terrible choice. Valerie is trapped in a marriage and holding evidence that could burn the city down. Dominique just became City Attorney and inherited the whole mess. Lethal Loyalty. Out now.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Readers sometimes ask why I write novellas alongside the novels. The honest answer: some stories run hot and fast, and stretching them to novel length would only dilute the dread. Cont...

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Three women. One pipeline deal worth killing for. A Colorado town where loyalty is currency and trust is a liability. Lethal Loyalty is available now on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. Obsession knows no bounds.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The domestic thriller's real premise isn't "your husband might kill you." It's "you have already told this person everything, and you cannot take it back." Which is why it unsettles people who don't like being unsettled. #rowanprosepub

A kitchen table set for two at night, both places used, both chairs pushed back, fog at the window.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Editing habit that has never once failed me: find every sentence starting with "She felt" and delete the first two words. "She felt her chest tighten" becomes "Her chest tightened." Closer. Faster. Same information. #rowanprosepub

A manuscript page on a desk with a red pencil laid across it, the type soft and unreadable.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Free novella, one evening long. A psychiatrist checks into a wellness retreat in Portland's West Hills to find her missing brother-in-law. The retreat is not a wellness retreat. marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

A gravel drive curving up into tall firs past a blank stone marker, thick morning fog between the trunks.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Where's the line between psychological thriller, domestic suspense, and plain crime fiction? I wrote the whole map out. marydesch.com/psychologica... #rowanprosepub

A folded paper map on a desk under low lamp light, its print soft and unreadable.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Blake Pierce shipped three books in August. Three different series. I couldn't do it and wouldn't want to. But it's a useful reminder that "indie pace" isn't one speed. It's a choice about what you're building. #rowanprosepub

Three blank hardback books stacked on a worn desk, morning light raking across the gilded page edges.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

A detective finds his brother's lighter under a murder victim. To protect his family, should he hide the evidence himself? The Brother's Word is coming.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

The best reader channel is the one that asks least of you. BookBub follow = one press, release alerts, nothing else. No inbox to manage. PLAY ME ONCE, Jan 26 2027. www.bookbub.com/authors/mm-d... #rowanprosepub

A small brass bell on a windowsill beside a dish holding a pinecone, fog beyond the glass

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

A psychiatrist. A city attorney. A financial specialist. A farm owner. Every woman at the center of my series is an expert at something, and every time, that expertise becomes both her weapon and the reason she's in danger. That's the thread running through all of it.

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

A twist that lands isn't built from a lie. It's built from a first half that's completely honest and deliberately incomplete. If the reader feels cheated instead of caught, you withheld — you didn't misdirect. #rowanprosepub

A partly assembled jigsaw on a dark table with several pieces lying face-down

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

A retreat where everyone is extremely calm, and the calm is the problem. IF I GO QUIET is free — one evening, ~22k words, reads standalone. marydesch.com/free #rowanprosepub

The cover of If I Go Quiet by M.M. Desch resting on a weathered bench in a misty forest

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MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

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