iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Here it is: marydesch.com/free

000

One question drives Lethal Loyalty: what would you do for the person who knows exactly what you want? A domestic-suspense novella set in drought-country Colorado. Free with my newsletter, link in the reply. #BookSky #rowanprosepub

Dusty sandstone steps up to a small-town civic building in hazy Colorado light, one dry leaf on the stone.

250

Leslie does exactly this to her wife in Tangled Darkness. It's the most human thing about her, and the hardest to watch. What's a secret you've seen kept for all the right reasons, that still blew up anyway?

000

They were small, quiet, kept out of love, "I didn't want to worry you," "I'll tell you when things settle down." People protecting each other right up until the protection became the wound. Cont...

100

Readers keep noticing that my characters tend to hide things from the people they love most. It's true. And it isn't an accident. In my old work, the secrets that did the most damage were almost never the dramatic ones. Cont...

100

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

New on Netflix today: The Trap, a German series adapted from Melanie Raabe's novel. The setup: an author writes a novel to lure her sister's killer. A book as bait. As a writer, I find that thrilling and a little too relatable. Watching? #CrimeFiction #rowanprosepub

A closed book left face-down on a wet park bench on a foggy Portland path.

000

A retreat that promises healing. A man who vanishes inside it. A last message that says: "If I go quiet, I didn't choose it." That's If I Go Quiet, and it's out now. But tell me first, would you ever do a silent retreat where you had to hand over your phone at the door?

Book question for #BookSky: when a narrator stays very calm while everything around them falls apart, do you trust them more, or less? I know my answer. I'm curious about yours. #CrimeFiction #rowanprosepub

A clinic wall clock with a red second hand above an empty waiting-room chair in soft grey light.

031

Here's a question I can't stop asking, and I write whole books trying to answer it: Would you cross a line you swore you never would, for someone you love? Every woman in my Portland Murders books says no. Right up until she doesn't.

Read it here: www.amazon.com/Lethal-Loyal...

amazon.com

Amazon

000

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

She has loved him for thirty years. Now he needs one small favor. What choice would she make? Lethal Loyalty is now available on Kindle. Link in comments.

110

Years as a psychiatrist taught me one thing I lean on every single page now: people rarely lie outright. They hand you the version they can live with. When's the last time you caught someone doing that, telling you the tolerable version instead of the true one?

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

Setting question for #CrimeFiction folks: why does the Pacific Northwest work so well for crime? My theory: water and rain are patient. They hold things for years, then give them back at the worst possible moment. Which PNW place would you set one in? #BookSky #rowanprosepub

Willamette River in morning fog with a bridge fading into the mist

071

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

Question for #BookSky: which fictional villain stayed with you long after you closed the book? Not the scariest. The one who lingered. Mine is one I wrote, which feels like cheating. #CrimeFiction #rowanprosepub

0171

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Here it is. PLAY ME ONCE, Book Two of The Portland Murders. Lethal Loyalty was written while I was outlining this one, which is why the novella ends the way it does. If you read the prequel and wanted to throw it across the room, that was the plan. Preorder opens soon.

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Looking for advance readers for Play Me Once, my psychological thriller out Jan 26. Three points of view, one manipulator, and Det. Aaron Davis back from Tangled Darkness. Free early copy; an honest review if it lands. Sign-ups close Nov 1: marydesch.com/arc #BookSky #rowanprosepub

Play Me Once book cover over a rain-wet Portland street at blue hour

050

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

October TBR, short-read edition: Lethal Loyalty is a domestic-suspense novella you can finish in an evening or two. A Colorado mountain town, a law office, and a woman who knows what everyone wants. Free when you join my newsletter: marydesch.com/free #BookSky #DomesticSuspense #rowanprosepub

060

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One favor. One box. A friendship that does not survive the week. Lethal Loyalty is live now on Amazon.

120

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Free mystery, thriller and suspense reads all October from a big group of indie authors, Lethal Loyalty included. Most ask you to join the author's newsletter. books.bookfunnel.com/thrillingfre... #BookSky #ThrillerBooks #rowanprosepub

Mystery, Thriller and Suspense Freebies banner in glowing white letters on purple stone

062

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Out now: Tangled Darkness, If I Go Quiet, Lethal Loyalty. Coming: Play Me Once, where a lot of threads you've already met start pulling tight. Then… The Brother's Word, a detective, his framed brother, and a corruption that was inherited. The world keeps growing. Stay close.

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Where to begin with the Portland Murders series: → Tangled Darkness: the novel that starts it all → If I Go Quiet: the retreat novella (out now) → Lethal Loyalty: the Durango novella (out now) → Play Me Once: the second novel; pre-order mid December for a January release Link in bio. Pick a door.

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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?

MM Desch @mm-desch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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.

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

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.

090

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?

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

I can't say much yet. Only that if you've read closely, you'll recognize more than you expect. The whole thing was always one story. You're just seeing the shape of it now.

000

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

A name you meet in Durango turns up again in Portland. A reporter mentioned in passing becomes the center of a later murder. The pieces were never separate, they were waiting. Play Me Once brings some of those threads together in a way I've wanted to write for a long time. Cont...

100

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...

100

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

012

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.

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

030

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.

021

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.

031

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.

021

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.

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.

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?

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.