Books: "A Very Bad Thing" By J.T. Ellison

 

A Very Bad Thing

By J.T. Ellison

Thomas & Mercer; hardcover, 446 pages; $28.99; available today, Friday, November 1st

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels and the Emmy Award-winning co-host of the literary TV show A Word on Words. Her books include It's One of Us, Her Dark Lies, and Good Girls Lie, as well as the Taylor Jackson Series, Samantha Owens Series, and Brit in the FBI Series. Her work has been critically acclaimed and received prestigious awards, while also being optioned for television and published in twenty-eight countries.

A Very Bad Thing is Ellison's new novel, and it centers on the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, women finding their place in the world, the influence and distortion of social media, and the lengths people go to bury their pasts.

Celebrated novelist Columbia Jones is at the top of her game, as she has authored twenty books and there is a highly anticipated movie tie-in. Fans around the world adore her, but on the final night of her latest book tour, one face in the crowd makes the author collapse. 

By the next morning, Columbia is lying dead in a pool of blood. Her death shocks the world, and leaves Darian, her daughter and publicist, reeling. The police at first have nothing to go on, but then details lead to her illicit past. 

It turns out many people had a motive to kill Columbia, and with a hungry reporter and a frustrated cop on the trail, her secrets will not remain buried for long. The question is how many lives will be shattered as these revelations come out.

In this excerpt, Ellison introduces the reader to a typical night for Columbia Jones: "Denver. The last night of book tour. Columbia Jones takes the stage with a wave and a flourish, her silk cape swinging around her shoulders, settling in soft folds as she approaches the microphone, and the room goes wild. Not a lot of women on the cusp of fifty can get away with the style - black jeans, white poet's shirt, storm-gray silk cape, chunky gold necklace - but on Columbia, it looks bespoke. Couture. Of course it isn't; though designers clamor to dress her, she isn't the kind of woman who takes to strangers suggesting what she should do. Her jet-black hair is cut in a severe bob that swings sharply about her sculpted collarbones, and she's managed a red lip and winged eyeliner that puts her squarely in 1940s- movie-star status. All on her own.

She is gorgeous. 

Riley Carrington has been struck by this realization several times over the past few weeks. Especially when Columbia is playing the role of a lifetime, Author Girl, like she's some sort of superhero, with the clothes and the makeup and the confidence oozing out of her pores that makes Riley feel like she's ten years old.

Self-talk. Riley. She chose you. You, above every other writer.

Columbia stands with one brow cocked, waiting. The theater quiets. It has to; Columbia has a low mellifluous voice that makes people lean forward to hear her better. They hang on every word. She is their god. Their rock star. Their favorite author of all time. Some have traveled hundreds of miles to see her tonight. Every night of the tour has been the same. Massive crowds of invested fans, readers who love Columbia's work so much they tattoo themselves with her phrases and create art about her characters. There are fandoms, and then there are fandoms. Columbia Jones owns this world. 

They've been on the road for a month, a traveling band of merrymakers and manic-depressives, alcoholics and teetotalers. Publicists, editors, publishers,  booksellers, media escorts, family, friends, and Riley Carrington. One lone reporter. The only reporter Columbia Jones has agreed to speak to for this tour. She's press-shy, much prefers to interact with her readers directly. She hasn't done any meaningful publicity in years, generally letting her daughter and publicist, Darian, handle things for her. But Ivory Lady is being made into a full-length feature film with two of Hollywood's most bankable stars in the lead, and the budget for it makes Lord of the Rings look like a lemonade stand. The option sold before the book was finished and the film will be out in a couple of months. They got the jump. And there needs to be publicity. Columbia agreed, with one caveat. She got to pick the reporter.

Enter Riley Carrington. She knows what they say: up-and-coming journalist, hungry, talented. A good match for a juggernaut author. Will do her duty to the circus and present them with exactly what they need."