Amy Engle (THE FAMILIAR DARK & Shauna Holyoak(KAZU JONES AND THE DENVER DOG NAPPERS)

Amy Engel is an American author of suspense and youth adult genres. She was born in Kansas and spent her childhood in Iran, Taiwan and in several states within the United States including Kansas, California, Missouri, and Washington D.C. Amy has a law degree and was a defense attorney before she devoted herself full time to her family and to writing. She lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her husband and two kids. She spends her free time exercising, reading or shoe shopping. She is the author of the Ivy series.

We discuss her latest book. Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, in a small town with big secrets, The Familiar Dark opens with a murder. Eve Taggert, desperate with grief over losing her daughter, takes it upon herself to find out the truth about what happened. Eve is no stranger to the dark side of life, having been rwith her family. Her next literary thriller, THE FAMILIAR DARK, will be published by Dutton in Spring 2020.aised by a hard-edged mother whose lessons Eve tried not to pass on to her own daughter. But Eve may need her mother's cruel brand of strength if she's going to face the reality about her daughter's death and about her own true nature. Her quest for justice takes her from the seedy underbelly of town to the quiet woods and, most frighteningly, back to her mother's trailer for a final lesson.

Shauna has been telling stories long before she could ride a bike, and some of them are even true! She writes for kids and teens and thinks it’s kinda the best job ever. Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers is her debut novel, and it will be released on April 23, 2019! She lives in Idaho Falls, ID with her husband, six of their seven children, and two naughty dogs.

We discuss her Agatha nominated book "Kazu Jones and the Denver Dognappers" Packed with high stakes mystery and tons of heart, this first installment in a new series introduces Kazu Jones-a spunky, scrappy detective who's this generation's Harriet the Spy.

When a string of dognappings grips her Denver neighborhood, Kazu Jones vows to track down the culprits. She can't stand to see more dogs go missing-especially once her neighbors' beloved pet is taken because of her gigantic mistake.

With the help of her gang-including her best friend and expert hacker, March; and her ginormous, socially anxious pup, Genki-Kazu uncovers evidence that suggests the dognapping ring is bigger than she ever imagined. But the more she digs, the more dangerous her investigation becomes. The dognappers are getting bolder, and Genki could be next.