Galveston author Saralyn Richard has long been fascinated by the dark corners of the human psyche and the secrets we carry. In her newest novel, “Mrs. Oliver’s Twist,” she raises the stakes in a chilling tale set along the Texas Gulf Coast. 

 The novel, the second in Richard’s Quinn McFarland Mystery Series, plunges its protagonist into a mystery as personal as it is dangerous. Following the success of “Bad Blood Sisters,” a book club favorite, “Mrs. Oliver’s Twist” promises to keep readers guessing, and flipping pages, until the very end.                                                                                       

 The novel opens with mortician Quinn McFarland returning from her honeymoon, poised to take the next step in her career and personal life. Instead, she’s summoned to identify a body at the morgue. 

 The deceased? Mrs. Oliver, her beloved high school English teacher, who once helped Quinn navigate the turbulence of adolescence. The reunion is anything but comforting. 

 As Quinn examines the body, she notices a peculiar tattoo on the teacher’s wrist, a symbol that jolts her memory and signals danger. Soon, Quinn is drawn into a spiraling investigation that dredges up secrets in her small coastal town; secrets that could cost her everything, including her marriage and her own life. 

 “I know several people, including family members, who are in death services. I interviewed one of them about her experiences in preparing bodies for burial. I was blown away by what she told me.” 

 “People who do this quiet but necessary work gain unique insights and perspectives on life and death,” said Richard, an award-winning author. “I wanted to write a short story based on those insights but never got past the planning stage.” 

 The story evolved when she transformed those insights into a full-fledged mystery. 

 “Murder mysteries often contain funerals, and I’ve interviewed funeral directors and embalmers. I’ve learned a lot about the industry,” she said. 

 “When I started thinking about Quinn’s character in the run-up to writing “Bad Blood Sisters,” I felt the perfect backstory for her was working in the family business, a mortuary. Quinn always wanted to work in medicine, on the living side of things, but her life was derailed at an early age.” 

 “She ended up working at McFarland’s Funeral Home, just like her brother, parents, and grandparents before her,” Richard said.

 “Mrs. Oliver’s Twist,” the second book in the Quinn McFarland series, revolves partly around Quinn’s new life and goals after she returns from her honeymoon. McFarland’s is central to this plot, as well.” 

 Set against the atmospheric backdrop of a tight-knit seaside community, Richard expertly blends coastal charm with undercurrents of menace. Readers of “Bad Blood Sisters” will recall how Richard painted Galveston Island as a scenic setting where everyone knows everyone else’s secrets, or thinks they do. 

 “Of course, receiving dead bodies, especially those who died unnatural deaths, is a perfect way to become embroiled in a mystery.” 

 “Bad Blood Sisters” starts when Quinn receives the body of her former BFF - a very dramatic and haunting moment.” 

 Throughout her latest book, Quinn must reconcile the image she’s always had of Mrs. Oliver with the darker realities she unearths about her mentor’s hidden life. As she pulls at the threads of the case, each revelation sends her deeper into a web of deception that implicates people she thought she could trust. 

 The emotional complexity of the book mirrors Richard’s commitment to crafting multi-dimensional characters, both heroes and villains alike. Early reviews have praised the novel’s “complex and compelling” cast and the “cleverly executed” plot twists that lend the book its sly, Dickensian title. 

 “My original working title had Mrs. Oliver’s name, but it also had a word that constituted a spoiler, so I knew from the start that I couldn’t use it,” she said. 

 “I delayed changing it for a long time because I was working on the various twists and turns of the plot, and there are many. One day, I talked to another author from one of my critique groups, and the phrase, “Mrs. Oliver’s Twist,” came into the conversation. 

 “The pun with the Dickens title brought about a laugh, but I knew then that it was the perfect title for this book.” 

 Richard, a former educator and long-time Gulf Coast resident, has subtly woven her background into her fiction. Her time in the classroom and her experience living in different parts of the country - including New Orleans and Chicago - inform her characters’ emotional authenticity.

 “Once again, the small-town setting, with many interconnections among residents, provides coziness at times but suffocation at others,” said Richard, who was born on Galveston Island, and is known locally as a BOI.

 “As a BOI, who considers Galveston paradise, I sometimes shudder at the lack of privacy and stress of having everyone know your past and present troubles.”

 In the novel, the deceased was Quinn’s sophomore English teacher, a person who helped Quinn rebound from the betrayal of her best friend and her boyfriend. Quinn’s affection for her mentor pulls her into a grisly murder, and Quinn doesn’t know whom to trust. 

 Richard said her background as an educator influences her depiction of teacher-student relationships. In the book's dedication, she said her writing journey began thanks to two Galveston Ball High School teachers who recognized her potential and encouraged her to pursue it. 

 Later, she passed that encouragement on by teaching creative writing to many successful writers.

 “I believe strongly that teachers have the potential to change the world - for better or worse. Quinn’s relationship with Mrs. Oliver is not autobiographical. Still, it explores some very real ways that different students perceive their teachers differently. And how the classroom is, and is not, representative of the real world.” 

While this is the second installment in the Quinn McFarland series, Richard ensures newcomers can dive in without missing a beat. Enough of Quinn’s backstory from “Bad Blood Sisters” is threaded through the narrative to give readers context. Returning fans will undoubtedly appreciate how the characters’ arcs continue to develop. 

 “The most challenging part of writing a series is finessing the backstory without slowing the plot. I never want to spoil the previous book for those who have jumped into the series without reading it.” 

 “The sweet spot is giving just enough information to ground the character in the time of the new book, but not so much that it repeats plot points for those who have already read them,” she said. 

 “As a series reader, I appreciate and emulate authors who do this well. And I have a lot of practice since four books are in my Detective Parrott series.” 

 In true thriller fashion, the stakes in “Mrs. Oliver’s Twist” escalate quickly. Quinn’s family loyalty, professional obligations, and fragile new marriage are all put to the test as she edges closer to a killer hiding in plain sight. 

 The book is already generating buzz in the mystery community. Advance praise highlights Richard’s deft plotting and the novel’s “fast-paced suspense” and “heart-pounding action.” 

 Richard stays closely connected to the literary community as a member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. She engages with readers nationwide, in person and virtually, sharing her passion for the genre. 

 With her new release, readers are primed for another atmospheric, twist-filled mystery that blends family drama, coastal noir, and the chilling realization that sometimes, the people we trust most are the ones who can hurt us the deepest. 

 “I honestly don’t plan out a series in advance. When I wrote the first book in the Detective Parrott series, I expected it to be a standalone mystery. Only when readers clamored for a second, did I invite Parrott to whisper in my ear again,” she said. 

 “The same thing happened with “Bad Blood Sisters” and Quinn. If readers want more of Quinn, and her life changes lend themselves to another mystery, maybe she’ll come back for an encore.” 

 Looking ahead, Richard also hopes to write a historical fiction novel set in post-1900 Storm Galveston, inspired by her grandparents' extraordinary story. 

 For more information about the work of author Saralyn Richard, visit www.saralynrichard.com.