Behind the Book: The Inspiration Behind Bound by Secrets
June 29, 2026
One of the questions I’m asked most often is, “Where did the idea for Bound by Secrets come from?”
Like most of my books, the answer isn’t just one thing. It wasn’t a single moment or one perfectly formed idea. Instead, it was a collection of dreams I’d been carrying around for years that finally found the right story.
If you’ve been reading my books for a while, you know how much I love creating small towns that readers want to visit. Places where neighbors know one another, local businesses have personalities of their own, and every street seems to hold another story waiting to unfold. Those communities become just as important to me as the mysteries themselves.
For a long time, I’d wanted to write a series centered around a bookstore.
Not just any bookstore, though.
I wanted to create the kind of independent bookstore every book lover dreams about discovering. One tucked into a charming downtown where the front windows change with the seasons, the bookshelves invite you to wander, and there’s always a comfortable chair waiting for you to settle in with a good book.
Bookstores have always felt magical to me.
When you walk through the door, you’re stepping into thousands of adventures at once. Every shelf holds a different world. Every customer arrives looking for something, even if they don’t quite know what it is yet. Some are searching for an escape. Others want to learn something new. Some simply need a quiet place where they feel understood.
That’s the feeling I wanted Boone’s Book Nook to capture.
Of course, because this is one of my cozy mysteries, I couldn’t stop with simply creating a charming bookstore.
There had to be a mystery.
And not just any mystery.
I wanted the mystery itself to celebrate books.
That’s where the idea of a valuable rare edition began taking shape. I loved the thought of an old book carrying secrets long after its original owner was gone. Rare books aren’t simply valuable because they’re old. They carry history in their pages. They’ve been passed from hand to hand, collected, treasured, forgotten, rediscovered, and sometimes fought over.
That felt like the perfect beginning for a mystery.
As I developed the story, I realized the rare book wasn’t really the heart of Bound by Secrets.
The people were.
Every mystery I write begins with relationships. The crime may bring everyone together, but it’s the friendships, rivalries, family histories, and everyday conversations that make a town feel alive. I wanted readers to feel like they were walking alongside Sadie, chatting with shop owners, greeting familiar faces on Main Street, and slowly becoming part of the community themselves.
That sense of belonging has always mattered to me.
I don’t want readers to simply solve a mystery. I want them to feel like they’ve spent time somewhere they never wanted to leave.
That led me to Sadie Whitfield.
Sadie isn’t someone who planned to reinvent her life. She spent years building a successful career in New York publishing, surrounded by books every single day. On paper, she already had the dream job many readers imagine.
But sometimes life quietly whispers that it’s time for something different.
For Sadie, that whisper became impossible to ignore.
When she arrives in Normal, Kentucky, she’s expecting a quick visit connected to a rare book she’d hoped to acquire. Instead, one unexpected event changes everything, leaving her caught in the middle of a murder investigation and wondering if perhaps she’d found something far more valuable than the book she’d been chasing.
She’d found home.
I think that’s one of the reasons this series became so special to me while I was writing it.
It’s about fresh starts.
It’s about discovering that sometimes the life you carefully planned isn’t the one that brings you the greatest joy.
It’s about slowing down enough to notice the people around you.
And yes…
It’s about solving murders before someone else gets hurt.
There was one more member of the cast who arrived almost immediately.
Watson.
Every bookstore deserves a resident cat.
Actually, every bookstore probably deserves several, but Watson quickly made it clear he intended to supervise absolutely everything happening inside Boone’s Book Nook. Like many fictional pets, he has a habit of ignoring outlines, stealing scenes, and doing exactly what he wants.
I learned early on that the smartest thing I could do was let him.
Some of my favorite moments in the series aren’t about clues at all. They’re the quieter scenes where Watson is watching customers from the front window, napping in a patch of afternoon sunshine, or deciding that an important stack of books makes the perfect place for a nap.
Those little moments remind me why I love writing cozy mysteries.
They’re about ordinary life interrupted by extraordinary events.
Readers spend time inside bookstores, coffee shops, diners, and front porches. They meet people who become friends. They laugh. They worry. They piece together clues.
By the time the mystery is solved, I hope it feels like they’ve spent time with people they’ll miss until the next book.
Looking back now, I realize Bound by Secrets wasn’t simply the beginning of another mystery series.
It was my love letter to readers.
It’s a celebration of independent bookstores.
Of librarians and collectors.
Of first editions and forgotten treasures.
Of cats who believe they’re in charge.
Of second chances.
And most of all, it’s a celebration of the community that grows whenever people gather around stories.
Thank you for taking this journey with me.
Every time you step through the front door of Boone’s Book Nook, you remind me why I wanted to write this series in the first place. I hope you’ll continue returning to Normal, Kentucky, because there are plenty more mysteries waiting on the shelves.
Reader Discussion
I’d love to hear from you!
Have you ever visited an independent bookstore that felt magical?
If you could spend an afternoon anywhere in Normal, where would you go first?
Do you collect any special books or editions?
Are you more like Sadie, always searching for the next great story, or more like Watson, perfectly content finding the sunniest spot in the bookstore?
