What's new from creators of hit RI thriller 'Young Rich Widows'? Find out at author events

The novel “Young Rich Widows” starts with a bang – literally.

It’s 1985 when a private airplane en route from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport to T.F. Green in Warwick explodes over the waters of Long Island Sound, killing four members of a Providence law firm.

It's initially ruled a tragic accident, but the titular characters aren’t buying that explanation, especially when it turns out that millions of dollars burned up in the “accident” and mobsters start turning up at their Rhode Island homes.

Written collaboratively by four award-winning authors of thrillers – including Providence's Vanessa Lillie – the novel will be released in print by Sourcebooks on April 2 after a successful year as an Audible Original.

The saga also spawned a sequel, “Desperate Deadly Widows,” which Audible released on March 19, with an equally dramatic start: Camille, one of the widows, is in the office of the mayor of Providence when he drops dead, apparently poisoned by a champagne toast. It’s up to the women to figure out who did it and exonerate Camille.

The four authors invite the public to join them in celebrating the print and audio book releases – and the 1980s – at launch parties on April 3 at Ink Fish Books in Warren and on April 4 at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Massachusetts.

How did the four authors collaborate?

Lillie, author of three bestselling novel-length thrillers, says the project developed after she contacted writers she’d met through the authors group International Thriller Writers: bestselling novelists Kimberly Belle of Atlanta and Amsterdam, Layne Fargo of Chicago, and Cate Holahan of Tenafly, New Jersey.

“I loved their work and thought our creative voices would blend well,” Lillie says. Her suggestion was that each would write chapters centering on a single character, which then would be combined in the novel.

During an interview via Zoom, the four writers explained how well the collaboration worked.

“Vanessa gave us [character] names and a tiny bit of detail,” Fargo said. Fargo chose to write Meredith, a stripper at a mob-owned club in Providence, who is in a secret relationship with the law firm’s only female partner.

“My master’s [degree] was on burlesque and striptease,” she explained.

Belle’s character, Camille, is a Southern transplant to Rhode Island. Holahan chose Justine, a biracial woman who was a model before marrying her lawyer husband.

Lillie’s character, Krystal, is an Italian American Rhode Islander, but, she noted, “Providence is such a character.” Specific locations, including the Turk’s Head Building, Hemenway’s restaurant and the Cathedral of SS. Peter & Paul, plus Rhode Island-centric habits, like serving Caserta’s pizza at a party, abound.

The project “took extensive plotting,” Lillie said.

“It actually was an Excel spreadsheet,” Holahan said. “We had to thread in red herrings and information that would be important later.”

“We each wrote a chapter a week,” Belle said, and on Fridays, they’d go over the four new chapters.

“We were excited to read each other’s chapters,” Holahan added, and the three said it generally was Lillie’s chapters that had them “cracking up.”

Keeping it consistent, and a little bit campy

Acknowledging that the thriller genre is intense, “We wanted this to be campy,” Lillie said. “We wanted people to have as much fun listening to it as we did writing it.”

At the same time, they worked on consistency. “Whoever created the character had the final say” on how she behaved, Fargo said. “If it’s Meredith, I could say, ‘I don’t think she’d do it that way.’”

Having four authors helped create those distinct characters. “Our writing voices vibe together, but each is very different, and I think you can feel the switch in voice,” Belle said.

Or hear it. Different actors read each character, and Audible sent audition recordings to the authors so they could choose, for example, a Southern drawl or an authentic Rhode Island accent.

“It was interesting to see what the actors bring to the characters, the way they read things,” Belle added.

Audiobook's success spawned a sequel

Even more interesting to the authors was the reception for “Rich Young Widows.” The International Thriller Writers nominated it for best book of the year. It is a No. 1 Audible Bestseller; more than 20,000 Audible listener reviews netted it a 4½ star rating out of five. That Audible contracted a sequel also speaks to its success.

In October 2022, the authors convened in person in Rhode Island to prepare for that sequel, “Desperate Deadly Widows.” They visited Newport, where the novel is set, to research details.

“We chatted with a man on a boat and asked questions, like, ‘If we wanted to sneak onto a boat, how would we do it?’” Belle recalled.

Lillie, who is an enrolled member of Cherokee Nation, introduced a new character from the Narragansett Tribe, so the authors visited the Tomaquag Museum in Exeter and spoke with executive director Loren Spears. She provided a wealth of information, but also “turned out to be amazing at plotting,” Lillie said.

With “Young Rich Widows” in print, and “Desperate Deadly Widows” available on Audible, fans can combine the experience, Lillie suggests: Read the first novel and listen to the sequel.

And stay tuned for another installment. Nothing is official, but the authors hinted at “lots of ideas” for a third novel.

If you go …

Launch parties, both encouraging 1980s dress styles and spirit, are scheduled for:

April 3, 6:30-7:45 p.m., Ink Fish Books, 488 Main St., Warren. inkfishbooks.com, (401) 368-6827

April 4, 7 p.m., An Unlikely Story, 111 South St., Plainville, Massachusetts, anunlikelystory.com, (508) 699-0244

About the authors

Vanessa Lillie – Amazon bestselling thriller author of “Little Voices” and “For the Best,” her third novel, “Blood Sisters,” is a USA TODAY bestselling suspense novel, a Target Book Club pick and GMA Book Club Buzz Pick, also  named one of the best mystery novel in 2023 by The Washington Post.

Kimberly Belle – An internationally best-selling author of seven novels with more than a million copies sold worldwide. Her novel “The Marriage Lie” was a Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist for best mystery and thriller. Her novels have been selected by LibraryReads, Amazon and Apple Books editors as best books of the month.

Layne Fargo – Author of the thrillers “They Never Learn” and “Tempe,” and co-creator of the “Unlikeable Female Characters" podcast on Lit Hub Radio. Her novel “The Favorites” will be published by Random House early next year.

Cate Holahan – A USA TODAY bestselling suspense author, whose fifth novel, “Her Three Lives,” was a "Good Morning America" book club selection, and her second, “The Widower’s Wife,” was a Kirkus Best Book in 2016. Her two original movies, “Deadly Estate” and “Midnight Hustle,” have aired on Tubi.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI thriller 'Young Rich Widows' comes to print and gets Audible sequel