Chicagoan Charlie Donlea on Writing Best-Selling Mysteries

With titles like Don’t Believe It, Some Choose Darkness, and The Girl Who Was Taken, you know that you are in for a thriller where surprises lurk around every corner. No wonder Chicagoan Charlie Donlea is a USA Today and a number one best selling author internationally. Along with a Charlie Donlea mystery to get me through this week’s artic cold I added a further stay-at-home pleasure of speaking with the Chicago best-selling author himself about his craft.

Writing the manuscript for his tenth thriller is keeping Donlea indoors this week as well as working with a team to develop his Twenty Years Later into a television series. He may will have news to share soon. His newest hardcover Guess Again will be released in August 2025.

Not only do we love the plot twists that keep you guessing until the final pages, the clever red herrings we fall for and the great destinations where Donlea’s novels are set (including Chicago and Door County as well as faraway places like St. Lucia) we find characters you care for, something lacking in many mysteries.

Here’s what we learned from Donlea on a day when it was two degrees in Chicago.

To read the full article on classicchicagomagazine.com, click here