Dear Friends and Readers,

No matter how far into the new year you are reading this, I wish you a happy one. Though happy is a word that might feel small in these challenging times. What I wish you is peace and plenty, health and love, and a deep sense of well-being amidst events in a chaotic world.

We’ve just come through the holidays. Our family had the good fortune to be together and consider ourselves doubly lucky to have had a new puppy here at home. Little Jip is now six months old and he has quite a literary provenance! Not only did the wonderful author (and dear friend) Mary Alice Monroe, recommend Jip’s breeder, but there is a fabulous story about his name. My husband, Chuck, grew up with a dog called Jip. As we decided to adopt a male puppy after a lifetime of females, we opted to use that name in a full-circle nod. Imagine my surprise (tell me if you’re way ahead of me and already know this!) to discover that not only was Jip the name of Abraham Lincoln’s dog, it was also the name of the dog in David Copperfield and one in the children’s book, Dr. Doolittle! So Jip has big shoes to fill, which I have no doubt he will do quite playfully.

And now to books. I am in the midst of preparing to go on book tour for my newest suspense, Best Boy, which comes out on February 24. I am creating a fantastic book club kit filled with reader questions, downloadable book marks, and a VERY cool playlist that spans musical hits from the late nineties through 2018. Yes, you will find the Spice Girls and Britney Spears!

Best Boy is a thriller with loads of plot (a mysterious letter from a threatening man, a mercurial husband, a faulty memory, and a home robbery that might be connected to all of it!), but it also poses deep questions about personal responsibility that will be exciting to discuss in the book club format. Kirkus Reviews has call Best Boy “absolutely compelling” and noted that it is “for fans of Liane Moriarty and Ruth Ware.” Well! I am truly honored to be considered in that company and I hope you enjoy reading Best Boy as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I also hope you’ll get together with me—either virtually or in person—to discuss it. Please check out my website: deborahgoodrichroyce.com and let me know if you’d like me to pop in on your book club! Attached you will find a copy of my tour schedule. Please check it out and mark a date or two when you can join me on the road. After all these years and four books connecting with you, I love hearing YOUR stories when I see you!

Before I sign off, stay tuned for news about our upcoming (SIXTH!) year of the Ocean House Author Series. We have some amazing writers lining up. And the Deer Mountain Writers’ Retreat—which will host its fourth cohort in April—is quickly becoming a much-needed haven for so many writers. I am proud to have played a part in both of those ongoing literary events and honored to host them.

So, my friends, on to the road I go, looking forward to connecting. For that is what we need more than anything right now: connection. I hope we all, myself at the top of that heap, make an effort to listen to each other and grant each other the benefit of the doubt. It will make this world the better place we all want it to be.

With respect and love-

Xo,
Deborah

===
Best Boy
===

Viveca Stevenson has it all: a handsome and successful husband, an adorable ten-year-old son, and a coastal dream house in Greenwich, Connecticut. She has a solid group of girlfriends and is content with the afterglow of the film career she’s left behind. But when a threatening letter arrives—from a man she does not remember—it cracks open a part of her past she thought was buried for good.

A terrifying chain of events is set in motion, forcing Viveca to confront what happened on a shattering Halloween night in high school when she had a different name, a different face, a different voice. Who is the man contacting her now and was he really the best boy on her most famous film, Misty? Why can’t she remember him—or that night?

A taut psychological thriller, Best Boy explores identity, memory, and the dangerous power of forgetting.

===

BEST BOY BOOK TOUR

Thursday, February 19
6 pm
Mysterious Bookshop
New York, NY

Sunday, February 22
4 pm
In Conversation with Robin Kall
United Theatre w/Martin House Books
Westerly, RI

Monday, February 23
6:30 pm
In Conversation with Luanne Rice
RJ Julia Booksellers
Madison, CT

Tuesday, February 24
9:30 am
In Conversation with Avery Carpenter Forrey
Greenwich Historical Society
Greenwich, CT

Tuesday, February 24
6:30 pm
In Conversation with Tessa Wegert
Barrett Bookstore
Darien, CT

Wednesday, February 25
2 pm
Palm Beach County Library – Gardens Branch
Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Friday, February 27
2–3 pm
Book Signing
Palm Beach Bookstore
Palm Beach, FL

Saturday, February 28
5 pm
In Conversation with Victoria Christopher Murray
Politics & Prose
Washington, DC

Sunday, March 1
3:30 pm
In Conversation with Annabel Monaghan
Oxford Exchange
Tampa, FL

Monday, March 2
12 pm
In Conversation with Linda Bond
Fox 13 TV
Tampa Bay

Monday, March 2
6 pm
Copperfish Books
Punta Gorda, FL

Tuesday, March 3
Luncheon w/Books on Third
Ridgeway Bar & Grill
Naples, FL

Wednesday, March 4
6 pm
Warren Civic Center Library
Warren, MI

Thursday, March 5
5:30 pm
Toledo Lucas County Public Library
Toledo, OH

Friday, March 6
5 pm
Lake Erie College
Painesville, OH

Saturday, March 7
2 pm
Cuyahoga County Public Library – Middleburg Heights Branch
Middleburg Heights, OH

Sunday, March 8
3 pm
The Penguin Bookshop
Sewickley, PA

Tuesday, March 10
7 pm
Books and Books
Coral Gables, FL

Thursday, March 12
7 pm
In Conversation with Allison Pataki
Elm Street Books
New Canaan Library
New Canaan, CT

Sunday, March 15
4:30 pm
Keswick Hall
Keswick, VA

Wednesday, March 18
7 pm
Poisoned Pen Bookstore
Virtual Event

Thursday, March 19
3 pm
Sumter County Museum
Sumter, SC

Friday, March 20
11 am
Litchfield Books Author Luncheon
Litchfield, SC

Saturday, March 21
Noon
Wild Dunes Author Luncheon w/Mary Alice Monroe & Buxton Books
Location to come
Charleston, SC

Sunday, March 22
11:30 am
Zibby’s Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2026
Zibby’s Bookshop
Santa Monica, CA

Monday, March 30
6 pm
In Conversation with Christa Carmen
Inkfish Books
Warren, RI

Tuesday, March 31
6 pm
In Conversation with Marie Benedict
for her book Daughter of Egypt
United Theatre w/Martin House Books
Westerly, RI

Tuesday, March 31
9 pm
Killer Author Club with Kaira Rouda
Virtual

Tuesday, April 14
6:30 pm
In Conversation with Wendy Walker
Dogwood Books, Christ Church
Greenwich, CT

Thursday, April 16
Noon
Luncheon and Talk
The Griswold Inn
Essex, CT

Wednesday, April 29
1:30 pm
Florida Voices Series
Society of the Four Arts
Palm Beach, FL