Amy Meyerson: Trust Your Instincts
In this interview, author Amy Meyerson discusses writing about the everyday challenges of motherhood in her new thriller, The Water Lies.
Amy Meyerson is the acclaimed author of the internationally bestselling The Bookshop of Yesterdays, The Imperfects, and The Love Scribe. Her books have been translated into 11 languages and are frequently chosen for best-of lists, including lists from “Good Morning America,” Publishers Weekly, The Christian Science Monitor, Library Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Texas Library Association’s Lariat List, among others. Meyerson completed her graduate work in creative writing at the University of Southern California, where she now teaches in the writing department. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
In this interview, Amy discusses writing about the everyday challenges of motherhood in her new thriller, The Water Lies, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Amy Meyerson
Literary agent: Marcy Posner at Folio Literary Management
Book title: The Water Lies
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Release date: January 1, 2026
Genre/category: Thriller; domestic suspense
Previous titles: The Bookshop of Yesterdays, The Imperfects, The Love Scribe
Elevator pitch: When a body surfaces in the canals of Venice Beach, California, two mothers, the mother of the drowned woman and another of a very young boy who might know what happened to her, are certain it’s no accident. They team up to uncover truth, relying only on each other, their intuition, and the creeping sense of danger that grows with every shocking revelation.
What prompted you to write this book?
The initial spark of an idea for this book came to me when my son was learning how to speak. He was an early talker, but there was still a chasm between what he could say and what he wanted to communicate to me. I was really struck by this conflict and began to imagine scenarios where this was not only frustrating but dangerous.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The process of drafting this book was really interesting because I sat with the idea for a lot longer than I took to write it and work through the stages of publication. The idea came to me in 2020 before I’d even started drafting my third novel, The Love Scribe. As soon as I had the initial idea about a toddler whose inability to communicate turns deadly, I landed pretty quickly on the image of a drowned woman. Slowly, over the next two years, pieces of the idea came to me.
I’ve learned from my previous books that I can’t start writing until I know what the secret at the core of the book is, and it did take a few misfires before I landed on an idea that I really liked. Once I decided what would happen and talked to some helpful experts, I let the idea take shape. Then one day as I was waiting at the doctor’s office, the first sentence hit me. From there, I drafted the entire first chapter on my notes app (it was a long wait). The published first chapter is actually pretty similar to what I wrote on my phone. Originally, I’d assumed the entire book would be told from Tessa’s, the boy’s mother’s, perspective. But when I finished that first chapter, I realized that the book needed another perspective. The first major change was adding Barb, the mother of the woman who drowned. Once I added her, the book was more expansive both in what it had to say about motherhood and in the narrative. It felt more alive, and I was happy to give Tessa a friend and occasional antagonist.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
This one is tough to answer without any spoilers, but I’ll try. This is my first thriller, so there was definitely a learning curve for how you fold in clues, twists, and red herrings. Those happened over several drafts. One of the biggest surprises was realizing that I’d already written the murderer into the book and it wasn’t the person I was planning to have as the killer. This is something I’m now applying to my new book—looking for clues I’ve already organically woven into the story. While every book presents new challenges, I try to take lessons from one book and apply them to the next.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
About halfway through the book I realized, based on talking to an expert, that there needed to be an additional person involved in the secret at the heart of the book. Writing that person into the story dramatically changed plot and made the second half of the novel richer.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
In the immediate reading experience, I hope that readers are transported to LA’s Venice Canals and get absorbed in Barb and Tessa’s story. I hope that it’s surprising and engaging. Then after, I hope the book invites conversations about motherhood and fertility. I wanted to write about the everyday challenges of motherhood—both in its early and later stages—that are often overlooked as well as the silence and stigma surrounding fertility struggles. I think this book would make a great pick for book clubs as it encourages women to be more open about their pregnancy and motherhood journeys.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
I will echo the advice Tessa gets in The Water Lies: Trust your instincts. There were a few moments in the early stages of this book where people encouraged me to write something else, and I got about 100 pages into another project when I realized that this book was calling to me. The same thing has happened with past books I’ve written, and I’ve discovered that I’m most happy with and proud of the novels where I let my instincts, as well as my preferences as a reader and writer, guide me. Don’t get swept up in what books are popular or what you think readers want to read. Try to write what you would want to read. If you’re inspired, readers will be too.
