April Henry: On a Rabbit Hole Leading to a Thriller Novel
In this interview, author April Henry discusses how digging deep into family history helped inspire her new YA thriller, In the Blood.
April Henry is the New York Times-bestselling author of many acclaimed mysteries for adults and over 15 novels for teens, including the bestselling Girl, Stolen; Girl Forgotten, which won the Edgar Award; Two Truths and a Lie; which was a YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers; and The Girl I Used to Be, which was an Edgar Award finalist and won the Anthony Award for Best YA Mystery. She lives in Oregon. Visit her at AprilHenry.com, and follow her on TikTok at @aprilhenrywritingadvice and @aprilhenrybooks, and on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky.
In this interview, April discusses how digging deep into family history helped inspire her new YA thriller, In the Blood, the need to keep going after every rejection, and more.
Name: April Henry
Literary agent: Wendy Schmalz
Book title: In the Blood
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release date: May 12, 2026
Genre/category: YA thriller
Previous titles: Teen books: When We Go Missing; Stay Dead; Girl Forgotten; Two Truths and a Lie; Eyes of the Forest; Playing with Fire; The Girl in the White Van; Run, Hide, Fight Back; The Lonely Dead; Count All Her Bones; The Girl I Used To Be; Blood Will Tell; The Body in the Woods; The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die; The Night She Disappeared; Girl, Stolen; Torched; Shock Point; Middle-grade: Rules for Liars (with Debra Green); Adult books: The Mia Quinn series; The Triple Threat series; Learning to Fly; The Claire Montrose series
Elevator pitch: After an adopted teen takes a DNA test, she figures out her biological mother is missing and her biological father a mystery. As she tries to identify him, law enforcement is too—because she’s the daughter of the Portland Phantom, a serial killer they’ve been hunting for over a decade.
What prompted you to write this book?
In the Blood began with a rabbit hole: genetic genealogy. After both my parents were gone, I ended up with stacks of family photos, including tintypes. But who were these people? With most of them, I had no idea. At that point, I didn’t even know much about my grandparents. I realized I needed to build a family tree. I started with Ancestry.com, and my brother, sister, and I were all DNA-tested. I also used Newspapers.com and even Google searches.
The deeper I went, the more unsettling discoveries I made. My great-grandfather murdered my grandmother’s boyfriend—for kissing her! Another great-grandfather was an arsonist who died in an insane asylum. I found bigamists, black sheep, and babies born out of wedlock. A great-granduncle rode as a marshal for Hanging Judge Parker—then was hanged himself for murder. My great-great grandfather lied about everything. His age when he fought in the Civil War. Whether he got the land he was due for fighting in the Mexican-American war (he did, but claimed he didn’t). He even seems to have faked his own death and went on to marry two more times without divorcing his first wife. And if you go all the way back to 1656, my ninth-great-grandfather was put on trial for witchcraft.
So, if the blood of arsonists, killers, and possibly even witches runs in my veins, what does that mean? In In the Blood, I wanted to explore how much of who we are is determined by our genes, how we are raised, and our own decisions.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
The deal was announced in September 2024. I normally sell books on a synopsis and the first three chapters, so it stayed pretty true to what I had envisioned.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
For this book, I hired an outside publicist (Egypt Street PR) to supplement what my in-house publicist does. She has been amazing, so I’ve decided that I need to keep doing that.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
As I was writing, I realized I needed a much greater understanding of genetics. I don’t think I ever learned about it in school. A lot of concepts have been modified over the years. For example, I’ve read more than one book where the reader is told that two brown-eyed parents can’t have a blue-eyed child, and thus their blue-eyed offspring is a about to be part of a big plot twist. But it turns out that’s not always true. I purchased biology lesson plans and even a biology textbook so that what my main character learns in school is accurate.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
In the Blood centers the importance of family—and the fact that you don’t have to be related by blood to be family.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Never give up! I got 107 rejections letters from agents for the first book I wrote. The second book I wrote got 53 rejections—but the 54th agent said yes. After she sent it to editors, we got a lot of nice rejection letters. My third book got perfunctory rejections. My fourth book sold in three days in a two-book deal to the first publisher who saw it. But if I had stopped at any point along the way to that first yes, I would not be where I am now, with my 32nd book publishing.
