Carroll isn't just publishing one book this fall, however; RIPTIDE will be in stores this October. Set in the Hamptons in high season, where a millionaire businessman drowns after a night of hard partying and his wife is suspected of murder. In New York's famed summer community, even the tallest privet hedges can't hide the secrets of lives gone terribly wrong...

With so much to talk about, I caught up with Carroll and asked her to answer a few questions.

What's it like to have not one, but two thrillers coming out nearly simultaneously?

The only feeling I can compare it to is right after my husband proposed. I kept waking up and feeling that ring on my finger, right where I wanted it to be!

I mean it, I just woke up in the middle of the night for weeks after I signed with Avon and I was so excited I couldn't go back to sleep. It is my dream come true.

I just found myself smiling for no reason for weeks at a time...

What was your inspiration for A DARK LOVE?

Sadly, the news media. You can read about this stuff happening every week in every town and city in the world. So it seemed like a simple story to tell that lots of people could relate to.

In A DARK LOVE, Caroline Hughes' husband is a renowned psychoanalyst who turns their townhouse into a prison and dominates her in every way imaginable. What in your past made you want to write not just thrillers, but ones with such a focus on psychological manipulation?

In short, my parents! They raised four bright children (including me) and were completely committed to the idea that we should be allowed to read anything we wanted anything at all, and watch any television or movies we wanted.

I can remember looking forward to Sundays, when the New York Daily News ran a "True Crime" two-page spread. I scoured every word as soon as I learned to read, and remember every bit of coverage on Charles Manson. When my mom read VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, I did. When she read Bernard Malamud's THE FIXER, I did. When William Peter Blatty's THE EXORCIST was published, I got to read it. I got to see the movie when that came out as well. They did the right thing by me. So, of course, I wanted to write thrillers.
 
Is there any Margaret Carroll in A DARK LOVE's protagonist Caroline?

Once upon a time (long before I gave birth), I was a size 4! And, like Caroline, I attended The George Washington University. That's about it.

Although these are your debut thrillers, you're a veteran author. Before penning A DARK LOVE you published two romantic comedies with Avalon, THE WRITE MATCH and THE TRUE MATCH. Both are set in NYC and both have a chick-lit style voice. Both tell the story of young career women trying to have it all -- a career of her dreams and a love life that doesn't wind up in the tabloids.
 
What was it like transitioning from romantic comedy to thrillers? Did your voice change naturally, or did you need to work at it? Should readers expect you to have brought anything from one genre to the next?

I loved writing comedy (again, I have my family to thank, because I think any 'middle kid' from a large family just naturally develops a sense of comic timing -- and that goes double if you're of Irish descent). But my characters told me it was time to change! I kept trying to write tender little romance scenes, but the stories just veered off into the 'Dark Side.' Like, a moonlit walk on the beach turned into a shark sighting. A lot of stuff had to be edited out, and I finally just figured out I should start writing suspense and just go with that.

Uncertified SCUBA diving off the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, visiting a kibbutz in Gaza, hunting with hawks in Scotland, camping on the Serengeti plains, skiing the Alps, walking the Great Wall...these are just a few of your life experiences. Now that you're a mother, would you say that you write thrillers to satisfy some of your adventure needs?

Absolutely! It was tough, in some ways, to make that transition. But being a mother and homemaker (and dog mom to Buddy, a Scottie) has fulfilled me in ways I never dreamt of. I wouldn't, couldn't, go back to my old life. It would feel so empty. My days now are filled with purpose and love, even if things do get hectic on a regular basis.

The most exciting journey doesn't require a passport. I believe the most exciting and arduous journey is the one that explores the farthest reaches of our own mind. Hopefully, that comes across in my books.

On Carroll's Avon blog she says, "My goal is to write the sort of book I would grab at the airport bookstall for an overnight flight. I want to write a good beach read that will keep a busy mom turning pages for as long as she can stay awake."
 
With these goals clearly accomplished, it looks to me like this extraordinary new master of suspense is going to need to set some new ones.

Margaret Carroll is currently writing COLD SNAP, about a young woman on the run during the coldest winter in NYC since they began keeping records.

Michael F Stewart is the author of several graphic novels published by Oxford University Press Canada. 24 BONES is his debut supernatural thriller. His next novel, HURAKAN, will be released in early 2010. Michael lives and writes in Ottawa, Canada.