Acclaimed debut author Darby Bozeman spoke with us about her journey from middle school English teacher to published author, and her debut thriller, SUMMER’S NEVER OVER.

Darby Bozeman, originally from Portland, Oregon, relocated to the American South for graduate school, earning a master's degree in teaching from the University of Georgia. Before pivoting to full-time writing, she spent five years as a middle school English teacher.

Her dual-timeline debut thriller, Summer’s Never Over (Berkley Trade Original; on sale June 9, 2026), is described as We Were Liars meets God of the Woods, and is set at a summer camp where a counselor died in a suspicious fire five years prior. The book was recently chosen as a June selection for the Book of the Month Club.

Publishers Weekly called it an “Impressive debut…an addictive thriller ideal for summer reading.” Bestselling author Ashley Winstead wrote, "Darby Bozeman has the perfect beach read in this sinister summer camp thriller, where the paradisical woods of Dread's Cove hide not only hot bodies and cold waters, but dark secrets.”

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In this file Darby Bozeman, Milena, and I discussed:

How she gleaned inspiration from her teaching

The science of narrative writing, including tension building and sentence-level craft

Why her book was pitched as “Carly Fortune writing a murder mystery”

How she secured an agent and got a two-book deal

Why she prefers the coffee shop to her own coffee

And a lot more!

Show Notes:

darbybozeman.com

Summer’s Never Over : A Novel By Darby Bozeman (Amazon)