A Whisper in the Dark by Elizabeth Devecchi

 Happy Release Day to Elizabeth Devecchi!

A Whisper in the Dark is the debut novel from Elizabeth Devecchi, published by Wicked House Publishing.  With raving ARC reviews on Goodreads, it's clear Devecchi is going to be one to watch. 

The synopsis is as follows: 

Sarah Parker thinks she has found the perfect place for a fresh start when she moves her family from the Midwest to a sleepy suburban neighborhood in an idyllic southern town. Leaving a position as a serious journalist to write fluff pieces for a local paper is a compromise she is willing to make to escape the past and rebuild her family.

Ten years earlier, Ben and Mary moved to the same neighborhood in search of their own fresh start, leaving a trail of death and disfigurement in their wake. Now that cancer has taken Mary, a blossoming friendship with the Parker family offers Ben a glimpse of the things he missed out on and the child he and Mary were denied. As he questions the sacrifices he made to be with Mary and the evil he harbored to protect her, that evil has set its sights on Sarah’s eleven-year-old son, Sam, putting the entire town in danger.

Elizabeth was kind enough to answer a few questions for me regarding her debut.

Q: Congratulations on your debut! What was it for you that inspired you to start writing?

A: I have always been an avid reader and writer. My biggest obstacles for actually getting to this point were time and confidence. I started a hobby blog years back to kind of scratch the writing itch and found that people actually seemed to enjoy reading it. I think I finally just got to the point where I was asking myself, "if not now, when?" Then one morning while walking my dog, Dante, he suddenly became terrified of storm drains (this will sound very familiar to anyone who read the book). The idea took root in my brain, and I sat down and decided, "today's the day I start!"

Q: ARC reviews for A Whisper in the Dark are outstanding! A lot of reviewers point out the small-town feel. What inspired the small-town setting? Did you draw any inspiration from films or other books?

A: I have moved around a lot with my family. The setting from the book draws from small towns we have inhabited along the way. I love the feeling of the small town as a horror setting, where you aren't as anonymous as you may want to be. Where you cannot hide. As far as inspiration from other books or films, I find that once I have read a book or seen a film, they live in my head and inevitably inspire me in any number of ways. That said, this book was mostly inspired by real-life interactions and observations, though not with the creature, thankfully. 

Q: Writing a book is a huge accomplishment! Are you working on anything else right now, or any ideas for what you'll do next?

A: Wicked House Publishing has already signed my second book, A Twist of the Lens, to be released sometime next year. It is a completely different story and leans towards thriller/suspense, though I would call it horror-adjacent. I also have some horror poems and short stories in recent anthologies Monsters in the Mills, Under Her Eye, and Cooks of Horror) and some that have not yet been released. Oh, and I just finished the first draft of Mary's backstory. Mary is no longer with us in A Whisper in the Dark but is such a key figure to the events that occur. I just had to dig deeper.

A creature feature set in a small town where sinister secrets are being kept by its residents? The plot of A Whisper in the Dark sounds like a classic! You can support Elizabeth Devecchi by purchasing her debut novel here.