The Official Site of

Rachel Howzell Hall

 

Who Am I?

Rachel was born in Los Angeles, California. As a child, she kept a pen in her hand, writing everywhere—in notebooks, on loose-leaf paper, in her big brother’s prep-school yearbook and on the back of church bulletins. But never on walls, buildings or freeway overpasses. That is graffiti.

For four years, she lived in the forest at UC Santa Cruz. There, she received a degree in English and American Literature, and helped to charter the Pi Upsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Incorporated.

Back in Los Angeles, she’s worked in Development for esteemed organizations, including PEN Center USA West, ACLU of Southern California, City of Hope and Cedars-Sinai.

In 2002, Rachel’s debut novel, A Quiet Storm, was published by Scribner to great notice, and was chosen as a “Rory’s Book Club” selection, the must-read book list for fictional television character Rory Gilmore of The Gilmore Girls.

She is the critically acclaimed author and a two-time Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist of the Amazon Charts- and Wall Street Journal bestseller, We Lie Here and And Now She’s Gone, which was also nominated for the Lefty-, Barry- and Anthony Awards. A New York Times bestselling author of The Good Sister with James Patterson, Rachel is an Anthony-, International Thriller Writers- and Lefty Award nominee and the author of What Never Happened, These Toxic Things, They All Fall Down, Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes and City of Saviors in the Detective Elouise Norton series as well as the author of the bestselling Audible Originals, How It Ends and See How They Run.

Her shorter works have appeared in Alta Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Shattering Glass and Unoccupied Earth. Her short story, “Clout Chaser,” was a nominee for the British Crime Writers Association’s Short Story Dagger Award.

Rachel is a former member of the board of directors for Mystery Writers of America and has been a featured writer on NPR’s acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast; she has also served as a mentor in Pitch Wars and the Association of Writers Programs.

She lives in L.A. with her husband and daughter.

  • Commendation from the City of Los Angeles

    Lou Norton Mystery Series

  • Finalist

    Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery & Thriller, WE LIE HERE

  • Finalist

    Audie Award for Best Short Story (How It Ends)

  • Nominated

    International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel (These Toxic Things)

  • Nominated

    International Thriller Writers Award for Best Short Story (How It Ends)

  • Nominated

    Anthony Award for Best Novel (And Now She’s Gone and They All Fall Down)

  • Nominated

    Barry Award for Best Novel (And Now She’s Gone)

  • Nominated

    Shamus Award for Best Private Eye Novel (And Now She’s Gone)

  • Nominated

    International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel (They All Fall Down)

  • Nominated

    Lefty Award for Best Novel (And Now She’s Gone and They All Fall Down)

  • Guest of Honor

    Left Coast Crime 2020

  • Finalist

    Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery & Thriller, AND NOW SHE’S GONE

Rachel Howzell Hall is a master of the psychological suspense thriller.
Melinda Leigh, #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author

COMING JUNE 11, 2024

A writer’s search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller in a twisting novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of These Toxic Things.

Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she’s supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she’s not there to write a thriller—she’s there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham’s property.

The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are—for the other women who have also gone missing here…and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?

As fire season in the canyons approaches, Bailey must race to unravel the truth from fiction before she becomes the next woman lost in the forest.

Pre-Order now and receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last!

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“The world is dying around her. Enemies lurk in the shadows. And she can’t remember a thing about who she is…in New York Times bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall’s gorgeous, otherworldly blend of fantasy and adventure―perfect for fans of N.K. Jemisin and The Witcher.

Rachel Howzell Hall has crafted her own genre of slow-boiling, powerfully emotional thrillers.— Lee Goldberg, bestselling author of the Eve Ronin series

NOW AVAILABLE

“What Never Happened opens with a gut punch and doesn’t let up from there. Rachel Howzell Hall’s twist on the you-can’t-go-home-again story is smart, dizzying, and thrilling. She not only handles the mystery elements expertly but she honors the grief and rage of our past and present.”— Paul Tremblay, bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and The Pallbearers Club

It’s murder in paradise as a woman uncovers a host of secrets off the rocky California coast in a gripping novel of suspense by New York Times and Wall Street Journal-bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall.

Colette “Coco” Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where, twenty years before, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to her craft—writing obituaries. Thankfully, her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job sure to keep Coco busy, considering the number of elderly folks who are dying on the island.

But as Coco learns more about these deaths, she quickly realizes that the circumstances surrounding them are remarkably similar…and not natural. Then Coco receives a sinister threat in the mail: her own obituary.

As Coco begins to draw connections between a serial killer’s crimes and her own family tragedy, she fears that the secrets on Catalina Island might be too deep to survive. Because whoever is watching her is hell-bent on finally putting her past to rest.

Nominated for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Mystery/Thriller

Rachel Howzell Hall has crafted her own genre of slow-boiling, powerfully emotional thrillers.— Lee Goldberg, bestselling author of the Eve Ronin series

NOW AVAILABLE

Nominated for the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Mystery/ThrillerIt’s murder in paradise as a woman uncovers a host of secrets off the rocky California coast in a gripping novel of suspense by New York Times and Wall Street Journal-bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall.

A woman’s trip home reveals frightening truths in a twisty novel of murder and family secrets by the New York Times bestselling author of And Now She’s Gone and These Toxic Things.

These Toxic Things A Thriller

“Howzell Hall is at the height of her craft as the story unfolds on multiple tracks…[she] skillfully weaves together disparate threads that at first don’t appear to be connected…It’s an intriguing, riveting pleasure to watch the action unfold and see how the pieces fit together.— NPR

NOW AVAILABLE

“This cleverly plotted, surprise-filled novel offers well-drawn and original characters, lively dialogue, and a refreshing take on the serial killer theme.”
Publishers Weekly starred review


Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks” for clients, ensuring that precious souvenirs aren’t forgotten or lost. When her latest client, Nadia Denham, a curio shop owner, dies from an apparent suicide, Mickie honors the old woman’s last wish and begins curating her peculiar objets d’art. A music box, a hair clip, a key chain—twelve mementos in all that must have meant so much to Nadia, who collected them on her flea market scavenges across the country.

But these tokens mean a lot to someone else, too. Mickie has been receiving threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone.

It’s becoming a mystery Mickie is driven to solve. Who once owned these odd treasures? How did Nadia really come to possess them? Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past. One that might, Mickie fears, be inescapably entwined with her own.

A gripping short thriller about a young woman whose dreamy “glamping” weekend becomes her worst nightmare.

Still mourning the death of her own fiancée, Lauren Hudson must put on a brave face for her family as they gather in Zion National Park for her brother’s wedding. He’s co-founded a “glamping” (glamorous camping) start-up with Sadie, the soon-to-be bride whom the rest of the Hudsons have yet to meet, and they’re hosting their small destination wedding for their nearest and dearest right on their own campgrounds. But not long after Lauren arrives on the scenic property, doubts creep in about Sadie - could she be harboring a sinister secret? Or is the trauma of Lauren’s own past clouding her judgment? With the wedding looming ever closer, can Lauren discover and expose the truth before it’s too late?

A propulsive short thriller

Marti Greenwood is attacked in her home. She's found shaken and beaten, and her neighbors who immediately call the police. She never saw the face of her attacker, and so there is little to go on as detectives open an investigation - but Marti will do whatever it takes to find her assailant.

Books by Rachel Howzell Hall

 
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And Now She’s Gone

Isabel Lincoln is gone.
But is she missing?

It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family.

Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall's And Now She’s Gone explores the nature of secrets — and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive.

The Lou Norton Series

Follow LAPD Homicide Detective Elouise ‘Lou’ Norton around the ever changing border of gentrifying Los Angeles.

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A Quiet Storm

In this vividly written, suspense-driven novel, the secrets shared between two sisters erupt in tragedy.
Rikki Moore was always the star of the family, easily outshining her younger sister, Stacy, at every turn. Smart, kind, and beautiful, it was no surprise when Rikki met and married the perfect man -- pediatrician Matt Dresden. Her students at 59th Street Elementary School adored her, the church matrons solicited her help on every committee, and everyone wanted the golden couple to put in an appearance at their parties. Stacy? She was just the overweight little sister who couldn't get her love life together.


But the world didn't know about the storms that rippled just beneath the surface of Rikki's image of perfection. Ever since she was a teenager there were emotional breakdowns and obsessive behaviors -- secrets that Stacy was left to bear alone. Folks whispered, but they didn't know. When Rikki's husband, Matt, mysteriously disappears, however, the Moore family's carefully constructed image comes crashing down.

They All Fall Down

It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.

Delighted by a surprise invitation, Miriam Macy sails off to a luxurious private island off the coast of Mexico with six other strangers. Surrounded by miles of open water in the gloriously green Sea of Cortez, Miriam is soon shocked to discover that she and the rest of her companions have been brought to the remote island under false pretenses—and all seven strangers harbor a secret.

Danger lurks in the lush forest and in the halls and bedrooms of the lonely mansion. Sporadic cell-phone coverage and miles of ocean keeps the group trapped in paradise. And strange accidents stir suspicions, as one by one . . .

They all fall down

 

What People Are Saying

 

Los Angeles Times

“One of the best books of the year...whip-smart and emotionally deep, And Now She's Gone is a deceptively straightforward mystery, blending a fledgling PI’s first 'woman is missing' case with underlying stories about racial identity, domestic abuse and rank evil.”

 

S. A. Cosby
author of Blacktop Wasteland

“These Toxic Things is a master class in tension and suspense.”

Lee Child
author of Jack Reacher series

A fresh voice in crime fiction, fast, funny, heatbreaking and

 

New York Times Book Review

Trail of Echoes—“Lou…is a formidable fighter-- somone you want on your side.”

James Patterson,
author of Alex Cross series

They All Fall Down — “The twist start from page one and never let up…”

 

Washington Post

It’s a feat to keep high humor and crushing sorrow in plausible equilibrium in a mystery novel, and few writers are as adept at it as Rachel Howzell Hall.”

Attica Locke
author of Bluebird,Bluebird

They All Fall Down —“A riotous and wild ride.”

 

Walter Mosley

And Now She’s Gone — Smart, packed with dialogue that sings on the page, Hall’s novel turns the tables on our expectations at every turn, bringing us closer to truth than if it were forced on us in school.” ―Walter Mosley

Write Ups

 

L.A. crime novelist’s long road to writing one of best books of the year

By Paula L. Woods

Whip-smart and emotionally deep, “And Now She’s Gone” is a deceptively straightforward mystery, blending a fledgling PI’s first “woman is missing” case with underlying stories about racial identity, domestic abuse and rank evil. Along the way, we get a myth-busting tour of South L.A. neighborhoods too frequently confined to alarming headlines and helicopter journalism.

 

Sin and Punishment: An interview with Rachel Howzell Hall

By Karen Grigsby Bates

RACHEL HOWZELL HALL has had two jobs for years: one is as a writer for health care organizations, such as City of Hope and (currently) Cedars-Sinai; the other as a prolific novelist. Her police procedurals center on LAPD homicide detective Elouise “Lou” Norton, a brilliant, slightly brittle black woman who is intimately familiar with many neighborhoods even the police don’t want to work.

 

When personal isn’t good enough: Just keep the rejection letters coming

By Rachel Howzell Hall

Throughout my pregnancy, I’d been battling a rare kind of breast cancer. Three months after our daughter was born, my husband, a digital web designer, was laid off from his Hollywood dream job. I’d return to my full-time job after maternity leave and had insurance—but his insurance covered my ongoing cancer care.

I kept writing, though. Optimistic even as I received reams of rejection letters.