Hi! I’m Melinda Leigh, author of YOU CAN TELL ME. I’m excited to be here today to tell you all about the story.
YOU CAN TELL ME is the first book in my new Olivia Cruz Series. I’ve wanted to explore true crime writer Olivia Cruz’s character since I first created her in 2018 in WHAT I’VE DONE. She played a larger role in the final book of the Morgan Dane Series, SAVE YOUR BREATH, but I felt she had too much potential to let her go. She’d bold, resourceful, and wicked smart. I decided to give her some books of her own. I hope you all love her as much as I do!
Y is for yoga, Olivia’s favorite exercise
O is for Olivia, the heroine of the story
U is for under. Olivia takes her niece, Nicki, under her wing when she shows interest—and promise—in investigating.
C is for case. Which of podcaster Zoe March’s true crime cases is involved with her disappearance?
A is for assault, which happens to Nicki
N is for niece. Olivia’s niece, Nicki, is her sassy sidekick for this adventure
T is for true crime, the genre of book Olivia writes, also the subject of her missing friend’s podcast
E is for eat. Nicki is always eating.
L is for Lincoln Sharp, Olivia’s boyfriend and a private investigator who is always ready to help.
L is for lightning and the huge storm that threatens to kill Olivia at the end of the story.
M is for missing. Olivia’s friend, Leah, goes missing, launching the story
E is for escape, what Olivia will have to do to survive the climax of the book
Crime writer Olivia Cruz is drawn into the dark secrets of a missing friend in a terrifying novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.
On the three-year anniversary of true crime writer Olivia Cruz’s horrific kidnapping, she’s scheduled to walk her podcaster friend Zoe March through the crime scene, but Zoe fails to show. Olivia knows Zoe would never stand her up—not today.
Zoe’s husband, who claims she never came home the night before, has reported her missing. But marital conflicts make the police suspect she has left him. Olivia thinks otherwise. The police aren’t looking for Zoe, so Olivia begins her own investigation. Retracing her friend’s last steps, she finds Zoe’s phone and a text with one chilling word: Run.
It soon becomes apparent that Zoe has been keeping secrets, and with her true crime podcast, there’s no telling what she has unearthed. To find her, Olivia must dig into her friend’s past. Did Zoe vanish to escape a killer, and is Olivia walking into a deadly trap?
Thriller Psychological | Mystery Woman Sleuth | Thriller Crime [ Montlake, On Sale: May 12, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662516993 / eISBN: 9781662517013 ]
#1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker. A life-long lover of books, she started writing as a way to preserve her sanity while raising her kids. Over the next few years, she learned a few things about writing a book. The process was much more fun than analyzing financial statements, and she decided to turn her hobby into a career.
Her debut novel, SHE CAN RUN, was nominated for Best First Novel by the International Thriller Writers. Since then, she has garnered numerous publisher awards, including two Silver Falchions and three Golden Leaf Awards. She is a two-time RITA® Award Finalist and has earned three Daphne du Maurier Award nominations. Melinda’s books have sold over 8 million copies.
She holds a 2nd degree belt in Kenpo Karate. She’s dabbled in Arnis stick fighting, studied Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and taught women’s self-defense. She lives near the beach with her family and a small herd of spoiled rescue pets. With such a pleasant life, she has no explanation for the sometimes dark and disturbing nature of her imagination.
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