When she’s not at her keyboard, Pam is an avid reader. She enjoys traveling with her husband, Mark, strolling through museums and historic cities, and hiking. Admittedly, her favorite times are spent with her children and their growing families.

Pam and Mark live in Missouri and Montana with their two dogs, Dublin, and Keeley.

University of Nebraska Interview: Pamela’s Path to Becoming an Author

Q&A with Pamela

Tell us a little about your work.

I write the kinds of novels I most enjoy reading: psychological thrillers, suspense, and dark women's fiction—which simply means a focus on emotional journeys. My stories are driven by complex characters, emotional stakes, and the problems that arise when people keep dark secrets. Conflict is always at the core. I also enjoy weaving in themes that explore human nature and the challenges people face.

What inspires your stories?

I mostly rely on real events in my life or others' lives to develop story ideas—then twist those realities to create a fictional story. A place where I’ve lived or know well, like Illinois or Nebraska, might become the setting. I think about people I've met, too, and sometimes create a version of them. The more questionable the character, the darker the story becomes. And I like to write about the dark side of people.

Your novels seem to explore family secrets and hidden truths. Why are you drawn to those themes?

Because they're universal. Readers can relate in one way or another. Every family has stories and secrets that shape them. I'm interested in what happens when secrets come out, or when relationships are tested. Those emotional conflicts naturally lend themselves to suspense.

Your novels are suspenseful, but they're also deeply emotional. How do you balance those two elements?

For me, the emotional journey is just as important as the mystery. A shocking twist only matters if readers care about the people it affects. I strive to create complex, relatable characters whose choices, relationships, and struggles feel authentic. The suspense grows naturally from those emotional stakes, allowing the mystery and the characters' personal journeys to strengthen one another. My hope is that readers not only race to uncover the truth but also find themselves thinking about the characters long after they've turned the final page.

How did you get the idea for Somebody Knows?

Somebody Knows grew out of stories my mother shared over the years about growing up in a small town in the 1940s. Families are complicated, and even more so when you add poverty, desperation, revenge, and deeply troubled personalities. I wanted to explore how one person's obsession could affect an entire family and the era's unwritten rule: "Don't get involved in someone else’s business."

What inspired All We Keep Buried?

A long time ago, I worked for a daily newspaper in a small town, and I wanted to revisit that era when local newspapers were thriving and reporters were deeply connected to their communities. The story is set in a particular region of Nebraska that I visited during college while producing an in-depth newspaper article on civil defense. What I saw there stayed with me and eventually inspired the setting. The timeframe was also intentional because the Amber Alert system did not yet exist, creating circumstances that simply wouldn't happen today. I also wanted to explore how racism can shape a person's life and identity, which became an important part of the main character's journey. Like Somebody Knows, All We Keep Buried explores the many facets of motherhood and what that role can mean.

Do you fully plot your novels before you begin writing?

Like many authors, I've learned I'm somewhere between a plotter and a pantser. For months, I create detailed backstories for every character so I know how they will authentically speak, react, and behave. Then I plot the general story outline—how the story begins, the main conflicts, and a loose ending.

For Somebody Knows, I wrote each chapter with only a vague idea of where it was leading. For All We Keep Buried, I developed short paragraphs to outline each chapter ahead of time, but I found it hard to stick to. The characters have a way of directing the story as I write, and I've learned to follow their lead.

You retired from a career in corporate communications. How is writing fiction different?

Both careers involve writing, but corporate communications is much more collaborative. I worked with teams to write speeches, develop presentations, and promote organizations and their missions. Writing a novel is a solitary experience, and one that requires patience. It's a long process of writing, rewriting, researching, and polishing until every scene serves the story. Luckily, in retirement, I have time to write every day.

What do you hope readers take away from your books?

First and foremost, I hope they're entertained. Beyond that, I hope my stories spark conversation. The best books stay with us after we've turned the last page. They make us think about the characters, the choices they made, and what we might have done in their place.

What have readers said about your work?

I'm honored that Somebody Knows has received several national awards, and the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads have been wonderful. Hopefully I’ll have the same result with All We Keep Buried! But one of my favorite parts of being an author is meeting with book clubs and hearing their thoughts. People tell me they can vividly picture the people and places in my novels and that the pacing keeps them turning pages late into the night. Hearing that someone "couldn't put it down" is one of the best compliments a writer can receive.

What's next?

I'm currently working on my third psychological suspense novel, another story that explores how the past continues to shape the present. And of course, there might be a murder or two.