Lisa Gardner

It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding frenzy—a young mother, blond and pretty, disappears without a trace from her South Boston home, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter as the only witness and her handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect.

Lisa Gardner's new hardcover, THE NEIGHBOR, is available online and in bookstores now.

Click on the book cover to visit Lisa's website where you can peek through the window for a behind the scenes glimpse of THE NEIGHBOR. If you'd like to take a closer look, the first chapter is available online.

I used to be one of those writers who could only work in complete silence. Then my husband gave me an iPod, and I discovered the best procrastination tool for authors since continuously checking our sales rankings on Amazon.com. Suddenly, I need mood music for everything from brainstorming a scene to drafting a paragraph to writing a novel. Starting a new chapter? Music please! Need a new way of killing someone? Music please!

For Say Goodbye, I ended up creating an entire play list. The first song came to me naturally—Animals by Nickelback, which inspired chapter one of the novel. Other songs I selected for different reasons. Money Maker reminded me of Kimberly Quincy every time I heard it—the attitude, the driving tempo, the darker edge. Other songs helped set the mood of the novel, from Mad World to Spiders to Numb. I used to think that Johnny Cash’s rendition of Hurt was the villain’s song. Maybe it still is, but maybe it started to belong to some of the other characters, too, who discovered there are many ways of hurting some one. Better Days is an ode to Kimberly again, trying to find optimism in spite of a job that keeps her constantly dealing with the worst people can do. And Jeff Buckley’s bittersweet Hallelujah has always haunted me. I think of the boy when I listen to it, so hurt, so broken, yet trying to believe.

Play List Say Goodbye:

1. Animals—Nickelback
2. Mad World—Michael Andrews
3. Money Maker—Rilo Kiley
4. Sleeper—the Chambermaids
5. Feel Good, Inc.—Gorillaz
6. Hurt—Johnny Cash
7. Spiders—System of a Down
8. Runaway—Bon Jovi
9. Fake It—Seether
10. Mr. Brightside—The Killers
11. Numb—Linkin Park
12. Bring Me to Life—Evanescence
13. Kryptonite—3 Doors Down
14. Better Days—Goo Goo Dolls
15. Hallelujah—Jeff Buckley