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Wetumpka Author Finds Critical Success with Latest Novel of Southern Crime

By Gerri Miller

Staff Writer


A Wetumpka author has kept her success going with her latest book getting great reviews from critics nationwide.

Last year we introduced you to Debbie Herbert, author of 16 books and two novellas and a USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly best-selling author. Her latest book, Not One of Us, was released last month and has gotten rave reviews.

“What a pleasure it was to surrender to Not One of Us, chock full of thick, humid atmosphere and authentic, vivid characters. It pulled me into its deep-South trance of unsolved murders, dirty cops, and a family torn apart by guilt, and their own desperate need for each other. Enigma is a town you’re going to want to visit over and over again. This book’s an absolute knockout,” said Emily Carpenter, bestselling author of Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters.

“I’m really proud that with this book I got great reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and it was a February Fresh Pick on Fresh Fiction and an Amazon First Reads book for January,” Herbert said.

I read the book last month and couldn’t put it down until I had consumed every morsel. In the book, Jori Trahan has a rare form of synesthesia—she can “hear” colors. Her ability gives her a unique edge on the nuances of people’s voices. She’s basically a human lie detector.

It has been years since Jori’s boyfriend disappeared from her southern hometown of Enigma. She comes back to help her grandmother, who now has dementia and is caring for Jori’s autistic brother all alone.

Being back brings Jori a flood of memories of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of not only her boyfriend but his entire family. But she puts herself and her family in danger by digging into her past.

I read the book in about two days and it was time well spent. Herbert did a great job building up the tension and suspense until the moment when the killer is revealed.

Herbert has two grown sons and the oldest has autism She said characters with autism frequently land in her works, even when she doesn’t plan on it.

Her books almost always take place in a southern town, often Alabama. “Like most Southerners, I have a strong sense of connection to our land, our ancestors and our way of life,” Herbert said. She said it also helps that she is familiar with the landscape, the way people talk and the history of many places in the South.

Herbert said she has always been fascinated by magic, romance, and Gothic stories. She has written Harlequin Novels as well as her psychological suspense novels.

“My writing process varies a good bit depending on what type of book I’m writing,” she said. “The psychological suspense books take longer to plot and edit than the romances I used to write for Harlequin. They are also longer in length so it takes more time.”

Where does she get her ideas? “My suspense books generally come from true life crimes that I change and adapt for dramatic effect,” she said.

Herbert’s life has changed dramatically since the days she worked as a correctional officer for the Alabama Department of Corrections. Working in corrections and days of sitting with female inmates on death row got her interested in writing crime novels.

As she supervised the inmates, she watched their behaviors and her writing interest grew.

“Not One of Us” can be purchased on Amazon at  Amazon.com: Not One of Us eBook: Herbert, Debbie: Kindle Store.