Behind The Book With Emily Carpenter 

It’s hard to believe that a year ago I did a Q&A with Emily Carpenter discussing her books, especially Gothictown. Now Emily has returned so we can discuss her upcoming novel A Spell for Saints And Sinners which is available today on March 31^st wherever you get your books! 

Q: Emily welcome back to Book Notions! Would you please give a brief description of A Spell for Saints And Sinners? 

A: Thanks for inviting me back! The novel is about Ingrid White, a young psychic-witch in Savannah, Georgia, who has inherited her grandmother’s sidewalk psychic business as well as her crumbling, vintage townhouse on a historic square. With bills to pay and not enough business to fill her bank account, Ingrid happens to do a reading for the daughter of the wealthiest family in town and is subsequently drawn into their lives of privilege, power, and secrets, finding her dreams of financial stability and family are finally coming true. But soon she realizes those things come with a price, one that if she refuses to pay, may end in murder. 

Q: How long did it take you to write A Spell for Saints And Sinners? Was it more challenging to write than your previous books? Why or why not?

A: This book was a fun one to write and it did go pretty quickly. The research into the work of psychics and witchcraft—rituals and spells, etc.—took more time than usual. I had to create a sort of homespun magic for Ingrid that her grandmother Edie learned from her mother, that was an authentic practice that would draw the reader in and give them that kind of hushed feeling of awe, like they were witnessing something really sacred, but was not overly complicated. I also, for the first time, was writing a character who, for a while is making really bad decisions, decisions born out of desire and need and maybe a bit of desperation. That can be tricky, because your reader might be like, “now why is she doing this? I would never do this?” but Ingrid is in a unique position and she’s a person with a history of abandonment and being bullied, and she’s not really healed from all that trauma. So that took some tightrope walking, for sure. I loved Ingrid but she was a prickly character. 

Q: Which scenes were your favorite to write in A Spell for Saints And Sinners? The epilogue was excellent! 

A: Oh. I loved that epilogue. It was the only chapter from a different character’s POV and so it was very fun to write. I also loved writing the chapters where Ingrid is exposed to the immense and very careless wealth of the Loeffler family. Their lavish house and yacht and wedding. How their lives just sort of revolve around entertaining themselves. She is sort of flabbergasted about how all of a sudden, her life is just fixed. Like, no more leaky kitchen sink or broken roof or tax bills; she’s got a whole new upgraded life and a regular paycheck and this guy that she’s absolutely losing her mind over. She’s hit the jackpot…or so she thinks. 

Q: Other than an entertaining story, once readers finish reading A Spell for Saints And Sinners what are lessons and reminders you hope readers remember and learn once they finish the book?

A: I had this whole theme about pirates and who are the real pirates you have to watch out for in this life. Ingrid’s grandmother Edie starts off the novel by telling her that they will fly false flags to get close to you and then destroy you. So you realize there’s this whole backstory of Edie coming in contact with the Loefflers back when she was younger. She learned her lesson and she wants Ingrid to be aware and to right the balance. I thought a lot about the divide between the people who keep the town running—the service industry workers, the janitors, the salesclerks, the hourly wagers—and the other folks—the “richies” as Miles, Ingrid’s roommate calls them. Which ones are the pirates? Ingrid has to figure that out. And I love for readers to come away with something like that to contemplate. Just something as simple as seeing the people around us who are quietly struggling just to pay the bills. Just see them. Take a minute to see the people who are maybe outcast or the target of bullying because they believe in something you disagree with. 

Q: If you were to write a sequel to A Spell for Saints And Sinners what do you think Ingrid would be doing right now?

A: Oh, okay, yeah. Ingrid has totally been hired by Savannah PD to help investigate crime like Patricia Arquette on Medium. 

Emily Carpenter bio:

About Emily Carpenter

Emily Carpenter is a bestselling author of novels of suspense. Her novels include Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies (which received starred reviews by both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly), Every Single Secret, Until the Day I Die, and Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters, which Publishers Weekly called a “refreshingly modern gothic tale” and Kirkus called “an exciting, gothic-tinged quest.” 

Her most recent novel, Gothictown, is A Southern Living Best Book of 2025 (so far), and has received many other raves and accolades.  It’s about a couple and their young daughter who accept a too-good-to-be-true offer to start their lives over in an idyllic Southern town, only to find that there’s something very sinister going on. Her next novel, A SPELL FOR SAINTS AND SINNERS, about a young psychic who gets entangled with Savannah’s wealthiest and most powerful family, will be published by Kensington on March 31, 2026.  

After graduating from Auburn University in Alabama with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication, Emily moved to New York City. She’s worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime. 

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her family. 

Website: www.emilycarpenterauthor.com

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