Who Did It? A Thriller Panel of Secrets and Suspicion

In this high-stakes thriller panel, three acclaimed authors explore stories where violence shatters ordinary lives and the search for answers grows increasingly perilous. Each novel begins with a crime but what unfolds is a deeper reckoning with truth, justice, and the forces that shape suspicion.

In Missing Sam, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar crafts a tense, twist-filled tale of a woman who vanishes during a morning run and the spouse left to navigate mounting scrutiny. As the investigation tightens, the novel probes racial bias, queer identity, and the quiet dangers simmering beneath suburban life in today’s political climate. Dead Note by Victor Manibo opens with a murder marked by a chilling signature: the same song sung at two separate killings years apart. What begins as an open-and-shut case spirals into an investigation through Manila’s criminal underworld, where corruption, memory, and obsession intertwine. In The Reckoning, crime writer Kelli Stanley delivers an atmospheric thriller in which long-buried secrets resurface and past actions demand accountability. As hidden histories come to light, the line between guilt and innocence grows increasingly blurred.

Moderated by Nicholas Louis Baham III, California State University professor and author of The People’s Detective, this electrifying panel will explore how contemporary thrillers confront social tensions, moral ambiguity, and the enduring power of the whodunit. From suburban streets to international underworlds, these novels remind us that solving the crime is only the beginning.