Bringing Life To Characters: Episode 30 Cynthia Swanson

My guest is Cynthia Swanson. Cynthia writes psychological thrillers, often using historical settings. Cynthia’s debut novel, The Bookseller, was a New York Times bestseller, an Indie Next selection, the winner of the 2016 WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction, and is slated to be a motion picture produced by Julia Roberts. The Bookseller was also nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award and the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Award. The Bookseller is translated into 18 languages. Cynthia’s second novel, The Glass Forest, was a USA Today bestseller, has been noted in Forbes as being one of “Five Novels With a Remarkably Strong Sense of Place” and is translated into 7 languages. Her third novel, Anyone But Her, is a 2025 Colorado Book Award Finalist (Thriller) and was named 2024 Best Mystery/Thriller by the Indie Author Project. Cynthia is the editor of the anthology Denver Noir, which features dark, morally ambiguous stories set in and around Denver, Colorado, written by 14 notable literary and mystery authors. Denver Noir received the 2023 Colorado Book Award (Anthology). Cynthia lives with her family in Denver.Ask