Who am I?

I think it’s time I reintroduce myself. So, hi! I’m Carolyn Ridder Aspenson, and I write cozy mystery and thriller books. I write about secrets for a living, which is funny, because I’m not all that mysterious in real life.

I live in the North Georgia mountains where it’s quiet, a little wild, and perfect for imagining trouble where there isn’t any… and then turning it into a story. I’ve been writing for a long time now—long enough that books have become part of my daily rhythm. Some days it’s coffee and small-town gossip and a mystery that unfolds over pastries and side-eyes. Other days it’s tension, danger, and characters who make decisions that spiral fast.

I don’t really choose between cozy and thriller. I like both. I like the comfort of a familiar town where everyone knows each other… and the feeling that something is just slightly off underneath it. I also like stories that don’t let you relax, where every answer leads somewhere worse. So I write both, depending on the mood I wake up in.

When I’m not writing, I’m usually doing something that still feels a little like storytelling. I work out a lot—lifting, pushing, trying to get stronger—and there’s something about that routine that clears my head in the same way writing does. I track what I eat, I pay attention to details, and I’m always trying to improve something, whether it’s a scene or a set.

At home, life is a little less controlled. I’ve got big dogs who think they belong wherever I am, including on top of my laptop if I let them. There’s always something going on outside—deer, turkeys, the occasional squirrel that seems personally offended by our existence—and I pay attention to all of it. Probably more than I should. It tends to work its way into the stories.

I like quiet routines, but I also like watching people. Not in a creepy way… just in a “there’s a story there” kind of way. The way someone reacts, what they don’t say, the small details most people miss. That’s usually where my books start. Not with a plot, but with a moment that doesn’t sit right.

I’m also the kind of person who will read something, watch something, or hear a story and immediately start pulling it apart. What really happened? Who’s lying? What aren’t we being told? That instinct shows up in everything I write.

At the end of the day, I’m just someone who likes stories—telling them, figuring them out, and sometimes making things a little more complicated than they need to be.

And if you’re here reading this, you probably like that too.