Check out our interview with Aggie Blum Thompson, the author of "The Neighbors Are Watching."

What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?

I live in the suburbs, and last year my oldest kid went through the college application process – it was nuts! It’s become a blood sport. It’s oddly intense, very public, and full of rituals and quiet rivalries, which felt like a natural backdrop for a thriller — especially once you add a suspicious death into the mix.

Around the same time, someone close to me, who is trans, pointed out that I didn’t have any trans characters in my books. They were right. That observation stayed with me, and I decided to write a trans protagonist who was central to the story — not as a statement, just as a person navigating a community where people are always watching.

What does Reading Rainbow mean to you? This question is all about loving to read, being proud of your stories, being an advocate for diversity.

Reading Rainbow means celebrating literature that reflects the world we live in, specifically when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters and themes. Although I grew up reading books with LGBTQ+ characters, this was in the 80s so the pickings were definitely slimmer. I remember learning that Armistead Maupin (one of my favorite authors) was allowed to write gay characters but was prohibited from explicitly stating that one of his characters was a trans woman in the first book of his Tales of the City series. Times have changed! Now there are lots of LGBTQ+ books for readers of all ages. I’d love to see more mainstream commercial books in which LGBTQ+ characters are present but without the book being about their identity or journey — where they’re allowed to be complicated, flawed, central to the plot, and part of the fabric of the story. That kind of visibility feels meaningful to me.

Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?

I write the world I actually live in, because that’s what feels real to me on the page. My plots can get pretty outlandish — that’s the fun part of writing thrillers! — so I want everything else to feel as grounded and recognizable as possible before I ask the reader to take a giant leap of faith. Having a diverse cast of characters is simply part of that realism. It reflects my experience of life in the DC area, and it’s the most natural way for me to build a world that feels believable.

Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.

I was fascinated by the Varsity Blues scandal, the one where Aunt Becky from Full House (and others) faked their kids’ way into college. I’ve always been intrigued by the lengths that upper-middle-class families will go to in order to shield their children from the consequences of their own actions. That kind of environment, one that is polite, competitive, and deeply invested in appearances, is fertile ground for my twisted brain.

My novel centers on an unsolved murder that a wealthy suburban neighborhood would very much like to forget, and on an unlikely, cross-generational friendship that forms in its wake between a Gen X empty nester and her new Gen Z neighbor, who happens to be trans. Their relationship, and what they’re each willing to risk to uncover the truth, is the heart of the book.

What can fans expect from your book?

I hope readers find THE NEIGBORS ARE WATCHING to be a page-turning mystery with twists that keep them guessing, but that also feels grounded in reality. I am hoping readers stay up late with this one, reading “just one more chapter.” The setting and issues are very relatable to any parent in the suburbs, but there are plenty of minor characters readers will love to hate, and two protagonists I hope they’ll end up really rooting for.

What's up next for you in the bookish world?

I’ve got quite a bit going on, in a good way. I’m in the middle of writing my sixth domestic suspense, which will come out in 2027, and I’m also working a few other projects as well. My third book, Such a Lovely Family, is in production at Netflix right now, so I’m crossing my fingers that it actually gets made!