Will Trent Returns in a Thrilling New Karin Slaughter Novel — Listen to the First Chapter Here! (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Karin Slaughter and the cover of ‘This Is Why We Lied’.Photo:Rosalie O’Connor; HarperCollins

Rosalie O’Connor; HarperCollins

Karin Slaughter is bringing beloved characterWill Trent— now an ABC procedural — back to the page.The bestselling author will publish the latest addition to her Will Trent series,This Is Why We Lied,on Aug. 20 — and PEOPLE has an exclusive first listen to the audiobook.In the twelfth installment of the series, Georgia Bureau Investigator Will Trent and his wife, medical examiner Sara Linton, are looking to get away for their honeymoon. They book a room at the McAlpine Lodge, as the secluded property seems like the perfect place to unplug and reconnect with one another.

Courtesy of HarperCollins

The couple’s celebratory trip gets interrupted when the Lodge’s manager, Mercy McAlpine, is found dead. As Will and Sara pivot to investigating the Lodge’s guests and the McAlpine family, they come across a decades’ worth of secrets amongst the lies their suspects are telling them — all while the real killer remains on the loose.

In an exclusive audiobook excerpt below, readers can learn more about Mercy, and some of her last moments alive, in the first chapter of the novel.

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Slaughter, the author of over 20 books, kicked off her Will Trent series in 2006, with the novelTriptych. His story has been adapted into thehit ABC showstarring Ramón Rodríguez, which has drawn over 70 million viewers since its premiere in Jan. 2023.

“This is a crime drama that has a lot of heart and doesn’t take itself so serious,” the actorpreviously told PEOPLE. “It laughs at itself at times. I think that’s the fine line only that we’ve been able to spar. There’s some seriousness, there’s some drama, but yet we are able to thread the needle with including some humor in there and levity.”

The cast of ABC’s ‘Will Trent’.Art Streiber/ABC via Getty

Art Streiber/ABC via Getty

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Slaughter has seen many of her other novels adapted for the screen, as well. Her novelPieces of Herbecame a hit Netflix series starring Bella Heathcote andToni Collette, andJessica Bielis set to star in the upcoming Peacock adaptation ofThe Good Daughter, which Slaughter adapted herself.

This Is Why We Liedcomes out on Aug. 20 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.

source: people.com