Latest Books No Time to Breathe by Lori Duffy Foster

Journalist Lisa Jamison wants to blow off some steam after an argument with her boyfriend, so she heads to her friend Ricky’s kickboxing studio for an early morning workout. She expects to find Ricky alone, setting up for his first class of the day, but someone was there before Lisa, uninvited. Ricky is dead, shot only moments before she arrived, and now Lisa is a suspect in his murder. Lisa wants two things: to clear her name and seek justice for Ricky.

But the deeper she digs, the more the danger mounts. Can she find Ricky’s killer before the killer eliminates the last obstacle, silencing Lisa for good?

Author Lori Duffy Foster spent a few minutes with TheBigThrill discussing the third book in her Lisa Jamison Mystery Series, NO TIME TO BREATHE:

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

I began writing this novel just as COVID hit and everything shut down. I went from an empty house during the day to a full house with adolescent twins, two college kids, my husband and I all vying for workspace and Internet. (Did I mention I had just started a new job?) NO TIME TO BREATHE was my creative sanity. I needed it as a constant reminder that this is who I am: a writer.

Lori Duffy Foster

Can you pinpoint a moment or incident that sparked the idea for this book?

Like Lisa, I really got into kickboxing during my journalism days. Our satellite newsroom shared a plaza with a new kickboxing studio and I spent a lot of time there after work or during breaks, beating on the bags and taking part in cardio classes. When I think of Lisa, the protagonist in NO TIME TO BREATHE, I think of my first real punch. Like a lot of women, I was timid at first, barely tapping the bag, thanks to social coding that often teaches women to hold back. The owner encouraged me to try and try again until I finally let go, freeing myself mentally as well as physically.

In addition to a great read, what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

I am fascinated by human nature. Whenever I write, I try to examine the forces that drive us to violate our own morals and social codes or that stimulate us to reinforce them and fiercely protect them. NO TIME TO BREATHE is mystery/suspense. It is supposed to entertain. But I hope the novel also opens readers up to new perspectives that help them better understand society as a whole.

What can you share about what you’re working on next?

While the plot for book four in the series stews in my brain, I am also working on revisions of two standalone novels for eventual publication. NO STRANGER HERE is a thriller set in North Central Pennsylvania, where I now live. SPRING MELT is an historical courtroom drama set in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, where I grew up.

Lori Duffy Foster is a former crime reporter and the Agatha and Shamus award-nominated author of the Lisa Jamison Mystery Series. NO TIME TO BREATHE is the third book in the series. NEVER LET GO, her debut thriller, released in December from Level Best Books and Dreamscape Audio. Lori is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, The Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers, Private Eye Writers of America and Pennwriters.

To learn more about Lori and her work, please visit her website.