Incidentally!

Revealing the cover of my third book, Incidentals

Don’t judge a book by its cover, they say. Salient advice for the (many) instances when the jacket does no favors to the gems within.

BUT! What about those times when the cover paints a scene so inviting, you can only hope that what’s contained lives up to the glossy facade?

Friends, I present to you the cover of my forthcoming novel, Incidentals:

Lucy Kim hit it out of the park with this one. No surprise, given the many stunning book covers she’s designed.

Incidentals is about a couple that’s spiraling like the contents of this coupe glass. As a last ditch effort to save their marriage, they use a boatload of airline miles and credit card points to book a trip to the Maldives. An overwater bungalow, a seven star resort, a flight so opulent, there’s a bar in the back of their cabin—what could go wrong?

Well. Per the back of the jacket:

A couple’s luxury vacation in the Maldives takes a sinister turn when they’re befriended by two strangers in a twisty and darkly comic novel by the author of Friends in Napa.

Sarah and Sam have lost the very spark that brought them together. In an effort to save their marriage, they embark on an anniversary trip to the Maldives where a week at a luxury resort might remind them of why they fell in love. On the plane, they meet Krista and Kevin, a happy older, exceptionally generous couple headed to the same destination and eager to make vacation friends. They could be just the marriage mentors Sarah and Sam need.

But when a dead body is pulled from the crystalline waters only days into the vacation, a dark pall is cast over the sunny coral isles. The official story is a tragic accident. That doesn’t sit right with Sarah, who senses something off. What could these very wealthy, too-fast friends possibly want from a modest couple like them?

The answers could destroy what’s left of her marriage. Then again, a murder in the Maldives might be the best thing that ever happened to it.

I had a ball writing this book and I can’t wait for you to read it once it comes out on March 31, 2026. In the meantime, I would love if you pre-ordered a copy:

Pre-orders tell book stores what they should stock on their shelves, and they help ensure that I’ll be able to contribute to the Rich People Behaving Badly canon (credit to Gray Malin for that coinage) for years to come. As a show of thanks, if you pre-order a copy and send me a screenshot of your receipt, I’ll comp your paid subscription to this newsletter for one year. That means all the travel guides, all the unpublished excerpts, all the ruminations and recommendations from the archives PLUS all that’s to come. It’s a steal, if you ask me!

What sort of secrets exist behind the pay wall? For one, there are the never before seen drafts of the Incidentals cover. How it started: