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Early Praise For the Best

  • POPSUGAR Best Book of September 2020 

    “For the Best, Lillie’s timely and unsettling tale of white privilege, is fascinating” — CrimeReads Must Read for September

    “For the Best is intelligent and wholly original. It is that rare book that makes you race to the end but then stop in your tracks and just say WHOA! The perfect follow-up to Lillie’s sensational debut, Little Voices.”

    —Wendy Walker, internationally bestselling author of The Night Before and All Is Not Forgotten

    “For the Best is plotted to perfection, the events of that night unfold in a series of shocking and disturbing twists. A clever, captivating book you need on your list.”

    —Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author of My Lovely Wife and He Started It

  • “Lillie follows up her smashing debut Little Voices with another winner, this time exploring just how far a person will go to keep old secrets buried. A slow-burn, moody mystery that will keep you on your toes.”  

    –Kimberly Belle, internationally bestselling author of Dear Wife and The Marriage Lie

    “Vanessa Lillie’s For the Best is both a riveting page-turner about a woman’s race to prove her own innocence, and a layered, thought-provoking exploration of self-destructive impulses and the crushing weight of old secrets. Well-paced and full of surprises, this is one you definitely don’t want to miss!”

    —Kathleen Barber, author of Follow Me and Truth Be Told

  • “Lillie’s sophomore novel, For the Best, builds on an already impressive debut with a book that crafts a haunting, evocative mystery—starring a complicated and flawed protagonist in Jules. Lillie’s prose is taut and mesmerizing, and that ending knocked me for a loop. Don’t sleep on this book or Vanessa Lillie—a true rising star in crime fiction.”

    —Alex Segura, acclaimed author of Blackout and Miami Midnight

    “Vanessa Lillie writes with both authority and a fresh voice as she confronts the contradiction of family—that those closest to us can give us strength or tear us to shreds, and sometimes both at once. For the Best is not to be missed.”

    —Danielle Girard, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of White Out

Pre-Order The Book
  • Screen Shot 2020-09-01 at 11.22.46 AM
    POPSUGAR’s “Best New Books of September”
  • Screen Shot 2020-08-11 at 1.06.59 PM
    New the Rhody Reader Box by Ink Fish Books with signed copies + local products
  • Screen Shot 2020-08-26 at 2.51.32 PM
    Check out my regular column in the Providence Journal about life during COVID.
  • Screen Shot 2020-09-01 at 9.43.58 AM
    For The Best, Vanessa Lillie’s timely and unsettling tale of white privilege, is fascinating. A woman gets into a fight with a colleague at a work event, and becomes a suspect in his murder when the body is discovered the next day. She was drinking heavily—so heavily she can’t remember. But perhaps there’s something she needs to forget. And perhaps her racist father knows something. I loved this study in the ways in which white privilege and entitlement become lethal.
  • Updated launch event invite
    Join the virtual launch of For the Best and many other events all month!

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Welcome Readers and Writers!

I love dark and twisty books. I seek to read and create stories with a “voice,” where words on the page grow a pulse as if the narrator is whispering their frantic tale in my ear.

I have a five year old. I draw a lot from the wonder, frustration and joy of parenting. 

If you’re interested in books, writing or parenting, let’s connect!

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