Evil Woman

In Mary Monroe’s latest novel, Deliver Me From Evil, reformed bad girl Christine Thurman is up to her old tricks. Although she’s crawled out of the gutter and married a successful businessman, she begins an affair with a shifty old acquaintance. It’s a risky and potentially deadly venture. “I like to write about things that I know or have experienced,” laughs Monroe. “The characters are composites of people I know -- including myself.”

Monroe -- who grew up in Alabama and Alliance, but now lives in Oakland -- shot to the top of the best-seller lists with her God Don’t Like Ugly series, which debuted seven years ago. She says stand-alone books, like Evil, give her a welcome break -- even though she doesn’t stray too far from the cheating, backstabbing ladies that made her a hit with black female readers. “I need a vacation from some of those [Ugly] characters,” she says. “I need time away from them to figure out what I’m going to do next. Sometimes those characters just get on my nerves.” www.bordersstores.com.
Thu., Sept. 6, 7 p.m.