Bookwild - Judy Huston's Spy Notes: The Music Business as the Perfect Cover for a Spy

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

This week, I talk with Judy Hutson about her new spy thriller Spy Notes! We dive into the inspiration for the story, how her job as a publicist in the music industry informed the book, and how she chose the places for Johnny to travel to!Spy Notes SynopsisMusic, Mayhem, and Missions...When music publicist Johnny Harrington isn't managing her superstar client Naive, she's enjoying Christmas on her family's idyllic island home in Barbados. But this year's holiday harmony is shattered when an undercover detective turns up dead, and Johnny's new romance with charming businessman Henley becomes entangled in a web of suspicion.Using her backstage pass to Europe's most exclusive social circles through Naive's tour, Johnny becomes an unlikely spy in designer heels. As she juggles a volatile artist with her secret mission, she uncovers a deadly network of drug trafficking that hits dangerously close to home. In a world where every VIP party could be a cover and every intimate encounter could be a setup, Johnny must figure out who's playing her before she becomes the next victim.From private island paradises to high-stakes concert venues, this glamorous thriller proves that in both the music business and espionage, the most dangerous notes are the ones you don't see coming. Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

I am super excited to dive into spy notes, but at the beginning, I do always ask the same question. When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Or was it a moment that was like all of a sudden you had a book idea? What was that moment like for you? Well, I guess I always wrote, even when I was, you know, in school, it was something I always liked creative writing. I hated math. Yes. That was something that I always liked to do.

Never thought about myself to become a writer. You know, if it was just something that I like to do occasionally, you know, make up stories. Yeah, totally. So when you started writing novels, how did your writing process develop? Do you, like, plan things out? Does it come to you while you're writing? Well, I'm what you call a pancer. I mean, you know, my first.

novel, which is fine notes, I panced just about all of it. And then I got to a point where it was like, you know, there were, there were places where I'm like, okay, what am I going to do next? And it made me kind of panic. But I got through it, but then I'm working on my second one, and I'm definitely not going to be, I consider myself, I guess, a plancer. I'm going to, I'm doing a lot more plotting. besides the pants. I mean, I don't like, I'm just like a pants. You know, pants is we feel, if we write too much of the outline and what,

we don't want to do the story. We know the story. Yeah. So, but I'm having what they call like guideposts. So at least I know the direction. I don't know exactly what's going to happen between, but I know where it's going, which makes me feel better. Yeah.

Yeah. I think that is a good hybrid of them both together. Right. with this character with Johnny, how did you get to know her? Did you kind of discover her as you were writing her, or did you do any planning with her? No, I didn't do any planning with her. I mean, I did get this. I knew basically what she was like.

I know what kind of character she was. But yes, she showed different aspects of herself as I was writing. I got to know her more, especially when she got into different situations, realizing what she would do, you know, that was part of the part that I really got to know her. Yeah, that makes sense. I know that her job as a music publicist is really closely related to your job as well, or jobs you've had in the past as well. So how did that experience kind of inform this book?

That really helped a lot because, you know, that is the whole fuel for her. being able to do the job that she does because of being that publicist for this iconic music artist and being on tour allows her to get into different places that an ordinary person would not be able to go to in those high society, those exclusive clubs and exclusive parties. Her job allows her to do that. Yeah, I liked that because it's always fun with stories where a not like kind of a normal or quote unquote normal person becomes a spy. I like that as a trope. But then like having music able or her job in music be able to help was a fun, a fun twist on that to like bring those together.

The other thing is like she's on a tour. So there's also like a bunch of travel already kind of hooked in. So but also like we start out in Barbados. Well, she's on her way to Barbados. But we spent a lot of time in Barbados at the beginning. But then we're in France and Germany and England and even New York at one point. So did you know all the places that you wanted to take her or are they places that you've been? How did you decide that part?

Yeah. Most of those places I've been. And the only place that I haven't been in that story was Berlin. But all the other places, I definitely have been and I try to put in some of my favorite spots. And, you know, I really wanted the reader to feel those places to get an idea of the mood and the setting of those places. So, yeah, that's one of the things I always want my readers to be immersed, to have that experience as part of the story. Yeah. And I love her, the family state that she goes to in Barbados is flamboyant is what it's been named. And I loved that too. So did you do like how did you kind of do the world building with her family there and like the people she knew there? Well, part of that is, well, my background, my family background is from Barbados. But so I know the culture. I know what people are like.

So a lot of the characters there are amalgamation of different people that I know, you know, put them together to make certain characters. Plan Boynt was actually based on at a state that I know a friend has. So, you know, I actually use that estate as part of the book. Yeah, that's so cool. So with the plot, what was kind of like your initial, like what was the initial inspiration to like have this character try to like solve a crime basically? Well, the inspiration was really, as I have said, I've told people, was Josephine Baker because she was a spy during World War. two. You know, she was an iconic superstar at that time, you know, known all over the world. And she got to travel and during the tour, she was working with the French Resistance.

And the way she did that was that whenever she was touring, she would get the different notes and things from the French Resistance. And she was able to get information and hide. in her tour notes while she was touring the music while she was touring. So I thought, you know, that's a great idea because she was able to go places that other people weren't allowed and she was never suspected.

Also, the actor Tyron was kind of power. He was also a spy for the British during, and he's a big Hollywood star in the 30s. So I, you know, these are perfect people to do this

type of spying because no no one to ever suspects them. Right. Yeah. It's like the easiest way to kind of hide in plain sight. So the book also, it kind of incorporates. It has like multiple kind of genre pieces in it. So we have like espionage. There's a mystery. There's like family drama, personal drama. How did you how did you approach like balancing all of those elements together? I guess because that's the way that I had the actual story move because everybody, you know, whether you're a spy and I mean, the spies in real life, it's not just that work. You have the family that you have to deal with.

You have, you know, especially because you're hiding what you're doing. So you've got to deal with the other people in your life, the whatever other job. that you have to do. You have to balance all of that. So that was part of the reality of what I believe, you know, real spies have to deal with all the time. How do you balance that? What are they going through with their family and the people that they love that they have to hide this identity from? Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point. Did you have to research anything like drug trafficking routes or like how spies operate was there anything you researched specifically for it? No, no, not really.

I mean, with the drug part, I didn't really have to, you know, deal with that at all. I mean, I just, you know, put that stuff in. A lot of the things I knew, you know, especially the music part, I knew that if anything I didn't know, stagewise or whatever, I had people in the music industry that I could always call upon, you know, to make sure I'm using the right terms and exactly what they would be doing because even though I've gone on tours and I've seen it, I'm not the technical experts. So I would make sure that all the technical aspects were part of it. I wanted to interrupt this episode really quickly. I have a goal of monetizing Bookwild, but I would love to do it without having to

have ads in the podcast. And one way that I can do that is through my Patreon. For those who don't know, Patreon is a community platform that allows creators to share what they're creating behind a paywall. And so that means exclusive content or early releases. The book Wild Patreon has two tiers. The first tier is the bookish tier. And at that tier, you get all of the episodes out a day early. And you get access to our private community chat where we can talk about anything book related or TV shows or movies. The second tier is the Book Wilde tier, and it includes everything from the first tier, but also Book Wilde's Backlist Book Club.

So this year I've been wanting to also still read more Backlist, even though I read plenty of arcs, and Book Wilde's Backlist Book Club felt like the perfect way to do that. We meet on Sundays. We are international right now, so Sundays are the best way to do it. And we meet on Zoom, and we all pick a book, and we talk. talk about it and then we talk about everything else we read during the month and then we pick another book for the next month. So it's been so much fun so far and we'd love to have you join the book club. So if you'd like to support the book Wild podcast, you can go to the Patreon link and the

show notes and you can sign up for whichever to your interest you. And if you're looking for a free way to support the show, if you can like and review it on whichever platform you listen to, that helps so much. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Um, So with that then, kind of with like the music part that you've been talking about, were there any of like, if you don't have to say which one it is necessarily, were there any of like the experiences that you had? Did you kind of like rework them for parts of the book? What did you say?

Can you say that again? Oh, yeah. Okay. With the music part in the book, was there, were there any of you? your experiences that you worked into the book that were like things that had happened to you. You don't have to say like who they actually were then. But was there any of that? Yes, definitely.

But it wasn't me. I also got a lot of stories. There are certain stories that are known in the music business and that people know about maybe not the public knows, but most people they've heard of these stories. So I try to use some of those things because I'm sure that a lot of people, if they read it and they're in the music business, they would really get a kick out of it. And also, like I said,

this is also like a love letter to music publicist because I think they're the hardest working people behind the scene. I believe it. And they have to go through a lot like what Johnny goes through. So I really did that for them also. And, you know, and I've talked to other people and find out, oh, do you remember certain stories?

And then they would tell me their stories. So I would use some of that in there. But yeah, definitely a lot of those things are true. Yeah. I mean, they felt like real or fully realized. So that also fits. Was there anything that you ran into when you were writing that was like more challenging than you thought it would be?

I guess, like I said, because I panced it at first, you know, it was a part where I was like, okay, where am I taking her? What is she going to do next? And I had to really sit back and decide, okay, how am I going to get her out of this situation? Where am I going to find her next clue? Where could it possibly be? And so those were the kind of things that as a pancer,

you've really got to think about. And then also things come to you after you finish writing the book. So then I would go back. and then try to put in some little things that I think, you know, was necessary in there. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. With her, well, with all of the characters and the fact that you pants, I won't say who it is, but did you know when you were writing it who was responsible for the bad things that were happening?

in the beginning when I was pantsing no yeah and you know that's kind of and you know and and that's the good part I think of pansin because I'm learning the story too and it's like oh my gosh right you know because actually the characters then tell you what they're doing I'm like oh my goodness so that's it that's what's so exciting about a panza I was on this journey also yeah and they reveal themselves to me at a certain point. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. She's,

Johnny's also, she's kind of torn between two men a little bit. Yeah. And so there's that whole tension that's going on. Did that just kind of like develop naturally? Or was that something that you were kind of thinking of going into it? Yes, definitely I wanted to set that up when I was going into it.

Because I wanted her to have to deal. with that situation and also plant a whole thing of who does she trust? You know, that's another thing. And what is pulling her in what direction, not only for her personal life, but also for now this journey that she's taking into spying. Yeah. Yeah. And then she feels like, and we do too as readers.

She's like suspicious of everyone that she's meeting because you're just like constantly like, oh, are you doing something odd or are you related to this? And that added so much tension that it was like truly like, is this person involved? Is this person involved? Do you think that kind came from like how like writing it the way you did? Like you were even kind of like, is it this person? Is it this person? Right. It was. I mean, there were some people I knew definitely weren't going to be involved. But I wanted to have that feeling of, well, who? is this? Who can you trust? Especially as a

spy. That isn't as something as a spy. And remember she's not a professional. I mean, it's different if you're a professional. But if you're not a professional, at one point, you don't know who you can really trust. So I wanted her to actually

feel that way because now she's going in, you know, because she was almost like a dilettante when she was going into this in the beginning. You know, okay, you know, can do this is going to be fun but then i want her to feel the reality of what this is really like that you are now going into a world that who can you trust yeah yes which is like one of my favorite things in thrillers like i like reading it and feeling in that way and like it makes me feel

like i'm trying to figure so much out too i think that's like part of what like hooks me into to basically that it really any story that kind of approaches it that way. Did you say, I know you said you were working on a second one. Is this you clean to have it as a series? Are you working on a second one for this series? Oh yeah. I'm definitely going to make it a series. Yeah.

I wanted to make it a series because like I had said, my goal, I mean, I know it's big, but I would love to be like the Ian Fleming of the black women for spies because you don't see really any black women as spy characters and why not, you know? So I felt that this would be a great thing if I could start this. Yeah, totally. There's what, I don't know if you're familiar with Yasmin Ongo, but she had a trilogy. Oh, I've had three of them. Yeah, yeah.

And I just love them. They're so immersive. Like they just travel all over the place. and they're my favorite, like I don't read, typically when I'm reading spy fiction, it is a female. So I'm not even reading much like male spy fiction, but the female side of it is a lot more fun normally. Yes, yes.

So I'm excited. I'm excited to read another one. And you think you'll stick with her as well? Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I want Johnny to be a character that people would know, you know, like how James Bond is known. I want them to know her and understand her. So when she's someplace, they are, okay, yes, what Johnny does.

You know, that's Johnny's favorite drink or, you know, that is what, you know, I want them to know her. Yeah. It is fun. That's the fun part about series when you get to kind of sit with a character longer. Like, you do start thinking of those, if the author wrote it well and there are those things to catch on to. It catches on like it's one of your friends essentially that you've been hanging out with. for so long. Exactly. Exactly. I love it. I'm very excited to see where all she goes in the second one. You read as well. Normally at the end, I do ask if you've read anything recently that you

loved. Yes. So I just finished reading, well, I just finished reading Daniel Silva's his first book. I had picked up his book, The House of Spies. I was on my way in the airport. And I saw this book. I said, wow, this looks into it. I just picked it up. And I was enthralled with that book. I couldn't put that book down. So then I decided, hey, I want to know about this Gabriel Allen, like where he started from. So I went back and I picked up the first one, the killing artist. And I'm just in love. with his world and how he does it. He is fabulous. So I just finished reading that.

But I'm reading right now the personal librarian. It's not a spy novel. That's based on Belle de Costa, Belle Greene, DeCosta. She was actually the personal librarian for J.P.