Bookwild - M.M. Deluca's The Divorce Party: A Toxic Friend Group, A Divorce Party, and A LOT of Secrets

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

This week, I talk with M.M. Deluca about her new thriller The Divorce Party! We dive into why she wanted to write a thriller with some humor, how her trip to Vegas inspired the story, and the way well developed characters with complete character arcs improve thrillers.The Divorce Party SynopsisSavannah, Daisy, and Zoe haven’t spoken in almost twenty years, since the night that changed everything. But when an unexpected invitation arrives from Evie, the ruthless queen bee of their college clique, they have no choice but to reunite in Las Vegas for her lavish divorce party.Savannah, now a glamorous Vegas dancer, has spent years running from a past that refuses to stay buried. Daisy, a burned-out substitute teacher drowning in debt, is desperate for a second shot at the excitement she missed. Zoe, a respected paediatrician, has built a life of perfection. But perfection comes at a cost, and the cracks are starting to show.As the drinks flow and old resentments resurface, it becomes clear that Evie’s invitation isn’t just about celebrating her freedom. And when the weekend takes a deadly turn, the friends must confront their past to survive the present… 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 

This week got to talk with M.M. DeLuca about her newest psychological thriller, The Divorce Party, which really gave me like big little lies in Vegas vibes. Savannah, Daisy, and Zoe haven't spoken in almost 20 years since the night that changed everything. But when an unexpected invitation arrives from Evie, the ruthless queen bee of their college click, they have no choice but to reunite in Las Vegas for her lavish divorce party. Savannah, now a glamorous Vegas dancer, has spent years running for her. from a past that refuses to stay buried. Daisy, a burned-out substitute teacher, drowning in debt, is desperate for a second shot at the excitement she missed. Zoe, a respected pediatrician,

has built a life of perfection, but perfection comes at a cost, and the cracks are starting to show. As the drinks flow and older resentments resurfaced, it becomes clear that Evie's invitation isn't just about celebrating her freedom, and when the weekend takes a deadly turn, the friends must confront their past to survive the present. This is a messy girl group that you will just love trying to figure out. But for now, let's hear from M.M. DeLuca. I am so excited to be back with M.M. Deluca or Marjorie DeLuca. To talk about her newest psychological thriller.

So welcome back. It's great to be back, Kate, with my. it's so pretty i know i thought i ought to wear pink but i couldn't find anything so you brought your pink cover yeah i love that well this one is a little bit different than your others you mentioned that when you sent it to me as well it really reminded me of like big little eyes but in Vegas, kind of. So was there anything different about writing this one? Yeah, I'd spent the last few years writing very dark stories.

And of course, the last one was the night side. And I was so kind of mired in the darkness. I thought, I have to get out of this. And so I always wanted to write something that had a kind of undercurrent of humor in it. I love the Amoriati. and just love her characters and there's a darkness in them, but there's also humor. And I wanted to talk to that because, you know,

after all the sort of heavy stuff I've been writing, this was a real big change for me, and I so enjoyed it. It was so fun. And using three different narrators was also fun because skipping from one to the other and making sure they're doing. different was great rather than being with one person the whole book.

Yeah. It was a great change. Yeah. Yeah, I always wonder back to the dark side. You're like, I'm going to write thriller romps now. Yeah. Did you have, so like it sounds like obviously you kind of wanted to shift out of like the really darker themes.

Was there, was there anything else that like hit you as the inspiration for the story? Yeah, well, my husband and I used to spend a lot of holidays in Las Vegas. And it's funny, we used to go in the summer, which is probably the hottest time to go to Vegas. But we really enjoyed it. And we would love the kind of life there, the pool life, the, you know, the shows, the restaurants, just the whole air of kind of, it's sort of unreal. You know, where else can you get the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, a Venetian palace, all in one place? I mean, this blows your mind.

And I thought, I've got to set something in Las Vegas because anything can happen there. You can let loose, have a good time, party hard, and as they say, what happens in Vegas stays there. but not in this story necessarily. Yeah, not always. I was going to, that's interesting that it is your trip there because the setting almost is a character in this one. Like it is very important to the story. Were you like immediately like, I need to take some messy women

and drop them in here together and see what happens. Yeah, well, you know, at first, The first thing that inspired me, I always had the image of the dead person at the beginning of the story. In the prologue, of course, somebody is found dead, but we don't know who it is. But I always knew that was the opening scene, and then it's a matter of finding out, okay, who's the dead person and who killed this person and why. and I sort of like the idea of three college friends who haven't seen each other for a long time and obviously there's something dark in their past that has kept them apart a secret they vowed never get to get back together again and they don't really want to reunite

but they have to yeah why wanted all that and then the divorce point idea just came during research. You know, Vegas is famous for weddings and bacheloretts and bachelor parties, but divorce parties are huge there now. And it's so fun finding out what people do it. I know. You do. You see them on social media every now and then, too, or like on like housewives or something. They're all just like, I'm free. Yes. Yes. Yes. It's more like they used to be kind of somber affairs where people were kind of crying over their drinks. But now it's like a celebration of the new me. You know, I'm going to go out and have a fresh start.

And this is one is the beginning. So it's like, let's all let loose. Yeah. You know, there's special invitations, special cocktails and playlists. I enjoyed that part, especially the games. Yes, yes. So the three women at the core of it, they have a past with each other. They've also obviously gone on and had their own lives as well.

So did they kind of reveal themselves and their past to you as you wrote it? or did you kind of know going into it what they were all hiding? Well, I knew that there was the one big secret that reunited them, but I wanted them to be women who had come from a kind of impoverished background, and they'd kind of clawed their way into a very prestigious university. So they were pretty hard-edged women. They came from single-parent families, and that kind of unites them as friends.

And each of them has like a bad habit from the past. And they've tried to reinvent themselves in their new lives. And whether that's successful or not, it depends on what you're looking at. You know, we've got Daisy, the burned-out substitute teacher who's broke with the loser husband who's trying to make it in the music business. and Anna, who is an ex-science nerd, and now she's a Vegas dancer.

I don't know what that quite happened, but I was always fascinated when I was in Vegas at the, you know, the dancers and the shows, just all blitzie and, you know, it seems like fun, but I think it's a pretty short life, you know, as a dancer. And then there's Zoe, who is a successful Peter. nutrition living in Toronto and married to a much older man, but dissatisfied with her life. But she's kind of, I guess, the most successful in reinventing her life. But they can't leave the past behind, unfortunately. Yeah.

Yeah, it's kind of memorable what happened to them. It's a little bit hard to forget. Yeah. Did you have a favorite one? Like, did you find yourself enjoying, like, certain chapters or did you just kind of love them all? A lot of people I talk to, Evie, we don't have any chapters from her point of view, but she's a very interesting character. She's the Queen Bee who has asked for everyone to come to her a divorce party. And she's kind of

tough, but tragic. I guess that's the one sort of darker side to the story. and a lot of people enjoyed Evie when I've talked to them. I do like Daisy. I think she's always, you know, she's the one that really wants to go to Vegas because she's broke. Right. She has missed out on, she feels she's missed out on all the fun in life. And she's determined to go, even if it means selling her husband's precious record collection and even selling the house, she's to tell them to go.

So I did like Daisy because she's kind of ruthless. Yeah. It's pretty. And yeah, I don't want to say any more. Right. Yeah, she's... And I told them really in some way. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I remember Daisy's chapter, like, opening with, like, something about, like, being out of money again because her husband was unemployed again. I'm just like, poor Daisy. Daisy. I was a teacher before I decided to start writing full-time. So the scene at the beginning where Daisy walks out of her classroom in the middle of a lesson, I can say that that may have crossed my mind sometimes. I was standing in front of a group of, you know, grade 11 or 12 students that were on their phones. And you're like, I feel like I'm a comedian. audience. I'm just going to leave.

Yeah. This is what she does. So that kind of drew on a bit of wishful fulfillment. Right. You're living vicariously a little bit through Daisy. Yeah. You mentioned because like you kind of wanted to shift a little bit out of the dark, the darker stuff that there's like a balance of suspense and like humor and kind of like emotional drama as well.

this one. Did you, did you, did you, did you, did you kind of like focus on making that blend? Or when you just started writing, did the story kind of come out that way? Yeah. I knew for sure I wanted some humor in it. Yeah. Because you can't be serious about what's going on in this story. You can't be totally serious, even though it, I mean, there's murders and bad things to people. But once I got into the voice of each character, they kind of spoke for me. And, you know, each one of them has, just like Leanne Moriarty does, it's kind of looking at real life and picking out the silly things that don't

make sense, you know, or taking a good look at your situation and, you know, having a kind of blunt opinion on it. I wanted their voices to kind of shine through. And I kind of found myself self-speaking in their voices as I went to each one and just, you know, to some of the absurdities in the world. You know, Zoe, the financially successful person, goes to see a beautiful condo which she wants to buy. And when she looks at the promo material about this beautiful condo, which is on the shores of Lake Ontario, she makes fun of all the blur because it's so out there. It's so, you know, over the top.

Yes. Urban countryside living in an urban setting, you know, all this kind of stuff. She just thinks it's ridiculous, but she wants it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Listings are like that for sure. That's like the other funny part.

Yeah, like there are all, so many. There's so many buzzwords. Yeah. So it really, the, the friendship has a lot of rivalry, like, or their shared friendship has a lot of rivalry. And then there are also some pretty big betrayals as well. Was there something, is there something that kind of draws you to those themes and books? well I think that

one of the themes of this book is that ask the question can you really escape your past if you've had a troubled past can you really leave it behind and that is kind of addressed at the beginning when I think

Savannah is in the bar talking to the bartender Leon the head from Leon and And he asks her, you don't look very happy. Have you had a blast from the past or something like that? She says, oh, an invitation.

She tells him about the invitation to the divorce party. Because I'm the kind of person that thinks the past should be left behind. Because if you try to rake it up, it stinks like dead leaves or something. And Leon, who hasn't had that kind of past says, well, I think your past is important to you. It's like something to celebrate. It's part of your roots. And that kind of shows the difference between someone who's had a happy childhood and someone who's very difficult childhood.

And I did want to explore that. And these girls, these young women are survivors. They've had to basically claw for everything they got. And the past is not a happy place for them to look back to. So that is one of the more, I guess, serious themes in the story. Yeah, it kind of addresses like class issues as well. Because you're just, you just know what it's like to be desperate if you've really had like almost nothing. Yes.

Compared to if life has been like relatively easy or you've had like a very wealthy life as well. I feel like that desperation does do so well in thrillers, probably for that reason. So it sounds like you really were, we're trying to kind of like cover that part too, that it's like when you have less, like, how can you really judge some people's actions when they're just trying to have something? Yeah, they're really trying to get ahead or make a life of. themselves and they're afraid of losing it. Yeah.

That's the fear among all of them. They don't want to lose what they've fought so hard to achieve. And maybe in the early days, that meant doing not so legal things. Right. Doing some morally gray things, but they were, all of them united in their, you know, struggle. Yeah. The wrestling thing.

that just came out of left field. The idea of wrestling club, I just, I don't know, that just popped into my mind one day. It's a really scrappy thing too. Yeah. The idea that they were strong, tough, and athletic, and they weren't going to be just the demure, you know, popular girls at university. They wanted to prove themselves. right so i thought the wrestling was a perfect uh kind of metaphor for that right now it yeah it really is um so they where was that going it just like left my mind right when i looked up oh accountability

is like another thing like what what are we all what do we all need to be held accountable for and just like kind of how hard that is but also how it also probably traps you if you're not being held accountable for things as well so did that just kind of come about as you were writing the story as well yeah i mean uh i guess the men in it uh i mean i don't know uh it's kind of it's kind of almost like a revenge thing too this story. You know, the sort of wealthy

entitled people in it have not been held accountable for what they've been in the story. They've basically gone through life on a free ride and never had to sort of face the consequences. I mean, really

nobody's been held accountable in the story. They've all got way, bad things. And I guess the reckoning is coming. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But some people are better at avoiding it than others. Right. Right. That's a good way to say it without giving anything away. And some people don't. But the idea that they all come clean at some point about terrible things that happened when they were at the university. And since then, I think, you know, it was a time for these women to kind of be honest with each other about what really happened and what they were really doing and maybe comes as a shock

to each of them, just what was actually going on. Right. But I still hold off for some final twists. That was like the last twists at the end. The last couple of chapters are crazy. Yes. You mentioned that you did do some research into, I mean, it sounds like you found out about divorce parties in general doing maybe some like Vegas research or something like that.

And the games was there? What were your like favorite parts that you found from research? Well, I haven't tried out the cocktails yet, but there's a whole. list of cocktails like I think it's the Alamontini what is I've got they're in between each section yeah oh they burn run baby rum baby rum yeah liar liar pants on fire all those try some of them out yeah the playlists were fun you know we've got the old standard uh I will survive it's like Gloria Gaynor and um um who are

D-I-V-O-R-C-E? Is that Tammy Winnett? I think so. I can't remember. I can't remember. I think Taylor Swift has one. There's a whole reason. Apparently,

at these parties, the divorcee to be and her friends sort of belt them out at karaoke sessions and everybody has a great time. The games, I only picked a couple of them kind of

raunchy side of it but yeah they sure get their frustrations out in those games I kind of when I read that one burn the wedding dress I thought that was so funny but I don't know how legal

that is especially setting up to a wedding dress how would you do in a desert yeah yeah yeah But there's a massive industry behind it. I believe it.

It's, maybe that's a bad thing. Maybe it says we're having too many divorces. Who knows if it's better that some women feel like they can leave or if it's worse. I don't know. Yeah. And the Chippendales thing. I thought they have to go and see the Chippendales.

That's something you do. Yes. Actually, years ago, I saw the Chippendales. I mean, I'm a long time ago. And I can just imagine in Vegas, it must be so funny. Right. Older ladies, uh, letting loose, I'd say. Yes.

Yes. Oh, my gosh. I don't know if you watch reality TV, but I'm always going to think of, uh, the secret lives of Mormon wives last year. Oh, yeah. Oh, there was such, such drama about, I think it was Chippendales or maybe it was magic. Mike. it's the same thing essentially.

But yeah. And it's the older seniors that get the more raunchy. I was reading about it. I love that. I love that. Oh, that's amazing. I love it for any age of women.

Well, what the hell? Why not? Exactly. What was, I just had one lined up. What was my next one? I don't know, I just totally lost my thought, thinking about the, thinking about sexy men. I'm so flustered. Advertised as a mantastic abs.

What is it? I think I've read. Yeah. The way it's described, the Chippendale review is so funny. Fantastic abs or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. did you

have like the the ending the way that the twist comes together did you have that ending in mind when you started or did you mainly just know like what they were covering up well when you start

with a prolog like mine you're basically starting that's the end of the book so you know where you're heading towards you know that there's that body but it actually took quite a lot of

planning and thinking to decide exactly how it would all go down. And often when you're doing a twisty kind of ending like that, it changes a few times. That's why I wondered. Yeah, it does change a few times. But I did know who I wanted to be the mastermind. Right.

But it took a bit of maneuvering to get it to work. Right. that makes me when you said that so did you write the prologue first did you mostly write the book in the order that it's in the very first thing i wrote because i have clear in my mind exactly how that was yeah so you didn't need to like build their backstories first to like get going well i always think about the characters first i always do um like a almost like a character bible i have find a picture of somebody I think looks like the character and I write about them what they do and everything.

Yeah. But I knew I wanted to throw them into that situation where that dead body was in it. But what that forces you to do is it forces you to keep on the right path because you know what's at the end. Yeah. You know you have to get them towards that place. right where the body is found yeah that makes sense um i just keep forgetting my questions today i don't know why there was something else from what you said there um but my my other one would be what i thought

was kind of cool too is they actually did you all grow by the end i'm i'm going to keep it vague but you don't always see you don't always see character growth in kind of like a popcorn thriller or whatever we want to kind of call this specific genre and I really did like that um was that something you were really trying to keep in mind too while you were writing it yeah um you know I think people like uh again Leanne Moriarty people like Lisa Diole yeah people like Tanya French um have more character development. The story is more character-driven, and I wanted it to be character-driven,

because I think that that makes it a much more immersive story. I can't write just straight action. You know, it's a bit too shallow for my liking. I have to get into the characters. So that's why the story is basically in three parts. There's the invitation, which that section of the book has the characters in their present lives

what they're doing right now when they get the invitation and most of them are living a pretty screwed up life like they have problems they get this invitation and that's part one part two is the arrival when they get there

how they first meet each other what's going on and then there's the action party when it all was unfolding. So you could say there's quite a bit of backstory and then and this was quite a complex story to write because we have that but we flip back sometimes to their university years and that a little bit of shuffling around so it wasn't forced so that it's true. Yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah. Yeah, I feel like when there's character development in thrillers, that's where it like, it helps them not feel repetitive. Like it's like, it's what makes the book its own thing. Yeah. Yeah. Otherwise, you know, there are only so many different plots that you can go with. But what makes it different is the players in the story and their stories.

and I love stories that have good character development. I just find so much more satisfying. Yeah, one of my favorite books, I guess, was Big Little Lises, Leon Moriarty, isn't it? I just love books. Yes. And Lisa Jewel is the same. I think hers have a better deep character development. I agree.

And just makes it a better read. Yeah, it really connects you to the story in a different way because you just understand where everyone is coming from. Yeah. Which is like that whole thing to you and you feel empathetic for multiple POVs. I think why that is so fun and thrillers is you're like, who side am I on? Like do I want to like quote, quote win at the end. Yeah. Yeah, I really wanted to write the multiple POV one because I've written quite a few from single points of view.

And unless you love the character, you're like, God, I want to get shot of this person. I'm sick of them. Luckily, that hasn't happened, but it is difficult to stay with the one person all the time. So now I'm not sure. I think I'm spoiled now with the multiple point of view thing. I'm going to keep going with that because I liked it so much. Yeah. Well, I was going to be my next question.

Are you working on something else? and is it less dark than your previous ones as well? Well, you know, I always have several projects on the go. I have one that's darker, but I'm not sure whether I'm going to, it's sort of a serial killer one. Ooh. Yeah, but then I have another one that I had thought of that I wanted it to be in Mexico, but around the weekend of Day of the Dead,

which would be a multiple point of view story. Lots of people coming to a villa in Mexico. I don't know where it's going to be Los Cabos or something like that. Yeah. Or a wedding anniversary. So I've been thinking of that one. I like how you're going from the divorce party to like the wedding anniversary. Yeah.

That sounds fun though. Like I'm excited to read some more multi-POVs from you because it is fun. Well, Lucy only does it very. well too. Yes. I still need to read that one. I've read her others, but I haven't read that one yet. The Paris apartment I liked. That was good too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, speaking of books you liked, have you read any other than what you just recently mentioned? Have you read any books recently that you really loved? Any recent books that I really loved? We used to live here by, is it Marcus Cleaver? Oh my gosh.

I am so obsessed with that book. I read it in November and I'm still thinking about it. Yeah. And that made me think, wow, horror stories. And actually the serial killer book that I started writing and was, I'm in the middle of, the main character is a writer of horror stories. Because I've often sort of thought horror would be a good thing to write. Yeah.

I really, yeah, I really. really, really, really enjoyed that one. And it kind of, it helps me learn about myself that, like, psychological and social horror is kind of like what I enjoy the most with horror. Yeah, that one I couldn't stop reading. It was amazing. I also had Mexican Gothic. Ooh, yeah. Which that's what's really good. That one is very wild. If you enjoyed that one, I read recently The Manor of Dreams by Christina Lee. And it was compared to Mexican Gothic as well. It's also, to me, it was a little bit like, no road home by John Fram.

I don't know if you know that one. But I really loved, I really loves the manner of dreams too. Horror is fun. I seem to not be able to handle body horror very well, but like other stuff works for me. Yeah, like, like the, we used to live here. that kind of horror where it's almost the unseen is more frightening than a lot of born and monsters of the things. I love that where the horror is just kind of out of just a kind of periphery of your vision. It's like you don't know if it's there or not. That's

the kind of thing I like. And one of the best books I read, it's more literary horror, was Sarah Waters, the little stranger. Okay. I need to read that one. That's brilliant literary horror story. Sarah Waters is one of my heroes in terms of writing. She's brilliant. That's one of the most frightening stories I've read.

Wow. It's been made into a movie. Oh, that's exciting. But it's amazing, yeah. And actually, one of my earlier books, The Savage Instinct, which is a very dark and it's not a horror story but it's kind of is uh was inspired a little by Sarah Waters writing oh yeah was her did we talk about she's she finger smith as well yes fingersmith yeah i feel like we might have talked about her last time too yeah that's awesome

well um obviously i loved the book people need to it's so perfect for summer too. I'm assuming that's part of why I got the July release too. Yeah. Yeah, it is. You know, I've never written, I guess it's a beach. They call it a beach reading. Yeah.

I wanted it to be something that people could, you know, yeah, sit down at a pool or on a beach and read it. Yeah. And the cover, I just love the color. I thought this is perfect. And it just stands out. So, yeah. Yes.

really really liked it so yeah well it is yeah it is available now so everybody can go get their copies or audiobooks or whichever version um where can people follow you to stay up to date with everything i'm on instagram most of the time and i have a website uh marjorie delucaa.com yeah and you can sign up for my newsletter but mostly i'm Mostly I use Instagram. Yeah. And Threads, I guess. Threads has great book community, it seems.

It really does. Yeah. Yeah, because I was completely off X or whatever it is now. And then I was like, oh, threads is actually pretty nice. Yes. It has so many book reviewers and people, you know, asking, shows your book cover will promote it. It's amazing.

Yeah. Well, I will put all those. links and the show notes for everyone. And otherwise, thanks so much for talking with me about the divorce. Great. As usual. Yes.