L.J. Provost
L.J. Provost is the mystery pen name of Laura Jo Brunson, whose career spans journalism, strategic communications, and publishing. She has written and edited everything from breaking news and feature stories to public information materials and book‑length projects, bringing a reporter’s eye and an editor’s precision to her fiction.
Brunson’s professional background includes roles as a reporter and lifestyle editor for a New York Times–owned weekly newspaper, copyeditor for The Florida Times-Union, and managing editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal. She later built a successful public relations career, developing campaigns and messaging for a wide range of clients and earning numerous industry honors, including the prestigious Silver Anvil Award for brand and reputation management. She also served ten years as a FEMA Reservist and research and writing specialist, translating complex, high‑stakes information into clear, accessible communication—experience that now informs the disaster‑response backdrop of her mystery fiction.
Writing as L.J. Provost, she focuses on mystery and other imaginative work. Under her legal name, Laura Jo Brunson, she co‑authored the local history book Legendary Locals of Jacksonville (Arcadia Publishing) and continues to work as a freelance writer and editor. She is the book review editor for The Pen Woman magazine of the National League of American Pen Women and serves on the editing cadre for Pen Women Press. Her novel Thistle Nook Secrets, published by Vendela Publishing, launches a mystery series in which murders unfold against the backdrop of her protagonist’s FEMA deployments. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside.
The flood was a disaster. The drowning was murder.
When catastrophic flooding strikes Nashville, FEMA disaster specialist Windy arrives for her first deployment prepared for long days, impossible decisions, and devastated survivors.
She is not prepared for a murder investigation.
Residents of Thistle Nook, a close-knit retirement community on the outskirts of the city, have been forced from their homes and relocated to a local hotel. Then one of their most beloved neighbors is discovered floating in the floodwater.
Authorities initially call it an accidental drowning.
The medical examiner calls it poisoning.
Suspicion soon settles over the six remaining Pensioners—a colorful group of retirees bound by friendship, routine, and decades of shared history. As Windy and her colleague Parker begin asking questions, they uncover hidden debts, old resentments, misplaced loyalties, and secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Someone at Thistle Nook knows what happened.
Someone may be lying to protect the killer.
And in a community where everyone has a history, even the warmest friendship can conceal a deadly motive.
Filled with memorable characters, unexpected twists, humor, and heart, Thistle Nook Secrets is a character-driven murder mystery about survival, loyalty, and the secrets that can either hold a community together—or tear it apart.
