As a writer, I often find myself navigating the delicate balance between logical complexity and emotional depth.

The FBI National Academy is an advanced course for law enforcement executives from around the world. For approximately three months, over 200 men and women move into college-style dorms at the FBI training campus at Quantico.

Ah, the elusive flow state—that magical realm where words pour out like a perfectly brewed cup of coffee, smooth and invigorating.

hat do Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Steve Jobs, and Kobe Bryant have in common? They all had to overcome shyness, public challenges, or inner struggles to perform at the highest levels—while the world was watching and judging their every move—and conceal their silent internal battle at the same time.

Now that I’m a mom, I find that I routinely dole out advice to my son. I expect—or at least, hope—that he will heed the words of hard-won wisdom garnered from years of…oh, who am I kidding? He’s going to do whatever he does. Just like I did. During their training period, rookie officers fresh from...

I’m always ready to embrace new tech, especially to improve productivity. Now that I’ve doubled my writing output to two full length novels a year, I find that anything that promises to help me get my thoughts down faster, and on the go, is worth a shot. To that end, I sometimes use portable...

When writing a series of novels about a criminal empire led by a family, I decided to base the organization on a wolf pack. Studying their behavior, I realized the way wolves operate within a pack is analogous to how a crime family could run its business.

For my most recent novel, I wanted a lead character who was an action hero like Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, Mitch Rapp, or Scot Horvath.
But my hero had to be a woman.
And she had to be believable.

Isabella explains how escape rooms inspired her latest thriller, what writers should do to improve their craft, and more at Writer’s Digest.

Isabella answers some really interesting questions at The Writing Cooperative!

Isabella discusses all things murder with a heavily researched essay on what goes on in the mind of a killer on Criminal Element.

Isabella writes about the big idea behind A KILLER’S GAME at John Scalzi’s blog

When you see a puzzle, a hidden message, or a secret code, do you have an urge to solve it? Let’s face it, cracking a code is a dopamine hit mixed with an adrenaline rush.

The Latino equivalent of Windex is Vicks VapoRub, which is used to treat everything from a head cold to a sucking chest wound. Now you know.

I’m not a native New Yorker. Not even a transplant. In fact, I had only visited NYC a handful of times when the bright idea occurred to me to set my new series there.

Even for those who have worn a gun and badge, research is an essential part of writing crime novels.

I write two crime fiction series, one with a homicide detective and the other featuring a federal agent. A major difference between the two is how the setting changes the feel of the story.

I was recently on a panel of authors at the ThrillerFest conference in New York City. The subject was “Google, Experts, or Travel: Researching Your Novel.” We all had a lively discussion about the methods we preferred as well as the pros and cons of each.

More than two decades with a gun and badge changes you—for better and for worse.

I’ll never forget the day the Nazis came to Northern Virginia.