Interview with William Bernhardt, Author of Exposed (Splitsville Legal Thriller

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Exposed?

This is my second Splitsville novel featuring Kenzi Rivera and her team of female associates. Kenzi is basically my mother, the wisest woman in the world, and her friends are my three sisters. I grew up surrounded by these wonderful women, who obviously had a huge influence on me, so this series is a family love letter, all about the strength of women and the different approaches they have to solving problems.  

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Exposed, what would they be?

I Am Woman, the immortal Helen Reddy ballad which unsurprisingly was my favorite song when I was eleven.  

If you had to write a blurb for the last book you read, what would it say?

“First-class entertainment from the first page to the last.” That’s for The Alien Accord by Betsey Kulakowski. It’s the third book in her Veritas Codex series about a female television investigator looking into the world’s strangest mysteries, like Bigfoot and alien abductions. The author has so much energy and enthusiasm. You can tell she’s having fun writing this, and that fun spills over into the reading experience.  

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

These days, I read more nonfiction than anything else. Because I’ve written over fifty novels, I’m sometimes too aware of writers and what they’re doing, to take a back seat and just enjoy the book. But I love learning new things. I’m particularly fond of reading about history and the arts.  

Do you have any quirky writing habits? Where did you write Exposed?

I really don’t. Working at home while raising three children meant I had to learn to write whenever and wherever I could. I can write in the car or the doctor’s office or the shopping mall. I write every day, some days more than others, but I always write. Most of Exposed was written in my brown leather recliner, which is easier on my back, but I also wrote some of it in Colorado (hiking trip) and in the Ozarks (writing retreat I taught).  

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

“If you’re going to write, make sure you have something worth writing about.”  

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