M.L. Rio Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

M.L. Rio
M. L. Rio is an author, however before that she was an actor, and before that she was just a word nerd whose best friends were all books.

She holds a master’s degree in Shakespeare Studies from King’s College London and Shakespeare’s Globe.

When she is not busy writing, reading, or explaining why the Authorship Question is really just a conspiracy theory, she fills her time with family and friends, whiskey and wine, and music made 20 years before she was even born.

Rio had been writing for a long time and had written about five novels however none that she felt were worth a reader’s time. It dawned on her that she was not writing anything good since she was not writing a world that she knew. At that time, she was also working on her undergrad thesis, which was this adaptation of all three parts of Henry VI, where they had ten actors (including Rio herself) playing about 75 roles and performed out in the outdoor ampitheatre at her university.

She had been a Shakespearean actor for about a decade up to that point, and asked herself why she hadn’t written about acting. Once she began thinking about how to build this story around Shakespeare’s tragic structure, the tale just kinda wrote itself.

During the early stages of her writing, it is only jumping in once she has this workable outline and just trying to see how it goes. Typically she will end up completely trashing the first few scenes she writes because it takes her a while to get into that right right groove.

Her prose tends to mimic the pattern of the characters’ thoughts follow but with just a little more intelligent design that it is smooth sailing for the reader. Then the voice just kind of develops all the way through a first draft while getting more comfortable with the characters and the world. Then in subsequent drafts she is doing two things at the prose level, essentially: the first is decluttering/simplifying, paring it down to as few words as possible and making each and every word count. The second is rereading with this eye on this cohesion of voice, so that it sounds consistent the whole way through.

Alexander was the most fun character for her to write in “If We Were Villains”, but he was also the most heartbreaking, in certain moments. However she doesn’t really more kinship with one or another of them. She does feel connected to each of them on this personal level, though, since they are all little bits and pieces of her.

Like her agent put it once, Rio is like the invisible eighth Villain that you never actually see on the page, however she is always in the room. Her 22 year old self is, at least. It’s just a part and parcel of the way she writes and the stories that she is drawn to. She likes ensembles and group dynamics where no one is truly a sidekick or a bystander, even if they believe they are.

“If We Were Villains” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2017. The same day that Oliver Marks gets released from jail, the guy that put him there is waiting for him at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the whole truth, and after a decade, Oliver’s ready to tell it finally.

Ten years ago: Oliver’s one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, this place of fierce competition and keen ambition. In a secluded world of leather-bound books and firelight, Oliver and all his buddies play the same roles offstage as they do on. Tyrant, hero, extras, villain, temptress, ingenue.

However during their fourth and final year, some good natured rivalries become ugly, and during opening night some real violence invades the kids’ world of make-believe. Then in the morning, the fourth year kids find themselves facing a tragedy of their own, and their greatest acting challenge to date: convincing the cops, as well as each other, and themselves that they are in fact innocent.

“If We Were Villains” was named one of Bustle’s Best Thriller Novels of the Year.

This is filled with betrayal, friendship, and passionate devotion, it is a page turning literary thriller whose shocking final twist you will not soon forget. It is an extraordinary and rare novel. A vivid rendering of a closed world of this conservatory education, a genuinely breathtaking literary thriller, and a harrowing and tender exploration of friendship.

Beautifully written, expertly plotted, this novel keeps you riveted through its final and electrifying moments. Nerdily (and winningly) in love with Shakespeare, while being smart and very readable.

“Graveyard Shift” is the first stand alone novella and was released in 2024. One ragtag group of night shift workers that meet in the local cemetery in order to unearth the secrets that lurk in this open grave.

Each night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths with each other while they work the late shift: the steward of the derelict church which lurks over them, a rideshare driver, the editor-in-chief of the college paper (always searching for a story), a hotel receptionist, and a bartender.

This one dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they discover this hole that was not there before. An open and fresh grave where there shouldn’t be a grave. However who was it that dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger comes back. While trailing him throughout the night, they realize that he might be the key to this series of odd happenings all around town which have been making headlines for the past few weeks, and that they might be much closer to this mystery than they had thought.

This is eerie and atmospheric, with an ensemble cast that her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop. The place has got everything: thrills, rats, fungus, chills, hostile incidents, mysteries, and Rio deftly weaves every bit of it together into this sweet and short story. She delivers a crisp, rad, and creepy read.