How Linda Hurtado Bond took her love of storytelling from TV news to novels

Her latest book, "All The Missing Girls," is out Monday.

To say Linda Hurtado Bond is busy is an understatement.

She’s a news anchor on Fox 13 Tampa Bay and a published author — her fifth book, “All The Missing Girls,” is out Monday, Aug. 19. Tampa Bay locals can attend a book signing event at Oxford Exchange in Tampa on Tuesday, Aug. 20 (get tickets here).

It was fun to turn the tables on Linda, who’s had me as a guest on her Tampa Bay Reads segment. Read on to learn how she balances writing with TV news and the extremely Tampa book she has in the works for next year (spoiler: it’s a crime novel set against Gasparilla, the city’s annual pirate festival).

“All the Missing Girls” follows Tampa TV reporter Mari to Cuba, where she has 48 hours to find her sister, who’s gone missing. While it’s a sequel to “All the Broken Girls,” Linda said she writes her books so that they can each be read independently.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

I don’t think you and I have ever talked about how you got into writing books. Did you always want to be an author?

I was the nerd in high school who always had the notebook tucked under my arm, and every time I had a chance, I would write. I always wanted to be an author, but I never thought you could make a living as an author.

I joined the high school newspaper, and I loved journalism. I felt like it gives you a front seat to everything important that's going on. When I finally felt like I had established my career here and I wasn't going to get fired because of it — I figured that’s when I could actually start writing books.

When was that?

I joined Tampa Area Romance Writers probably 10 years ago, maybe more. I never lost my interest in writing books. I just like to tell stories, whether they’re real or made up.

I would also go to writers’ conventions. Writing for TV is very different from writing a novel, so I had to learn all the basics, like story structure.

So you started studying the craft before you ever cracked open a laptop.

Yes. A lot of these conventions have authors teaching workshops. And I didn’t even know what deep point of view — where you’re really deep in the mind of your character — was, or about the three-act story structure. I had to learn how to do that. There was a lot of learning before I wrote my first book.

How many years did you spend studying writing before you started writing a book?

Maybe two or three years, but I was writing along the way. I actually did get my first book published. I met an editor from Entangled Publishing at one of these workshops. They have pitch sessions, where you sit down and pitch your book, and she liked it, so she bought it. (Editor’s note: Entangled is also the publisher of the viral bestseller romantasy novels “Fourth Wing” and “Iron Flame.”)

Why did you keep going? You could have said, ‘OK, that was cool, but now I’ve done it.’ What motivates you?

It wasn’t money, because it’s still not making me rich. (Laughs.) I have a passion for it. And I think if you're really a writer, you can't walk away from it. I did try to quit a couple of times as my kids were growing up because where was I going to find the time? But I would find myself going back to it.

You just — It's Thursday night at 8 p.m., and you open your laptop, and you just start writing again. It just happens.

How did you get into writing thrillers?

I wrote romance at first. Then Liz Pelletier, the CEO of Entangled, asked me if I could write a thriller. She gave me a list of things she wanted, like ‘The female protagonist has to be the one to solve the crime, not the detective. She can have a sidekick, but she has to be the one.’

I want to do an action thriller next. I need a break from serial killers. I’ve been thinking about one set during a hurricane.

What can you share about your next book that comes out in early 2025?

So, a serial killer uses artificial intelligence to target Mari (the crime-solving journalist who’s the protagonist in “All the Broken Girls” and “All the Missing Girls”), which I think is very relevant and timely. He turns her from a hero to a villain by putting her at the crime scenes when the crimes occur.

The lesson is how quickly someone can ruin your life using artificial intelligence. So many people are capable of making a deep fake video right now — you don't even need to be on the dark web.

And it’s set during Tampa’s Gasparilla season?

Yes. And there's not a masquerade ball currently in Tampa, but I think there should be, so in the book I've created a masquerade ball around Gasparilla.

It also involves the mafia tunnels under Ybor City.

You and I both represent legacy media — you’re in TV; I’m in print. But it’s new media like TikTok that’s moving the needle on book sales. How do you navigate that?

Well, I hired someone to do social media stuff for me, because I’m busy, and I recognize how important it is. TikTok — I haven’t quite figured out what my thing would be on TikTok. So I’m mostly on Instagram.

For authors, it’s about reaching influencers on BookTok and Bookstagram. I sent out books to influencers above and beyond what my publisher was doing. The goal is to have people like yourself talk about my books to your audience. It grows organically, but it takes a while.