Kaira Rouda Headshot

Meet Kaira

USA TODAY, Amazon #1 and international bestselling author Kaira Rouda is the author of novels that dig beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. But for Kaira, the journey to authorhood was not a straight arrow–it actually marks her fourth career path. An accomplished business leader and entrepreneur, Kaira started out in marketing where for her work she received multiple Addy, Webby, Telly, Communicator, PRism and WebAwards. When she left her position as vice president of marketing for an Inc. 100 firm and franchisor after filing a class action lawsuit for gender discrimination and sexual harassment, she shifted to the real estate industry, creating Real Living, the first female-focused residential real estate brand. For those efforts she won the Best Entrepreneur from the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and was recognized in Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 50 Fastest-Growing, Women-Led Companies. The experience of building Real Living led to publishing her first book, a work of nonfiction titled Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs. From this, Kaira became an expert in public speaking, giving talks around the nation inspiring thousands.

An English major who graduated from magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, Kaira wrote for numerous national magazines and was the society columnist for the Columbus Dispatch for ten years. Yet always in the back of her mind, Kaira had a dream and a voice driving her to pursue a career as a fiction novelist. Her latest novels BEST DAY EVER, THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, THE NEXT WIFE, SOMEBODY’S HOME, THE WIDOW, BENEATH THE SURFACE, UNDER THE PALMS, THE SECOND MRS STROM – the sequel to Best Day Ever, WHAT THE NANNY SAW, and JILL IS NOT HAPPY (June 2025) mark a journey for Kaira into the realm of the uber-popular genre of domestic suspense. Reviews have touted her novels as “pure genius” (SheReads.com), “an exceptional psychological thriller” (Publishers Weekly STARRED review) and promising to “keep you at the edge of your seat” (PopSugar). It is clear, one outlet shares, that “Kaira Rouda is the new mistress of domestic suspense” (Bookstr). To date, her novels have been translated into twelve languages, and BENEATH THE SURFACE, has been optioned for feature film.

To date, Kaira’s work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Three of her novels have been named Amazon Editor’s Picks for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. The Next Wife was named a Suspense Magazine’s Best Book of 2021 Award, and a 2022 Silver Falchion for Best Suspense Novel and a 2022 Silver Falchion first runner-up for Best Book of the Year. Beneath the Surface won a Zibby’s Book Award for Best Beach Read. Her next novel, JILL IS NOT HAPPY, has been named a 2025 Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Zibby Media.

Kaira is a founding member of the Killer Author Club, a bi-monthly live show supporting authors. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Women’s Fiction Author Association, and the International Thriller Writers (ItW). She served as a committee chair for the Edgar Awards 2024, and frequently appears on panels at conferences across the country. Active in the areas of homelessness, food security, and empowering women and girls, in her twenties, as a volunteer, she created the first walk-in emergency shelter for homeless families in Central Ohio. Kaira has received numerous awards for her community service, including the national Kiwanis Service to Mankind Award, the Ohio Sertoma Service to Mankind Award, among many others. Recently, Kaira was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsome to the California Volunteers commission. Kaira lives in Southern California with her family.

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Meet Kaira