Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Rob Loveless
Book Title: Besties in Crime
Released: 02/24/26
Genre: LGBTQ+ Action Comedy / Crime Caper / Dark Comedy
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “Besties in Crime”?
Loveless: Besties in Crime was very much inspired by my real-life friendship with my bestie, Sara, for more than 30 years. Jay and Gia are essentially exaggerated caricatures of us and our dynamic.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Loveless: My middle initial is J, and my family sometimes called me Jay when I was a kid. Around the time I was writing Besties in Crime, Sara and I had an inside joke where we were calling her Gina, so Gia felt like the perfect fit for her character.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Loveless: There’s always a little truth in my stories, whether it’s a personality trait, backstory, or situation. In Besties in Crime, a majority of the snarky jokes (or slight variations of them) between Jay and Gia were actually things Sara and I said throughout our friendship.
If "Besties in Crime" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Loveless: For Jay, someone like Dan Levy as David Rose (our faces are the same kind of expressive). For Gia, someone with a red-headed Alison Brie energy who can balance comedy and vulnerability really well.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Loveless: I get intimidated by staring at a blank laptop screen when trying to write, so I end up writing by hand in a notebook. Ideas seem to flow easier when I can scribble in my notebook and scratch out sentences, so that helps prevent writer’s block for me. I try to end my chapters with a hook or mystery, and that gets me excited to write the next chapter.
If you could have dinner with any character you’ve written, who would it be—and what would you talk about?
Loveless: Probably Jay and Gia, since they’re my favorite characters I’ve written so far. I’d imagine the conversation would probably consist of them complaining about how I put them through such a stressful summer with burning down houses, outrunning mobsters, and trying to win over the FBI.
What’s the weirdest or most unexpected place you’ve gotten a story idea from?
Loveless: During the pandemic, the idea for Besties in Crime came to me while listening to one of our favorite true crime comedy podcasts. I jokingly wondered if Sara and I would be able to get away with one of the ridiculous crimes the podcast was covering, and then the idea of an accidental house fire came to me. To build out the emotional side of the story about heartbreak and reconciliation, I pulled from our real-life breakups and divorce experience. But no exes were physically harmed in the making of Besties in Crime (their egos may be a little bruised, though).
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
Loveless: I love a good thriller or horror novel, but lately I’ve been leaning into humor-driven books. Some of my favorite authors are Steven King, Dan Brown, and Steven Rowley.
What are you working on next?
Loveless: I’m currently working on a supernatural rom-com involving a situationship that takes ghosting to a new level. After a love spell goes wrong, the main character accidentally binds his spirit to “boyfriend’s” house, and the two have to make amends before he can finally move on.
Learn More About the Author and Besties in Crime here:
Rob Loveless is a communications professional, author, and podcaster, and currently resides in Philadelphia, PA. An avid reader from a young age, he has been influenced by authors such as Dan Brown and Dean Koontz.
Over the past decade, Rob has written several stories ranging in genre from murder mystery to humor. In April 2020, NineStar Press published his debut novel, A Family Affair, which earned acclaim from the prestigious Next Generation Indie Book Awards. A Family Affair was named as one of the best indie books of 2021 by the Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group and was a finalist of the Romance (Fiction) category in the 2021 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (NGIBA), the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers, recognizing the most exceptional independently published books in over 70 different categories.
Rob’s supernatural LGBTQ+ thriller, Eleftheria, debuted at #4 on Amazon’s LGBTQ+ Thrillers Bestsellers list in October 2022 and later won the 2023 Indie Reader’s Discovery Award for LGBTQ+ fiction.
Rob is also the host of A Jaded Gay, a podcast providing a weekly dose of gay empowerment while covering topics such as pop culture, politics, and dating hardships.
Instagram: rob_loveless
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