Danielle

Trussoni

New York Times Bestselling Novelist

Award Winning Author

Travels from: Mexico

“Who should read Danielle Trussoni’s latest? Readers who love storytelling so fresh and original that it resists labels.” — A.J. Finn, author of the New York Times bestselling The Woman in the Window and End of Story

Danielle Trussoni is the New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author of eight books, including the novels The Ancestor, Angelology and Angelopolis, all New York Times Notable Books, The Puzzle Master, chosen by The Washington Post, Barnes & Noble and Crime Reads as one of the Best Thrillers of 2023 and The Puzzle Box, chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of 2024 and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner.

Recently, two of her books appeared on the Best Books Since 2000 list compiled by editors of The New York Times Book Review.

Her debut, Falling Through the Earth, a memoir about her relationship with her father, was selected by The New York Times as one of the Best Ten Books of the Year. She has been featured on 60 Minutes, Time Magazine, and has received cover reviews by The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune.

Danielle has been the Chair jurist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and was The Dark Matters columnist for The New York Times Book Review for five years before leaving to write fiction full time. Her work has also appeared in The Guardian, Vogue, and Tin House, among other publications.

Danielle is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and winner of the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship. She was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, winner of Elle Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award, a CBS New York Readers’ Choice Book Club pick, and has been a three-time Indie Next pick. Her books have been translated into thirty-two languages.

After living full time in Bulgaria, Japan, France, England, the US and Mexico, Danielle considers herself a world citizen. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende Mexico with her family.

Danielle's Featured Titles

Falling Into Your Life: Finding Yourself Through the Imagination

In this deeply personal and emotionally resonant talk, bestselling author Danielle Trussoni shares how a turbulent childhood shaped her imagination, and how storytelling became her way to find her path to success. Growing up as the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran in a chaotic, often traumatic home, Danielle turned to books and writing as tools of survival. Tracing the arc from her acclaimed memoir Falling Through the Earth to her rise as an internationally bestselling novelist, she explores how memory, trauma, and creativity intersect. With warmth and insight, she argues that the stories we tell can help us reclaim identity, heal from the past, and create new futures.

Delicious Fiction: French Food, Wine, and the Pleasures of Storytelling

In this sensory-rich and engaging talk, Danielle Trussoni invites readers into the world of her forthcoming novel Murder Most Delicious—a culinary mystery set in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. Featuring a sommelier heroine who becomes embroiled in the murder of a Parisian chef, the novel blends intrigue, romance, and the joys of French food and wine.
This event includes discussions of French wine and food to explore how fiction can transport readers through place, taste, and imagination. Danielle discusses how pleasure—whether sensory or emotional—is essential to why we read, and why we return to the books that nourish us.

Living With the Unknowable: Why I Write About Creatures That Aren’t Supposed to Exist

Angels, golem, haunted dolls, and creatures of legend—Danielle Trussoni has spent her career exploring the boundary between the known and the unknowable. In this talk, she reflects on how supernatural, legendary and the mythical elements have shaped her fiction and her life, and how questions of belief, mystery, and the divine find their way into her stories. By telling the story of how she came to write her novels, Danielle invites audiences to consider what draws us to the mysterious—and how fiction allows us to speak the unspeakable and imagine new worlds for ourselves.

The Writer Abroad: How Living Around the World Changed My Life, My Work, and my Connection to Humanity

Over the past two decades, Danielle Trussoni has lived in six countries—including France, Japan, Bulgaria, and now Mexico. In this inspiring and personal talk, she reflects on how being a global citizen has shaped her identity as a writer, a mother, and a woman building a creative life on her own terms. From the countryside of France to the vibrant literary culture of San Miguel de Allende, Danielle shares the insights she’s gained about creating home, learning a new language and the freedom that can come from living beyond borders. As she reflects upon the benefits of travel for her creativity, she reflects upon other ex-pat writers who have found a home abroad.
This talk is a celebration of the creative life lived off the beaten path—and how travel, reinvention, and the courage to leave can shape the stories we tell and how we identify ourselves.

Haunted by History: How Our Ancestors Define Us

In 2018, bestselling author Danielle Trussoni took a DNA test. The surprise results inspired her to write her critically acclaimed novel THE ANCESTOR about a woman who learns of a startling inheritance in the Alps of Italy. In this talk, Danielle explores how historical memory—personal, cultural, and collective—shapes the stories we tell and change our ideas about who we are. Danielle discusses how she uses family stories, genetic inheritance, and history to write fiction. She shows how the past is never truly gone, but lingers beneath the surface of identity, relationships, and imagination.

The Puzzle Mind: Fiction, Pattern, and the Art of Seeing Differently

In The Puzzle Master, Danielle Trussoni introduces readers to Mike Brink, a brilliant man with savant syndrome whose neurological condition allows him to see patterns others miss. But, The Puzzle Master is more than a literary thriller—it’s a meditation on how we make sense of the world. In this talk, Danielle explores how fiction itself functions like a puzzle: revealing hidden codes, building connections, and helping readers experience reality through unfamiliar lenses. Drawing from Brink’s unique mind and her own experience writing complex, pattern-rich fiction, Danielle reveals how storytelling is not just entertainment—it’s a way of decoding mystery, trauma, and truth.

“Utterly absorbing.. The ‘master’ of this title isn’t the only master here. The word applies equally to the author of this fabulous novel.” — Justin Cronin on THE PUZZLE MASTER

“This immersive, brilliant book is a labyrinth of ciphers, cryptograms, logic puzzles, word puzzles and a doozy of a conspiracy. Wouldn’t you like to experience something so singular?” — Minneapolis Star Tribune on THE PUZZLE MASTER

“This novel has it all and more.” — David Baldacci on THE PUZZLE MASTER

“The narrative’s solitary puzzle-solving and tense espionage are equally thrilling, while Trussoni’s depiction of Brink as both a puzzle-solving genius and someone learning to trust his own abilities lends the plot surprising emotional depth. Best of all, the puzzle-solving sends Brink on an immersive sprint through contemporary and historical Japan, with plenty of shrewdly delivered trivia and thematically rewarding solutions along the way. This clever and satisfying novel cements Mike Brink as an action hero for the ages.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Readers can be forgiven if they think after reading The Puzzle Box—and its predecessor The Puzzle Master—that Danielle Trussoni is puzzle obsessed. She’s not. What drives her fiction, though, is the same pursuit for understanding how it—meaning life—all fits together. And we’re lucky she’s on that quest, because The Puzzle Box is a wild ride into a high-stakes world of deadly puzzles, ancient secrets and epic sibling rivalry.” — CrimeReads

Danielle’s Resources Link

Danielle Postel-Vinay

Honors, Awards & Recognition

New York Times Bestselling author
Chair Jurist of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner
Dark Matters Column writer for The New York Times Book Review for five years, from 2018-2023
Her books have been translated into over thirty languages
Current Director of Programs at the San Miguel Writers Conference in San Miguel de Allende Mexico

THE PUZZLE BOX:
National Bestseller
Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2024
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner

THE PUZZLE MASTER:
One of Washington Post’s Best Thrillers of 2023
Indie Next Pick June 2023
CBS Club Calvi Readers Choice Book Club Pick
Crime Reads Best Book of the Year
Amazon Editor’s Choice
French translation was a Selection Bête Noir des Libraries
Film rights were optioned by Universal Studios

ANGELOLOGY:
New York Times bestseller
Translated into thirty-two languages
The film rights were purchased by Will Smith and Sony Pictures

FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH:
One of The New York Times Best Ten Books of the Year
Winner of the Michener Copernicus Society Award

Awards and Distinctions

2024 Falling Through the Earth and Angelology on The New York Times ‘Best Books Since 2000’ list
2024 The Puzzle Box a Los Angeles Times Most Anticipated Book
2024 The Puzzle Box a USA Today Bestseller
2024 The Puzzle Box a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2024
2024 The Puzzle Box is a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist
2024 The Puzzle Box a Sun Sentinel Best Mystery 2024
2024 The Puzzle Box a BookBub Best Mystery/Thriller Fall 2024
2024 The Puzzle Box a Barnes & Noble Most Anticipated Book October 2024
2024 The Puzzle Box a Los Angeles Times Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024
2024 The Puzzle Box People Magazine’s Best Book of October
2023 The Puzzle Master chosen a Washington Post Best Thriller of the Year
2023 The Puzzle Master chosen as a Crime Reads Best Mystery of the Year
2023 The Puzzle Master BookReporter’s Favorite books of the Year
2023 The Puzzle Master chosen as an Amazon Editor’s Choice
2023 The Puzzle Master a PopSugar Best Book of the Year
2023 The Puzzle Master a Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year
2023 The Puzzle Master a CBS New York Book Club Pick
2023 The Puzzle Master an IndieNext Pick
2020 The Ancestor a New York Times Editor’s Choice
2020 The Ancestor a People Magazine Book of the Week
2013 Angelopolis a New York Times and USA Today bestseller
2013 Angelopolis a The New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
2013 Recipient Hertog Fellowship, Hunter College
2010 Angelology a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestseller
2010 Angelology a New York Times Notable Book and Editor’s Choice
2010 Angelology a New York Times top 100 Notable Books of 2010
2010 Angelology an IndieNext Pick
2006 Falling Through the Earth Book of the Year, Watertown Public Library, Watertown, WI
2006 Falling Through the Earth a Book Sense Pick, March 2006
2006 Falling Through the Earth an Editor’s Choice, The New York Times Book Review
2006 Falling Through the Earth Elle Magazine Readers Choice Award, April 2006
2006 Falling Through the Earth a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Pick, Summer 2006
2006 Falling Through the Earth a New York Times 100 Notable Book of 2006
2006 Falling Through the Earth one of the Top 10 Books of 2006 by The New York Times
2006 Falling Through the Earth an IndieNext Pick
2005 Winner of the James Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship

Media clips

CBS News | Watch #ClubCalvi’s virtual meetup with author Danielle Trussoni about her book “The Puzzle Master”

TMJ4 | The Puzzle Box by Danielle Trussoni

The New York Times | Fallen Angels

The New York Times | You’re descended from royalty. Here are the keys to your castle

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.