My name is Piper and there’s something strange going on in my neighborhood. Everything looks serene as I sit here on my front porch, drinking my morning coffee. Our little cul de sac here on the shores of the Potomac River in the Washington DC suburbs is quiet and peaceful after my pre-dawn run.
But I’ve been noticing some odd things lately as I drive my three daughters to dance recitals and piano lessons. Like those new houses going up at the end of the cul de sac. And those new people who just moved in next door from Minnesota. The family with all those boys. And their mom, who looks completely exhausted all the time.
And what about that other woman? The one who lives down the street in that beautifully renovated home at the end of the cul de sac? She’s some kind of influencer with a million followers on Instagram. She has perfectly white teeth and wears picturesque aprons and she always seems to be bringing people muffins. I don’t trust her.
But then again, because of the Incident, and because of what I used to do for a living, I don’t trust anyone, so maybe I’m not being fair. Maybe I should give these women a chance, get to know them, add some new friends to my life. Afterall, what’s the worst that could happen?
BEHIND WHITE PICKET FENCES
Genre: Women’s Fiction / Suspense
Release: June 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org
Fusing page-turning suspense with keenly observed humor, this homage to female friendship explores the hamster wheel of modern motherhood, and the consequences for jumping off.
Kiersten Cleaver feels like she’s flunking Motherhood 101. Exhausted by travel sports, homework, and her son’s dyslexia, she joins forces with her neighbors, Rosamund and Piper, to drop out of the scholastic rat race for one year.
Together, they start the Beaverbrook Academy for Inquiring Minds in Kiersten’s kitchen, embarking on a journey back to the idyllic life they experienced as children, when phones were attached to the wall and kids played outside until the streetlights came on at dusk.
But the women quickly realize fractions aren’t their only problem. A sixty-year-old diary discovered in Kiersten’s basement raises unsettling questions about their neighborhood, their safety, and the seemingly simpler past.
Their picture-perfect suburb disguises deadly secrets―and someone wants to keep them hidden. As unsettling events rattle their fragile utopia, Kiersten, Rosamund, and Piper face an impossible choice. And if they expose the truth, they put everything at risk: their children, their friendship, and their newfound community.
About the author
Christine Gunderson grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota where she read Laura Ingalls Wilder books in her very own little house on the prairie. She’s a former television anchor and reporter and former Capitol Hill press secretary. She currently lives in the Washington D.C. suburbs with her husband and three children.
Her debut novel, Friends with Secrets was an Amazon bestseller, an Amazon Editors First Reads pick and winner of the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association Star Award for Best Debut Novel. Her next novel, Behind White Picket Fences, released in June of 2026 with Lake Union. You can contact Christine at www.christinegunderson.com.