Mel Halston is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Her Last Best Friend, the first novel in the Shadow Lake Ranch Murders mystery series.

Welcome, Mel. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

My name is Mel Halston. I live…well, lived inside Her Last Best Friend, which is the first book in a series set at Shadow Lake Ranch. On the surface, it’s about friendship—long-standing friendships, the kind that are built over years and shared history. But underneath that, it’s really about what happens when loyalty turns into expectation… and when unspoken resentment starts to rot things from the inside out.

The series itself looks at different betrayals connected to the same place. Shadow Lake Ranch remembers everything. People like to think what they do in private stays buried, but it doesn’t. Not here.

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

I think writers like to believe they’re in control. But once a character like me exists, things get… complicated. I have opinions. I make choices. I react. And sometimes those reactions surprise even the person writing them.

You can plan all you want, but emotions don’t always behave. Especially when someone feels overlooked, replaced, or taken for granted. Those feelings don’t ask permission.

In other words, no…she’s not in control.

How did you evolve as the main character?

I was hated. That’s usually the word people settle on first.

But I don’t think of it that way. I think of it as curiosity. There’s a moment when you realize you’re capable of something—and once you cross that line, you can’t pretend you don’t know it anymore. I wanted to see what would happen. And it did.

People like to frame things as betrayal or cruelty, but they ignore the part where truth gets exposed. If someone can be tempted that easily, if they can choose differently that quickly, then what was really being protected in the first place? I didn’t create that weakness. I revealed it.

And I never stopped being a friend. That’s the part everyone forgets.

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

Lindsey, obviously. When you’ve been someone’s best friend for that long, your lives stop being separate things. You share routines, secrets, expectations. You start to feel entitled to honesty—and maybe even understanding—without having to ask for it.

Travis and Kara see parts of what’s happening, but only from the outside. It’s easy to judge a situation when you’re not the one living inside it, when you don’t feel the pressure of history or the weight of being taken for granted.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

Shadow Lake Ranch looks peaceful. Quiet. Like a place meant for healing or escape. That’s what draws people in.

But isolation has a way of amplifying emotions. There’s too much time to think. Too much space for memories to echo. And once things start to unravel there, there’s nowhere to hide. The land doesn’t judge—but it doesn’t protect you either.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

I’d tell readers not to make up their minds too quickly. About me. About anyone. People are rarely just one thing.

Everyone thinks they know what betrayal looks like—until they realize how easily they might justify it themselves.

Thank you for answering my questions, Mel, and good luck to you and your author, Nellie H Steele, with Her Last Best Friend, the first book in the Shadow Lake Ranch Murders mystery series.

Readers can learn more about Mel and her author, Nellie H Steele by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, and YouTube pages.

The novel is available at Amazon

About Nellie H Steele: Nellie is a storyteller who doesn’t just write  books—she writes the stories her characters tell her. With distinct voices and minds of their own, her characters often take over, guiding her through tales of romance, mystery, adventure, and suspense.

A lifelong bookworm, Nellie vividly recalls sitting on the concrete floor of her childhood library, eagerly devouring Nancy Drew books and dreaming of solving mysteries of her own. Now an award-winning author, she spends her days crafting immersive worlds and unforgettable characters that feel like old friends. Her house is a zoo—literally—thanks to her rescue animals who seem perfectly happy napping while she writes.

Nellie’s writing process often involves background TV she never actually watches because she’s too wrapped up in her characters’ antics. When she’s not spinning stories, she works as a professor of statistics, where students who know her as an author are often surprised to find she really does teach math.