The Most Unsettling Things I’ve Overheard While Writing in Cafés

I have a small confession: I’m totally that person in the coffee shop who’s listening to your conversation.

It’s not something I plan to do. I’ll go to my favorite spot, order my usual (oat milk latte, extra hot), and set up my laptop with the best intentions of working on my latest book. But then—snippets of conversations float over, and I’m hooked.

Last week at my regular spot downtown, I overheard a woman casually telling her friend how she’d “take care of the problem” if her husband didn’t stop leaving wet towels on the bed. She laughed afterward, but something in her tone made me look up from my screen. The precision in her voice? Definitely filing that away for a character.

Then there was this completely normal-looking guy in business casual at the table next to me who leaned across to his friend and whispered, “Nobody can know where that money came from.” And then just switched to talking about weekend plans like he hadn’t said something straight out of a crime novel!

My favorite might be first dates. There’s something about the nervous energy that makes people say the strangest things. This one guy told his date, “I don’t have a sister anymore,” with such a blank face that I nearly spilled my coffee trying to hear what came next. Nothing did. They just moved on to talking about movies, and I sat there dying to know the story.

My friends think it’s hilarious when I text them these overheard moments. My mom says I need to stop being nosy, but she’s always the first one asking, “Did you hear anything good today?”

Sometimes just a fragment of conversation is enough to spark a whole character or plot twist. The barista who told her coworker she “can’t do Tuesday nights anymore. Not after what happened.” I’ll never know what actually happened on Tuesday, but in my head, it’s become something much more sinister than reality probably was.

I change all the details when these snippets make their way into my books. But that little chill I felt hearing something unexpectedly dark? That’s what I try to capture on the page.

So if you’re ever at a coffee shop in Spokane and notice a woman typing furiously after you’ve said something—maybe keep your voice down? Or don’t. Your random comment might inspire the best character I’ve ever written.

And don’t worry—I haven’t written about you specifically.

Probably.