Like the main character of his novel “I Become Her,” Joe Hart is married. Unlike her, he has not murdered anyone. Or, at least, he jokes, “None that they’ve caught me for.”

That’s not all Hart is cagey about. He lives in northern Minnesota, but prefers not to specify where, and he doesn’t want to name his wife or two children, a daughter who recently had Hart’s first grandchild and a son with nonverbal autism.

This much, we know: Joe Hart is his real name, he’s 42 and he writes ripping good yarns. That’s evidenced by the Mystery Writers of America giving him their equivalent of an Oscar, the Edgar (Allan Poe), in 2023 for “Or Else.” And by his new “I Become Her,” in which Imogen is on a honeymoon cruise with her husband when she suspects he’s been unfaithful and, perhaps accidentally, tosses him off the ship. He survives the fall, somehow, and his memories of what happened gradually return.

Personal trainer-turned-full-time-author Hart has written two dozen novels in the 15 years since he decided to buckle down on his childhood dream of being a writer.

“After I self-published my first collection of short stories, it wasn’t a lot of money,” said Hart, who started tapping out short stories on his mom’s electric typewriter when he was 9. “I’d sell a couple copies a day, if that. It wasn’t until I started getting my feet wet with the marketing side of things that it slowly built. The first month, maybe you make enough for a tank of gas and, down the road, enough for a nice dinner. The goals keep increasing and you think, ‘Maybe some day I can pay for our house payment every so often or we can afford another vehicle.’”

Like romance giant Colleen Hoover and Hart’s writing idol, Stephen King, the Minnesota author shifted from self-publishing (financing the publication of his books) to getting picked up by a major publisher. In his case, Amazon told him they’d like to re-release his 2014 thriller “The River Is Dark” (“I Become Her” is published by Amazon’s imprint Thomas & Mercer).

Hart writes in multiple genres, with two books coming out in the next couple weeks: “I Become Her” hits shelves Aug. 26 and a gothic thriller, “Wyndclyffe,” is out Sept. 2.

“I prefer to work on one thing at once but almost always different parts of the publishing process come due at different points. Right now, I’m pretty free and clear, closing in on the end of my latest novel. But, earlier this year I was finishing up another novel and editing two others,” said Hart. “You’ll have a desert where it’s just you alone at the keyboard for months and no one is calling or emailing, and you feel like you don’t exist to the outside world. Then, everyone is calling and needing something.”

Like a few of Hart’s previous books, “I Become Her” is told from the perspective of a female character, something his wife helps him with. The book began, in fact, with a conversation the two had.

The concept for "I Become Her," Joe Hart's newest novel, stemmed from a conversation with his wife about societal pressures on women. (Thomas & Mercer)

“We’ve talked a bunch of times about the difference in expectations between women and men — career-wise, relationship-wise, society, family," said Hart. “Imogen is super interesting because she’s coming from a a place of insecurities that have been thrust on her from all of these outside pressures. She’s trying to not only meet them head-on but also feel like she is who she wants to be as a person.”

Getting the female voice right was less about specific behaviors, Hart said, than a mindset his wife helped him understand. Hart referenced a sociology class she once took: “The teacher was talking about self-defense and said, ‘How many of you make sure you have your keys in your hand when you walk to your car at night? How many make sure you park under the lights?’ And of course, all the guys’ hands stayed down and the women’s hands went up.”

Hart’s editor, also a woman, helped him with the tone of a few sections where both wanted to make sure it was clear that Imogen is the star of her own story and doesn’t need a man to save her. But the biggest help in writing the book for Hart may simply have been being married (the couple just celebrated their 20th anniversary).

“A lot of the book is about that secret language of marriage, questioning if you ever know your partner, that scary idea of feeling if you didn’t trust your partner,” said Hart. “I tried to play a lot with the language of love and the insecurities in a marriage.”

Getting those details right is important, Hart believes, because they help establish trust between writer and readers. Another way trust can happen is by actually meeting readers. Hart doesn’t do many live book events but fans can watch his social media accounts, including @joe_hart_author on Instagram, for offers to Zoom into book clubs.

“Usually, they have their book club discussion prior to me hopping in, so they can feel free to pan it,” joked Hart. “Then we can have some questions.”

Just as long as those questions don’t include, “Where, exactly, in Minnesota do you live, Mr. Hart?”

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I Become Her

By: Joe Hart.

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer, 352 pages.

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