Don’t be surprised to find Paula Treick DeBoard at a Starbucks.

The former Ripon High teacher and Modesto author of two books – notably, “The Fragile World” and “The Mourning Hours” as published under MIRA, the literary division of Harlequin – is a regular at the popular Seattle-based coffee house.

A noted latte drinker, DeBoard does her best writing at Starbucks.

She’s scheduled to talk about the writing life at noon Saturday during the Great Valley Bookfest. This annual event will again take place at The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley – or the Bass Pro Center – at the Highway 120 Bypass and Union Road in Manteca.

DeBoard is no stranger to the Bookfest. She’s been regular for the past three years.

Her first appearance at the Bookfest happened to coincided with the release of her first novel “The Mourning Hours.” She wrote about a family dealing for years with a missing person case that took place in a small Wisconsin town.

“The Fragile World” came out last year.

DeBoard’s 2014 novel is about every parent’s worst nightmare.

The Kaufmans are a normal, happy family. Curtis, the father, is a physics teacher at a local high school while Kathleen, the wife, restores furniture for upscale boutiques. Their children are Daniel, who is away at college on a prestigious music scholarship, and Olivia, 12, a happy-go-lucky kid whose biggest concern is passing her math test.

But life changes when the Kaufmans receive a middle-of-the-night phone call, informing them that Daniel was killed in a freak accident.

“The father becomes obsessed with the idea of revenge,” said DeBoard on how things begin to unravel for this once perfect family.

She’s in the middle of a four-book deal with MIRA. Her fourth novel “The Drowning Girls” is set for release in April.

“This is high suspense. It’s a departure for me from my previous two books,” said DeBoard, who revealed some of the plot.

“It’s a gripping story about a girl who gets pulled from a swimming pool and how life goes wrong for her,” she added.

Her books are available in print or digital.

Making appearance at events such as the Great Valley Bookfest allows DeBoard to provide that personal touch to her work.

Her husband is Will DeBoard, who is the Director of Communications at CIF Sac-Joaquin Section.

Paula Treick DeBoard is a native of Ohio. She moved to Modesto at age 9, getting a degree in English in 1998 at Dordt College in Iowa.

She earned masters of fine arts in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine in 2010,

 At the Bookfest, DeBoard will be on hand to talk about her books, share her experiences as an author, and distribute free bookmarkers.

“This is a nice event,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed meeting people here who are interested in writing.”

The characters in her books are people who could be real. DeBoard draws her inspiration from real life, using folks who she might have encountered somewhere – even a Starbucks – or perhaps someone in the news. “None are autobiographical,” she said.

Like her husband, Paul Treick DeBoard worked in newspapers, freelancing for the Modesto Bee from 2001 to 2007.

In addition, she’s an English teacher at UC Merced and Modesto Junior College.

“I tell my students to watch it – I might use them as a character in one of my books,” DeBoard said.

For more information on the author, log on to www.paulatreickdeboard.com.