November 11, 2025 • 15 mins
Ever wondered what secrets might be lurking in your next volunteer meeting? In this episode, author Mindy Hall unpacks the twists behind her novel It Takes Two, where family bonds are tested and danger hides in plain sight. Discover how real-life inspiration and relatable characters make this mystery impossible to put down—and why you’ll finish with a smile. Dive in, and you’ll never look at a boardroom the same way again.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey is Benji col Son of Alcohol from CBS Radio
and host of the syndicated talk show People of Distinction.
The talk gives you an in depth view of some
of the most dynamic, intelligent, and successful people on the planet.
Run to our website Alcohol Enterprises dot com for more info.
Email me through Benji at Alcohol Enterprises dot com if
you'd like to get involved with what we have going,
(00:30):
and as always, please continue to like and follow our broadcasts.
People of Distinction is internationally syndicated solely due to the
love and support that you all continue to give. We're
available across all major distributors and as long as you
keep following, we're going to continue to put out the content.
Now sit back and strap in because on the line
with us today we have the impressive Mindy Hall and
(00:53):
we're gonna be discussing her amazing novel It Takes Two.
It's Amazon, it's Barnes and Noble Man, it's a lot
of other places, But do yourself a favor. Check out
her personal site and that's mindydash Hall dot com. There
gather more information on her, more information on her books.
Hyperlinks set up to take it to the purchasing pages
(01:15):
and Notice how I just said books and listen. I
did that.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Intentionally because it takes two. Is the anchor for today,
but it is by no means all she has. There
are three additional books and she also has available, and
you're gonna want to check out every single one. They
are remarkably compelling. Again, that's mindydash Hall dot com. And listen,
it is an absolute pleasure to have Mindy here on
(01:41):
the line with us today. People. You know that feeling
of juggling a million things at once, My goodness, I
know it. As a parent myself, I get it. Listen.
I was on the hamster wheel of life before I
had children, but once that got thrown into the mix,
my gosh. Now imagine if one of those balls you
(02:02):
were juggling was a murder weapon. Okay, yeah, talk about
throwing a wrench into things. That is exactly the reality
of our main protagonist within this incredible novel, because that's
where she finds herself. And today we're sitting down with
the author to discuss why some of the most dangerous
villains often hide in plain sight, sometimes even in volunteer meetings.
(02:29):
This is one you are going to love. Sit back,
strap in and get ready, Mindy, welcome to the network,
and thank you very much for being a guest.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
How you're doing today, I'm good, and thank you for having.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Me absolutely, Mandy listen. It is a pleasure. I think
I'm often looking for as an avid reader. I'm often
looking for books that are going to help me past
the time, right, something that is remarkably entertaining. And I'll
tell you your books are doing that. Okay, So we
are looking forward to this discussion, and I know a
lot of people are going to be start off first
(03:01):
and foremost, tell us a little bit more about yourself, Mindy.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Let's see, I've lived in seventh States. I am a
speech therapist by training. I always enjoyed being a speech therapist.
But I got there, I think because I like words.
I actually went into my university helsewhere and said, okay,
(03:27):
I'm ready to sign up to be a linguistics major.
You looked at me. Now, you have to consider that
this was way back and people didn't take the PSAT
and SAT and ACT prep courses. They just went so
I didn't look at what the university had for me.
(03:50):
I just assumed every school had a linguistics program. No,
that wasn't true. So in talking to my mother, who said,
why don't you try speak therapy because it's words, et cetera.
You feel like you see progress, and when you see progress,
(04:10):
then you feel like the job is well done. Oh
that's where I ended up, was it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're so glad that because I often it's interesting how
we were talking on the pre screening call and you
were saying, how a lot of times there's an overlap
between these fictional stories and reality, and whether that's our
specific reality that we've experienced or someone else's. I agreed
with that notion, and I know that there are correlations
(04:39):
here right because listen as an artist, myself as a filmmaker,
I often find that art is a beautiful window to
mimic life, to mimic reality in certain aspects. And we're
going to touch up on that in just a little
bit more when we cover inspiration for right Now. Tell
us more about this novel. It takes two.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
This is Bill around the mother of a family, the
Christian family. He is going into some volunteer work and
I've done a lot of it in my life. This
is an agency that is it's called sustain and Shelter
designed for people who are homeless, and she is puzzled
(05:24):
because she and her husband have a business. She is
puzzled by the financial records, and she is puzzled by
the attitude of the director of the agency because he
is the about a lot of what's going on. And
as time goes on with Emily and her searching out
(05:50):
and I have the financial records, aren't you going to
send out the meeting minutes from the last meeting?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
No, those will come eventfully. So there's something really fifty.
Now in defense of nonprofit organizations, I have to say, now,
a lot of them are very much above board, but
you can also see where you can pull some sneaky
stuff because of the makeup of the agency. We're out
(06:18):
here to help, but we've got people who are probably
not licensed BPAs or licensed managers that kind of thing.
So we can get a lot away with a lot
of stuff. Some of it is because people truly don't
know how to manage an agency like that, and some
of it is because there is a purpose in having
(06:40):
the agency be a field for what's going on.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Eventually that shows up, Mindy, let's jump into inspiration now.
Now listen, inspiration, I guess from a macro perspective, Okay,
because what you've done here that I find remarkably compelling
is each of your additional books that are all revolving
around different family members found within the core group of
(07:08):
the family members that we find and it takes too
So I think that was a really interesting approach to
add these different branches of this family tree, in each
one of them having a novel that embodies them. Talk
to us a from a micro perspective, what inspired it
takes Cho's creation, and then from a macro perspective the
further development and specifically following different family members. Talk to
(07:33):
us about that inspiration that comes.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because number one, I like books that revolved well. I
also like books where people actually enjoy each other. It's
too easy to have the characters in the book go
off on a kansas. I think a family is maybe
(07:56):
disadliged in. A family is a coach group, and if
they're cohesive, then they're helping each other and they're working
things out. This family consists of our husband, wife, the
grandmother is the mother's the wife's mother, and two daughters.
(08:16):
Now I borrowed that from my own family. I thought, wow,
this I like my family, so let's use this around them.
But it was easy to as opposed to being plain
books of the same quote detective, it was easier to say, okay, now,
wait all right, Emily is the age to go into
(08:40):
nonprofit work, so let's put her there. The first book
that I did is about Louisa, the mother of Emily's.
The second book also includes both of them, and the
fourth book is primarily around David, the dad. It was
easier to do it that way because I didn't have
(09:03):
to fit the canan against to one person. So there
is a little bit of spread factor there where you
could say, Okay, this is more more this person's venue
than say, the father, who is a dud. That's how
I did it, Why I did it?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
People Again, remember it's Amazon, it's Barnes and Noble, it's
Mindy dash haul dot com. Head on over there, purchase
here copies of it takes two as well as looking
into the other books. Because this is a journey, you're
not going to want to pass up my follow up
question that I want to go into. Now, Mindy, listen,
I love the title. Okay it is it's wonderfully pro
(09:45):
it's wonderfully evocative. Okay, like it Takes two is something
that listen on the surface. I guess it would be
safe to assume here it refers to the mother daughter
duo found within the book, but I believe that there
they're maybe more underneath it. Again an assumption, But let's
go here next and let's play with that. Talk to
(10:06):
us about the title, why you chose it to be
the representation and some of the connections or I guess
symbols to be found with regard to it takes two,
it's all the.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Family members are included usually and it takes to they're
all included, that they are not the primary focus. In
fact that it takes two. In this book, Emily's good
friend Miriam is the one that she uses as you
know how there's a boil for oh wait, what about this?
(10:43):
What do you think this means? If you look at
a lot of defective mystery weird novels, that there's always
a group. Look at for Arthur Cornan Doyle with Stirlaw
and doctor Watson, and you look at you look at
some of the others where there's you look at Siro
with tact and you there's that person that's something like
(11:08):
there are some mystery novels that have dogs that are cats,
that are the foil to bounce ideas off. You need
that because you need to know what the person who
is solving the mystery is thinking. And you don't get
that with just one person or one four legged furry friend.
(11:30):
You've got to In fact, I think there was an
author who wrote they were cat novels, and the cat
I don't know that they talked to the author or
to the detective that they were instrumental in how she's
going to solve the mystery. So I used a good
friend because it fit better, the generation, the working together,
(11:55):
that kind of thing. But again it's because I have
different people I can do that. I can bring in
that other person. In the second book, nowhere somewhere, the
primary the two primary people are actually Mom and Emily.
So it was fun to work it that way. It
(12:17):
was fun to sit there and you're driving along, and
this was when I had my children were younger. You're
driving along, I'm listening to them. I figure the best
way to find out stuff is to volunteer to take
them to the movie or to the basketball game or whatever,
because you know what they'll talk with their friends, and
(12:37):
if you pretend that you are a nonentity at that
steering wheel, you get a lot of information. But if
they are in the car, you start thinking of other things.
This is a great way to develop what if this happened?
And what if this happened?
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Mindy.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
My final question here for you as we close out,
I'm curious, when a reader finishes the last page of
your book, what is one feeling or thought that you
hope stays with them the longest.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I hope that I try. I like books that resolve.
In fact, there are some books that I actually like
a real book because I can speak ahead and see
how this is going to go. I just read a
book that was so disappointing, not because it was a
bad book. The author writes, well, she has some interesting stories,
(13:32):
but there are some interesting tales, and she took her
book an interesting way. But it's one of those that
she is going to make into a series. I think
she already has. And the relationship between the two main
characters was so lovely in the first book that I
read ahead, and I'm not going to get that book
(13:53):
because the next book, because the two main characters flit off.
So in my books. Where I want people to go
away with is a smile, and I want that smile
because the book resolved probably how they thought it would
(14:13):
as the story went on. But the book also gives
allowances to people to change a little bit and be
better at what they're doing. I hope or to find
something that makes them smile, and I hope they go
(14:34):
away with a smile the reader. Listen.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I have no doubt that they are going to do
just that, Mindy. Thank you for joining us for this discussion.
But I'll tell you one thing, Mindy, After this conversation, man,
I'm never going to look at a PTA meeting or
a boardroom meeting the same way again. Okay from my
mystery lovers out there, Yeah, listen, head out over to Amazon, Barns,
(14:57):
and Noble one more time, mindydash Hall Dot. Purchase your
copies of the book, but strap in because listen again.
As we discussed, sometimes the most dangerous secrets are often
hidden where we would least expect them. Pick up copies
of the book, embark upon the journey yourself. I promise
(15:18):
you you're going to want to read this one in
one sitting, and then you're going to circle back around
and grab those other ones. You know where to go, Mindy,
this has been a true pleasure. Again, we welcome the
opportunity to have you back on the network, but for
this time, thank you for being a guest on People
of Distinction, and thank you Bensey.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I love the questions and I love the discussion, so
thank you for that. It left me with a smile.
How U
Hey is Benji col Son of Alcohol from CBS Radio
and host of the syndicated talk show People of Distinction.
The talk gives you an in depth view of some
of the most dynamic, intelligent, and successful people on the planet.
Run to our website Alcohol Enterprises dot com for more info.
Email me through Benji at Alcohol Enterprises dot com if
you'd like to get involved with what we have going,
(00:30):
and as always, please continue to like and follow our broadcasts.
People of Distinction is internationally syndicated solely due to the
love and support that you all continue to give. We're
available across all major distributors and as long as you
keep following, we're going to continue to put out the content.
Now sit back and strap in because on the line
with us today we have the impressive Mindy Hall and
(00:53):
we're gonna be discussing her amazing novel It Takes Two.
It's Amazon, it's Barnes and Noble Man, it's a lot
of other places, But do yourself a favor. Check out
her personal site and that's mindydash Hall dot com. There
gather more information on her, more information on her books.
Hyperlinks set up to take it to the purchasing pages
(01:15):
and Notice how I just said books and listen. I
did that.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Intentionally because it takes two. Is the anchor for today,
but it is by no means all she has. There
are three additional books and she also has available, and
you're gonna want to check out every single one. They
are remarkably compelling. Again, that's mindydash Hall dot com. And listen,
it is an absolute pleasure to have Mindy here on
(01:41):
the line with us today. People. You know that feeling
of juggling a million things at once, My goodness, I
know it. As a parent myself, I get it. Listen.
I was on the hamster wheel of life before I
had children, but once that got thrown into the mix,
my gosh. Now imagine if one of those balls you
(02:02):
were juggling was a murder weapon. Okay, yeah, talk about
throwing a wrench into things. That is exactly the reality
of our main protagonist within this incredible novel, because that's
where she finds herself. And today we're sitting down with
the author to discuss why some of the most dangerous
villains often hide in plain sight, sometimes even in volunteer meetings.
(02:29):
This is one you are going to love. Sit back,
strap in and get ready, Mindy, welcome to the network,
and thank you very much for being a guest.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
How you're doing today, I'm good, and thank you for having.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Me absolutely, Mandy listen. It is a pleasure. I think
I'm often looking for as an avid reader. I'm often
looking for books that are going to help me past
the time, right, something that is remarkably entertaining. And I'll
tell you your books are doing that. Okay, So we
are looking forward to this discussion, and I know a
lot of people are going to be start off first
(03:01):
and foremost, tell us a little bit more about yourself, Mindy.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Let's see, I've lived in seventh States. I am a
speech therapist by training. I always enjoyed being a speech therapist.
But I got there, I think because I like words.
I actually went into my university helsewhere and said, okay,
(03:27):
I'm ready to sign up to be a linguistics major.
You looked at me. Now, you have to consider that
this was way back and people didn't take the PSAT
and SAT and ACT prep courses. They just went so
I didn't look at what the university had for me.
(03:50):
I just assumed every school had a linguistics program. No,
that wasn't true. So in talking to my mother, who said,
why don't you try speak therapy because it's words, et cetera.
You feel like you see progress, and when you see progress,
(04:10):
then you feel like the job is well done. Oh
that's where I ended up, was it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're so glad that because I often it's interesting how
we were talking on the pre screening call and you
were saying, how a lot of times there's an overlap
between these fictional stories and reality, and whether that's our
specific reality that we've experienced or someone else's. I agreed
with that notion, and I know that there are correlations
(04:39):
here right because listen as an artist, myself as a filmmaker,
I often find that art is a beautiful window to
mimic life, to mimic reality in certain aspects. And we're
going to touch up on that in just a little
bit more when we cover inspiration for right Now. Tell
us more about this novel. It takes two.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
This is Bill around the mother of a family, the
Christian family. He is going into some volunteer work and
I've done a lot of it in my life. This
is an agency that is it's called sustain and Shelter
designed for people who are homeless, and she is puzzled
(05:24):
because she and her husband have a business. She is
puzzled by the financial records, and she is puzzled by
the attitude of the director of the agency because he
is the about a lot of what's going on. And
as time goes on with Emily and her searching out
(05:50):
and I have the financial records, aren't you going to
send out the meeting minutes from the last meeting?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (05:56):
No, those will come eventfully. So there's something really fifty.
Now in defense of nonprofit organizations, I have to say, now,
a lot of them are very much above board, but
you can also see where you can pull some sneaky
stuff because of the makeup of the agency. We're out
(06:18):
here to help, but we've got people who are probably
not licensed BPAs or licensed managers that kind of thing.
So we can get a lot away with a lot
of stuff. Some of it is because people truly don't
know how to manage an agency like that, and some
of it is because there is a purpose in having
(06:40):
the agency be a field for what's going on.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Eventually that shows up, Mindy, let's jump into inspiration now.
Now listen, inspiration, I guess from a macro perspective, Okay,
because what you've done here that I find remarkably compelling
is each of your additional books that are all revolving
around different family members found within the core group of
(07:08):
the family members that we find and it takes too
So I think that was a really interesting approach to
add these different branches of this family tree, in each
one of them having a novel that embodies them. Talk
to us a from a micro perspective, what inspired it
takes Cho's creation, and then from a macro perspective the
further development and specifically following different family members. Talk to
(07:33):
us about that inspiration that comes.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because number one, I like books that revolved well. I
also like books where people actually enjoy each other. It's
too easy to have the characters in the book go
off on a kansas. I think a family is maybe
(07:56):
disadliged in. A family is a coach group, and if
they're cohesive, then they're helping each other and they're working
things out. This family consists of our husband, wife, the
grandmother is the mother's the wife's mother, and two daughters.
(08:16):
Now I borrowed that from my own family. I thought, wow,
this I like my family, so let's use this around them.
But it was easy to as opposed to being plain
books of the same quote detective, it was easier to say, okay, now,
wait all right, Emily is the age to go into
(08:40):
nonprofit work, so let's put her there. The first book
that I did is about Louisa, the mother of Emily's.
The second book also includes both of them, and the
fourth book is primarily around David, the dad. It was
easier to do it that way because I didn't have
(09:03):
to fit the canan against to one person. So there
is a little bit of spread factor there where you
could say, Okay, this is more more this person's venue
than say, the father, who is a dud. That's how
I did it, Why I did it?
Speaker 2 (09:24):
People Again, remember it's Amazon, it's Barnes and Noble, it's
Mindy dash haul dot com. Head on over there, purchase
here copies of it takes two as well as looking
into the other books. Because this is a journey, you're
not going to want to pass up my follow up
question that I want to go into. Now, Mindy, listen,
I love the title. Okay it is it's wonderfully pro
(09:45):
it's wonderfully evocative. Okay, like it Takes two is something
that listen on the surface. I guess it would be
safe to assume here it refers to the mother daughter
duo found within the book, but I believe that there
they're maybe more underneath it. Again an assumption, But let's
go here next and let's play with that. Talk to
(10:06):
us about the title, why you chose it to be
the representation and some of the connections or I guess
symbols to be found with regard to it takes two,
it's all the.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Family members are included usually and it takes to they're
all included, that they are not the primary focus. In
fact that it takes two. In this book, Emily's good
friend Miriam is the one that she uses as you
know how there's a boil for oh wait, what about this?
(10:43):
What do you think this means? If you look at
a lot of defective mystery weird novels, that there's always
a group. Look at for Arthur Cornan Doyle with Stirlaw
and doctor Watson, and you look at you look at
some of the others where there's you look at Siro
with tact and you there's that person that's something like
(11:08):
there are some mystery novels that have dogs that are cats,
that are the foil to bounce ideas off. You need
that because you need to know what the person who
is solving the mystery is thinking. And you don't get
that with just one person or one four legged furry friend.
(11:30):
You've got to In fact, I think there was an
author who wrote they were cat novels, and the cat
I don't know that they talked to the author or
to the detective that they were instrumental in how she's
going to solve the mystery. So I used a good
friend because it fit better, the generation, the working together,
(11:55):
that kind of thing. But again it's because I have
different people I can do that. I can bring in
that other person. In the second book, nowhere somewhere, the
primary the two primary people are actually Mom and Emily.
So it was fun to work it that way. It
(12:17):
was fun to sit there and you're driving along, and
this was when I had my children were younger. You're
driving along, I'm listening to them. I figure the best
way to find out stuff is to volunteer to take
them to the movie or to the basketball game or whatever,
because you know what they'll talk with their friends, and
(12:37):
if you pretend that you are a nonentity at that
steering wheel, you get a lot of information. But if
they are in the car, you start thinking of other things.
This is a great way to develop what if this happened?
And what if this happened?
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Mindy.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
My final question here for you as we close out,
I'm curious, when a reader finishes the last page of
your book, what is one feeling or thought that you
hope stays with them the longest.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I hope that I try. I like books that resolve.
In fact, there are some books that I actually like
a real book because I can speak ahead and see
how this is going to go. I just read a
book that was so disappointing, not because it was a
bad book. The author writes, well, she has some interesting stories,
(13:32):
but there are some interesting tales, and she took her
book an interesting way. But it's one of those that
she is going to make into a series. I think
she already has. And the relationship between the two main
characters was so lovely in the first book that I
read ahead, and I'm not going to get that book
(13:53):
because the next book, because the two main characters flit off.
So in my books. Where I want people to go
away with is a smile, and I want that smile
because the book resolved probably how they thought it would
(14:13):
as the story went on. But the book also gives
allowances to people to change a little bit and be
better at what they're doing. I hope or to find
something that makes them smile, and I hope they go
(14:34):
away with a smile the reader. Listen.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I have no doubt that they are going to do
just that, Mindy. Thank you for joining us for this discussion.
But I'll tell you one thing, Mindy, After this conversation, man,
I'm never going to look at a PTA meeting or
a boardroom meeting the same way again. Okay from my
mystery lovers out there, Yeah, listen, head out over to Amazon, Barns,
(14:57):
and Noble one more time, mindydash Hall Dot. Purchase your
copies of the book, but strap in because listen again.
As we discussed, sometimes the most dangerous secrets are often
hidden where we would least expect them. Pick up copies
of the book, embark upon the journey yourself. I promise
(15:18):
you you're going to want to read this one in
one sitting, and then you're going to circle back around
and grab those other ones. You know where to go, Mindy,
this has been a true pleasure. Again, we welcome the
opportunity to have you back on the network, but for
this time, thank you for being a guest on People
of Distinction, and thank you Bensey.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I love the questions and I love the discussion, so
thank you for that. It left me with a smile.
How U
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