RUMFORD — Author Julie Cohen, a Rumford native, is in Maine visiting family and friends before she gives a book presentation Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. on her latest thriller, “Bad Men,” at the American Legion, 184 Congress St.

Author and Rumford native Julie Cohen is visiting Maine from Berkshire, U.K., and plans to give a book presentation on her latest thriller, “Bad Men,” at the American Legion in Rumford on Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. and at Back Cove Books in Portland on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. Submitted photo

Cohen spoke to the Rumford Falls Times recently, noting that she’s “really happy” with the release of “Bad Men” in the U.S., since most of her career has been in England, where she has lived since she left Maine to attend college there several years ago.

“In the U.K. I have at least one book out every year, and have done (that) since 2006, but not all of them have made it to the U.S. (for publication), so it’s really great to have a book out in the U.S., where I’m from,” Cohen said.

As she explained what “Bad Men” is about and why she wrote the book, Cohen said she “wanted to write a book about a woman taking back control and turning the tables. I think most books that you read, at least thrillers that you read, are generally about men killing, often about men killing women. And the women who appear in them are often just corpses or victims and I really wanted to turn that on its head.”

She said that in the U.S. almost all women who are murdered are murdered by men, and they are usually murdered by men they know, and she thinks “that statistic is so depressing.”

“And it makes me so angry, that I really wanted to write a book out of that anger, about the vulnerability of women and girls at the hands of violent men.” However, don’t be mistaken that the book is serious, she said — it’s a dark comedy, it’s funny, and a lot of bad people die in it, she explained.

Readers can find Cohen’s feminist thrillers like “Bad Men” written under her slightly different pen name, Julie Mae Cohen. She retains her birth name for her more serious novels, she said. “The novels I write under my own name are much more serious; they’re emotional, they’re evocative.” There might be tragedy in her general novels, but it’s much more serious fiction, whereas her feminist thrillers are funny “and there are a lot of decapitated heads.”

When asked why she ended up living in England, Cohen blames books, specifically her love of Victorian literature, and the Beatles. “I wanted to be a writer, but I also wanted to go (to the U.K.) and study English literature. So, I went there when I was an undergraduate to study and didn’t really come back.”

While at Cambridge University she completed a Master of Philosophy degree on fairies in Victorian and Edwardian children’s literature, and since the subject “had very few practical applications,” she became a secondary school English teacher. “It was about at this point that I realized that if I wanted to become a novelist, I should probably start writing novels,” she said.

Cohen has another book coming out next year in the U.S., a thriller titled “Eat, Slay, Love,” in a pun on Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “Eat, Pray, Love.” Cohen’s book is about three women who are strangers to each other and become friends while they are keeping a man captive in their basement. And just this week while she’s visiting her family in Maine, she started writing a sequel to “Bad Men.”

Cohen plans to present her latest thriller at the American Legion on Aug. 14 at 7 p.m., and at Back Cove Books in Portland on Aug. 22 at 7 p.m., where she’ll also have her books for sale. Her books can also be found on Amazon, online on Audible, and other bookstores.