Judy Foreman is a former health columnist for the Boston Globe (and Newton Beacon board member) who has moved into writing novels, and her new thriller, “The Scallop Plot,” will be coming out this month. It follows a Cape Cod scalloper who discovers a plot by an offshore wind turbine developer to genetically modify scallop beds to poison scallops to make room for his turbines—and then another plot of right-wing astroturfing against offshore wind.

Foreman will be speaking about her book at Newtonville Books on Oct. 22.

This is Foreman’s second novel. She previously published the thriller “CRISPR’d,” which is also about an evil use of genetic engineering. “I am a big fan of CRISPR, but it can be used for evil, and evil is a lot more fun to write about,” she said. While her new book was inspired by her own experience as a resident in Truro, she also did significant research from talking to Harvard geneticists to visiting scallop farms, and strove to ensure scientific accuracy. That wasn’t new for her: her career has been spent writing about scientific research, just not in a fictional setting.

She was a full-time reporter at the Boston Globe for many years and ran a successful health column. Even after she stepped back from a full-time role, she continued to write her column as a freelancer. “I really loved being a health columnist—I felt very connected to readers,” she said, noting that she loves when people still recognize her and are positive about her column, even though it’s now been many years since she wrote it.

Judith foreman, journalist and author. Courtesy photo

After developing a chronic, painful medical condition, she began to be interested in the way the medical establishment handles chronic pain. She wrote “A Nation in Pain: Healing our Biggest Health Problem, about the poor American treatment of those in pain, particularly due to the backlash against opioids even when used responsibly. She wrote another book about pain treatment globally, and one about exercise as medicine. But these were investigative non-fiction, and she wanted to branch out into something new. After writing a memoir, she thought: why not novels?

“I decided it would be fun to write a thriller,” she said. Unsurprisingly, he protagonist for her first book is a female journalist, and “The Scallop Plot” also has a female journalist as a prominent character. She wrote it in her Chestnut Hill condo (when she wasn’t out on the road to make sure all her details were accurate).

She learned about how dangerous scallop fishing is, but she also learned more about wind turbines. Offshore wind has been a big source of contention on Cape Cod in recent years, which is why it plays a role in her book. Over the course of writing, she came to realize the extent to which dark money has played a role in anti-wind sentiments, which went into her book. “It talks about the agenda, and how much the far right are behind the scenes trying to stop offshore wind. It can be dangerous, but a lot of the stories the right wing media are putting out are false,” she said. She enjoyed getting to add this as an element to her novel. “It was fun to put all this in a thriller,” she said.

To Newtonians interested in writing, she said: “Give it a try! It’s really fun!” While writing a thriller with elaborate research requirements was hard, she also enjoyed it. The main challenge is the difficulty in getting published. “You have to figure out in your mind if your main goal is to publish or have fun,” she said. She also recommended joining a writing group.