Archives for January 2018

Meg Gardiner is an Edgar Award-winning author who has written 13 previous novels. Her best-known books are the Evan Delaney series. Her previous novel, UNSUB, is a taut and terrifying thriller concerning the hunt for a serial killer. Meg has continued the Unsub series (Unsub meaning Unknown Subject) with Into the Black Nowhere.

Into the Black Nowhere features Caitlin Hendrix hunting another Ted Bundy-like serial killer who kidnaps women in southern Texas. He snatches them in plain sight without leaving a trace of evidence. Caitlin must get inside the killer’s mind and determine how he selects his victims, what impels him, and when he will strike again. A desperate game of cat and mouse ensues, and the stakes could not be higher.

What makes serial killers so fascinating?

We find serial killers fascinating because they hide among us beneath the mask of sanity. They’re unrestrained by every societal or moral notion of holding back their most violent impulses and desires, and we’re intrigued by the question of what turns people into such killers. One reason for this fascination is we want to know how to protect ourselves from them. If we could figure these people out, we could make sure we’re safe. We also want to ensure that we’re not like then; we want to separate ourselves from them, both physically and psychologically. We find them both frightening and intriguing, especially someone like the killer in Into the Black Nowhere who’s charismatic and successful and who, on the surface, is the type of guy many mothers would tell their daughters is a ‘catch.’ And we wonder how someone can wear this camouflage for decades.

Tell us about some of what drives Caitlin Hendrix in her quest to capture the serial killer known as the Ghost.

Without her knowing he was present, the Ghost wormed his way into her life in the first book He’s still out there and she’s desperate to catch him. He came out of nowhere and she has no idea what he’s up to—only that he said he’s coming back.

What about her personal issues make Caitlin’s quest for the Ghost so compelling?

The Ghost damaged her family, the people she loves, in the most terrible ways; so, it’s personal. She sees herself as a hunter who must not only protect her family, but the public as well.

‘Into the Black Nowhere’ details different types of serial killers. Will you tell us a bit about that?

Some serial killers regard killing as a mission. Others look at it as ‘playtime,’ while some feel possessed by some dark entity who has murder as a voracious hobby. The FBI has made distinctions between organized and disorganized serial killers.

John Douglas and Ann Burgess wrote books on the subject. They tried to understand the psychology of serial killers. They distinguished between organized killers who plan things out, trying to hide their identities, from disorganized killers who have obvious psychiatric problems and strike out with a blitz attack, not bothering to hide the bodies, while leaving a great deal of evidence because they were overcome by a compellingly powerful urge or delusion to kill. Recently, it’s been understood that these killers fall into a continuum of behaviors; and there’s not a clear-cut distinction between organized and disorganized killers.

Tell us about your research involving the FBI, before writing ‘Into the Black Nowhere.”

I attended several all-day seminars the FBI gives for writers at their New York headquarters. They gave me an amazing level of insight into the work they do. I read the FBI Crime Classification Manual as well as numerous books written by former agents.  It’s amazing to learn about the lives these people have led, especially the women agents.

‘Into the Black Nowhere’ is the second book in the Unsub series. What made you decide to write about serial killers and the FBI?

As we discussed, we’re all fascinated by serial killers. They’re modern-day monsters who seep through the cracks. I think we also want to read about the people who are willing to try to track them down. As for Caitlin, her life has been warped by the fact that her dad hunted a serial killer; that opened her eyes to that world.

How much of Meg Gardiner is part of Caitlin Hendrix?

Her snarky sense of humor; [Laughter] and we both spent time running hundreds of miles in the Bay Area of northern California. Of course, there’s a connection between Caitlin and me, but I’ve worked to make Caitlin her own woman.

I don’t give her the same likes or dislikes I have. If I’m afraid of something, I make her excited by it. Whatever I love, I make her hate. I disguise her as best I can. [More laughter].

My first series character was Evan Delaney, a lawyer, as am I. Caitlin is the first cop I’ve written as the heroine of a story. I sort of felt like Caitlin’s big sister as I was writing about her. I’m a little bit protective of her but want the reader to understand what makes her tick.

The Unsub series will be a CBS-TV series. Will you be participating in writing for the series?

I hope so. Now, I’m working behind the scenes consulting with the screenwriter, Liz Friedman, who is extremely accomplished.

What’s coming next from Meg Gardiner?

The third book in the Unsub series. It’s tentatively called The Dark Corner of the Night.

Congratulations on writing ‘Into the Black Nowhere,’ a taut, terrifying novel that’s part of a series which has been praised by Don Winslow, Lisa Scottoline, Greg Hurwitz, and Steve Hamilton. Stephen King has called one of your other series, ‘the finest crime-suspense series I’ve come across in the last twenty years.’

Alafair Burke is the bestselling author of eleven previous novels. She co-authors the bestselling Under Suspicion series with Mary Higgins Clark. A former prosecutor, she now teaches criminal law and lives in New York City.

In The Wife, Angela Powell is married to Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU and a minor celebrity in New York City. Angela has a tragic past, but after marrying Jason, she and her son move out of her mother’s home and look forward for the chance to reboot her life.

When a college intern accuses Jason of sexual misconduct and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward claiming Jason raped her, Angela’s near-perfect life with Jason begins unravelling. Jason insists he’s innocent of both charges, but when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at her life. And when she is asked to defend Jason in court, she realizes her loyalty to her husband could unearth old secrets.

‘The Wife,’ has twists in the plotline. Will you talk about the role of twists in thrillers and suspense novels?

Plots twists may be one of the major reasons why people read crime fiction. I think surprises that come completely out of the blue are sort of like cheating. One of the tricks to writing successful plot twists is to present the unexpected, yet once it happens, it should seem to have been almost inevitable to the reader. For me, the best twists I’ve come up with derived not from the story’s plot, but from within the character. It’s important for the twist to come from the character’s past or from whatever makes that person tick—perhaps in a way that isn’t typical of other people.

‘The Wife,’ has an unreliable narrator, and I wasn’t sure whom to trust as I read on. Will you talk about such a narrator?

I have to go back to the book and see if she’s really unreliable. [Laughter]. I’m not convinced Angela Powell ever says something false to the reader. She’s a woman living a carefully constructed life, one that makes her feel, as she says, ‘good and boring.’ She wants to be happily married, to be a proud and supportive wife, a doting mother to her son, and she doesn’t like drama.  Angela’s comfortable with routine and has no desire for a public life. But when her husband’s choices begin eroding the bubble she’s built around herself, she must force herself to confront some uncomfortable truths. She’s not so much unreliable as as she is in denial about the choices she and her husband have made; choices that have brought them to where they are in the book. Maybe she’s not transparent because she’s not terribly self-aware.

Would you categorize ‘The Wife’ as a domestic thriller, a legal thriller, a mystery, or all three?

[Laughter] I guess I’d say it’s all three.

I agree. You hit all the bases with this one.

It’s a domestic thriller because it deals with life within a marriage in crisis.

It’’s also a legal thriller in which Angela finds herself needing to work outside the criminal justice system because her husband is the defendant. Jason and his attorneys have a confidential relationship, and therefore she has to gather information elsewhere.  She has no idea if her husband and his legal team are being honest with her.

And, it’s a bit of a mystery as Angela slowly gathers information from Twitter alerts and other sources, in a slow drip as the story unfolds.

Speaking of Twitter and a slow dripping of information, among other things, ‘The Wife’ deals with sexual misconduct in the workplace. It seems to have presaged certain current events. Will you talk about this?

Sure, when the Harvey Weinstein revelations began surfacing and then kept coming, the #Me Too movement suddenly began. I thought no one would read the book because it would feel to real. I never thought the novel would have such a real truth and current backdrop.

When the Weinstein news broke, the book was already printed and I couldn’t make changes. I had to think about the conundrum concerning whom to believe, the woman or the man.

You mentioned ‘truth’ and I’ve always felt the real truth lies in fiction, more so than in memoir or biography.

I agree. The other day, I was talking with another attorney. We were discussing a false confession and how it seemed to resemble fiction. We agreed that good crime fiction taps into what is happening in the real world. It can be presented more succinctly and with more clarity in fiction than in a journalistic piece. And, you don’t have to resort to footnotes or annotate sources. You just present it as truth.

The novel also describes perjury in the courtroom. Tell us a bit about lying under oath.

One of the things Angela must ask herself is whether or not she’ll lie for her husband, if she’s put under oath. Is it a red line she won’t cross?

As a former prosecutor, I recall looking at lists of witnesses and thinking I knew when they would lie. There were times when defense witness took the stand and it was assumed they would by lying, but when actually facing a prosecutor and jury, they often told the truth. The fear of the law can force people into telling the truth.

You co-write books with Mary Higgins Clark. Will you talk about that?

I’ve fallen in love with her, and with the process of co-authoring books. It frees me in a way that writing by myself can’t do. If I hit a wall when writing on my own, I have nowhere else to go but back inside my head until I figure it out. But when I’m working with Mary, we toss ideas back and forth and work out plot kinks very quickly. I couldn’t ask for a better co-author.

If you could re-experience one book again as though reading it for the first time, which one would it be?

It would be Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow. It’s a legal and domestic thriller. I love the legal world he created—the pressures of a politicized DA’s office, and the vivid characters he portrayed.

If you could meet one fictional character in real life, who would it be? And why?

It would be Kinsey Millhone of Sue Grafton’s alphabet series. If she were a real person, I know we’d be good friends.

What’s coming next from Alafair Burke?

I’m working on a new Ellie Hatcher novel. And the next book in the Under Suspicion series with Marry Higgins Clark will be coming soon.

Congratulations on writing ‘The Wife,’ a subtle, smart, unputdownable and suspenseful thriller that keeps the reader guessing, while tearing through the pages at breakneck speed. I was so caught up, I read it in two sittings.

Chloe Benjamin’s first novel, The Anatomy of Dreams, received the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award. She received her MFA in fiction form the University of Wisconsin. Her fiction, poetry and essays have been widely published.

The Immortalists is a tale of family love, prophesy, destiny and magic. Among other questions, it asks, If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? In 1969, a travelling psychic arrives in the Gold family’s neighborhood; she claims to be able to tell anyone the day on which he or she will die; she tells each of four Gold children when they will die. Though the siblings keep the dates secret from one another, their prophesies affect each of them profoundly. Following each sibling, the novel is a tale about life, mortality and the choices we make.

Knowing when we’re going to die is a unique premise for a novel. What made you decide to use it in ‘The Immortalists’?

I’ve always wanted to have a great fortune-teller experience in my own life.

It’s fair to say the premise of the book derives from my own neuroses and anxieties.

The uncertainty of life itself and our lack of control over much that awaits us, have gnawed at me for years.  These preoccupations came together in this novel in the form of three children who encountered a fortune-teller, and each one’s story slowly unfolds.

One sibling in ‘The Immortalists,’ Klara, becomes a magician, while another, Varya, becomes a biologist focused on the quest to prolong life. Will you talk about these different approaches to cope with the uncertainties we face in life?

That’s a great question. I think much of my own quest in life is to figure out how best to cope with my own uncertainties. In the book, I wanted to look at different frameworks or philosophies to deal with the unknown—either through science or religion. Klara has faith, not so much in religion, but in magic or mystery inherent to life in the world. On the other hand, Varya’s interest in science is her attempt to find an evidenced-based, practical and realistic truth. She thinks and believes that life can be extended, and death can be outsmarted. I wanted to explore those approaches and how they each offered a different perspective and challenge to the uncertainties in life.

Both Klara and Varya must deal with mental turmoil. Will you talk about your own life in relation to these fictional characters?

The characters weren’t explicitly pulled from my life, but there are pieces of me in each of them. Although I wish I was Klara—with faith in magic—I think I’m actually closer to Varya. I don’t have her degree of anxiety or fixation on control, but there’s a good deal of me in her. So, the writing I did in her section is the most personal and raw. I don’t think I expected that to happen when I began writing the book. I myself struggle with anxiety, so through these characters, I was able to explore where that comes from and tried to see a way out of it.

So then, to some degree, for you, writing involves putting some of your own demons on the page?

Yes, it does. I wish I could say writing this book did away with some of my doubts about the unknown, but it didn’t. [Laughter]. If anything, it crystallized my uncertainties. I now understand them with more clarity, and know more about their origins. I hope the novel offers solace to people struggling with the same issues.

One might say ‘The Immortalists’ is not so much a book about dying as it is about living life. Will you talk about that?

I thought about that as I was writing the book.

You can’t have bad things happening to characters simply for shock value; you need to  provide context. Wth each of the characters, I portrayed how they lived; what they thought about their lives; and how each ultimately dealt with death.

Who are your literary influences?

My favorite writer is Alice Munro. It’s simply amazing how well she captures entire lifetimes in a single short story. I’m often shocked and delighted as I read the next sentence in one of her stories. Lorrie Moore, Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, and Mary Gaitskill also influenced me profoundly. Phillip Pullman’s books are gorgeously written and explore questions of consciousness, so he’s influenced me, as has Donna Tarte.

If you could meet two fictional characters in real life, who would they be?

The characters who leap to mind are Dumbledore and Snape from the Harry Potter books. Following them and their complexities over so many books has always stayed with me.

What’s coming next from Chloe Benjamin?

I’m going on an eighteen day, sixteen city book tour for The Immortalists. I’m excited about the chance to meet readers. I’m also working on the next book, but I’m too caught up with it to say anything about it right now.

Congratulations on penning ‘The Immortalists,’ a family saga about love, destiny, living life and making choices that will cause readers to consider what to do with the time given them on this earth.