Shifting from Cozy to Suspense by Susan Furlong

I was lucky enough to meet Susan Furlong at Bouchercon in Raleigh, NC, a few years ago and what struck me about her immediately was the friendly warmth she radiated even though we were across the table from each other and could do little more than smile and wave, although we did manage to chat a bit. Susan has written several cozy mysteries but recently she stepped into the thriller genre, and I thought it would be interesting to have her share a bit about her new venture. Welcome, Susan!

Susan: When Jenn invited me to guest post for Jungle Red Writers, she asked what inspired my recent shift from writing cozy mysteries to dark suspense. For a heartbeat I felt defensive of cozies—I mean, I did enjoy writing them. I was able to mentally walk through the flowering peach orchards and quaint buildings with the small town familiarity of quirky and nosey and fun characters as they solved mysteries. I could whip up peach salsa and jam recipes to include in my Georgia Peach Mystery series. What’s not to like? It was, well, cozy both for readers and for me as an author.

So why the switch?

Jenn’s question about my writing brought to light in my mind how 

many changes have occurred over the past year for my family, 

seemingly unrelated to my writing:  

We moved from country living to a suburban neighborhood.

We sent a child off to college … in China.

I bought a new writing chair…(This might seem like a small 

change to most, but I spend a lot of time in this chair.)

Yes, the move of our home base was our own choice, but one

instigated by life events. And children do leave home eventually, 

although not usually to the other side of the globe. And the chair? 

Well, sometimes things do break down or wear out or just need 

replacing. So we do initiate some changes in our lives, and those 

are usually the good ones.

Yet sometimes events simply happen to us that impact us deeply 

and unexpectedly. These are the ones that are most difficult to 

embrace. Our family also experienced that type of change this year

—a personal, tragic loss and perhaps, if I really thought about it, 

the impetus for many of the other decisions in our lives.

So when I pondered Jenn’s original question of why I shifted my writing style from light and cozy to deep and dark it made me realize how much my life overall has changed. And I realized the changes in my writing are, in fact, related to the other events in my life.

My family’s life has been uprooted on several levels and, in that 

process, I see life as less peach cobbler and more, well, let’s call it 

beef jerky. Not sweet but salty and tasty in its own way. Gritty and 

dark and sometimes tough with gristle that forces us to chew a bit 

more.

Unwelcomed changes force us to work a bit harder to get through, 

to reflect and, eventually, to grow.

Life is always moving. We hope forward, though sometimes a bit sideways. And if we allow it, our personal experiences offer an opportunity to view the world through a different, perhaps wider, lens. Because of my recent life’s changes, I gained a new perspective, and I viewed my writing differently. I found myself unable to stay bound by the comfortable, visceral limits of the cozy mystery genre. I felt compelled to create a story with that wider lens.

The divergence of good and evil and the violence and impulses that arise from that conflict fascinate me. I want to explore that concept in more depth and create flawed characters who struggle to make moral choices. I enjoy bringing my characters, villains and the heroes alike, to the full extent of their conscience and then exploring the fallout of their decisions. Writing a darker novel gives me these options. It’s also allowed me, in SPLINTERED SILENCE, to present the grittier side of social issues such as the mental and physical afflictions of war vets, PTSD, cultural and racial prejudices, and drug addiction. I want my stories to shed light on many of these issues and present them in an intriguing and honest way to readers.

I’ve loved writing about Brynn, a Marine veteran and her canine military partner, Wilco, in the first of my Bone Gap Travellers Novels. When they return home, injured and struggling with their recent past, to her Irish Traveller subculture, they face yet more changes. Not easy ones and not of Brynn’s choosing—rather like real life.

I think that as writers grow and accumulate experience, it’s natural that their storytelling voice will evolve. For my writing, it’s about accepting and embracing whatever life throws my way and using it to bring a new story to my readers. A story from a different view and, for now, a view that is dark and gritty.

Maybe that is what life is about—growing our perspective. And maybe writing—and reading—can help facilitate that growth.

What changes handed to you by life have given you a different perspective in other, seemingly unrelated, areas?

Splintered Silence is available NOW! 

Among the Irish Travellers living in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee, no one forgets and no one forgives. And as former Marine MP Brynn Callahan finds out when she returns home, it's hard to bury the past when bodies keep turning up . . .
 
After an IED explosion abruptly ends her tour of duty, Brynn arrives stateside with PTSD and her canine partner, Wilco—both of them bearing the scars of battle. With a mix of affection, curiosity, and misgivings, she goes back to Bone Gap, Tennessee, and the insular culture she'd hoped to escape by enlisting in the Marine Corps.
 
Marginalized and wary of outsiders, the Irish Travellers keep to themselves in a secluded mountain community, maintaining an uneasy coexistence with the “settled” townspeople of McCreary. When Wilco’s training as a cadaver dog leads Brynn to discover a body in the woods, the two worlds collide. Soon it’s clear that Brynn and Wilco are in danger – and they’re not the only ones.
 
After the police identify the dead woman, Brynn is shocked to learn she has a personal connection—and everything she’s been told about her past is called into question.
Forming a reluctant alliance with local sheriff Frank Pusser, Brynn must dig up secrets that not only will rattle her close-knit clan to its core, but may forever change her perception of who she is . . . and put her back in the line of fire.