Friday, May 5, 2023

Annette Dashofy--Suspense versus Mystery

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Welcome to one of our frequent and favorite guests here on JRW, Annette Dashofy! It seems like we've been with Annette's protagonist Zoe Chambers every step of the way, and I have such admiration for Annette stepping off in a slightly different direction with her new Zoe book--the 12th!


Suspense versus Mystery by Annette Dashofy

When I started working on the twelfth Zoe Chambers Mystery, as always, I had a seed of an idea. Honestly, I had several seeds. A flood. A trapped and critically injured father. His kidnapped daughter. They all sounded viable until I started plotting Helpless. That’s when I made a few realizations.

 

1.      The story had to take place within a very compressed timeline.

2.      This wasn’t going to be a traditional whodunit.

3.      Writing suspense is way out of my wheelhouse.

 

I based the flooding on a couple of tropical storms, remnants of hurricanes, that made their way to southwestern Pennsylvania over the last 20 years. Around here, the water rises, coming closer and closer over a matter of hours, and then recedes quickly. Combined with the critically injured father in the story, I knew I needed this book to take place in under 24 hours.

What the heck was I thinking?

Let me tell you about outlining a story that only lasts 24 hours. Getting the timelines to work from both Zoe Chambers-Adams’s and Pete Adams’s points of view was maddening. I used a spreadsheet. I used postcards. I had to calculate how long it took to get from Point A to Point B and then tack on time for traveling through floodwaters and downed trees. Then I had to coordinate what was happening with Zoe and Pete, who were in different locations, but who were in communication with each other. I’d write a scene, calculate how much time had passed, figure out where that fell on the other character’s timeline, and find out it didn’t match.

I lost count of how many times I told my husband, “This book is going to kill me.”

It also soon became apparent this poor man, who couldn’t be moved, had seen the person who kidnapped his daughter. He didn’t know who the guy was, but he’d recognize him if he saw him again. Hence, this wasn’t going to be a traditional whodunit with the usual red herrings and suspects, all of whom might be the killer. The reader would also have an inkling of why this madman had taken the girl.

The narrative questions don’t involve “who is the killer?” Instead, the reader asks, “Where is the child?” “Is she even alive?” And “Will the girl’s father survive?” And the big one. “Will The Bad Guy outsmart Chief Pete Adams and escape with or without the little girl?”

I pondered giving The Bad Guy a point of view in the book, but quickly abandoned that idea.

So, I found myself writing suspense, a race against time in the truest sense. Thanks to modern technology, Zoe Chambers-Adams keeps an eye on her weather app’s radar to follow the progress of the advancing storm. The Bad Guy’s identity eventually becomes known, but it takes a while for Pete to recognize how cunning he is. Call it a chess match or a cat-and-mouse game, the fact is both Zoe and Pete are battling man and the elements against the ticking clock of Mother Nature’s wrath.

DEBS: Okay, the suspense is killing me just from reading this! Here's more about HELPLESS:

As a massive weather system barrels toward them, Vance Township Police Chief Pete Adams and his wife, County Coroner Zoe Chambers-Adams, soon learn how unprepared they really are. A 911 call reports a dead young mother, her critically injured husband, and their missing seven-year-old daughter. Pete and Zoe realize that as the storm moved north from Louisiana, a mysterious killer came with it.  

The wounded and trapped father is Zoe’s friend and blacksmith, and he asks her to stay with him during the rescue efforts. Pete encourages her to oblige, hoping she can uncover clues that might help the investigation. But as attempts to free the victim fail and his condition worsens, Zoe’s questions reveal he doesn’t know why his family was targeted and child kidnapped. Yet he stays alive, hoping for one last glimpse of his little girl.

Pursuing the murderer and the kidnapped child, Pete and his officers battle downed trees, massive flooding, and a widespread loss of communications. They’re isolated with no backup, while facing rising water and impassable roads. The killer faces the same problems, yet somehow stays one step ahead of law enforcement. But he is becoming desperate, and more people are dying because of it. 

As two lives hang in the balance, can Pete win the race against time and weather to stop a savage and cunning predator? And will he and Zoe be able to reunite a family before it’s too late? 

USA Today bestseller Annette Dashofy is the author of over a dozen novels including the five-time Agatha Award nominated Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic-turned-coroner in rural Pennsylvania as well as the Detective Honeywell series set along Lake Erie. Her standalone novel, Death By Equine is the 2021 winner of the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for excellence in thoroughbred racing literature. In addition, she is an active member of Sisters in Crime and Pennwriters. Annette and her husband live on ten acres of what was her grandfather’s dairy farm with one very spoiled cat.

DEBS: How about it, dear Reds and readers--what's your favorite book with a ticking clock?

 

48 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Annette, on your latest book . . . now I'm anxious to find out how things work out for the kidnapped little girl! I’m really looking forward to reading Zoe’s newest adventure . . . and stories with extreme, threatening weather are always so compelling.

    Ticking clock books? 61 HOURS by Lee Child and FALLING by T.J. Newman are two of my favorites . . . .

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  2. Sounds like a season of 24 to me. I was always amazed at just how they pulled it off each week, much less each season.

    This sounds great. Looking forward to reading it.

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    1. Mark, I have a whole new appreciation of 24!

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  3. I have already pre-ordered HELPLESS and can't wait to read it.

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    1. Thanks, Dru! It was great seeing you at Malice, by the way.

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  4. Congratulations on your new book, Annette! It sounds gripping. Also, congratulations on stepping outside your usual type of mystery and coming up with what sounds like a winner. I am hooked. I don't usually read suspense, so it's hard to come up with a favorite. Way back, I got hooked on The Pelican Brief, so I suppose that's it.

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  5. I was lucky enough to read an advance copy. And this book is SO good. Annette, you totally nailed writing suspense (although you always do in whatever you write).

    Readers, you might not want to start HELPLESS if you have to get up early in the morning I guarantee you'll be up way too late because you can't put it down.

    One of Julia's books takes place in one day (she'll have to fill in the title, it's been a while), and she pulls it off like the master she is. I've written several books with a shortened timeline because an important event looms - Christmas Eve! The protag's wedding! - but so far it never happens all in one day. Hmm. Maybe I should set myself that challenge.

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    1. Thanks so much, Edith. Now I have to go back through Julia's books! I've read them all but can't remember which one all took place in one day. Hmmm...

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  6. Annette: Thanks for sharing your writing process for this book; SO interesting! Am off to find it.

    I think Julia's book is Through the Evil Days, which I would nominate as my favourite 'compressed timeline' book.

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    1. You're right, Amanda! I remembered the storyline, but not the title.

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    2. Thanks, Amanda. Yes, it was a true tickling clock.

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    3. Yes, I was thinking of Julia's book when I asked the question!

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  7. Annette, congratulations. Zoe was my companion for many days during early covid isolation. Once I began that series, I read right through and they have all been suspenseful, just not staged in 24 hours. Wow. I think I pre-ordered it for my Kindle. If not, I'll have it soon!!

    I think that when you choose to read mysteries, you always get some suspense. The question, "Will they get there on time?" is such a good one...I have read all of Julia's books but don't remember one set in 24 hours. Although I am certain I have read books with ticking clocks, I can't remember one right now.

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    1. Thank you, Judy. And yes, I've definitely included suspense in all of my books. Not to this extent though. My blood pressure took a beating writing it!

      Also, I'm so glad Zoe helped you through the lockdown.

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  8. ANNETTE: Wow, HELPLESS sounds like an intense read & a (good) challenge for you as an author. I love reading your Zoe & Pete books & HELPLESS is next on my list of TBR books to start reading this weekend!

    SECLUDED CABIN SLEEPS SIX by Lisa Unger takes place during a harrowing evening during a weekend getaway that goes horribly wrong.


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    1. I hope you enjoy it, Grace!

      I love Lisa Unger, although I haven't read that one. Will have to check it out!

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  9. Woot, congratulations, Annette! I preordered the day preorders were announced so this description really ups the suspense for me. Can't wait to settle in for a read.

    Ticking timeline book? Darned if I can think of one off the top of my head.

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    1. Thanks for preordering, Kait. I hope you like it! Four more days!

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  10. Wow, Annette! I really don't know how you do it! And how will you top that one now? Definitely looking forward to reading it soon. I can't think of a ticking clock book offhand, but the movie High Noon comes to mind. I watched it very recently but I think for the suspense, you have that one beat. Especially how your set-up is something that could very well happen in our world today. Congrats!

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    1. Thanks, Judi. How to top it? I can't even think about that. I just write the next story and hope it turns out okay.

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    2. I have every confidence that your next book(s) will be just as great too!

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  11. Congratulations on your new suspense novel and welcome back to JRW, Annette!

    Trying to recall a favorite book with a ticking clock. Off the top of my head, all I can think of is

    Hickory Hickory Dock mystery novel by Agatha Christie. I think it was a Hercule Poirot novel?

    Diana

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    1. Thanks, Diana! And yes, that was a Poirot novel. It's been so long, may need to dig it out for a re-read.

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  12. Congrats Annette! Your new book sounds intriguing.
    What happened to the Red Writers. Is everyone super busy this time of year?

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    1. Thanks. And I think "super busy" is true any time of year, not just now! ;-)

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  13. My reply vanished! Trying again: Thank you! As for "super busy," I think that's true no matter what time of year it is.

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  14. Naturally, I can't think of a single example of a suspense novel. Maybe Rebecca, but the timeline is not compressed.

    Annette, I'm so pleased for you, and looking forward to this Zoey installment. Sounds like an amazing exercise in timing and precision, with a compellingly urgent crisis, and fascinating characters.

    Congratulations!

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  15. Annette, my heart started racing as I read about your challenges, and then read the synopsis! I MUST read this book! I enjoyed the previous Zoe books.

    DebRo

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  16. I can't wait to read this book. I will probably re-read the previous book because it's just something like to do with series. Until Julia's book was mentioned I was still to come up with a book taking place in a compressed timeline.

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    1. I like to re-read previous books in a series when a new one is coming out too, Deana.

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  17. Welcome Annette! I've been a huge fan of yours since EARLY ON (in BOTH of our careers) ... and thrilled to see this new direction. A ticking clock is one of those truly useful tropes in crime fiction - the race against the clock sometimes starting on Page 1 or more often kicks in at the end of Act II, raising the stakes and creating an adrenalin rush. I put a ticking clock in my first standalone with a woman who's about to give birth and (at the end of Act II) gets locked in an attic... tick tick tick.

    I think the difference between a straight master and suspense is whether you have the reader trurning pages to find out WHODUNNIT? (mystery) or to find out WHATSGOINGONHERE? (suspense) But there's tons of overlap and techniques for each that work in the other.

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    1. Oh, Hallie, thanks so much for saying that. And I love your mystery/suspense definition. I agree. Lots of wiggle room for overlap. Thank goodness!

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  18. Congratulations, Annette! As a writer, I can't even wrap my head around the complexity of such a tight timeline! But as a reader, I love love love it! Can't wait to dive in! (Pun intended, sorry).

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  19. Annette, I can't believe how much tension you've created just with the synopsis! I've been thinking about this book ever since I put up this post so I absolutely must find out what happens. A lot of my books tend to have fairly short timelines, but I don't plan them that way. I am in awe of the plotting you did to make the 24 hour format work!

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    1. Thank you, Debs! It's not likely something I will ever do again! At least not until I forget how hard it was to do the first time.

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  20. Annette, this sounds absolutely riveting. I also did a 24-hour story, and it nearly killed me as well. I have no idea who people who regularly write suspense manage! I wound up using a 30 something page outline, wrote 140,000 words, and then had to toss away a bunch of stuff and go back and redo it. So I am always impressed when somebody puts the ball through the hoop!

    I can't wait to read HELPLESS!

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    1. Julia, I don't know if you saw in the earlier comments, but Through the Evil Days was mentioned. I can well imagine having a 30+ page outline!

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  21. Stop whatever you're doing right now and pre-order Helpless! In my review I'm writing, the word riveting immediately came to mind. That ticking clock keeps you turning the pages to keep pace with the story. Suspense is palatable on every page. Annette, I've already told you how much I love this book and, of course, the whole Zoe series, and I know I've said this before, but I truly think Helpless is your best Zoe and best work to date. I cannot recommend this book enough. My review is a tough job because it's impossible to convey the suspense that pulses through the story. Kudos to you for this out-of-the-ballpark achievement! Now, seriously, everyone here needs to do themselves a favor and order Helpless now!

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  22. This story is a nail biter, Annette!

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    1. It had me biting my nails as I was writing it too! :-)

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