“Rader-‐Day again proves herself (after The
Black Hour, 2014) a deft manipulator of dark atmosphere, witty dialogue,
and complex, charismatic characters. Highly recommended for psychological
thriller groupies, especially those who walk on the literary side of the
genreand favor books like Tana French’s Faithful Place (2010) and
Cornelia Read’s Madeline Dare series.” ―Little
Pretty Things STARRED Review, Booklist
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:
You’ve seen awards ceremonies. Sometimes the journalism ones are
hilarious. “For Best Breaking news,” the
elegantly-dressed presenter will say, “the winner is…”
Suspenseful pause.
“Horrific Conditions in Dog Shelter”! And the audience
cheers the winner. Yay for the horrific conditions! (And then the disappointed loser gripes to
himself: I was robbed. Internet Con Artists was a much better story.)
We cheer because we’re journalists, and it’s not that
we have strange tastes. It’s that a good story is our obsession.
We have that in mystery world, too. Obsession. And
when you think about it, obsession is in every part of our lives.
If, as the wonderful Lori Rader Day says, we are
lucky.
In praise of obsession
One of the things I love best
about the mystery community is that we are unabashedly obsessed with reading
and watching crime stories. Obsessed with murder, actually—which is a little
weird on the face of things. I’m new enough to the scene that sometimes I’ll
hear something mystery-centric and it will clang against everyday reality.
Like the Malice Domestic
session this year titled “Iron Coffin Boy.” The description in the schedule
read: David Hunt and Deb Hull-Walski,
Forensic Anthropologists, talk about how researchers solved the mystery of a
boy in an iron coffin discovered by utility workers. (Feel free to bring lunch
and eat during the presentation.)
YUMMY.
People say “obsession” like
it’s a bad thing. Maybe they’re thinking of “compulsion,” something you’re
forced to do, something you can’t help but do (the characters in my books have
a few of these). Or maybe we’ve just come to believe that anything that is felt
so strongly must be out of our control, unseemly. Not ladylike. Don’t get me started on why “guilty” pleasures only seem
to occur to women.
But the mystery community has
given me so much, not least among them permission to love obsessively anything
I darn well please. Here are just a few of the little pretty things I’m an
absolute sucker for.
Needing no explanation: French macarons
Not macaroons. Those have
coconut. Macarons
are, as my best friend and I decided, made of crushed baby angel wings and
heaven. Fine, it’s almond powder, but they still mix in the heaven at the end.
YouTube videos of children saying amazingly funny or
adult things
Remember the ice bucket
challenge? The only one I ever watched more than once—the only one I ever
watched willingly, let’s say—was the little English girl with the accent so
thick you almost don’t hear her when she swears like a
sailor.
My other favorite is the
little girl who just wants to buckle her own seatbelt, thank you, and you
should worry
about yourself. I don’t have kids, but if either of those two came up for
adoption, I’d be first in line.
The things I loved as a kid and still love without
apology
You know about Muppets. I
won’t Muppet-splain you. But I even love Muppet’s
Treasure Island and I have no shame.
I also feel no reluctance to
let you know that I am in fact a Goonie and that I still have the
Winnie-the-Pooh I received upon my birth. Now I make sure all the little
Goonies in my life get a Winnie-the-Pooh bear upon their birth. The world needs
more nerds.
The under-recognized humorous mystery Heads You Lose
I’ve had about six separate
conversations about this book since April. The first two happened on the same
day, when I was in New York for [blatant brag] the Mary Higgins Clark Award and
Edgar Awards events. This
meta-fiction mystery is solid amateur-sleuth mystery despite its wacky
premise—that co-authors Lisa Lutz and David Hayward’s friendship unravels in
the notes as they take turns writing the story. The book is actually a pretty
great mystery-writing how-to, by accident. It’s hilarious, and yet not enough
people found it. If you like it, I like you.
Humor and wit in mysteries is
underrated, I think. I give Catriona McPherson all the credit for showing us
how enjoyable a
witty turn of phrase can be.
Candy-colored nail polish despite how few times I
paint my nails
Is it a girl thing? The
collection of nail polish I have would rival just about anyone’s, and yet I
only get my nails painted during one season a year, often at a salon. You know,
where they have their own polish?
 |
| MollyCoddled |
I love OPI’s names and
collections. I had to have some of the Muppet-inspired
colors, of course. But I also love the interesting colors of the lacquers from Butter
London. And now you will, too.
Randy Pausch’s “last lecture” video oh God here come
the tears
What is it about videos you
know will make you cry? We’re gluttons for it. Don’t get me near a super-cut of
videos where kids or dogs welcome home returning soldiers. I cannot.
Professor and (now deceased)
husband and father Randy Pausch had already been sick for a while when he was
invited to give a “last
lecture.” That’s what university faculty members give before they retire.
Usually. But Pausch was racing against a different clock. He knows it, and so
does everyone else in the room. The video is an hour-plus long and I’ve watched
it, oh, too many times. It’s amazing, truly. What I love about it, other than
the moment where everything comes together at the end, is how much joy Pausch
puts into it. You can bet he didn’t have “guilty” pleasures, just regular ones.
Agent Carter, the TV
show you should all watch so I can keep watching it
I’ve never seen Mad Men. The one episode of Games of Thrones I watched telegraphed
very handily how much incest viewers were in store for (a lot). The Walking Dead sounds really
gross—literally, it sounds moist.
Most zeitgeist TV has passed me by, but if you all ruin this for me by not watching
Agent Carter, I will watch ahead on
any show I can find and post spoilers on Facebook, Twitter, every-dang-where. Agent Carter #loveforever.
A Moscow Mule with extra mule—just kidding, extra lime
I’m drinking one right now.
Look, I know there are real
things in this world to worry about, and I do worry about them. I work and vote
and give to solemn, well-meaning charities. I write murder mysteries where
society’s ills are, if not center stage, just outside the spotlight. I’m also
obsessed with taking my ecological footprint down a bit. (My husband, in
regards to our recycling bin, calls me “Captain Planet.”) But life is short.
It’s a blink. In the time we have, let’s not fight who we are and what we like,
and cut the people around us some slack for liking what they like. We’re all
nerds in our own way, and there should be more of us.
HANK: Isn’t she wonderful? I
am howling, and clicking like mad. I
love the video of all the billions of quacking ducks, too. Google it. And I love Tyrant, even though it is
ridiculous. How about you, Reds? Tell us
some obsessions!
***********************
Lori Rader-Day’s debut mystery, The Black Hour (Seventh Street Books, 2014), received starred
reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal and was a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award.
Her second mystery, Little Pretty Things,
is out in July. Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Time
Out Chicago, Good Housekeeping,
and others. She lives in Chicago with her husband and spoiled dog and is active
in the Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter and a member of Sisters in
Crime and International Thriller Writers.
Little Pretty Things
OLD RIVALRIES NEVER DIE. BUT SOME RIVALS DO.
Juliet Townsend is used to losing. Back in high
school, she lost every track team race to her best friend, Madeleine Bell. Ten
years later, she’s still running behind, stuck in a dead-‐end job cleaning
rooms at the Mid-‐Night Inn, a one-‐star motel that attracts only the cheap
or the desperate. But what life won’t provide, Juliet takes.
Then one night, Maddy checks in. Well-‐dressed,
flashing a huge diamond ring, and as beautiful as ever, Maddy has it all. By
the next morning, though, Juliet is no longer jealous of Maddy—she’s the chief
suspect in her murder.
Reviews for Little Pretty Things
“Rader-‐Day again proves herself (after The
Black Hour, 2014) a deft manipulator of dark atmosphere, witty dialogue,
and complex, charismatic characters. Highly recommended for psychological
thriller groupies, especially those who walk on the literary side of the
genreand favor books like Tana French’s Faithful Place (2010) and
Cornelia Read’s Madeline Dare series.” ―STARRED Review, Booklist
“Once again, Chicago author Rader-‐Day delivers
a breathless psychological thriller with a killer first line, an irresistible
mystery, and lean chapters soaked with suspense. Comparisons to Tana French (A Secret
Place) and Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train) have become all too
common in the mystery genre, but with two consistently great novels now under
her belt, Rader-‐Day has proved their equal in crafting taut, literary
mysteries with fascinating heroines.” —BookPage
“Rader-‐Day...writes absorbingly.” —Kirkus Reviews
“The writing style allows the mystery to unfold
slowly, giving readers time to swallow everything they’ve learned, making the
surprising end and reveal of the culprit more shocking and full of impact. It’s
a great read for the mystery lover who prefers to leave the suspense for the
final pages. Compelling. Page-‐Turner.” —RT Book Reviews
“Pack this one in your beach bag and get your
book clubs ready -‐ I think we’ve found this year’s hottest summer title!” —Rachel
Kray, Overdrive Book Bytes
-‐-‐
Lori Rader-‐Day is available for interviews. Use
the form at www.LoriRaderDay.com/contact
