Reader, I Could Not Resist

"A wicked debut thriller!"
         People Magazine BEST NEW BOOKS

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I will fully confess. I walked into the book room at Bouchercon, VOWING I would not pick up a single book unless  I was fully committed to reading it. It was one of those moments—probably not the best time for it to 

happen—when I thought: I have too many books. And I cannot fit anything more into my suitcase. So—I’ll just breeze in, say hello to everyone, and go.

Then I saw the cover of The Last Mrs. Parrish. I stopped dead in my racks. I will admit (again) I had not heard of this book.  My brain said: Keep WALKING, Hank. Do not stop, even for a beautiful thing. Go A–WAY.

I took maybe two steps forward. Then two steps back. I needed that book. I NEEDED it.  It looked SO good.

Reader, I picked it up.

Little did I know that once I opened it, I would be so riveted, so engrossed, turning the pages so fast I didn’t know what hit me. Manipulative. Glitzy. Escapist. What's not to love?

Little did I know this would turn out to be one of the most buzzed-about debut thrillers of the year.

 And readers: Liv Constantine is  generously giving away a copy of THE LAST MRS. PARRISH to five lucky commenters.  Five! ‘Nuff said.

And here’s the scoop: “Liv Constantine” turns out to be two sisters! Who write together. And I had to know—how on earth do they do it?

LIV CONSTANTINE :  Oh, Hank, as co-authors, we’re often asked the “how” of writing together. People are curious about our process. Fortunately, both of us are solidly in the middle of the pantser/plotter road. We begin by talking about the central idea of our book then narrow that down into a solid premise.

Before we type the first word, we build the story world. Who lives there? Where does it take place? What happened to the characters before they appeared in those first chapters? We spend about a month talking, thinking, and developing our characters and their stories. We come to the first draft with a broad overview of the plot, usually knowing the beginning and the likely ending, but allowing the rest to develop as we write.

Once the writing starts, we assign each other scenes and email them to each other daily. Late afternoons are reserved for Facetime where we discuss what we’ve written and give feedback to each other. The first draft is akin to play time.

We place no constraints on each other and allow the characters to lead the way.  

Valerie may tell Lynne, “I didn’t know Julia’s mother was murdered.” and Lynne will answer, sadly, “I know, it’s tragic.”

In our current work in progress, Lynne was surprised to open Valerie’s email and discover a new character they’d never discussed. “Where did she come from?” Lynne asked, and Valerie answered, “She just showed up on the page.” And then there was the time while writing The Last Mrs. Parrish that a gun suddenly appeared, hidden in a box on the back shelf of an armoire. We had no idea if it would remain there or not, but as the story progressed, the reason for its presence very clearly unfolded before us.

We love having the freedom to let the story take on a life of its own, and encourage each other to go with whatever feels organic and authentic.

Knowing that we are going to be revising several times before we finish gives us the ability to write without worrying about our scenes conflicting. We often write out of sequence and later sync up chapters where necessary.

When we were writing The Last Mrs. Parrish there were several scenes that were written from each protagonist’s point of view. They were often written without prior knowledge of the other’s chapter. For example, when we compared the two boat scenes, one of us had given Jackson a 60’ Hatteras and the other a 55’ Bertram, and the port of call was also different in each chapter. We discussed it, agreed on which was better, and changed the conflicting chapter so that they agreed. That’s the way we handled any details that didn’t match.

When we’ve finished the first draft, it’s time for revision, revision, and more revision. We edit each other’s chapters and fill in any missing pieces. If either of us feels stuck for a word, a metaphor, additional dialogue – we send those pages to the other to enhance. It’s not unusual to look at a portion of writing and puzzle for a moment at whose work it is. By the time the book is finished, every page has both of our handprints on it, regardless of who originally wrote it.

Plotter or Pantser? We like to think of our collaboration as pure…plantser. Which style best describes you?

HANK: I love plantser!  But readers, if you love glitzy twisty psychological thrillers, you will adore this book. It’s juicy and surprising and chic and set in the big money world of—well, I’ll let you find out.  Someone it reminded me—in the BEST of ways—of  The Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon. (And if you asked me now exactly what that was about, I have no idea.) But it’s like…Gone Girl meets Dynasty. Again, in the best of ways.

So yes, writers, have you evolved in your plotter/pantser choice? Have you ever written with a partner?

Readers: Do you like domestic suspense? Do you mind if the characters are very wealthy? Do you need to love the main character instantly?  How good are you at figuring out a twist? 

And--have you ever bought a book because of its cover?

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And remember, “Liv” is giving away THE LAST MRS. PARRISH book to five lucky commenters!


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Liv Constantine is the pen name of sisters Lynne Constantine and Valerie Constantine. Separated by three states, they spend hours plotting via FaceTime and burning up each other’s emails. They attribute their ability to concoct dark storylines to the hours they spent listening to tales handed down by their Greek grandmother. THE LAST MRS. PARRISH is their debut thriller. Rights for THE LAST MRS. PARRISH have been sold in 19 other territories, including Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Korea, the UK, China, and Russia. 

Visit their website at www.livconstantine.com