A Thriller Writer in a Literary World: A Guest Post by David Bell

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: David Bell has all the accoutrements of an accomplished literary writer: he holds a MFA and a PhD, he's a professor of Creative Writing (full, not associate) and his work has been published in literary journals and won or been nominated for distinguished prizes, including the Pushcart.

And yet.

There's something about a dead body, a creaking floorboard, a nasty look over a glass of expensive wine that David Bell can't resist. In fact, he's succumbed to the temptation of genre so much, he's a USA Today bestseller whose latest, KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS, was named a "most anticipated thriller" by She Reads, Crime Reads and the Palm Beach Daily News, among others

Which leaves him with the difficult task of explaining himself, as author Neal Stephenson describes, as a Beowulf writer in a Dante world.

 

Like Connor Nye in my novel KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS, I’m a creative writing professor at a large public university in Kentucky.

 

Let me get this out of the way up front—unlike Connor, I’ve never stolen a manuscript from a student, and I’ve never been implicated in an unsolved murder based on something I’ve published.

 

Not yet anyway.

 

But there is something that has happened to me that happens to Connor in the book. Connor publishes a thriller, a book about the murder of a young woman in a college town. And when his book comes out, some of his colleagues make disparaging comments about the genre he has chosen to write in. Oh, that’s a book you read at the beach. Oh, you probably wrote that really fast. Oh, that’s just a thriller.

 

Yes, I’ve heard all of that in the English department where I teach at Western Kentucky University.

 

That’s not to say all of my fellow professors feel this way. I have a number of colleagues who have been very supportive of my career. They come to my events. They buy my books for themselves or their family members. They read books by other thriller writers. One of them once said to me, “I’m going to read your new book, but I have to read Karin Slaughter’s latest first.”

 

Karin Slaughter is a great writer, so it’s an honor to be in the TBR stack behind her.

 

But how do those negative comments from my colleagues affect me when they come my way? How do I cope? How does any writer handle the occasional jab that sounds like a judgment of the genre they write in?

 

I’ve always told my students that the most important thing they can do as writers is to write what they want to write. Don’t try to write something geared toward a certain audience—or toward a certain teacher. If any writer tries to create that way—oriented toward someone else’s taste—the work will be flat and uninspiring. Only the individual writer can decide what is the right story for them to tell.

 

I grew up reading the classics in school. Grade school, high school, undergraduate, graduate school. I loved many of those books. I found many others to be painfully boring. But when I was free to read on my own, my tastes gravitated toward popular fiction. Thrillers, mysteries, spy novels, horror, fantasy, sci-fi, westerns. I devoured them. And so did many other people. Millions of people in fact.

 

Why? Because those books entertain us. We can get caught up in those stories and lose ourselves in them. And, at their best, they could still deal with serious issues. War, crime, history. Everything.

 

And I decided I wanted to write stories that did the same thing. I believe it’s possible for an entertaining, suspenseful book to also deal with important topics. Reading about serious issues doesn’t have to be like swallowing medicine. We can be entertained and enlightened at the same time.

 

Readers—real readers—get this. They understand what they like, and they don’t need to have their tastes curated by someone else. I write for that audience, not an academic one.

 

So any time one of my colleagues dismisses one of my books as a beach read, I take that as the highest compliment that can be paid. And I hope your copy of my book is splashed with water, filled with sand, and smeared with suntan lotion.

 

About David Bell

David Bell is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of 13 novels, including: The Request, Layover, Somebody’s Daughter, Bring Her Home, Since She Went Away, Somebody I Used to Know, The Forgotten Girl, Never Come Back, The Hiding Place, and Cemetery Girl. He lives in Bowling Green with his wife, writer Molly McCafferty. Learn more at davidbellnovels.com/. Friend him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter as @DavidBellNovels.

 

About KillAll Your Darlings

After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.    

There’s just one problem: Connor didn’t write the book. His missing student did. And then she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, threatening to expose him.    

Connor’s problems escalate when the police insist details in the novel implicate him in an unsolved murder from two years ago. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing scandal on campus and faces an impossible dilemma—admit he didn’t write the book and lose his job or keep up the lie and risk everything. When another murder occurs, Connor must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student’s manuscript.  

This is a suspenseful, provocative novel about the sexual harassment that still runs rampant in academia—and the lengths those in power will go to cover it up.

Mark Your Calendars!!! It's the Jungle Reds Virtual Cocktail Party!

Are you ready for the holiday party of the year?

Of course, you are. If the end of a year ever

deserved a send off party, it's this one!

Join the Jungle Red Writers at our virtual holiday cocktail 

party hosted by the Poisoned Pen Bookstore! 

How do you attend?

Simply go to this link:

Poisoned Pen on Facebook 

or long onto Facebook and hit the 

Poisoned Pen Bookstore's page 

on Saturday, December 12th at 

5:00 PM EST/3:00 PM MST

Because we're so very grateful to all of our readers, 

we're each giving away a copy of one of our books! 

Which means SEVEN WINNERS!!!

How can you be chosen to win a book?

Leave a comment on the livestream of the party and 

you're entered in the random drawing - even if you just say "Hi!". 

Pssst: For our Jungle Red Readers, here's an extra chance to win. 

Use the secret code "I read Red" in your comment 

and you get an extra entry in the drawing. 

Winners will be announced shortly after the event!

And now here's what you could win...

Hank's FIRST TO LIE

Rhys's THE LAST MRS. SUMMERS

 

Deb's A BITTER FEAST

Lucy's THE KEY LIME CRIME

       Hallie's CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Jenn's PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA

Julia's HID FROM OUR EYES

Our only dilemma is we're not sure what beverage to bring - be it a cocktail or a mocktail - what do you suggest, Readers? Hot toddies? Moscow mules? Egg nog? Margaritas? 

What's your go to beverage?

 SEE YOU ON SATURDAY!!!

 

Don’t Call It a Comeback – Elizabeth Little

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Wow, we are having a terrific week for thrillers here on JRW! Maybe that's just what we need to keep us happily glued to our books and not minding dark days or bad weather. PRETTY AS A PICTURE  by my friend Liz Little debuts on February 25th and is getting absolutely rave press--Publisher's Weekly calls it “[A] smart, cinematically steeped page-turner. . ."

My forecast is that we clear our schedules and settle in for a good winter's read. But this is not Elizabeth's first much-lauded novel, and here she is to tell us what it's like to have a new book when you've taken a break from publishing. (Not that's she's counting...)

ELIZABETH LITTLE: Five years. Six months. Twenty-two days. That’s how long it’s been since I last published a new book. 

By any non-George R.R. Martin publishing measure, that’s a pretty long time. And in crime fiction, it’s an eternity. So you’d better believe I’ve tossed and turned my way through more than a few sleepless nights as I get ready to launch my newest thriller out into the world. What if I’m out of practice? What if I’m out of touch? What if I’m not able to discuss my work in anything but the hypothetical? 

What if I don’t know how to do this anymore? 

It’s sort of like going back to the gym for the first time in forever (unless you count that time you tried barre but couldn’t even make it through the trial session, you just collapsed to the mat halfway through in a sweaty heap of lycra and shame). Except I’m not scared I’m out of shape. I’m scared I’m out of personality. 

But then, the strangest thing: This week, as I’ve been gearing up for Tuesday’s release, I’ve realized that I’m not out of practice. I’m not out of touch. Sure I’m still awkward and anxious, but that’s just my default state. In all the ways that matter, it doesn’t even feel like I’ve been gone. 

And I think that’s because even when I was between books, I never stopped being part of the book community. I kept up on industry developments and attended conferences whenever I could. I read widely and deeply, revisiting old favorites while also actively seeking out and supporting exciting new voices that expand our understanding of what crime fiction can be. And I volunteered, too, donating my time and energy to organizations like Mystery Writers of America and Pitch Wars, doing my best to become a better literary citizen. 

But most important of all, I never stopped loving books—and I never stopped believing in them. In their ability to change a person’s day, a person’s perspective, a person’s world. So even though I may not remember how to pace my readings or target ads or even access my Facebook author page, I have no trouble speaking from the heart about everything books mean to me. Which means I’m confident I’ll be able to connect with readers—because I know they feel the same. Thank you so much for hosting me today!

Readers, what’s the last book you read that turned your day around—and what’s the last book that taught you something new?

Elizabeth Little is the Los Angeles Times–bestselling author of the Strand Critics Award–winning Dear Daughter and two works of nonfiction. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications. In Pretty as a Picture, a "fun and fast-paced thriller loaded with cinematic flourishes" (Kirkus), a shy but gifted film editor travels to an isolated movie set only to wind up embroiled in a murder investigation. Available Tuesday, February 25 in print and audio from Viking Books.


DEBS: Here's more about PRETTY AS A PICTURE:

A CrimeReads Most Anticipated Book of 2020

An egomaniacal movie director, an isolated island, and a decades-old murder--the addictive new novel from the bestselling author of Dear Daughter

Marissa Dahl, a shy but successful film editor, travels to a small island off the coast of Delaware to work with the legendary--and legendarily demanding--director Tony Rees on a feature film with a familiar logline.

Some girl dies.

It's not much to go on, but the specifics don't concern Marissa. Whatever the script is, her job is the same. She'll spend her days in the editing room, doing what she does best: turning pictures into stories.

But she soon discovers that on this set, nothing is as it's supposed to be--or as it seems. There are rumors of accidents and indiscretions, of burgeoning scandals and perilous schemes. Half the crew has been fired. The other half wants to quit. Even the actors have figured out something is wrong. And no one seems to know what happened to the editor she was hired to replace.

Then she meets the intrepid and incorrigible teenage girls who are determined to solve the real-life murder that is the movie's central subject, and before long, Marissa is drawn into the investigation herself.

The only problem is, the killer may still be on the loose. And he might not be finished.

A wickedly funny exploration of our cultural addiction to tales of murder and mayhem and a thrilling, behind-the-scenes whodunit, Pretty as a Picture is a captivating page-turner from one of the most distinctive voices in crime fiction.

Heather Chavez--No Bad Deed

DEBORAH CROMBIE: There is nothing that gives us more pleasure here at JRW than introducing debut authors and we have a treat in store today! Just the premise of Heather Chavez's first novel, NO BAD DEED, gives me goosebumps, and I dare anyone to put it down after the first page.  And isn't the cover fabulous? Here's Heather to tell you how publication has changed her writing life, and that gave me goosebumps, too!

HEATHER CHAVEZ: I was so honored and excited to be invited to be here by the Jungle Red Writers. I love being able to “meet” new people, especially since I wrote my first book in such a bubble.
 
They say that writing is a solitary pursuit, but when I was drafting NO BAD DEED, I took that to the extreme. It was just me and my computer. I had a single friend who read the first draft (a thankless job since my first drafts are pretty rough) and an editor who looked at the first fifty or so pages.
 
But then I threw out most of that first draft and started again. Truly, it wasn’t a revision but a total rewrite. Two of the three POVs were ditched. I switched from third-person to first-person. The plot was overhauled. The first line remained but other than that, it was a whole new book—a book no one saw until I started querying several months later. After writing three and a half practice books, I wasn’t even sure this one was any good. When agents started responding, I was actually surprised. 

Imposter syndrome is real, right?
 
That was my experience writing the first book that sold. Book two, in contrast, has been a completely different experience. Since I have a two-book deal with William Morrow, I know people are going to read this one. No more writing alone in my office, indulging my “hobby.” With this one, there are expectations attached.
 
Fortunately, in addition to a very collaborative relationship with my agent and editor, there’s something else I have now that I didn’t have then: I’ve found my writing people. I’m part of an online Facebook group of other authors debuting this year. How cool (and unusual) is it to be able to connect with writers going through the exact same thing as I am?
 
While I’ve shared the occasional snippet of writing, it’s more about sharing the journey. In December, about fifteen of us met in real life in New York. Another group will be gathering soon in Los Angeles. Members also have attended each others’ author events, or introduced themselves at conferences.
 
But I’ve never personally met most of the members I now consider friends. These friends live in other parts of the United States, and all over the world. I regularly communicate with members in places as far from my California hometown as Chicago and New York, and even Canada and Germany. I’m actually as excited for their releases as I am for my own. Maybe even more so, because I don’t have to deal with the nerves part of it, too.
 
I’ve also become part of readers’ groups online and have grown more active on social media. As someone who has never attended a writers’ conference and who wrote my first book in such a bubble, it’s such an incredible feeling to know support (and celebration) is now only a click away. It’s made this process so much more enjoyable, and the challenges easier to overcome.
 
So what do you all think? Do you have good friends you’ve never met? In creative pursuits, do you go it alone, or do you rely on the feedback and support of others?

Driving home one night, veterinarian Cassie Larkin sees a man and woman fighting on the side of the road. When she steps in, the attacker warns her: “Let her die, and I’ll let you live.” Trained to heal, Cassie isn’t about to let the woman die. But while she’s helping the unconscious victim, the attacker steals her car. Now he has her name. Her address. And he knows about her children. The next night, Cassie’s husband disappears. Are these events connected? As she searches for answers, Cassie discovers that nothing is as random as it seems, and that she is willing to go to the most terrifying extremes to save her family. 

A graduate of UC Berkeley’s English literature program, Heather Chavez has worked as a newspaper reporter and editor. She lives in Santa Rosa, California, with her husband and children. No Bad Deed is her first book. 

DEBS: Heather's story has reminded me what a great community we have, writers AND readers. Stop by and welcome Heather, and wish her happy pub day!!

The Mystery Series

LUCY BURDETTE:  I am very excited to have been invited to give one of the Friends of the Key West Library lectures next month. I think I've decided to talk about the pros and cons of mystery series, both from the perspective of a writer and a reader. But there are so many directions I could go. What do I love about writing them and reading them? What are the pitfalls? How long should a series go on?

I have always read series and also always written them. Why? I think this might be connected to how attached I get to the characters. If a book is great, I don’t want that to be the last word on those characters. I want to know what happens next in their lives.

So help me out here. Which do you enjoy most, writing series or standalones? What problems have you faced? 

HALLIE EPHRON: I've written both series and standalones, and right now my heart belongs to standalones. It's definitely more work having to create a whole new set of characters and a setup each time out. But I feel like I put my characters through so much in a single book, it would be cruel and unusual punishment to make them go another round. They need to get on with their lives.  Having said that, my new novel is the first standalone I've written which really could be the first of a series. Not sure how my publisher would feel about that... I'm thinking about it. 

RHYS BOWEN: I've also written both. I love writing a series because it feels like visiting old friends. The setting is familiar, the secondary characters recur, so in many ways it's easier. Fans come to love a series and talk about the characters as if they are real. They come to think of them as friends. On the other hand I am now writing my fourth stand alone and relish the freedom that gives me to explore such different times and situations. But I do get letters asking me when there will be a sequel, so I think there is a need to revisit favorite characters.

JENN McKINLAY: I'm a series junkie. If I really enjoy the characters, I want to know more and more and more about their lives. The middle ground that I love is the continuity book/series. This is where you have protagonists in one book and then their friends or siblings or partners in crime or what have you, are featured in the next book. You see this a lot in romance but Tana French has mastered it, too. It keeps you in the world but it's not the same character's eccentricities driving the plot. I have yet to write a standalone but perhaps 2019 will be my year!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Interesting discussion, because i just had a conversation with a writer friend of mine who is in talks with a potential new agent. The agent requested the uncompleted ms for Book 2 in a prospective series; she came back with much praise for my friend's writing, but passed on repping the book. The agent said new series have become a hard sell right now, because publishers are looking for stand-alone psychological thrillers and domestic suspense, a la WHAT SHE KNEW, INTO THE WATER or THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10. My friend is considering changing up the unfinished manuscript, bringing the backstory forward and focusing the story on the dysfunctional family and unreliable characters, turning it into a stand-alone.

Of course, that's not to say if any stand-alone is a huge success, the publisher wouldn't immediately try to turn it into the first in a series...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, my gosh, I'm in love with standalones. When I started writing TRUST ME, I had no idea how different it would be --completely overwhelmingly different. In a series, (which I still love writing and will continue to do so) the ultimate suspense cannot come from the possibility that the main character will actually die. I mean---Jane Ryland's gotta come back for book 5. Right? So it's a challenging juggle to deal with that--the reader knows Jane will survive, and so the focus comes on creating page-turning suspense in the lives and futures of others.

But in a standalone--whoa. Anyone could die. When I realized that--and now it seems so obvious--I actually gasped. And anyone could be lying, and anyone could be guilty, and anyone could turn out to be good or bad. There are no reader expectations whatsoever. The freedom is astonishing. Plus, it is absolutely ALL on the table--and all the loose ends must be tied up. In  THE MURDER LIST, I really went for it. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm a series junkie, too, always have been. Although I do make exceptions for standalones, Rhys and Hallie and Hank and Jenn! And Roberta with your WIP! But I've always loved getting to know continuing characters and settings, that sense of being able to dip into the lives of old friends. Nor have I had any real desire to write a standalone. I have so much fun with my big cast of characters that I haven't felt a great need to stretch beyond them, and every book has a new set of characters as well.


Not that  I would say no if a terrific standalone idea suddenly took hold in my brain, but it would NOT be the sort of book that Julia has been told editors are looking for--so maybe I should just stick to what I'm doing...

LUCY: that wouldn't be me either Debs--too scary to keep something like that in my head for a year! Now your turn Red readers, what do you like/not like about mystery series? How long can one reasonably go on? If you were in the audience, what would you want to know about the nuts and bolts of the process?

Roz Nay Won't Be a Secret for Long!

INGRID THOFT

A quick note before today's guest:  Our very own Jenn McKinlay just won "RT Magazine's" Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Love and Laughter for her book, "About a Dog."  Congrats, Jenn!

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

It's a thrill to welcome today's guest, Roz Nay, to the blog.  Roz is the author of the debut novel, "Our Little Secret," a book garnering awards and accolades across the globe.  Released in Canada last year and now available in the U.S., "Our Little Secret" won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for Best Foreign Thriller in France last May, and it's been nominated for the Arthur Ellis Best First Crime Novel, a national Canadian award.  Featured on "Entertainment Weekly’s" Must List, the novel also earned a rave from "The Washington Post" and starred reviews from "Library Journal" and "Booklist."

The book is a twisty, suspenseful tale of high school love and what happens to sweethearts as they grow older and embark on new lives.  It's a page-turner that will keep you guessing until the end.  

INGRID THOFT:  The seeds of "Our Little Secret” are planted in the high school romance of the two main characters, Angela and HP.  What made you decide to use that as the jumping off point for the story?

ROZ NAY:  I think because of the years I spent working as a high school English teacher. I used to watch the clever girls graduate and wonder what their lives would become. They had so much potential – everything was in front of them. It’s a powerful time. Then, in my twisted little mind, I wondered what would happen if a gifted girl ended up in a life she didn’t feel she deserved. How would she use her cleverness then?

IPT:  The book centers on the complicated relationship between Angela, HP, and his eventual wife, Saskia.  Did you prefer writing one character’s arc more than the others?  Inhabiting one character more than another?

RN:  I tried to make all the characters different – and differently flawed. HP was fun to write because he was so easygoing, and a lot of his lines are things that have come directly out of my own husband’s mouth. Saskia was fun because I wanted to make her the kind of woman to whom readers would react in really distinct ways. Some readers can’t stand her; others champion her. But ultimately, Angela’s arc was the most enjoyable to write. Hers was the first voice I heard, and that voice is the reason I wrote the novel. It all began with her. I found her kind of delicious to inhabit, which is perhaps something I should be more worried about.

IPT:  Don't be worried!  Enjoying the dark side is the hallmark of a good mystery/suspense writer!  I’ve heard from our mutual friend, Chevy Stevens, that you don’t write your scenes in order.  Can you tell us more about that?

RN:  I think with this book, I was writing scraps of scenes in total chaos, grabbing time when I could. I wrote "Our Little Secret" at a time when both my children were very young, and the writing was patch worked in among all the demands of new motherhood. I was always sure of Angela’s arc and wrote pieces of that first because she was driving the narrative. Now that I’m working on my second (and third) book, I’ve developed a more structured schedule and I tend to write more chronologically to the plot. But with "Our Little Secret" it was a gong show. It’s amazing it ever got finished.

IPT:  What has surprised you most about being a published author?

RN:  Mostly the fact that I’m a published author! That fact alone is astonishing. It’s been a big, fast year full of book adventure. I was surprised that I got to go to Paris alone for a week, which felt like an entirely different planet. These days I’m surprised every time someone stops me in the street to say they’ve liked the book. Strangers reading my work! That’s a really big deal when you think about it. And to get such a groundswell of support, too, from well-known writers (yourself and Chevy Stevens included) who want to help the book along is quite the lovely surprise.   

IPT:  Is there a wannabe book lurking in the back of your brain, something you would write if you didn’t have to consider agents, editors, and fans?  A romance?  Non-fiction?

RN:  I’d like to write a kind of Bridget Jones-y romantic comedy. I always thought if I ever got a book together, it’d be humour I wrote, but I seem to have strayed early to the dark side. I’m also quite interested in YA… I enjoyed writing the first half of "Our Little Secret" where everything was teenaged and idyllic: I wouldn’t mind spending a little more time in that world again. Mind you, Chevy Stevens is hoping I’ll write a sequel to OLS starring only HP. She has her reasons.

IPT:  I bet she does!

Roz will be here today answering your questions and is giving away two copies of "Our Little Secret."  Just comment to enter the giveaway!

"Our Little Secret"

They say you never forget your first love. What they don’t say though, is that sometimes your first love won’t forget you…

Angela Petitjean sits in a cold, dull room. The police have been interrogating her for hours, asking about Saskia Parker. She’s the wife of Angela’s high school sweetheart, HP, and the mother of his child. She has vanished. Homicide Detective J. Novak believes Angela knows what happened to Saskia. He wants the truth, and he wants it now.

But Angela has a different story to tell. It began more than a decade ago when she and HP met in high school in Cove, Vermont. She was an awkward, shy teenager. He was a popular athlete. They became friends, fell in love, and dated senior year. Everything changed when Angela went to college. When time and distance separated them. When Saskia entered the picture.

That was eight years ago. HP foolishly married a drama queen and Angela moved on with her life. Whatever marital rift caused Saskia to leave her husband has nothing to do with Angela. Nothing at all. Detective Novak needs to stop asking questions and listen to what Angela is telling him. And once he understands everything, he’ll have the truth he so desperately wants…

Roz Nay grew up in England and studied at Oxford University. She has been published in The Antigonish Review and the anthology Refuge. Roz has worked as an underwater fish counter in Africa, a snowboard videographer in Vermont, and a high school teacher in both the UK and Australia. She now lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and two children. "Our Little Secret" is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @roznay1 and on Facebook.com/roznay1.

Another favorite Canadian: Owen Laukkanen

INGRID THOFT

It's an embarrassment of riches on Jungle Red this week:  Our own Jenn McKinlay, James Ziskin, and today, I’m welcoming critically acclaimed thriller writer Owen Laukkanen to the blog.

Owen is the author of six novels that feature Minnesota State Investigator Kirk Stevens and FBI Special Agent Carla Windermere.  Nominated for a host of awards, including a Barry, an Anthony, an ITW Thriller award, and a Spinetingler, Owen has been hailed by Kirkus Review for "combining great storytelling with compassion for the underdog."  This is no surprise to anyone who knows him:  He's a terrific guy with a strong commitment to social justice.

Can you give readers the scoop on your latest novel, The Forgotten Girls, which came out in March?

The Forgotten Girls is the sixth installment in my Stevens and Windermere series of FBI thrillers. It's about a serial killer who stalks the wilds of northern Montana and the Idaho panhandle, killing runaways, prostitutes and train-hoppers--the kind of women who seem to slip through the cracks.

In my neighbourhood in Vancouver, a serial killer operated for decades, and the response to these murders was pretty shockingly apathetic.  This idea that some people, and in particular women, are worth more than others really sticks in my craw. I walk my dog through the neighbourhood daily, and we pass the memorial rock to the missing women, and it's always decorated with some kind of stuffed animal or birthday card, some reminder that these women were more than just streetwalkers and junkies; they were daughters, sisters, mothers. I'm also really into trains, so writing a book about a serial killer who rides freight trains was a pretty good way to get my fix. 

Why did you decide to set your stories in the United States?

It was a threefold decision to set my books in the States. I grew up on the border, closer to Detroit than to any major Canadian city, and nearly all of the culture I consumed came from the States.

Also, the stories I was trying to tell just worked better in the U.S. My first novel, The Professionals, is about a group of itinerant kidnappers who make quick scores for low ransoms and keep moving from major city to major city. We don't have more than a handful of major cities in Canada, and only a couple of major highways, and with our population about ten percent of yours, any crime attracts serious attention, and quickly. I figured it wouldn't take more than a couple of chapters before the Mounties picked up the trail in Moose Jaw and were waiting for my guys in Medicine Hat, and that would be the end of it. It was just more of an American tale, to me.

Finally, and here's where things get awkward, it's nearly impossible to make a living as an artist in Canada if Americans aren't buying your work, and Americans, by and large, don't buy thrillers set in Canada.  Mostly, though, writing about the States means I have plenty of tax-deductible reasons to visit, which is just fine by me!

You’ve also written two YA books (under the name of Owen Matthews,) How to Win at High School and The Fixes.  Tell us about them. 

I wrote the first draft of How2Win when I was a really emo kid in university, believing that it would bring me instant fame and fortune. Needless to say, it did not, and I tucked it away in the proverbial drawer for about ten years, until I was a few books into my career writing FBI thrillers.  I rewrote the heck out of it, and essentially broke every rule I adhere to when I'm writing thrillers. It found a publisher really quickly, and I've since put out another standalone YA, The Fixes, which I pitched as "Gossip Girl with bombs."  I essentially treat the YA stuff as an excuse to go nuts and be wild and experimental, where I write the thrillers hoping to tell a good, straightforward story without the style getting too much in the way.

I know you get asked this question often, but tell me about your experience as a reporter on the world poker circuit.  Has it informed your books?

Ha! That gig came about during the summer after I'd graduated from university with a fine arts degree in Creative Writing, which was about as useful for obtaining gainful employment as you might expect. I found an ad that offered six weeks' paid travel to Las Vegas to write about the World Series of Poker, and though I didn't know a thing about poker, I did know I didn't want to spend my summer working midnights in a warehouse.

I went down to Vegas for a pretty epic summer, at the end of which, the company asked if I'd like to travel the professional poker circuit full time. I was 23 and had never left North America, so the answer was obviously yes, and for the next three years I spent 75% of my life on the road, traveling all over the world to wherever high stakes poker tournaments were played.

I've tried not to focus too much on poker in the thrillers; I didn't want to pigeonhole myself as the guy who only wrote poker mysteries.  I was exposed to humanity's seedier side, and though gamblers aren't all criminals, all criminals are gamblers by nature.  Working the poker gig was kind of a crash course in just how desperation and greed can drive a person to act. 

And now a couple of my favorite questions to ask guests to the blog.  First, what has surprised you most about becoming a published author?

First of all, I've been wonderfully surprised by what a warm, welcoming community the world of crime fiction has turned out to be.  It's a cliché to say that these people are my tribe, but I've been amazed at how at home I've felt in this community and how the community embraces people who want to be embraced.

Second, one of the really hard lessons I had to learn after I was published a few times was that just having a book out, or two books, or six or eight, no matter how critically acclaimed or bestselling, they don't change who you are as a human being, and they don't automatically make your life everything you'd ever hoped it would be.  I had to learn to separate my feelings of self-worth from whatever was happening in my writing career and to learn to be happy with what I was writing if it made me happy and satisfied.

I think most of all, though, what has surprised me is that anything is possible, so long as you're audacious enough to try for it, and dedicated enough to put the work in.  But those of us who succeed aren't necessarily the most talented, but we are the people who were dumb enough to think, "Why not me?" and then bust our humps until we got there.

And now my other favorite question: What are you working on now?  Is there a book you’d love to write if you didn’t have to take agents, editors, and your fans into consideration?  A western?  Romance?

Next year, I’m putting out a deep-sea adventure story about a female salvage tugboat captain and her crew chasing after a $100m shipwreck. It's a story I've always wanted to write, and I'm so stoked that Putnam seems just as into the idea as I am. 

I've just finished the draft of another departure, something inspired by all the David Joy and Ace Atkins I've been reading, and starring a dog based on my rescue Pit-bull, Lucy. I think my issue is less that I feel constrained and more that I don't have enough time to write everything I want to write!

Another giveaway!  Comment and you'll be in the running to win The Forgotten Girls!

THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS

They are the victims no one has ever cared about, until now. Agents Stevens and Windermere return in the blistering new crime novel from the fast-rising, multi-award-nominated suspense star.

She was a forgotten girl, a runaway found murdered on the High Line railroad pass through the northern Rocky Mountains and, with little local interest, put into a dead file. But she was not alone. When Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint FBI-BCA violent crime force stumble upon the case, they discover a horror far greater than anyone expected—a string of murders on the High Line, all of them young women drifters whom no one would notice.

But someone has noticed now. Through the bleak midwinter and a frontier land of forbidding geography, Stevens and Windermere follow a frustratingly light trail of clues—and where it ends, even they will be shocked.

Owen Laukkanen is the author of six critically-acclaimed Stevens and Windermere FBI thrillers, the latest of which, The Forgotten Girls, was released in March 2017. As Owen Matthews, he's also the author of two completely inappropriate young adult novels. A former professional poker journalist and commercial fisherman, Owen lives in Vancouver, BC, with his girlfriend and their rescue pit-bull, Lucy. His next novel, Gale Force, will be published by Putnam in 2018.

AIR TIME and TWO fabulous giveaways!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It's "What We're Writing" week--as you could see from Susan's wonderful post about Paris yesterday. And we'll be talking about, well, what we're writing, and what we're thinking, and what's happening in writing world.  First, four things.

One: Hurray! WHAT YOU SEE is nominated for the Anthony for Best Novel! I am so thrilled!

Two:  Tell us--if you're writing--what YOU're writing! Published, not published, we'd love to hear.

Three: at the bottom of this post is a wonderful giveaway from my dear and talented pal Andrew Gross. This is--amazing.  Readers, you MUST enter--all you have to do is click.

And four--my dear AIR TIME is coming out on June 14. The level with which I love AIR TIME beyond description  Here's the beginning of the book. (Is this completely fiction? What do you think?)  

Do you have to read the TIME books in order? Nope. As Sue Grafton says: "Sassy, fast-paced and appealing! This is first-class entertainment!}

 (And make sure you scroll down to the big giveaway!)

And--have you had any travel trouble recently? Are you traveling this summer?  A copy of AIR TIME to one lucky commenter!


AIR TIME

 Chapter 1

It’s never a good thing when the flight attendant is crying. Franklin, strapped into the seat beside me, his seat back and tray table in the full upright position, headphones on and deep into Columbia Journalism Review, doesn’t notice her tears. But I do.

She’s wearing a nametag that says Tracy, a navy blue pencil skirt, a bow-tied striped scarf, flat-heeled pumps and dripping mascara. We’re sitting on the Baltimore airport tarmac, still attached to the jetway, a full fifteen minutes past our scheduled takeoff for Boston and home. And Tracy’s crying.

I nudge Franklin with my elbow and tilt my head toward her. “Franko, check it out.”

Only Franklin’s eyes move as, with a sigh, he glances up from under his new wire-rimmed glasses. Then, without a word, he slowly closes his CJR and finally looks at me. I can see he’s as unnerved as I am. His eyes question, and I have the only answer a television reporter can give. 

“Get your cell,” I whisper. “Turn it on.”

“But, Charlotte—” he begins.

He’s undoubtedly going to tell me some Federal Aviation Administration rule about not using cell phones in flight. Like any successful television producer, Franklin always knows all the rules. Like any successful television reporter, I’m more often about breaking them. If it could mean a good story.

“We’re not in flight,” I whisper. “We haven’t budged on this runway. But one of us—you—is going to get video of what ever it is that’s going on here. The other—me—is going to call the assignment desk back at Channel 3 and see if they know what the heck is happening at this airport.”

I look out my window. Nothing. I look back up at Tracy, who’s now huddling with her colleagues in the galley a few rows in front of us. Their coiffed heads are bent close together and one has a comforting arm around another’s shoulders. The faces I can see look concerned. One looks up and catches me staring. She swipes a tapestry curtain across the aisle, blocking my view.

Part of me is, absurdly, relieved that our takeoff is delayed. I hate takeoffs. I hate landings. I hate flying. And if something terrible has happened, all I can say is, I’m not surprised.

But I have to find out if there’s a story here. Maybe Tracy just has some sort of a personal problem and I’m making breaking news out of a broken heart. I yank my bag from under the seat in front of me and slide out my own cell phone. Bending double so my phone is buried in my lap, I pretend to sneeze to cover the tim-tee-tum sound of it powering up, then sneeze again to make it more convincing. As I’m contemplating sneeze three, I hear my call to the assignment desk connect.

“It’s me. Charlie,” I whisper. I pause, closing my eyes in annoyance at the response. “Charlie McNally. The reporter? Is this an intern?” I pause again, picturing a newbie twenty-something in over her head. Me, twenty-two years ago. Twenty-three, maybe. I start again, calm. Taking the snark out of my voice. “It’s Charlotte McNally, the investigative reporter? Give me Roger, please.” I glance at the curtain to the galley. Still closed. “Right now.”

Franklin’s up and in the aisle, holding his cell phone as if it’s off as he pretends to take a casual stroll toward the galley curtains. I know he’s got video rolling. I know his phone has a ten-minute photo capacity, and he’s done this so many times he can click it off and on without looking. Talk about a hidden camera. Our fellow passengers will only see an attractive thirty-something black guy in a preppy pink oxford shirt checking out the flight attendants. I see Franklin Brooks Parrish, my faithful producer, getting the shots we need. Whatever is happening—all caught on camera. Exclusive.

“Roger Zelinsky.” The night assignment editor’s Boston accent makes it Rah- jah. “What’s up, C?”

“We’re in Baltimore, on the way home from the National Journalism Convention,” I say, still doubled over into my lap and whispering. Luckily Franklin and I had an empty seat between us. A hidden camera is one thing— a hidden forbidden conversation on a cell phone is another. “We’re at the airport. In a plane. On the tarmac.”

“So?” Roger replies.

“Exactly,” I say. “That’s what I’m trying to fi nd out.” I give him the short-version scoop on the tears, the delay, the closed curtain. 

Franklin’s now made it to the galley, his phone camera nonchalantly pointed at the spot where the curtain would open. But it hasn’t opened. Maybe Tracy broke up with the pilot. Maybe they don’t have enough packages of peanuts. Maybe someone decided to smoke in the bathroom.

Then, even through the fuzzy phone connection, I hear all hell break loose at Channel 3. Strapped in and surrounded by passengers and pillows and carry-on bags, on Flight 632 there’s only the muted sounds of passengers muttering, speculating. But about five hundred miles away, in a Boston television newsroom, bells are ringing and alarms are going off . I know it’s the breaking news signal. The Associated Press is banging out a hot story. I bet it’s centered right here. And any second, I’m gonna know the scoop in Baltimore.

 “Runway collision. Two planes. A 737 and some commuter jet. Cessna. I’m reading from the wires, hang on.” Roger’s voice is now urgent.

 I can picture him, eyes narrowed, racing through the information coming through on his computer. Bulletins appear one or two sentences at a time and with every new addition more alert bells ping. “No casualty count yet. One plane taxiing toward takeoff, one on the ground.”

“The little plane,” I begin. “How many— was it— which—”

“Don’t know,” Roger replies. Terse. The bell pings again and our connection breaks up a bit. “Fire engines,” he says.

I’ve got to get off this plane. I’ve got to get into the terminal. This story is big, it’s breaking, and I’m ready to handle it.

“Call you asap,” I whisper, interrupting. “I’m getting out of here.”

HANK: So--tell us what you're writing. Tell us about your travel troubles--and I'll pick a winner.

And don't forget--here's Andrew Gross's giveaway! (Click on Andrew's name) Can you believe how great it is?