The Next Big Thing

One of the nicest things about writing novels for a living is the abundance of fine people who are your colleagues. Alyx Morgan, who was one of my blog partners at the Writers Who Kill blog, tagged me in this blog chain of novelist bloggers that features our work-in-progress.

http://morganalyx.wordpress.com/

What is the working title of your book?

Every Broken Trust is the final title of my next book. Every Broken Trust will be published by St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books May 7, 2013. It’s already available for pre-order.  It has a beautiful cover already, but I’m not allowed to publicize it yet because the publisher may decide to put a blurb on the cover before they use it.

http://www.amazon.com/Every-Broken-Trust-A-Mystery/dp/1250030358

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I wanted to put my protagonist Skeet Bannion into a situation where she would fear losing the people she most loves and where she would learn some empathy for her own family members who disappointed her in her youth.

What genre does your book fall under?

Every Broken Trust is a mystery. I find the genre of crime fiction allows me great leeway to write about almost any topic or situation that I find intriguing.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I’m not going to be good at this because most of the actors I’ll think of are too old now to actually play these roles. I need to learn more about younger actors, I guess.

For Skeet Bannion, I would cast Angie Harmon or a younger Sandra Bullock. Joe Louzon, the Brewster, Missouri, chief of police who’s romantically interested in Skeet, would be a younger Val Kilmer, back when he was still fit. Sam Musco, Skeet’s ex-husband, would be Don Johnson in his Miami Vice days. Sam’s a Sonny Crockett-type who’s trying to change so he can win back Skeet. For Skeet’s best friend and mentor, Karen Wise, I’d cast the mature Phylicia Rashad. Brian, Skeet’s adoptive son, would be played by Austin Ward or Sterling Beaumon. A new character that just walked into this book is Terry Heldrich, cast as Johnny Depp.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Not knowing who she can trust any longer, Skeet struggles against the clock to solve a series of linked murders stretching into the past before she loses Brian forever and her best friend winds up in jail—or dead.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

My wonderful agent is Ellen Geiger of the Francis Goldin Literary Agency. Every Broken Trust will be published by St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books on May 7, 2013.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I wrote the first draft of Every Broken Trust in four months and then spent six months revising and editing it before sending it on to my agent and editor.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I write complex, character-driven books as Julia Spencer-Fleming, William Kent Krueger, and Deborah Crombie do. My strong female protagonist has been compared by reviewers to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone, Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, and Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I already had my protagonist and the situation in which she was left at the end of Every Last Secret, my first novel in this series. A newspaper article about a new federal taskforce in Kansas City, a PBS special, and an essay about a social problem all combined to bring the book to life. I won’t describe any of them further because it might spoil the book for my readers.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Skeet’s Gran (who is based on my own beloved grandmother who died when I was thirteen) begins to play a slightly larger role in this book. I’ve been very tough on Skeet in this book because she needs to grow as a person.

I’ve passed this blog chain challenge on to my colleagues and fellow writers below. Please visit their blogs next week and see how they’ve answered these same questions and what’s their next big thing.

Debra H. Goldstein  http://www.debrahgoldstein.com/dhgblog.html

Jenny Milchman  http://www.jennymilchman.com/blog/

Joyce Tremel  http://joycetremel.blogspot.com/

Judy Hogan  http://postmenopausalzest.blogspot.com/