1. How long have you been writing?
I remember writing a very short story about being a bird when I was in second or third grade, but I think this vocation really began for me when I was a freshman in high school. I’ve been writing continuously since then. I suppose the other key commencement of my writing career came just after graduating from college, when it occurred to me I was actually in this for the long haul – for better or worse.
2. What inspired the book you’re currently promoting?
Having teenaged children. While my four lovely and well-behaved children would never get up to the sort of shenanigans as the kids in this book, I did notice (as does every parent of a teen) that they had a natural tendency to be secretive. So I thought – why not write a mystery story from the points of view of a group of parents who urgently need to find out what their teenaged children are thinking and doing? Although I turn up the volume considerably, I still think the frustration of my adult characters as they try to unravel their enigmatic offspring is something to which many people can relate.
3. If you could visit one place to research a book where would it be?
My youth. It is the wellspring of nearly everything I write, the key to who I am; a country that sometimes feels very close and other times a galaxy away.
Southern Sisters Book Club 