December Dread
1. What can you tell our readers about your new book December Dread?
December Dread is the 8th mystery in the Murder-by-Month series, and it's the most personal and my favorite in the series so far. It combines humor, a serial killer, and the horrors of returning to our hometown and facing the people we used to be. Booklist writes of it, "Lourey creates a splendid mix of humor and suspense...[T]hese must-have books are guaranteed to deliver hours of reading enjoyment!"
2. You are a professor of writing and sociology, so how has this profession aided your own writing?
Sometimes I wonder which came first: my love of writing, or my love of people watching, which is what sociology really is, at its most basic. I guess it doesn't matter because there's a symbiotic relationship. Sociology, particularly the areas of socialization and deviance, strengthens my ability to develop characters, and teaching writing inspires me and keeps my skills sharp. Actually writing makes me a better teacher, too, because it keeps me humble and in tune with the reality that we're all always learning, whether we're in school or just in life. Plus, I get summers off, which is better than a stick in the eye.
3. You are a member of lots of writing groups such as Sisters in Crime, how important is it to be involved in things such as this as a writer?
The single best move for my writing career has been joining Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. They're both wonderful organizations, but because I've given more to MWA--serving on the national board for the past four years--I've gotten more out of it. The connections I've made, the skills I've learned, and the lifelong friends I have met because of my commitment to MWA have enriched my life immeasurably. Join an organization! Writing is hard and lonely work, and it's good to hang out with people who can understand that.
4. It is a mystery novel with a twist, so where did your inspiration come from for the book?
I always know whodunnit before I start writing a mystery, so my goal as a writer is to hide that person in plain sight. It's hard because I figure if I know who the killer is, everyone must know. The specific inspiration for December Dread came from my foray into online dating. It seemed such a ripe buffet for unhealthy people to prey on others, and once I got that idea in my head, I knew I had to run with it.
5. When you wrote the first book, did you always know that it would form part of a series?
Technically, no, not after I wrote it, but I did know that it'd be a series before I sold it. I wrote May Day and received over 400 rejections from agents. One of them, in her rejection letter, suggested I write a second one and try selling them as a series. In retrospect, her logic seems a little off ("do twice as much of that thing that is not working!"), but I wrote June Bug, and shortly after that, I found an agent, and a year after that, I received a contract for both.
6. Who do you most like to read and why?
I have a very eclectic reading taste, but I tend to read what I'm writing. When I'm writing a mystery, I read William Kent Krueger, Tony Hillermann, Sue Grafton, and Reed Farrel Coleman because they remind me that a good mystery is all about characters that resonate. When I'm writing YA, I read Cornelia Funke and Holly Black and Suzanne Collins, because they get my head around that breakneck pacing required of YA. I also read the classics because my YA series (The Toadhouse Trilogy) is based around the concept that two children travel into classic literature to retrieve the objects they need to survive. At the moment, I'm working on my first literary fiction, and I find myself reading a lot of self-help books. I'll let your readers figure out the "why" on that one. :)
7. Which authors have influenced your own work?
I am in awe of the writing of Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Walker, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Margaret Atwood. It is so firm and gorgeous and transporting. I honestly think it may be coincidence that they are all women--gender rarely influences my reading tastes--but they are all heroes to me.
8. What is next for you?
I hope to finish up the literary fiction, a novel in three parts about a woman recovering from her husband's suicide, but January and send it off to my agent. After that, I have a contract to write January Thaw, the ninth in my Murder-by-Month mysteries, and I'm really looking forward to it. Here's the tentative plot:
In January Thaw, Mira James’ life is perfect. She’s just consummated her relationship with Johnny Leeson, she’s completed her PI certification class and is now doing investigative work under a local attorney, and she hasn’t seen a dead body in nearly two weeks. That lucky streak comes to an icy halt when she joins the reopening festivities at the Prospect House, Battle Lake’s oldest structure. The sprawling mansion, reputed to be haunted, was built in 1882 and is being reborn as a Civil War Museum. Mira is covering the event for the Battle Lake Recallwhen she accidentally ice skates over a corpse frozen into the pond behind the mansion. Police Chief Gary Wohnt begins to investigate but is shot in a seemingly unrelated traffic run. He and Mira form a reluctant alliance as she becomes his eyes on the ground, uncovering a web of lies and murder that date back over a century.
9. Why do you choose Minnesota as your setting?
The easy answer is, "because I live here," and we write what we know. The deeper truth is that Minnesota is a place where the setting itself becomes a character, and I believe that gives my writing a depth that it wouldn't have if I wrote about a place with fewer seasons, fewer dramatic extremes in climate and people and geography, and less innate weirdness.
Female First Lucy Walton