Dear Ms. Highsmith,
Nora Murphy, The Favour
First, I would like to thank you. To me, your novels were revolutionary in the suspense and psychological thriller genres—genres I have always loved. I remember first reading Strangers on a Train, your first novel, shortly after the birth of my son. Due to my busy day job, and the time I carve out to write my own novels, I don’t always find much time to read. But while on maternity leave, I discovered your talents. The writing was taut and propulsive, the plot one of the most unique and astonishing I’d ever read. I then tore through many of your other books. I laughed out loud as I read A Suspension of Mercy, in horror, in shock, while sitting in my rocking chair, holding my baby. I flew through,The Cry of the Owl, gasping, resisting the urge to cover my eyes with my hands. Deep Water left me stunned.
So, when offered the opportunity to write a letter to my favorite author, you first came to mind. Not only do reading your novels serve as lessons in suspense fiction, in your book, Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, you offered a look into your process. I have found this so helpful, and I inhaled it, feeling a sense of camaraderie and familiarity. You wrote that the first step to writing suspense fiction is “the germ of an idea.” Sometimes it takes more than one germ to create a novel. The germ brings with it a sense of excitement, a sort of thrill, as it grows, as it branches into something more complex, as it, with diligence and imagination, turns into a book. The plot must be thickened, complicated. This involves rumination, adding flesh to a skeleton, inviting in comedy, tragedy, or both. I recognize this in my own writing process, and I’m not sure any books have ever made me laugh one minute, and gasp in horror the next, the way yours have. Your characters are deeply drawn and sometimes astoundingly unlikable, yet fascinating.
I have learned that continuing to make time to read, to read as much as possible, is crucial to the process of writing. I made my first attempt at a novel almost three years ago. It took many more attempts, and a change of genre, before I finally wrote The Favour, the book that at long last helped me sign with an agent and achieve publication. Over these last few years of writing fiction, I have found that I write more fluently, more propulsively, when I am reading certain books. What I read influences the way that I write, and reading your books creates, for me, the antithesis of writers’ block. If and when I become stuck, I can open a favorite book of yours, and it’s like greasing rusted wheels. Words begin to flow better than they had before.
I’ll conclude by saying, again, thank you. For pioneering the genre I love, particularly pioneering it for women writers. Thank you for all the joy and lightness that your dark, dark books have brought.
With admiration,
Nora Murphy
About The Favour
Leah Dawson and McKenna Hawkins had a lot in common, but they had never met.
They are smart, professional women living in the same sunny, prosperous neighbourhood in lovely houses with picket fences and beautiful gardens. And they were both married to successful, good-looking men who both seem bent on having ‘the perfect wife’.
They don’t – ever – find themselves in the same train carriage or meet accidentally at the gym or in the coffee shop. And they don’t – ever – discuss their problems and find common ground. But they do cross paths. And they see something each recognizes in the other. That they are living in hell.
Neither narrator is unreliable.
They always tell us the truth. And their truth hurts. A lot. Because these two attractive, intelligent professional women are living in a hell of their husband’s making. And there is no way to get out of hell.
Is there?
About Nora Murphy
Nora Murphy attended lawschool in Washington, D.C.,where shewas an editor of LawReviewand participated in two clinics, throughwhich she studied the legal issuesfacing, and represented survivors of, intimate partner violence. She also studied ‘professional’ perpetrators of domestic abuse – thosewith high-profile careers or respected positionsin society, and the unique challengesfaced by their victims.Nora currently practicesfamily law. A voraciousreader, avidwriter,sometimes sanctimonious vegetarian and devoted animal lover, Nora residesin Marylandwith her husband, young son, three cats and two dogs.
