The 2017 Mary Higgins Clark Nominees!

Catriona writes: I’ve never been upgraded on a flight and found myself sitting between Keanu Reeves and Noam Chomsky. (You can tell I’ve never been upgraded because I think aeroplane seats come in sets of three.)

But for the last couple of months, I’ve found myself in some pretty distinguished company, on the Mary Higgins Clark Award shortlist, with Dianne Dixon, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Wendy Corsi Staub and Charles Todd. And today – to celebrate Edgar week – they’re all over here at Femmes Fatales for a chinwag.

[outside atmos: porch swing creaks, ice clinks in lemonade glasses.]

Catriona: What I love about Mary Higgins Clark's books is that you could read one stripped of its jacket with her name blacked out and you'd still know it was her. (Note: I’d put jam behind the knees of anyone who did that to a book.)

Charles and Caroline: Mary Higgins Clark is a master of surprise. You finish a chapter knowing exactly where the story will go next. But it doesn’t! The plot is turned on its head, and you find yourself completely taken in by the turn of events. This is her trademark, and we’d recognize it anywhere.

Catriona: Right? And I was wondering: what is it about your books that makes them *your* books? Did you work it out for yourself or did feedback from fans reveal it?

Hank: What I thought was going to happen was that people would say (and forgive me, but this is just us) : Oh I love how your weave together the points of view--it's so suspenseful that we know more than the characters do. And your plots are so clever and satisfying. That's what I thought people would say. But IRL, what they say is: We love Jane! We love Jane! When will there be more Jane and Jake investigations? (So funny that though their relationship does not take up much room on the page, that's another thing people are very devoted to.) But if it is true that characters create the plot, it's funny to think that even though I thought I was a plot person, my books come out character books. I will have to mull that over.

Wendy: “How far would you go to protect someone or something you love?” That’s the underlying theme in all my domestic psychological suspense novels. They’re about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, going about their mundane daily business when danger threatens a safe haven—a bucolic town, a dream house, a tranquil getaway, a perfect marriage. I write in present tense and include little graphic violence, language, and sex. I always use multiple, multi-generational viewpoints, including the villain’s, and lots of twists and blindsides. My goal is to mask the villain behind a familiar face. There’s nothing more satisfying than a longtime reader who says, “I never saw that ending coming!”

Dianne: At a recent book signing, a mother/daughter duo told me what I hear from a lot of readers: “Your stories always start with something totally weird…(PAUSE)” That pause used to terrify me. I’d wait, stomach clenched, braced for some soul-bruising follow-up like: “…and that’s why I’d rather read a snowblower manual than one of your books.” Now, I’ve learned to expect the comments about the touch of “weird” in my novels, and I’ve learned to love the pause that follows—because, almost always, what comes after the pause is: “…and I that’s why I like reading your books.”

Catriona: And when you say weird, Dianne . . .

Dianne: It’s things like my first book beginning with a young man returning to his hometown and finding his own gravestone. The stone says he died at the age of three. Weird. How did that thing get into the cemetery? Who put it there, and why?

And my third book is about a crime victim, moving into a house she didn’t live in when the crime occurred, and then discovering her attacker’s clothes neatly packed in a little brown suitcase hidden in the attic of her brand new home.

(Maybe in the interest of full disclosure I should start explaining to readers that the weirdness in my books is one hundred percent locally sourced, small batch literary craziness. I was born with it.)

Catriona: For me, I think it’s a combination of a cast of characters that band together as the book progresses – producing what my agent calls the Dinnerladies moments, after the ensemble sitcom of that name – and a combination of darkish events and humour. I’d love to think it’s amazing twists and drop-your-scone denouements, but the characters and the laugh/shudder combos are what people talk about at signings.

Charles and Caroline: Earlier on, we’d written a stand-alone, THE MURDER STONE, about a woman suddenly thrust into dealing with her family’s affairs, when her cousins were killed in the trenches of France. This was fairly common during the Great War, when so many men didn’t come home. It made us wonder how we could capture the way women’s roles changed and how these new roles changed women. Before we knew it, Bess Crawford stepped out of the shadows of the past and onto the page.

And the more we’ve worked with her, the more we’ve seen in her and in her time. THE SHATTERED TREE is a particularly good example of how history and mystery work hand in hand, a perilous time that brings out the best—and the worst—in people.

Catriona: I’m glad I asked! That’s quite a range of answers. So here’s another question I’ve been dying to put to you: What other writers, besides Her Maryness of Higgins and Clark, could you identify like a sommelier at a blind tasting?

Dianne: Hand me a coverless Harlan Coben novel and I could identify it immediately. There’s a writing style that’s tough and full of humor. An intelligent male protagonist who’s a world-class wise-ass yet capable of loving a woman with all his heart and soul. There’s a cast of funny (sometimes outrageous) supporting characters, a nod to New Jersey roots, and a solid, well-structured mystery. Like fine wine, Harlan Coben’s books are absolutely delicious!

Charles and Caroline: The same is true of Tony Hillerman, Hemingway, and Poe in different ways. Hillerman’s spare prose, Hemingway’s clipped dialog, and Poe’s lyric voice.

Catriona: Hemingway, absolutely! I always think it should be easy to imitate him or even parody him, but it’s not. And that goes for P.G. Wodehouse too. He’s so mannered and so instantly recognisable, and yet attempts to write in his style don’t often go well. I’d put down a good wedge of my own money on being able to spot Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates too, by anything from the way they put those big, generous, confiding sentences together to the way some characters get their come-uppances in each novel, and some characters manage to slink away.

Hank: When I want to be inspired, I pick up a Sue Grafton book, any one of them. And let myself be mesmerized by her seamless merging of character and story. She manages to reveal emotion and philosophy, somehow, as the plot builds. We all know Kinsey, how amazing is that? Quite a tour de force. I also recognize the Todd's writing, certainly. And yours, Catriona. (Awww – CMcP) And thinking about this more now--what a good question, I can recognize more than I ever thought of. Lee Child, and Janet Evanovich, and John Lescroart. So revealing! I'm writing a new book now, (this just in), a standalone. And I showed it to an early reader and said --this does not sound like Jake and Jane, remember. And she read it, and said no, it's not Jake and Jane. But it still sounds like you. That's good, right?

Catriona: So, we all love the tug of the familiar? Wait, no!

Wendy: Okay, I’m a wino, I’ll admit it. In this crowd, if I didn’t, I’m sure one of my Bouchercon Bar Buddies would call me out on a lie. But I’m lousy at blind tastings in libation and literature. I have eclectic taste, and I love surprises—take me someplace I wouldn’t expect to go, and I’ll follow you forever. Take me someplace twice, via the same route, and I’m probably going to lose interest. My favorite thing about the writers I love to read—even those with continuing series characters--is that they’re keeping things fresh.

Catriona: Vive la difference! It’s been wonderful to hang out with you all today, revelling in books and calling it work. Good luck, everyone, and see you in New York.

Hank: How about you, readers of Femmes Fatales? What writers can you ID instantly? And do you admire that about them?

 

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark award will be announced at the Edgars Banquet on Thursday 27 April. Find out more about this years' finalists at:

www.diannedixon.com

www.catrionamcpherson.com

www.hankphillippiryan.com

www.wendycorsistaub.com

www.charlestodd.com

Comments

[Laura DiSilverio]

Thanks to all of you for the very entertaining chinwag. I think I could identify a Dick Francis novel (the books written before he died--the self-reliant, smarter than you expect him to be hero and, of course, the horses. I could also ID a Georgette Heyer book but that may be because I have them all memorized. Maybe Bob Crais? That's a fun question.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Yeah, I've been thinking about it ever since. And i's such an elusive quality, capturing a personal writing voice.

But we certainly do know when it's not there.

[Laura DiSilverio]

BTW, Catriona, I think it's a hoot that the celeb you picture being seated beside is Noam Chomsky. Your linguist is showing!

[catriona mcpherson]

That's a good point, Laura. And KR shows my age - because it's not one of the Ryans.

[Laura DiSilverio]

If we're choosing Ryans, I'll take Ryan Gosling, please.

[Triss Stein]

Catriona, thanks for inviting everyone to your space here. Such interesting answers!