Q&A with Lisa
Gardner
Catch Me
Debbie - Lisa, this is an honor for me as you are my all time
favorite author. When I began my second life as a reader The Perfect Husband
was one of the first books I read and in fact I won your monthly contest and
was offered a signed copy of any novel, I chose The Perfect Husband. You told
me that it was only available in paper back and therefore wasn’t as valuable as
a hard back copy. My response was that it was invaluable to me and it still has
a place of honor on my signed copy bookshelf. So without further ado, welcome
to the B&N.com General Fiction Book club forum.
My first question has to be-(and I know you hear it all the
time) what’s a nice girl like you doing coming up with some of the scariest,
evilest, vilest bad guys out there that would even give the boy writers out
there nightmares. I still see the spiders from Say Goodbye, yesh.
Lisa - Ah, you’ve made me
blush! I’m so happy you enjoyed The Perfect Husband, and I only wish I
understood how a nice girl like me got into this business. Growing up, I always gravitated to
murder mysteries. I’m fascinated
by the criminal mind—is evil nature versus nurture? I think every book I’ve written has attempted to delve into
that question, what makes a murderer, and better yet, what can a good cop do to
catch a killer.
D - Tell us a little about Catch Me
L - Meet Charlene
Grant. Each year, same day, same
time, one of her best friends has been murdered. Now, she’s the last woman standing and it’s four days till another
gruesome anniversary. Charlie
believes she’s dead woman walking, but she doesn’t plan on going down without a
fight. She’s been
training—shooting, boxing, running.
She’s also approached Boston’s top cop, D.D. Warren, to handle her
case. On January 21, someone’s
going to try to kill Charlene Grant.
But he’s gotta catch her first.
D - Congratulations on the release of Catch Me the 7th
in the DD Warren series (counting the ebook The 7th Month)
You have stand a lones, series, and connected character novels and your fans are in for a thrill because in Catch Me many of them have cameo appearances.
Do you have a set number in mind for DD or does she tell you.
You have stand a lones, series, and connected character novels and your fans are in for a thrill because in Catch Me many of them have cameo appearances.
Do you have a set number in mind for DD or does she tell you.
L - True confession
time: I never planned on writing a
D.D. Warren series. She was
supposed to be a walk on part for my sniper novel, Alone. I just needed a
Boston cop for one scene. But her
take-no-prisoners attitude captured my attention and the next thing I knew, she
needed a book. Except, at the end
of that novel, she was still alone, and that bothered me so she needed another
book, then another. And I’m still
not sure how I got in this mess.
So I guess D.D. Warren is calling the shots, because it’s all been a
mystery to me. I’ve missed my FBI
profiler characters, however, so it was a lot of fun to bring Quincy and his
daughter Kimberly into D.D.’s world.
J.T. Dillon from The Perfect
Husband also appears, which I hope readers will enjoy!
D - I have to laugh at you’re A-Day-In-The-Life-Of
on your website and I was fascinated by instead of spa trips you go to Quantico
( I guess to work on that tan).
When you do go on a “real vacation” what do you like to do.
When you do go on a “real vacation” what do you like to do.
L - Real vacations all
involve lounging somewhere with a great book. Setting is irrelevant, great novel to read all important. I particularly love Karin Slaughter,
Tess Gerritsen and Lee Child. I open
one of their novels, and I can take a first class vacation while still sitting
on my sofa.
D - Tell us a little about how The Lisa Gardner Raceteam started
L - My crazy
husband. I mean my brilliant
adrenaline addicted husband. No, I
mean my crazy husband. He spends
his summers racing in the SCCA circuit.
I noticed lots of people at the track read books to pass the time
between races. Not being a dumb
bunny, it occurred to me that here was a built in audience: people, waiting four hours for their
turn to drive at high speeds, meaning clearly they need a short term adrenaline
fix to fill the void. I started handing
out thrillers, and the rest is history.
D - If your daughter told you she wanted to be an author as a
career, what would you advise her
L - Writing is the
hardest and most rewarding profession there is. You have to be able handle the rejection, while maintaining
faith in your imagination. I
always picture the industry as this giant roller coaster ride. As long as you’re prepared for the ups,
downs, and occasional vomiting, you’ll do just fine.
D - Do you have any B&N signings or events planned
L - I have an event
February 11 at the Palm Beach Gardens B&N.
For those who are interested here is the Palm Beach Gardens store details
Also, I generally do a lot of stocking signings at B&Ns as I wing my way cross country. Hope to see people at Palm Beach Gardens!
For those who are interested here is the Palm Beach Gardens store details
Also, I generally do a lot of stocking signings at B&Ns as I wing my way cross country. Hope to see people at Palm Beach Gardens!
D - I usually have a review when I do these Q&A’s but I’m
afraid my Catch Me review belongs to LibraryJournal which is listed below courtesy of them
L - I got to see it and I did love. Thank you!)
L - I got to see it and I did love. Thank you!)
Please visit the author’s website here and you can see my review on her website here thank you very much Lisa.
Here is the my review of Catch Me courtesy of Library
Journal
Gardner, Lisa. Catch Me. Dutton. Feb. 2012. c.400p.
ISBN 9780525952763. $26.95. F
D.D. Warren has returned from maternity leave and
is back on the job just in time to investigate a crime spree in which the
victims are also child predators. She’s soon contacted by a young woman named
Charlie Grant, who announces that she expects to be killed in several days and
asks D.D. to investigate her murder. As D.D. copes with personal issues while
working with her old team (plus a new face in Detective O) to piece together
this crime puzzle, the two seemingly unconnected cases begin to show signs of
overlapping. The clues all point in one direction, prompting D.D. to rethink
and reevaluate the evidence in the race to put that final piece in place.
Verdict
New York Times best-selling author Gardner (Love You More; Live
To Tell; Alone) always plays in the big leagues, but this
scare-your-socks-off thriller is a grand slam, packed with enigmatic characters
(some good, some crazily evil), expert procedural detail, and superb
storytelling. Readers will be guessing who done it until the final pages—and
the author’s fans will love all the name-dropping from previous works. Fans of
Michael Connelly and Harlan Coben will delight in Gardner’s scare-fest.—Debbie
Haupt, St. Charles City–Cty. P.L., St. Peters, MO
This was one of the best in the DD Warren series and although part of a series could certainly be read as a stand alone book. I think Lisa Gardner fans will be thrilled with the new, softer DD Warren and new readers will be pleased to read such an engaging book. A definite page turner and I would definitely recommend it.
ReplyDeleteCanada, I think I found a fellow Gardner fan. Have you read all of her novels, which ones were your favorites.
DeleteI also agree with your comments above, this was indeed a much gentler kinder DD in this novel.
My favorite of her novels has still got to be the very first one I ever read by her. The Perfect Husband, it's scary, it's exciting and I had trouble putting it down for even a minute.
deb