Catch Me (Detective D. D. Warren Series #6)
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.
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.
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 of you who want to visit Lisa there here is the Palm Beach Gardens store information
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 and is below courtesy of them
L - I got to see it and I did love. Thank you!)
Please visit the author’s website here and you can also see my review posted on Lisa's 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
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