Interview with Louise Hathaway
An excerpt from a book publishing Facebook group of an interview they did with us.
“The first day of summer in New Orleans was unseasonably cool; but the locals had no complaints. They were in no hurry for hot temperatures and the sweltering humidity that was sure to come soon. Artists set up their umbrellas in Jackson Square, waiting for the tourists to descend upon the Quarter. The wrought iron fence surrounding the square became their outdoor gallery full of colorful oils and watercolors for sale. Inside the bride’s room of historic St. Louis Cathedral, Homicide Detective Yvonne Dauphin adjusted her wedding veil. Looking at herself in the floor length mirror she told her sister, “I should have just chosen a wreath of flowers instead of this stupid thing. I feel like Miss America when she first gets crowned and has to do a balancing act.” - Deadly Promises: A New Orleans Mystery
So begins the sequel to Fighting Demons, Deadly Promises. This month I’m doing something I’ve never done before by showcasing not one but two authors, the husband and wife writing team of Louise Hathaway, the pen name for Karen and Sandy Wood.
15) First off, guys, thank you for sitting for this interview. It may be a little tricky since in the year or two I’ve been doing the monthly author interviews, they’ve always been binary. But this month, we have three participants.
Secondly, apparently, Louise Hathaway was originally going to be a solo act but, as you’d said on your Amazon author page, the collaboration began when, as per the writer stereotype, the author showed their work to the other half. Did the transition from beta reader to collaborator begin with the first book or after?
Karen: My husband has always been supportive about reading my fiction, going back to high school when he was kind enough to read my short stories. The first book we wrote together, Death Among the Stacks: The Body in the Law Library, was loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s stories and features a cast of suspects based upon my friends from the library where I used to work.
Sandy: My wife has always been a writer having penned many essays and articles before diving into book publishing. She is the expert in our collaboration with a master’s degree in English that keeps us on the up and up. Louise Hathaway began as a collaboration from the get-go with our first book.
14) As far as I can tell, you guys are juggling three series (Det. Santy, Det. Dauphin and Nancy Keene). Do you have a favorite series or do you enjoy writing them equally?
Karen: My favorite series is the New Orleans Mysteries starring Yvonne Dauphin because the detective and her sister are the ones who are the most like me. Yvonne and I have similar personal struggles and in Deadly Promises, her sister knows some colorful characters that she (and I) have met via our social media contacts and they show up in the plot as prime suspects.
Sandy: I enjoy them all equally. Each series brings with it a unique set of characters, locations and situations that feed the narrative in special ways.
13) The Yvonne Dauphin series is set in the Big Easy. Do you both live there in New Orleans and, if not, what fascination does the Crescent City have for you?
Karen: We live in California but have visited New Orleans about 13 times over the years. The city has a rich history with lots of atmosphere and is a setting around which I like to wrap stories.
Sandy: We’ve travelled to New Orleans more than any place in the world. The city exudes a certain mood for us in so many ways that it's hard to not be inspired by all its character.
12) I’d imagine for mystery novelists who juggle series set in contemporary times or within a specific historical epoch, the temptation for a crossover is great (I’ve written a couple, myself). Are there any plans to have Det. Santy meet Det. Dauphin for a crossover adventure?
Karen: I love the idea of having our two female detectives meet and work on a case together. It might be a little difficult, since one lives in Tustin, California and the other lives in New Orleans.
Sandy: I haven't thought about it until now. I think it's a brilliant idea and one that we should consider in the future.
11) In the Detective Santy and Dauphin series, you’re following a current trend: A seemingly insatiable reader appetite for strong female leads. Aside from inner strength, what traits do Santy and Dauphin have in common and how are they different? Does Karen write the female parts and Sandy the male ones? Enquiring minds want to know.
Karen: Traits that Detectives Santy and Dauphin have in common are that they’re both well-seasoned experienced detectives who have risen in the ranks, à la Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect. Both of our detectives are vulnerable: Detective Dauphin has bipolar disorder which makes her have her own unique challenges when it comes to doing her job and having personal relationships. Detective Santy is very affected by her both of her fathers—her adopted one and her blood relative. In The Murder at the Abbey, she tries to help her father after he’s just gotten out of prison, and he’s a handful—to say the least. The difference between them is that Clarissa Santy is younger in the first story (The Tustin Chronicles). She is only 18 when she’s investigating her adopted father’s murder; so, it’s a coming of age story and she learns some hard lessons along the way.
Sandy: We've always liked the tension that a female detective brings to a story. There's certainly the good-old-boys-club issue that is so often explored but I like the notion that a female will approach things different than a man. I'm sure many will disagree with that, but I love exploring the idea. Santy and Dauphin share some of the same traits in that they rose up through the ranks and survived being a woman in a normally man's position. They've both earned the respect of their fellow detectives and senior officers as well. In our Det. Dauphin series, we find the detective has a bit of romantic baggage that she is forced to deal with whereas Det. Santy is all business and very little love life, specifically in the first two books of the series. I worked in the local District Attorney's office and was able to see much of what our characters exhibit firsthand. As for who writes what, we don't separate things by sex. That said, it's wonderful to share the writing with someone of the opposite sex who can kindly give me a reality check if something doesn't sound right.
10) Your Nancy Keene series is an obvious homage to, as well as a parody of, Carolyn Keene (aka the Stratemeyer Syndicate) and the long-running Nancy Drew series. Aside from the homage, why did you begin this series and what do you think you’ve added to the original one?
Karen: A good friend of mine passed away and I inherited six of her Nancy Drew books that were written in the 30s. Around the same time, my husband and I went to California Adventures, a theme park by Disneyland. The park has a Route 66 theme based upon the movie Cars. The Buried Treasure on Route 66, my first Nancy Keene Mystery, was a result. I wasn’t planning on making a series out of it and in this book, Nancy is 18 and has premarital sex and gets married—something that would never happen to Nancy Drew. This book is mostly a parody and gently pokes fun at Nancy’s obscure knowledge, perfectionism, and need for control. The Nancy Keene Mysteries were fun to write. Unlike the Nancy Drew stories, mine are PG-rated, humorous, and meant for adult readers who grew up loving the Nancy Drew Mysteries.
Sandy: The Nancy Keene series creation is 100% Karen. I've been fortunate enough to add my bits here and there along the way.
9) Lest anyone assume you’re simply a mystery-writing couple, you’ve also written speculative fiction, romance and nonfiction. You’ve also written two time travel books (Travelers In Time Aboard The California Zephyr and the autobiographically-based short story Tripping Back to the 60s. What do you think fuels your fascination with time travel? Is it watching established history or the typical human urge to recreate established history?
Karen: What I like about creating time travel stories is putting modern characters into historic scenarios and seeing how they respond. Also, I like researching the background and the history of the time period. We began writing Travelers in Time in our sleeper car aboard the California Zephyr, so a lot of what we were seeing along the way ended up in the book. Sandy did a lot of historical research on the 100th Meridian Excursion and this shows up in the book where real-life characters interact with our fictional ones.
Sandy: I've always loved the idea of time travel both in the written word and on television. We both love history and the idea of placing oneself at a specific date and time in history is exhilarating. The notion that one could traverse time and exist in another era was something that was fun to write about in both of our stories. Bending the norms of time and history add a wonderful effect to characters and how they act and react. We wrote a large part of Travelers in Time aboard the Amtrak California Zephyr as we traveled between California and Colorado. The setting proved to be immensely inspiring and helped us focus on the story.
8) This especially goes out to the both of you. Describe your typical writing day. Do you set word goals and if so, what’s the goal? Do you use laptops or notebooks exclusively or both? And you both participate in the editing process?
Karen: We use laptops to write and Kindles to edit. Our writing days aren’t structured. We write when the spirit moves us.
Sandy: At this moment I'm going over the final draft of the sequel to Travelers in Time Aboard the California Zephyr. We both have laptops which give us some mobility around the house to settle where we feel. I don't have a word goal, but I do my best to put in an hour a day writing and editing. I'll dump the draft onto a Kindle and then read a chapter or two, mark it up and then edit the original copy on a notebook. Rinse and repeat. Some days I'll have more time than others, but I will strive to spend at least an hour.
7) How does the collaboration work? Do you trade off with each chapter, each paragraph? Is it an equal collaboration?
Karen: Usually I come up with the characters in the story and we work out the plot together. My husband’s forte is writing descriptions and making the stories richer in the long run.
Sandy: We work together, and things work out about 50-50. Karen normally starts with putting down a few chapters. We'll print that out and then sit down, usually over dinner and I'll read what she's done. Hearing it gives us a feel for how the story is going and what changes we need to make. At that point, I'll take what she's done and add things to it such as more dialog or whatever we've decided what needs to be done. At this point we'll have a few chapters that have both of our ideas in them. Then we start the process again until we're happy with the story. Often one of us will write a few chapters ahead of time that we know we'll need down the line, but we won't get to until later. Eventually the pieces will get put together to form a hopefully coherent story.
6) What do or what did you do in your day jobs before your foray into indie publishing?
Karen: I previously worked in a law library and he worked in the District Attorney’s office. He just retired and will have more time to write.
Sandy: I worked as a network administrator for the local District Attorney's office. I was fortunate to have gotten close with some of the homicide prosecutors and investigators who shared all sorts of interesting things. When they had computer issues, I'd help out and in return they'd let me in on some interesting case features.
5) Plotter, pantser or plantser? Both of you weigh in.
Karen: We are mainly plotters who work from an outline and know the end of the story sometimes before we even start writing. Sometimes, though, we write key scenes first, and then go back later to fill in the chapters before or after. I tend to do this more than my husband does.
Sandy: None of the above for me. When we're putting together a book, we're always talking and keeping the story fresh in our minds. As mentioned, we sit down every day and recap where we're at, always editing and reworking. I haven't found the need to storyboard but it would probably benefit my writing. Karen is highly organized, and I have to admit that I'd be in big trouble without her organizational skills.
4) In Honeymoon in Savannah, you did what John Berendt did in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and featured The Lady Chablis. Did you ever see The Lady Chablis perform before her death in 2016?
Karen: Thank you for reading The Lady Chablis scene in Honeymoon in Savannah. Yes, we did see her perform at the club in Savannah that is mentioned in the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. My husband and I sat in the first row at her show and she kissed my husband on the cheek. We were very sad when we heard of her death.
Sandy: Yes, we were fortunate enough to have seen her perform. It was a show that we’ll never forget.
3) Since two of your series are set in New Orleans, you’re obviously attracted to it. What is it about the Crescent City that fuels your mysteries? Is it the Hoodoo/Voodoo culture that readily lends itself to atmosphere and mystery or is it the entire city itself?
Karen: As you say, we do like the voodoo culture in New Orleans and I love writing about its unique cemeteries, restaurants, French Quarter and Garden District locales, the cuisine, the architecture, the music—everything.
Sandy: We both love New Orleans dearly. In all our trips there, we've fallen in love with the food, the history, the music, the streetcar, the many cultures. There is a magic there that I've never felt in any other city in the world. We've walked through some of the cemeteries late on hot humid nights and felt the pull of the ages.
2) Do you see New Orleans noir as something ready to bust out in a big way like Scandi Noir?
Karen: Yes, I do see New Orleans as a noir setting and maybe someday, I’ll write about a hardboiled male detective investigating a murder there. He would be a fun character to create.
Sandy: I would certainly hope so. New Orleans is so perfect for noir fiction.
1) So, what’s next for the dynamic duo of Louise Hathaway?
Karen: We are editing a sequel to Travelers in Time. Since I love trains so much, I have an idea about writing a mystery about a murder on a train where passengers Detective Dauphin and sister try to figure out whodunit. Unlike Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, it will feature a female detective instead of her famous Belgian male lead and will take place in California aboard Amtrak’s Coast Starlight train. Instead of a snowstorm, as in Agatha’s story, my passengers are marooned on the train when a fire threatens to burn a bridge up ahead. We are traveling on the Coast Starlight next month, so I’m sure it will inspire a story.
Sandy: We've got some more Nancy Keene ideas as well as some Hitchcockian tales we'd like to pursue. Hopefully these will see the light of day by the Fall. Watch this space.
If you’re interested in learning more about the eclectic canon of Louise Hathaway, then go to the links listed below.
Fighting Demons: A New Orleans Mystery
Honeymoon in Savannah: A Detective Santy Mystery
The Tustin Chronicles: A Detective Santy Mystery
The Ghost in the Plantation: A Nancy Keene Mystery
The Buried Treasure on Route 66: A Nancy Keene Mystery
