1--What is the title of your latest release?
COME WITH ME
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A newly widowed mother falls under the sway of an old acquaintance whose friends have a history of disappearing.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’ve lived my whole life in the Midwest so write predominantly about that region, switching between rural imaginary towns in Iowa and Nebraska, and the city of Dayton, Ohio, where I currently live. I knew this book needed a city, so I set it in Dayton. It’s great to write a city I know so well because I have the map in my head and know where the characters live, how far to downtown, and so on. The only time I fictionalize a place or business in Dayton is if I say something bad about someone there. Like, for Blackout, I didn’t think the university where I work would have wanted me using their name when I basically say they have a sociopath on the payroll.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I would at the end of the book, lol. In the beginning, Gwen is pretty lost and doesn’t have a lot of confidence, but by the end she’s finding herself and realizing she’s stronger than she thinks. She’s also starting to realize the difference between happiness and contentment, and how being in control of your own life and taking responsibility can be empowering. And I would 100% hang out with the antagonist, Nicola, even though she’s manipulative and controlling, because you know what else she is? Loads of fun. One thing I always say is, I want to hang out with people who surprise me, and Nicola definitely kept doing that in the writing of this book.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Maternal, strong, scared.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
No one is who you think they are, or maybe they are, but that’s not all there is to them. Both women kept peeling back layers and teaching me more and more about who they are and how they got there.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I tend to write an absolute mess then make sense of it. I think of the first draft as the discovery draft and do my best not to police anything that happens there. Later, I’m like, Past Erin, what the hell, but eventually we get where we’re going.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Please feed me all the pizza. All of it.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a small bedroom with a desk, a single bed, and two comfy chairs, with at least 1-4 animals visiting at all times. There’s a big tree right outside my office with lots of branches pushing toward the window. I think of my office as the tree house, and the bed makes it feel like a studio apartment for a writing retreat.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I really love Elizabeth McCracken. She’s so smart and funny, and I love that I never quite know what her next book will be about but that a) I will love it, and b) it will be amazing.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
A Prayer for Owen Meany. I read it in 1992 and it just floored me how John Irving pulled it all together at the end. By that point I knew I wanted to write, but that book made me realize I also wanted to dedicate a portion of my life to reading as well. I’ve kept track of every book I’ve read since then and constantly have reading goals. If I had to give up reading or writing, it would be writing, no question.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
We were waiting to hear if the book might be a go when I got the news I won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. That sealed the deal and my publisher offered shortly thereafter. It was really a dream come true—not only the Edgar, but the sense this crazy career might continue, and I’d get to write another book.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mysteries and thrillers!
14--What’s your favorite movie?
I am a sitcom girl. Every night when my husband asks if I want to watch a movie, I’m like, are you kidding? I can’t stay up that late! (Reader: he asks this at 7 pm.) But then I will watch four hours of sitcoms instead. My favorites are Friends, The Office, Parks and Rec, The Mindy Project, New Girl, and Frasier.
15--What is your favorite season?
Cuffing.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like to act like it’s not a big deal but then expect my family to make a big deal of it. Ideally, I want cake, a special meal I make myself that the family if required to rave about, and in a perfect world, a gift that truly surprises me.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
It’s not that new anymore, but it’s in the rotation above (although not a sitcom). I absolutely adored Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and think it’s one of the best explorations of mental health I’ve seen in media.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Midwestern, meaning anything served in a 9x13 casserole dish.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read, quilt, and do jigsaw puzzles. Oh no, am I lame?
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I have been toying with a couple of ideas—another rural mystery, a cult thriller, a book about a group of teens trying to flush out pedophiles—but two thing readers can definitely expect in any of these scenarios are characters who are complicated, and good people doing bad things.
Two women. An old friendship rekindled. A growing fear. Not everything is as it seems in a dark and twisty novel of suspense by the Edgar Award–winning author of Deer Season.
Gwen Maner is a widowed single mom, returning to her Ohio hometown with her daughter. And thanks to former acquaintance Nicola Kimmel, this is the start of Gwen’s new and promising life.
Nicola’s secured Gwen a lucrative job, rented Gwen a house on her same street, and won the heart of Gwen’s daughter, but she almost seems too good to be true. She’s so selfless. So charismatic. And so take-charge. Gwen is sure Nicola is yearning only for someone to get close to. After all, according to Nicola, her marriage is falling apart, and her best friend just up and left one day.
But how well does Gwen really know Nicola? What does Nicola ultimately want? As their lives become more entwined, and Nicola’s grip tightens, Gwen begins to think that Nicola isn’t helping Gwen and her daughter but vying for control of every aspect of her life. And the consequences may be deadly.
Women's Fiction Psychological | Women's Fiction Friendship [Thomas & Mercer, On Sale: August 22, 2023, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781662510328 / ]
Erin Flanagan is the author of two story collections and three novels including Deer Season, winner of the 2022 Edgar for Best First Novel, and the most recent Come with Me. She is an English professor at Wright State University and a regular book reviewer for Publishers Weekly. For more information about her and her writing, please visit my website or say hello on Twitter and Instagram.
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