1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
An engagement party on an isolated island in Maine brings together a group of former college friends who survived the murder of one of their own on graduation weekend twelve years ago. Trapped with a storm on the way, lies and long buried secrets unravel as the death toll rises, forcing the group to rethink what happened years ago and find the killer before they become prey.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The book takes place on a private island. That meant I needed a coastal state and Maine in the fall had the perfect moody vibe.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes! Her name is Sierra Prescott and she’s down-to-earth and not afraid to speak her mind. She also hates being stuck on an island and tries to get off before she gets killed, which seems smart to me.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Practical, relatable, and loyal.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
To never forget that all of those true crime shows and documentaries I love are about real people with real trauma. Those people shouldn’t be forgotten or reduced to entertainment.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit while I draft. I’ve tried not to do it that way, thinking I could write faster if I pushed forward until the end then wrote numerous drafts later, but that style didn’t work for me. I need to constantly revise so that when I get to the end of the book I’ve read it and reworked it a billion times.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
French fries. I’m addicted and not sorry about it.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a bedroom-turned-office. The most important things in there are the desk, the computer, bookshelves lining the walls, my giant whiteboard, my mug warmer, and cat toys. That last one is not my choice. The toys are there because the cats view my office, and every other room in the house, as theirs.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Any author who’s been fighting for years to get noticed and doesn’t quit. I love that persistence. I also love Agatha Christie because of her talent and her staying power, but mostly because when her husband admitted he had an affair and asked for a divorce so he could be with his mistress Agatha disappeared for more than ten days and was found at a hotel registered under the last name of the mistress. Whether she really had amnesia or was punishing him or had some sort of mental break isn’t clear, but I appreciate the level of drama.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I was always an avid reader and had stories running through my head, but I never thought about being an author. Then I read my first romance, THE BRIDE by Julie Garwood, and I fell in love with the genre. That led to me trying to write a romance, eventually selling one, and leaving my trial attorney job to write full time. So, reading romance novels literally changed my life.
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.
I had entered a writing contest on Lori Foster’s website where you submitted three pages, and she picked her favorite entries. She gave those finalists to her then-editor at Kensington Publishing, Kate Duffy. I was lucky and mine was chosen. That started an ongoing dialogue with Kate where she told me, “I’m going to be your editor one day but not today.” Eighteen months and two more submissions later she called and said, “today is the day.”
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
It’s a tie between thrillers and romantic suspense.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
I’m not sure if it’s my favorite, but I know all the words to Galaxy Quest and have seen it an extraordinary number of times. I think it’s funny and brilliant.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall. I was raised on the east coast but now live in San Diego where fall tends to be the hottest time of the year, which I hate. I visit places with beautiful leaves and cool weather at some point in October every year to experience a tiny bit of fall.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Quietly and without fanfare, usually at a restaurant with my husband. The meal includes french fries.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I watched a British crime series called Annika on PBS and loved it. I read BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN by Jessica Knoll at the same time and recommend it. It’s thought-provoking and will absolutely give you Ted Bundy vibes.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Chinese food. I could eat shrimp fried rice every day.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Travel. I’m very fortunate to have in-laws who live in Hawaii and can always find a reason to go see them.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Another thriller, tentatively titled WHAT THE WIFE KNEW, will be out in late 2024. My favorite character of all the ones I’ve written is in the book. She blackmailed her husband into marriage and is not even a little sorry that someone killed him less than a hundred days into that marriage.
A Novel
And Then There Were None meets I Know What You Did Last Summer in #1 international bestseller Darby Kane’s latest gripping and twisty thriller set on a private island in Maine where secrets piled upon secrets and lies upon lies are all revealed in one fateful weekend.
Emily Hunt went missing from her affluent liberal arts school on graduation weekend. Her body was found floating in a river, and a quiet loner who most people on campus really didn’t know committed suicide. A tenuous link—one text—bound the two dead students together and was enough for law enforcement to close the case. But they got it wrong and now someone is determined to set it right.
Twelve years later, college friends gather to celebrate an engagement over a long overdue getaway on a swanky private island in Maine—with only one way in and one way out. Sierra Prescott, invited as a guest and unconnected to past events, is the only person who soon senses not all is what it seems.
The tension in the air is ignited when they find a dead man in the trunk of a car with a note: time to tell the truth. And things only get worse. As a torrential storm strands them together, the group’s buried stories begin to surface and secrets are bartered. To survive this deadly party, they’ll need to stop a killer before they become prey.
Thriller Psychological [HarperCollins Publishers, On Sale: December 5, 2023, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063225626 / eISBN: 9780063225633]
Darby Kane is the pseudonym of HelenKay Dimon a former trial attorney and current award-winning romantic suspense author. A native of Pennsylvania, Darby now lives in California and runs from the cold. When she’s not writing she can be found watching suspense, thrillers, and mysteries.
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