Seraphina Nova Glass | Two Women’s Lives Intersect at a Seedy Motel-turned Apartment Complex

1--What is the title of your latest release?

THE VACANCY IN ROOM 10

2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?

Two women’s lives intersect at a seedy motel-turned apartment complex as one searches for clues about her husband’s death, and another has hit rock bottom in life with nowhere else to go. Both find a strange cast of characters at the apartments, and everyone seems to be hiding something. Digging too deeply into mystery of one dead man and another missing man leaves them both fighting for their lives.

3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about atmosphere in my books and I like to set them in a place I’m interested in hanging out for a while. The Sycamore Apartments probably could have been set anywhere, but the sweltering heat of a New Mexico summer felt right. A desolate landscape is always a good place to hide a body too.

4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?

Both Anna and Cass are cool chicks I would hang out with, but I feel like I would especially vibe with Cass. She’s a badass who would probably want to meet for Miller High Life’s at a dive bar off a two-lane desert road, and I’d be all about it.

5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?

Ballsy, Daring, Resilient

6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?

I’d like to say I learned something about myself or had a great insight, but more realistically, I learned a lot about drug cartels and how long it takes to dig a grave. You should see the products Google suggests for me after these searches.

7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?

Never edit as I go. I seldom read back at all. I really plan out my plot and I outline heavily, so that’s that hard work for me—the beginning, planning, plotting. Once I’m in the chapters, I just go, go, go and don’t look back.

8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?

This won’t be a popular answer because I’m a Raw Vegan! I actually only eat raw fruit, vegetable, nuts, and seeds. But hey, I feel 22, so it works for me. I do like red wine now and again, so these days that’s my only real food indulgence.

9--Describe your writing space/office!

I made a lovely home office for myself out of one of our spare bedrooms and it’s my favorite place to work. I used to love coffee shops and stimulating public spaces, but these days I like the quiet, comfy home space with my Buddha art, meditation music, and my little Boston Terrier, Spaghetti, sleeping under my desk.

10--Who is an author you admire?

I love James Baldwin and Michael Cunningham

11--Is there a book that changed your life?

There were a lot of literary fiction books that I read in my twenties that helped shaped me, but I would say that actual life-changing books more recent reads. The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle and The Seven Spiritual Laws Of Success by Deepak Chopra. Books that have taught me to find the present moment and live in gratitude are the reads I would say are life-changing experiences.

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 a migraine that day! It was 2019 and I had just started getting them out of nowhere, so it was bittersweet. My agent called and told me it was a multi-book deal with a Big-Five publisher, and I cried and called everyone and them went to the ER because I thought I was dying, but alas, it was just a wicked migraine that ruined my moment…but only a little.

13--What’s your favorite genre to read?

Personal Development! Malcom Gladwell, Vishen Lakhiani, Brene Brown, Joe Dispenza, so many others…

14--What’s your favorite movie?

Since this is impossible to answer, I will name a recent gem that I found really well done and underrated. A Scottish Thriller called “Calibre”

15--What is your favorite season?

Spring

16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

On a beach in Mexico

17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?

I’m obsessed with the Rich Roll podcast most recently.

18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?

I think I’ve already disappointed everyone with my earlier answer to a food question.

19--What do you do when you have free time?

Yoga, dog walks, audiobooks on said dog walks, travel.

20--What can readers expect from you next?

I just finished my next book. It’s called The Oleander’s, but I have already been told the title will change. So, a new thriller is coming out early 2025, title TBD. It takes place at a retirement.

THE VACANCY IN ROOM 10 by Seraphina Nova Glass

When Anna Hartley’s husband, Henry, calls her with a terrible, guilty confession, she can’t believe what she hears. It has to be a bad joke—the mild, predictable artist she married would never hurt a fly, let alone commit murder. But her confusion turns to horror when police find his body washed up on the banks of the Rio Grande.

Desperate for answers to the millions of questions his untimely death has raised, Anna checks in to The Sycamores, the run-down motel turned apartment Henry rented as an art studio. As she absorbs every bit of gossip the eclectic mix of residents are willing to share about her husband and each other, she begins to piece together a picture of a very different man than the one she married, and the life he led behind her back. The more she learns, and the less sense things seem to make, she finds herself wondering: Did she ever really know Henry at all?

But Henry’s secrets aren’t the only ones; as Anna’s search for clues expands, Cass, the mysterious, jaded motel manager, seems more and more determined to keep Anna in the dark. And when threatening letters start appearing at her door, Anna has to decide what’s more important—the truth, or her own safety.

Women's Fiction Psychological | Thriller Domestic [Graydon House, On Sale: April 9, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781525809804 / eISBN: 9780369748775]

About Seraphina Nova Glass

Seraphina Nova Glass is an Edgar Award-nominated author published by HarperCollins and is represented by Folio Literary Management in New York. Her fifth book is The Vacancy in Room 10, out April 2024.
Her book On A Quiet Street was named a New York Times Book Review Summer Read and an Amazon Editor’s Pick in Mystery & Thrillers, among other praise. She recently sold the film rights to Marvista Entertainment for a limited series. Seraphina is currently working on her sixth novel, The Oleanders, and is also an Assistant professor and Playwright-In-Residence at the University of Texas, Arlington. Publisher’s Weekly has named her “a writer to watch”.

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | FACEBOOK