1--What is the title of your latest release?
CHRISTA COMES OUT OF HER SHELL
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A reclusive marine biologist discovers her father isn’t dead after all, and comes back to Los Angeles to help her family, deal with the social media fall out of fresh fame and fall in love. Unintentionally.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
All of my books are set in Los Angeles, which is where I live. Until now they’ve all been set in Larchmont, my personal neighborhood. For this one I spread my wings and headed over to the west side, Santa Monica, Venice, the ocean. Pretty adventurous of me, I think.
4--Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Yes, but she would find me woefully ignorant about marine biology. She would hide it well, but I would know.
5--What are three words that describe your hero?
Intelligent, bad-ass and flawed.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That violet sea snails hold themselves at the surface of the ocean on rafts made of their own spit.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I start each day editing what I wrote the day before, and then when I’m done, go back to the beginning and start all over again.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate malteds.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I write at home on the sofa, with the laptop on my knees, or at a local coffee shop, depending on how much peopling I feel like doing that day.
10--Who is an author you admire?
P.G. Wodehouse. His playful approach to words blows my gourd.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
All books change my life, it’s a constant process. The Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson were books I read as a child that made me realize words were magical.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be
published)
With this one I was a little nervous that I had bitten off more than I could chew, because the scope and story is larger than my previous books. I was enormously relieved when my editor loved it. I hope readers will too. It doesn’t matter how many books I have published, I’m always convinced that this will be the one that proves to the world that I’m a fraud. So each acceptance is miraculous and welcome.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Golden Age mysteries.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
This is an impossible question to answer. I love movies and have favorites in every genre.
15--What is your favorite season?
Spring.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My birthday is May 12, which is always right next to Mother’s Day. So I consider the entirety of May a month of celebration and tend to milk it for all it’s worth. It’s also the month where, in Los Angeles, the jacaranda trees burst into bloom overnight, huge purple blossoms like something from Dr. Seuss. That’s for me, too.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Reacher. Perfect casting for a perfect book series.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mexican. I could eat rice and beans every day for the rest of my life, although hopefully I don’t have to.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read, or gaze into the middle distance and make shit up.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
In 2025 I will publish the first of what I hope will be a long mystery series, featuring two female detectives, one old, one young. I’m praying on the regular that readers embrace the characters because I love writing them.
After a tumultuous childhood, Christa Liddle has hidden away, both figuratively and literally. Happily studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean, Christa finds her tranquil existence thrown into chaos when her once-famous father—long thought dead after a plane crash—turns out to be alive, well, and ready to make amends. The world goes wild, fascinated by this real-life saga, pinning Christa and her family under the spotlight. As if that weren’t enough, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense physical attraction neither was expecting and both want to act on . . . if they can just keep a lid on it. When her father’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she will lose herself, her potential relationship, and—most importantly—any chance of making it back to her snails before they forget her completely.
Women's Fiction Friendship [Berkley, On Sale: April 16, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593198780 / eISBN: 9780593198797]
Liddle Ms. Christabel
Abbi Waxman is a chocolate-loving, dog-loving woman, who lives in Los Angeles and lies down as much as possible. She worked in advertising for many years, which is how she learned to write fiction. She has three daughters, three dogs, three cats, and one very patient husband.
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