1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE HUNTER’S DAUGHTER
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
The secret daughter of a notorious serial killer must catch his copycat, using the tricks her father taught her in the forest long ago.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I grew up in the rural Midwest, and I wanted the landscape to be as much of a character in the book as the others. It was fun to be able to work in details of flora and fauna that I remembered from when I was a girl, like particular snakes, trees, and mushrooms.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
I would! I think Anna Koray is a bit alien and a tough person to get to know. But I like watching how she works evidence from a case, how she draws logical and intuitive conclusions from what she sees.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Driven, secretive, and intuitive.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Weirdly enough, it’s something I learned about my process. I thought I needed an outline and to really control the story, but this story came out totally feral, and I love it for that.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I wait until I’m done. This story was very much stream-of-consciousness, and I wanted to get the story down before it flew away!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate. Anything chocolate!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
My office is a spare bedroom that has east and south-facing windows, so I get a lot of sun. My desk is an old kitchen table that a relative gave me. There are usually cats roaming about who want to sprawl on my keyboard when my back’s turned. This time of year, I’ve got seeds started in the windows: butterfly weed, vervain, and asters. It’s sometimes a challenge to keep the cats out of them, but so far, so good!
10--Who is an author you admire?
I really admire Karen Dionne. I recently read THE MARSH KING’S DAUGHTER, and I love how she handled the psychological evolution of her heroine through her moral greyness. The story is just as much internal as external, with a really beautiful character arc.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Madeline Miller’s CIRCE really changed how I thought about storytelling. She completely transformed a myth I thought I was familiar with, and it made me realize that a story is completely remade when it’s retold. I wonder about some of those “familiar” myths, retold over centuries…I wonder what the original stories were like, from the lips of the original tellers? What themes remained, what bones of the story were twisted and altered? It’s really fascinating to me.
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.
When I got the call from my agent, Caitlin Blasdell, I was stunned into silence and finally blurted: “You’re kidding me.” Or some variation of that. I felt like something unbelievable had happened and I was going to wake up later. Still haven’t woken up.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love thrillers with morally ambiguous protagonists. I’m also really into myth retellings, especially ancient Greek myths.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
I love a lot of movies, but one of my favorite thrillers is ZODIAC, from 2007. It’s dark, obsessive, and utterly fascinating.
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer. I really like seeing the flowers blooming and eating fresh-picked tomatoes from the garden. I love the light and the longer days – the time change in fall makes me miserable!
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I like to have friends over, make a big dinner, then play games. I’m a terrible game-player, but I have fun. And cake. There has to be cake!
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just finished ECHO from Disney+. I loved watching Maya work through her complicated relationships with her family and with her uncle’s criminal enterprises.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Nothing makes me happier than Italian. Lasagna is heaven.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I’ve got a pretty elaborate and private garden. Wild bees moved in several years ago, so it just hums in spring and summer. I’m usually digging in the dirt, harvesting fruit, and marveling at the visiting wildlife.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on a sequel to THE HUNTER’S DAUGHTER. Stay tuned!
A hypnotic, sinister debut mystery about a seemingly good cop who is secretly the daughter of a notorious serial killer.
Anna Koray escaped her father’s darkness long ago. When she was a girl, her childhood memories were sealed away from her conscious mind by a controversial hypnosis treatment. She’s now a decorated sheriff’s lieutenant serving a rural county, conducting an ordinary life far from her father’s shadow.
When Anna kills a man in the line of duty, her suppressed memories return. She dreams of her beloved father, his hands red with blood, surrounded by flower-decked corpses he had sacrificed to the god of the forest.
To Anna’s horror, a serial killer emerges who is copying her father – and who knows who she really is. Is her father still alive, or is this the work of another? Will the killer expose her, destroying everything she has built for herself? Does she want him to?
But as she haunts the forest, using her father’s tricks to the hunt the killer, will she find what she needs most…or lose herself in the gathering darkness?
Thriller Police Procedural | Thriller Serial Killer [Berkley, On Sale: May 14, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593639726 / eISBN: 9780593639740]
Nicola Solvinic has a master's degree in criminology and has worked in and around criminal justice for more than a decade at local, state, and federal levels. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and cats, where she is surrounded by a secret garden full of beehives.
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