1--What is the title of your latest release?
LOVE LETTERS TO A SERIAL KILLER
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A woman falls in love with an accused serial killer after writing him letters and has to figure out whether he committed the crimes that he’s been accused of doing.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and recently moved back after spending more than a decade in Alabama. Like a lot of media, literature tends to be coast-centric so I always try to set books within the Midwest or South.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. Hannah and I both love brunch and I imagine she would have great gossip considering that she’s corresponding with an accused serial killer.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Desperate, curious, millennial.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I had no intention of starting a novel when I started this one. It called to me, and I answered. I wrote it thinking that it would never be published. It’s a good reminder to follow your instincts.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I wait until I’m totally done. I think one of my biggest strengths is that I’m not a perfectionist. I’m totally willing to let go of a bad sentence if it allows me to move forward.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love going out to breakfast and brunch. I also love eating breakfast at home while I write. I love breakfast in all forms. One of my son’s first words was “breakfast.”
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I do most of my writing in coffeeshops. There’s one coffeeshop that my parents used to take me to when I was a kid and I still go there several days a week. I like feeling like a regular and listening to the conversations taking place around me.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I’m a big fan of R.F. Kuang. To go from writing fantasy to YELLOWFACE is incredible.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I always talk about reading Margaret Atwood’s first novel, THE EDIBLE WOMAN, when I was a teenager. It changes perspectives from first person to third person halfway through, which blew my mind.
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 learned my book was going to be published, I was teaching English fulltime, completing my PhD, and I had a baby not yet in daycare because we couldn’t afford it. My agent said that she was sending my novel out and I was actually very relaxed because I figured it either wouldn’t sell or it would be a long process. I was very surprised when I woke to an email asking when I could hop on a Zoom because there were already offers. It changed the entire trajectory of my life.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Thrillers! I also love to read horror even though I’m a chicken.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
I’m split between LABYRINTH and CRUEL INTENTIONS
15--What is your favorite season?
I’m not afraid to admit that I’m one of those women obsessed with fall. I have almost as many Halloween decorations as I do for Christmas.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My son’s birthday is three days after mine, and we’ve had joint birthday parties for the past couple of years. Last year’s party was brunch themed and this year the theme was “pizza party.”
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m going to be honest and say that I basically rotate through rewatching GILMORE GIRLS, TEEN WOLF (the TV Show), PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, and THE OC. Bring back 22-episode nonsense TV!
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
We have a lot of great Thai food in St. Paul, so I’ll say Thai even though I appreciate cuisines of all kinds.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I compulsively cross-stitch. I do it so much that I’ve started making presents for people because I’ve run out of room in my house.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Another thriller with a lot of kissing.
An aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands in this dark and irresistibly compelling debut thriller.
Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. It’s the perfect outlet for her pent-up frustration and rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first.
Until William writes back.
Hannah’s interest in the case goes from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. After she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial and befriends other true-crime junkies like herself. When a fifth woman is discovered murdered, the jury has no choice but to find William not guilty, and Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release. The two of them quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss.
Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder…
Thriller Psychological | Thriller Serial Killer [Berkley, On Sale: June 25, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593640272 / eISBN: 9780593640296]
Oddly compelling
A Wild Entertaining Ride with an Insufferable Main Character and a Likely Serial Killer
Tasha Coryell’s debut novel, Love Letters to a Serial Killer, is forthcoming from Berkley (US) and Orion (UK) in 2024.
Her book of short stories, Hungry People, was published by Split Lip Press in 2018. Purchase Hungry People here.
Tasha holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in composition and rhetoric from the University of Alabama. She currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband, son, and greyhound.
In her spare time, Tasha likes to run, cross stitch, and watch copious amounts of television.
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