1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE CONFIDENCE GAMES
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A modern-day Thelma and Louise meets Ocean’s 8 that follows the exploits of best friends and Europe’s most infamous swindlers, Emma and Nellie, who are blackmailed into stealing a priceless bracelet
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The book takes place mostly in London, with flashbacks set all over Europe. This might make me sound a bit nuts, but the heroine—Emma—just told me she was British and that was that
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Hell yeah!
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Heartbroken, brave, loyal
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
How to hack an email account (sort of)
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I usually write a short first draft (approx 50K), just to get the basic structure and sequence of the story clear in my mind. After a short break, I go back and edit this draft over and over (and over and over) until it feels ready to share with my agent and editor(s)
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Brownies!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
It depends where I am in the world. I travel a lot, so my writing spaces are sometimes trains, planes, AirBnbs. In the past two years, I’ve worked in Thailand, Italy, Germany, South Africa, England and the States. The only thing that’s constant is a cup of steaming hot coffee.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Only one? Then I’d have to say the legend that is Lucy Foley
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien because it’s the book that sparked my love affair with the written word
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.
My agent submitted The Confidence Games on a Friday and emailed on Monday to say we had two editors who wanted to speak to me. By the end of the next day, we had another editor circling, and the book went to auction. I cried, obviously. Being a writer means suffering through a seemingly constant stream of rejections and failures. You get dismissed and ignored. You hear about everything you’re doing wrong. And then, one day, finally, you hear about everything you’ve done right. It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe, but it’s wonderful.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
That’s a tie between WWII historical fiction and the classic murder mystery.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Titanic
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer!
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With my friends and family, eating cake and drinking wine. In a perfect world, we’d also all be on safari somewhere.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Yes Theory. It’s actually a YouTube channel, focused on taking chances and the great things that happen when you step out of your comfort zone. It’s so fun and full of positivity, which is just what the world needs right now.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Thai food / South East Asian food
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Hike, read and bake. Mostly I just love to be outdoors, in the sun. Nature relaxes me.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
My next book will be published in summer 2025. It’s a standalone murder mystery slash caper set in a super fun (trust me!) women’s prison in California. Think Prison Break meets a modern-day Chicago supported by a badass cast of female felons.
Two female con artists must pull off the ultimate heist in this rollicking caper from a dazzling new voice.
Emma Oxley and Nellie Yarrow have been inseparable their whole lives. Ever since they reinvented themselves, changing their names and wiping clean their digital footprints, they have made a game of following wherever the next adventure leads and challenging themselves to thefts, street cons, and mind games.
Adhering to only two rules—they will only swindle men, and only ones who deserve it—Emma and Nellie are secure in their reputation as the most trustworthy swindlers on the European black market. Until suddenly, they must play to save their own lives.
Blackmailed into stealing a priceless bracelet from a high-security exhibit, Emma will reexamine everything she believed to be true. This heist takes her far beyond her comfort zone...and she and Nellie will need allies among the glitzy bejeweled gathering in London in order to survive. Will they be able to do the right thing before it’s too late?
Suspense [Berkley, On Sale: July 9, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593642504 / ]
Tess Amy was born in Johannesburg but now enjoys a nomadic lifestyle, living between Europe and South Africa. She holds a master’s degree from The Durban University of Technology, is an outdoor enthusiast, animal lover and unfaltering optimist. The Confidence Games is her debut contemporary fiction novel. She also writes historical fiction as T.A. Willberg.
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