What is the title of your latest release?
HOW TO KILL A CRIME WRITER
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Erk! The story is a bit too bonkers to be summed up in a sentence, but I’ll give it a go: HOW TO KILL A CRIME WRITER is a darkly humorous mystery novel about the introverted daughter of a murdered crime writer who reluctantly joins forces with an impossible private investigator to track down her mother’s killer.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Partly out of laziness. It’s basically set exactly where I currently live: an extremely rural, tumbledown cottage on the borders of Wales and the county of Shropshire. The only difference is that I don’t have any human neighbors.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Yes.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Introverted, dark-humored, cake-addict.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That when you’re grieving your recently deceased husband, it’s a bad idea to attempt to write a romcom, which is why I decided to write a murder mystery instead.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
It depends on the book, but I edited this one as I went along because I’m perimenopausal and on bad brain fog days I can barely remember my own name, never mind write a coherent sentence. Honestly, there were some paragraphs in the first draft that were total gibberish (the icon on my delete button is basically worn out now).
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I will eat anything if it’s coated in chocolate or curried.
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a glorified shed-slash-shepherd’s hut with a curved tin roof at the top of the garden, which my brother very kindly built for me on a shoestring. It has a large, comfy built in bed for the dogs, and is chock-a-block with books, threadbare rugs, vintage junk, art prints, dust, dog hair, biscuits and spiders (I’m a slob).
Who is an author you admire?
How long have you got? They run into the hundreds! If I could only pick one author, it would be Stephen King. I’ve been reading his books since I was ten years old.
Is there a book that changed your life?
This is going to sound absolutely puke-worthy, but every (good) book I read changes me in some way. E.g. by teaching me stuff I didn’t know (like – ahem – how to write a coherent sentence), giving me fresh insights into different universes/cultures/worldviews, and everyone knows that reading helps foster empathy – we could all do with more of that.
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’m always gobsmacked whenever a publisher and their marketing department thinks something I’ve written is readable. It’s mostly because I’m still flabbergasted that I get to do what I love for a living (for now, anyway!)
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Horror.
What’s your favorite movie?
Jaws.
What is your favorite season?
Autumn (fall!)
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Going for a walk with the dogs; eating a mountain of chocolate; smoking a cigar.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
TV: DTF St Louis. Movie: If I had Legs I’d Kick you. Book: The Eyes are The Best Part by Monika Kim. Podcast: Dear Joan and Jerica (NSFW btw!)
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
It’s a toss-up between North Indian, Thai and Korean.
What do you do when you have free time?
I walk the dogs in the forest, help prevent the local badger population from being slaughtered by idiots and watch horror movies and terrible reality TV.
What can readers expect from you next?
I’m not sure if the book I’m currently writing will be any good or not, so I can’t say more in case I jinx it.
After the untimely death of her bestselling crime novelist mother, a young woman teams up with the fictional “ghost” of the heroine from her mother’s series in order to solve her mother’s murder.
After the tragic death of bestselling crime writer Annie Morrisey, her daughter, Niamh, moves into her mother's country cottage to take care of her mother’s estate. Shut away from the world, Niamh doesn't actually have to deal with the grief of her mother's untimely passing. Until the day that two things appear: the advance copy of her mother's final book lands on the doorstep and Leah Rebecca Overton appears in the kitchen.
Having a stranger appear in your house would be concerning at the best of times, but Leah isn't a stranger—she's the ultra-competent sleuth heroine from Annie’s novels. The antithesis of Niamh in every way, she's lived in the fictitious character's shadow for years. But why (and how) has Leah turned up now? And why can only Niamh see her? Leah is the last thing Niamh wants in her house or in her head, but she can't ignore the sleuth...especially when Leah suspects there may have been more to Annie's death than first suspected.
Mystery Woman Sleuth [ Berkley, On Sale: July 21, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780593436790 / eISBN: 9780593436806 ]
Sarah Lotz is a screenwriter and novelist with a fondness for the macabre and fake names. Among other things, she writes urban horror novels under the name S.L. Grey with author Louis Greenberg; a YA pulp-fiction zombie series, Deadlands, with her daughter, Savannah, under the pseudonym Lily Herne; and quirky erotica novels with authors Helen Moffett and Paige Nick under the name Helena S. Paige.
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