Susan McBride | Five Things I Learned About Resuming a Mystery Series after a Seven-Year Break

When I stopped writing my humorous Debutante Dropout series after the publication of TOO PRETTY TO DIE in 2008, I left my series protagonist Andy Kendricks and her blue-blooded mother Cissy newly engaged and (in my mind anyway) on a lengthy vacation. While they basked in the sun on some tropical island (Cissy at a posh five-star hotel and Andy in a hut with mosquito-netting), I tried my hand at women’s fiction for HarperCollins and young adult fiction for Random House. Hey, why not explore other genres when I had the chance? It was great to stretch my literary muscles, and I only missed Andy and Cissy the littlest bit. Until a resurrected e-book of BLUE BLOOD hit the USA Today bestsellers list in 2013 and my publisher asked, “Could you write more of those books, pretty please?”

How could I resist? “Love to!” I told them without thinking. But I quickly realized that resurrecting a series after a seven-year break had both drawbacks and benefits. What I ended up learning was this:

1. How many details I’d forgotten about the characters in previous books, and I didn’t have time to re-read the five that came before Say Yes to the Death before I wrote it. So I did a lot of “search” and “find” through old copy-edited manuscripts. Even still, I apparently aged a character fifty years without realizing it until the folks at HarperCollins recorded the audiobook for Say Yes and found the discrepancy (they had just recorded the second book where the minor character is mentioned several times). Ah, well, maybe I’ll have a contest and see if anyone can find the boo-boo. Or maybe I’ll just hope no one else notices!

2. It’s way harder writing books with a toddler in the house. The last time I had a Deb Dropout book due, I wasn’t yet married much less a mom. Although looking back on last year, I figure writing Say Yes to the Death in the middle of the night had its merits, namely that my internal censor goes to sleep about ten o’clock. That tends to increase the humor quotient (or at least the delirium) when I’m working at oh-dark-thirty.

3. Technology has changed a lot since Blue Blood debuted in 2004. What was high-tech then is irrelevant now: VCRs, beepers, flip phones (although I still have a flip phone—hey, it’s an antique!). So all the gadgets in Say Yes had to be smaller, faster, and way cooler. Oh, yeah, and texting. There must be texting, preferably not while driving though.

4. Reality TV was in its infancy in 2002 when I signed with HarperCollins to do the Debutante Dropout books. Now it’s EVERYWHERE, on every single channel, night and day, and has made celebrities out of people with virtually no talent except an unabashed desire for fame. I tried to resist, but then it caught me like a Zombie on steroids and started eating my brain. Although I like to call it “research” when I watch those New York housewives back-stab each other and see which brides-to-be say “yes” to their dress. Heck, the evil wedding planner who bites the dust in Say Yes to the Death has her own reality TV show. Honestly, who doesn’t these days?

5. What a hoot it was to spend time with Andy and Cissy again. I felt like I was at a family reunion, only it was held in my head instead of at Grandpa’s farm. Andy has so much of me in her character (which is why I wince whenever she’s called “immature” by reviewers—but then again, I have a three-year-old so being immature kind of pays off). And Cissy has bits and pieces of my own mother woven into her fabric, only Cissy wears Chanel instead of Kohl’s and would never leave the house wearing a black shoe and a blue one like my mom. The moment I put Andy and Cissy together in the car in Chapter One of Say Yes, I started to giggle. They are truly the Laurel and Hardy of the mystery scene. I can even imagine Cissy telling Andy—in her steel magnolia Texas drawl—“well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into.” And a very fun mess it is, too.

About Susan McBride

Susan McBride is the author of LITTLE BLACK DRESS (Harper Collins/William Morrow, August 23, 2011) and THE COUGAR CLUB, selected by Target Stores as a Bookmarked Breakout Title and named a Midwest Connections Pick by the Midwest Booksellers Association. COUGAR also made MORE Magazine's list of "February Books We're Buzzing About." Foreign editions of THE COUGAR CLUB will be published in Croatia, France, and Turkey. THE COUGAR CLUB centers on three 45-year-old childhood pals from St. Louis who reconnect and discover that you're never too old to follow your heart. After LITTLE BLACK DRESS, Susan will pen another women's fiction novel for Harper Collins and a young adult thriller for Random House (details to come!).

On the personal front, Susan calls herself an "Accidental Cougar" after meeting a younger man in 2005 when she was a St. Louis Magazine Top Single. They were married in February 2008 and live happily ever after in a suburb of St. Louis. Susan is a breast cancer survivor and often speaks to women groups about her experience.

Additionally, Susan has written five award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries (Harper Collins/Avon), including BLUE BLOOD, THE GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER, THE LONE STAR LONELY HEARTS CLUB, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEB, and TOO PRETTY TO DIE. She has authored several YA series books for Random House about debutantes in Houston, the debut in 2008 appropriately titled THE DEBS and followed by LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS in 2009. GLOVES OFF, the third book, is in pub date limbo.

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About SAY YES TO THE DEATH

Someone old, someone cruel

Debutante dropout Andrea Kendricks is beyond done with big hair, big gowns, and big egos—so being dragged to a high-society Texas wedding by her socialite mama, Cissy, gives her a bad case of déjà vu. As does running into her old prep-school bully, Olivia La Belle, the wedding planner, who's graduated to berating people for a living on her reality TV show. But for all the times Andy wished her dead, nobody deserves Olivia's fate: lying in a pool of blood, a cake knife in her throat—but did the angry baker do it?

Millicent Draper, the grandmotherly owner of Millie's Cakes, swears she's innocent, and Andy believes her. Unfortunately, the cops don't. Though Andy's fiancé, lawyer Brian Malone, is handling Millie's case, she's determined to spring Millie herself. But where to start? "La Belle from Hell" had enemies galore. Good thing Andy has a BFF who's a reporter— and a blue-blood mother who likes to pull strings.