Interview with Kit Frick for I Killed Zoe Spanos

I Killed Zoe Spanos

by Kit Frick
Publisher: McElderry Books
Release Date: June 30th 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Thriller, Mystery


Synopsis:

“The YA thriller of the summer.” —Bustle

For fans of Sadie and Serial, this gripping thriller follows two teens whose lives become inextricably linked when one confesses to murder and the other becomes determined to uncover the real truth no matter the cost.

What happened to Zoe won’t stay buried…

When Anna Cicconi arrives to the small Hamptons village of Herron Mills for a summer nanny gig, she has high hopes for a fresh start. What she finds instead is a community on edge after the disappearance of Zoe Spanos, a local girl who has been missing since New Year’s Eve. Anna bears an eerie resemblance to Zoe, and her mere presence in town stirs up still-raw feelings about the unsolved case. As Anna delves deeper into the mystery, stepping further and further into Zoe’s life, she becomes increasingly convinced that she and Zoe are connected—and that she knows what happened to her.

Two months later, Zoe’s body is found in a nearby lake, and Anna is charged with manslaughter. But Anna’s confession is riddled with holes, and Martina Green, teen host of the Missing Zoe podcast, isn’t satisfied. Did Anna really kill Zoe? And if not, can Martina’s podcast uncover the truth?

Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, Kit Frick weaves a thrilling story of psychological suspense that twists and turns until the final page.

Can you briefly describe I KILLED ZOE SPANOS and its characters?

Think YA Rebecca set in the Hamptons. When Anna Cicconi confesses to playing a role in the death of local teen Zoe Spanos, she’s charged with manslaughter and concealing a body. But Anna’s confession is riddled with holes, and Martina Green, teen host of the Missing Zoe podcast, isn’t satisfied. Did Anna really kill Zoe? And if not, can Martina’s podcast uncover the truth?

In its most boiled-down form, Martina is our detective and Anna is our unreliable narrator / possible villain. But spoiler alert—it’s not that simple!

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?

I have a special place in my heart for the story’s minor characters like Kaylee, Anna’s best friend from home; Paisley, her eight-year-old babysitting charge; and Aster, Zoe’s younger sister and Martina’s best friend. Sometimes the secondary characters are the most fun to write.

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?

When the idea for I Killed Zoe Spanos was bouncing around in my head, I’d recently re-read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca for the fourth (fifth?) time and couldn’t help wondering: What if Rebecca de Winter had gone missing today, in the age of Serial and The Vanished and Bear Brook and all the other excellent true crime podcasts that have sprung up over the last five years? Then I landed on the Hamptons setting—the American equivalent of the tony English seaside town in Rebecca—and I Killed Zoe Spanos evolved from there.

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?

Sia’s “Chandelier.” Anna comes to Herron Mills in part to escape her “party girl” past and make a fresh start—but of course nothing goes as planned. I think she’d relate quite a bit to the girl in Sia’s high-flying anthem.

If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?

The only piece of “dream casting” I have worked out is the part of Caden Talbot, the boy next door at Windermere. I always see Jordan Fisher in my head when I picture Caden!

What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date?

I Killed Zoe Spanos comes complete with its own mocktail: the Lemon Spritz! Think lemonade and seltzer; add a splash of rum to make it adult. :) Best consumed poolside or at the beach, of course.

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish I KILLED ZOE SPANOS?

For more YA thrillers featuring podcasts, check out Sadie by Courtney Summers on the slim chance you haven’t already, as well as I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan (coming in October 2020) and Holly Jackson’s Good Girl, Bad Blood (which I’m hoping will be coming to the US soon!). On the adult side, I highly recommend Elizabeth Little’s Pretty as a Picture, Denise Mina’s Conviction, and Kathleen Barber’s Are You Sleeping (re-released in paperback and developed for TV as Truth Be Told) all of which feature (fictional) true crime podcasts woven into the narrative.

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

Endings! Many writers despair of the “murky middle,” but it’s endings that give me the most trouble. Not because I don’t know where I’m writing toward, because I generally do, but because getting all the necessary information to the reader in a mystery novel in a way that is both organic and surprising is a real challenge. It takes many drafts to get it just right.

What’s next for you?

My next book is still a secret! (Ssh.) I hope to be able to spill some details soon.

Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow from Pittsburgh, PA. She studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press and edits for private clients. She is the author of the young adult novels See All the Stars and All Eyes on Us, both from Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, as well as the poetry collection A Small Rising Up in the Lungs from New American Press. Her third YA thriller, I Killed Zoe Spanos, will release on June 2, 2020.

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Interview with Lexa Hillyer for Frozen Beauty

Frozen Beauty

by Lexa Hillyer
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: March 17th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary

Synopsis:

Everyone in Devil’s Lake knows the three golden Malloy sisters—but one of them is keeping a secret that will turn their little world inside out….

No one knows exactly what happened to Kit in the woods that night—all they have are a constellation of facts: icy blue lips and fingers cold to the touch, a lacy bra, an abandoned pick-up truck with keys still in the ignition. Still, Tessa, even in her fog of grief, is certain that her sister’s killer wasn’t Boyd, the boy next door whom they’ve all loved in their own way. There are too many details that don’t add up, too many secrets still tucked away.

But no matter how fiercely she searches for answers, at the core of that complicated night is a truth that’s heartbreakingly simple.

Told in lush, haunting prose, Frozen Beauty is a story of the intoxicating power of first love, the deep bonds of sisterhood, and a shocking death that will forever change the living.

Can you briefly describe FROZEN BEAUTY and its characters?

When Tessa and Lilly’s older sister, Kit, is found frozen to death out by the woods, in the back of the boy-next-door’s truck, evidence of foul play leads to a murder case, while the two younger sister are left to pick up the pieces, and unpack the night that led to Kit’s death. The story is told in Before and Now sections, with the Before sections containing excerpts from Lilly’s diaries, and the Now told by Tessa. There are also poems by Kit sprinkled throughout.

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?

I loved writing all three sisters; this answer may be a cheat but I loved writing the dynamic between the three of them the best. That said, I did have a lot of fun with Lilly’s diary entries, and Kit’s poems.

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere? 

It started with an image –of a girl’s body found frozen in the woods—and a feeling. I started doing research on hypothermia, and on other suspicious deaths, and at the same time, I realized I knew I wanted to tell a sister story. All the pieces slowly began to constellate around that. Using the Before and Now format helped me bring more levity into the book – I wanted to start with Kit’s death, but I also wanted to be able to go back and see all three sisters on the page together, see what their life was like before it all fell apart, build those bonds, and, of course, sprinkle hints and clues for the later mystery.

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?

The Leaving Song

If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?

Ooh, I don’t know. Saoirse Ronan is too old now to play Tessa, right? 

What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date?

Window seat anywhere with a view of dark woods, hot cocoa in hands

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish FROZEN BEAUTY?

Feel free to check out my other books – Spindle Fire, Winter Glass, and Proof of Forever! I also have a poetry collection called Acquainted with the Cold. If you’re looking for something else, I suggest The Deep by Alma Katsu, Three Women by Lisa Taddeo, Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw, I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Rishi, The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg, and… I could go on and on and on.

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

The middle.

What’s next for you?

We’ll see! There will be more books, maybe by me, definitely by other people (I also run the book side of Glasstown Entertainment!)

Lexa Hillyer is the Founder and President of Publishing at Glasstown Entertainment, an all-womxn creative development and production company located in New York and Los Angeles. She is also the author of Frozen Beauty, Spindle Fire, Winter Glass, and Proof of Forever, all young adult novels published by HarperCollins, as well as the poetry collection Acquainted with the Cold from Bona Fide Books. Acquainted with the Cold was the 2012 gold prize winner of the Foreword Book of the Year Award for Poetry and received the Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize. Her work has been featured in a variety of journals and collections including Best New Poets 2012, and she has received several honors for poetry. Lexa earned her BA in English from Vassar College and her MFA in Poetry from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine. She worked as an editor at both HarperCollins and Penguin, before founding Glasstown Entertainment along with New York Times Bestselling author Lauren Oliver. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter and their very skinny orange tree.

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Interview with Diana Urban for All Your Twisted Secrets

All Your Twisted Secrets

by Diana Urban
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: March 17th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary

Synopsis:

This thrilling debut, reminiscent of new fan favorites like One of Us Is Lying and the beloved classics by Agatha Christie, will leave readers guessing until the explosive ending.

Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting.

What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common? They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it’s a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to pick someone to kill … or else everyone dies.

Amber Prescott is determined to get her classmates and herself out of the room alive, but that might be easier said than done. No one knows how they’re all connected or who would want them dead. As they retrace the events over the past year that might have triggered their captor’s ultimatum, it becomes clear that everyone is hiding something. And with the clock ticking down, confusion turns into fear, and fear morphs into panic as they race to answer the biggest question: Who will they choose to die?

Can you briefly describe ALL YOUR TWISTED SECRETS and its characters?

All Your Twisted Secrets is about Amber, a 17-year-old aspiring film score producer who arrives at an invite-only dinner and is locked into the deserted restaurant with five other students. They uncover a tray with a syringe of poison, a bomb, and a note that reads: “Within the hour, you must choose someone in this room to die. If you don’t, everyone dies.” Determined to get everyone out alive, Amber orchestrates friends and foes alike to work together, grappling with the clashing personalities of her jock boyfriend, her nerd crush, her former best friend, the queen bee, and the stoner. But as the bomb’s timer ticks down, confusion turns into fear, and fear morphs into panic as they race to uncover who locked them in… and who’s going to die.

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?

I’d be epically betraying my protagonist Amber if I said anyone other than her! Amber’s quirky voice crystalized in my mind very early, and her dreams, hopes, fears, and motivations shaped the events both in the room and in the alternating flashback chapters. Those flashbacks track her struggle to win over the intimidating queen bee Sasha (who’s drama club director) to score the school play and get into her dream music school. This is the heart of the story: her relationships with the others and how she deals with many of the pressures teens face today, from bullying to college admissions to losing a loved one. I loved writing her, and now that the novel’s out in the world and out of my hands, I miss her.

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?

One day my husband and I started speculating the shortest timespan you could set a book or movie to, throwing ideas back and forth. Could an entire book take place over just fifteen minutes? No way, that’s not enough time to accomplish anything. But what about an hour? What if you locked a group of people in a room for an hour? What if someone died at the end of the hour? What if the trapped people killed one of them? What if they had to choose someone to kill, or else they’d all die? We exchanged this look that was like, “Bingo,” and I raced to my desk and started scribbling down ideas for characters I could put into this crazy situation.

I was inspired by so many things. The Escape Room apps and franchises surely crept into my subconscious as I drafted. I also grew up addicted to listening to movie scores, and Amber fiercely wants to become a film score producer. I was bullied and ostracized as a teenager, and those experiences helped shape some of the major themes in the book — namely bullying and mental health. So my story includes an amalgamation of influences from my life — the good and the bad.

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?

Truth be told, I mostly listen to movie scores (just like Amber!), and I haven’t yet found a song with vocalizations that would describe this book. If anyone has any ideas after they read, I’d love to hear them.J

If your book was going to be made into a movie, who would play your characters?

Since the majority of characters in this book are teens, I tried not to get attached to any particular dream casting, since if/when a movie or TV show ever gets made, any current teen actors would likely be too old to be cast in these roles. I will say, though, that I pictured David Harbour (the police chief and father figure in Stranger Things) as Amber’s dad!

What drink and place do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date?

A coffee and an Escape Room venue. You’d need the coffee for the energy to read FAST and finish the book before time runs out so you can escape the room!

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish ALL YOUR TWISTED SECRETS?

I love Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (though it’s more of a “locked island” thriller!), a murder mystery where ten people at an island retreat are picked off one by one. I used it as one of my comp titles while querying literary agents. Christie is the queen of red herrings, and she said herself this was the most difficult of her books to write. So I’d recommend picking up that one!

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

Thrillers in particular are a daunting genre too write. From effectively building tension, to hiding information from readers until the right time, to strategically placing red herrings… it’s a lot. But it’s important to throw away the notion of writing a perfect first draft. The real magic happens during revisions. Just like you wouldn’t solve a jigsaw puzzle by pulling pieces out of the box and setting them down in order, from left to right, one at a time—you don’t write a thriller that way, either. Instead you scatter all the pieces on the table and start working on the edges of the puzzle (the outline, or the framework of the novel) and then you tackle one section at a time (one plot thread, or one character arc, or one red herring), building and building until it all finally fits together. It can be overwhelming to conceptualize a thriller all at once, but when you break it down and take one element at a time, it’s easier to manage in your brain. At least, that’s how it works for me!

As a reader, what is the “one thing” that a mind-blowing story must have, in your opinion?

A protagonist (or multiple protagonists) with a voice you connect with, where you want to be in their head and are invested in them as a person. As long as that’s true, they can be in any sort of situation, and you’ll care about what happens to them!

What’s next for you?

While I can’t get into specifics here, I will say that I finished revising two different projects in 2020 — both young adult thrillers. Stay tuned!

I’m Diana Urban, and I write dark, twisty thrillers for teens including All Your Twisted Secrets (HarperTeen, March 17th 2020). When I’m not torturing fictional characters, I’m a marketing manager at BookBub, a leading book discovery platform. Outside the bookish world, I live with my husband and cat in Boston, and enjoy reading, video games, fawning over cute animals, and looking at the beach from a safe distance.

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