Genre Hopping with Edwin Hill

by Julie, wintering in Somerville

I am delighted to welcome Edwin Hill back to the blog today. We’re here to celebrate the release of Who to Believe, which will be released January 23. He offered to do an interview for today’s post. Enjoy!

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Name (s): Edwin Hill

Genre(s): Mystery; domestic suspense; thriller

What drew you to the genre you write?
I write what I read. I started reading crime novels when I was a kid, starting with the Three Investigators and the Famous Five, and then quickly graduated to authors like Agatha Christie and Ken Follett. Now, I continue to read crime fiction, both contemporary and classic! I love stories that begin with a puzzle and show characters having to overcome unimaginable obstacles.

What sets your book apart from what is out there?
If you like puzzles and looking at how one person’s “truth” might differ from another’s, then you’ll like my newest novel, WHO TO BELIEVE (see, it’s right there in the title!)
The story begins with a murder in a small town – a local restaurateur named Laurel Thibodeau is found asphyxiated in her own home – and suspicion immediately falls on her husband and business partner, Simon. He has gambling debts and recently took out a large life insurance policy on his wife – he also has a rock-solid alibi.

Soon after the murder, we join a gathering of friends who’ve come together to celebrate one of their birthdays. Each of them has their own take on the murder, and, in turn, we see how each character interprets the story for themselves. Of course, there’s a second murder that very night! And none of the friends are being honest with each other. As the reader, you wind up seeing who survives the night, and then you have to decide which of these characters to believe.

I love stories that play with perspective, and how different people interpret the same events. For this novel, I was inspired by a Kurosawa film called Rashomon, as well as the TV show The Affair, both of which look at how stories unfold through the lens of multiple perspectives.

Do you write a series or standalones? Why?
I like to work on both! WHO TO BELIEVE is a standalone, though one character from another novel makes an appearance. I’ve written a series, too, about a Harvard librarian named Hester Thursby who finds missing people, and I would love to revisit Hester’s world at some point. Series allow you to explore your core cast and see them grow as characters over the course of many novels. Standalones are nice, because you have the freedom of not having to protect your core cast or save any of the tension for another novel. In a standalone, you throw the kitchen sink at your protagonist, and when the story’s done, it’s done!

What are you currently writing?
I’m working on a new novel called WHAT HAPPENED NEXT that may or may not turn into a series. It’s about a young man who survived a brutal murder as an infant. He begins to record a podcast to see if he can learn more about what really happened, but when another murder strikes close to home, he pairs up with a TV star who played a detective in a police procedural (think Law & Order) to see if they can solve the murder together. It’s sort of like Castle meets Three Pines.

What are you reading right now?
This is not my typical answer to this question, but I’m rereading HOWARD’S END and am amazed by how engaging and contemporary it is. I love Forster’s language and characters, and how modern much of the story feels. We’re still dealing with good ol’ classism a hundred years later.

Do you have a favorite quote or life motto?
My current manuscript has been a challenge for a number of reasons, mostly personal, so the motto that keeps me going right now is, “The shark that doesn’t swim, drowns.”

Favorite writing space?
I am fortunate to have a home office. Because I’m on deadline for WHAT HAPPENED NEXT, it is a complete mess right now. I look forward to cleaning when I send the manuscript off to my editor!

Favorite deadline snack?
I get up at 4 a.m. to write every day… so I drink gallons of coffee!

4am?!! That’s dedication!What do you see when you look up from writing?
I look out my back window on a beautiful Japanese maple. If I’m lucky, my yellow lab Edith Ann will be playing under the tree. It’s a good view.

Thanks for having me today!

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Congratulations on Who to Believe, Edwin! Readers, Edwin mentioned that “standalones are nice, because you have the freedom of not having to protect your core cast or save any of the tension for another novel.” That’s part of what makes reading standalones so nervewracking–anything can happen and surprises abound. When was the last time you gasped while reading a standalone?

About the Book:

Monreith, Massachusetts, was once a small community of whalers and farmers. These days it’s a well-to-do town filled with commuters drawn to its rugged coastline and country roads. A peaceful, predictable place—until popular restaurateur Laurel Thibodeau is found brutally murdered in her own home. Suspicion naturally falls on Laurel’s husband, Simon, who had gambling debts that only her life insurance policy could fix. But there are other rumors too . . .

Among the group of six friends gathered for Alice Stone’s fortieth birthday, theories abound concerning Laurel’s death. Max Barbosa, police chief, has heard plenty of them, as has his longtime friend, Unitarian minister Georgia Fitzhugh. Local psychiatrist Farley Drake is privy to even more, gleaning snippets of gossip and information from his patients while closely guarding his own past.

But maybe everyone in Monreith has something to hide. Because before this late-summer evening has come to a close, one of these six will be dead. And as jealousy, revenge, adultery, and greed converge, the question becomes not who among these friends might be capable of such a thing, but—who isn’t?

About the Author:

Edwin is the Edgar- and Agatha-award nominated author of three novels in the Hester Thursby series: Little Comfort, The Missing Ones, and Watch Her. His latest novel is the standalone thriller The Secrets We Share.

He was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, and spent most of his childhood obsessing over The Famous Five, Agatha Christie, and somehow finding a way into C.S. Lewis’s wardrobe. His parents were fond of taking his sister and him on month-long family camping trips across the U.S. and Canada, and one of his best memories is of finishing a copy of The Seven Dials Mystery while the rest of the family visited Mount Rushmore. Growing up when VHS tapes were new meant that watching Alien, Jaws, The Shining, or Halloween whenever he wanted seemed luxurious, and still does today. Like Hester Thursby, he watched these movies – and others like them – a lot.

After attending Wesleyan University and graduating with a B.A. in American Studies, he headed west to San Francisco for the dotcom boom. Later, he returned to Boston, earned an MFA from Emerson College, and switched gears to work in educational publishing. He served as the vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin’s, a division of Macmillan Learning for many years before turning to writing full time.

He lives in Roslindale, Massachusetts with his partner Michael and his favorite reviewer, their lab Edith Ann, who likes his first drafts enough to eat them.

Website: https://www.edwin-hill.com/