We chat with author Tess Gerritsen about The Summer Guests, which is the chilling follow-up to The Spy Coast, plunging the Martini Club into the search for a missing teen―with a startling connection to their own pasts.
Hi, Tess! Welcome back! How have you been over the last year and a bit since we last spoke?
Busier than ever! I’m writing the third in the Martini Club series, featuring my merry band of retired spies as they solve crimes (while occasionally annoying the local chief of police) in small-town Maine. I’m also working on the pilot for a television series, VACATIONLAND, featuring a semi-autobiographical Asian-American character who leaves California and moves to Maine.
Your latest novel, The Summer Guests, is out March 18th and the second installment in your Martini Club series! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
In only five words? That’s brutal! But I’ll try: “Old spies seek missing girl.”
What can readers expect?
Maine has long been a destination for well-to-do summer visitors, leading to friction between the local population and these demanding outsiders. When the teenage daughter of a wealthy summer family goes missing, and Maggie Bird’s neighbor is implicated, Maggie and her four friends — all retired from the CIA — join the search for the girl. This leads to inevitable clashes with police chief Jo Thibodeau, who’s annoyed that the Martini Club is once again always a step ahead of her. Believing that the girl may have drowned, the police search the pond near the family’s house — only to drag up the skeleton of a long-dead woman. As the case becomes more and more complex, it will take the efforts of both Jo and the Martini Club to finally reveal the truth.
Where did the inspiration for The Summer Guests come from?
During my research for THE SPY COAST, I came across an obscure bit of history concerning the CIA and what it was doing in Maine. There was an outpost of MKULTRA operations here on the midcoast, a program that later became embroiled in scandal, and that was part of what inspired THE SUMMER GUESTS. But the biggest inspiration was from having lived in Maine for 35 years, observing the tensions between the summer people and the locals, and imagining how those conflicts could escalate.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?
I love writing about the sometimes fraught relationship between Jo Thibodeau and the members of the Martini Club! There are so many layers of conflict between them: young vs old, local vs. outsider, innocence vs. cynicism. With each book, Jo learns more and more about these ex-spies, and she’s also drawn slowly into their circle of trust. They can never completely trust her of course, because the members of the Martini Club are by nature suspicious, but they have come to appreciate that Jo is truly a good egg who’ll always try to do the right thing. (Which sometimes gets in their way!)
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
I get plot block with every single book I write. It’s because I don’t outline my stories ahead of time, I just plunge into the story without a plan for where it’s going. When I get around two-thirds through the first draft, I have to stop and figure out what the heck is happening, who the villain is, and how to reveal their guilt. I’m at that stage now with my third Martini Club story. I know I’m near the end, but I just don’t know how to wrap it up.
My strategy for dealing with plot block is to stew and lie sleepless at night and vow that this is the last book I’ll ever write. I’ll stare at the ceiling, watch a lot of TV, and do a lot of ironing. What does help, I find, is to take long and boring drives. Very often, the solution to my problem pops into my head as I’m behind the wheel. I wish there were an easier way to do this, but after 32 books, I’ve come to accept that this is my process, and I’m too old to change.
Why thrillers?
It doesn’t matter what kind of book I set out to write, the story always veers into a thriller! Over my nearly 40-year writing career, I’ve written romance, historicals, science fiction, medical suspense, crime novels, and even a ghost story. While the sub-genre may change, at heart, they always seem to involve crime in one form or another. Perhaps it has to do with my childhood love of Nancy Drew stories. Or it’s because a beloved friend of my family later went to prison for murder, and I’m still trying to process how someone I loved and trusted could have done such a terrible thing.
What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned as an author and about the publishing world since your debut?
I’ve learned to be comfortable with my own writing process, that as painful as it can sometimes be, my way of writing books is right for me. I’ve also learned to trust my emotions when it comes to plots and characters. If a premise or situation gives me a strong gut reaction, then that’s what I should write. Stories grab you because you feel something about the situation or the character. Those are the stories that keep readers turning the pages.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on book #3 of the Martini Club series. The title is THE SHADOW FRIENDS, and this story focuses on former spy Ingrid Slocum, whose former lover from her espionage days comes back into her life, complicating her marriage, and leading to more murder and mayhem.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I always look forward to Lisa Unger’s books, and she has a new one coming: CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO TEN. Also SA Cosby’s KING OF ASHES and Shari Lapena’s SHE DIDN’T SEE IT COMING.
