We chat with author Allison Brennan about her latest release See How They Hide, which is the sixth installment in the Quinn & Costa series and sees two identical murders occur at the same time on opposite sides of the country, so special agents Kara Quinn and Matt Costa must find the killer before the next target dies.
Hi, Allison! Welcome back! How has the past two years been since we last spoke?
Thank you so much for having me again! Time flies. I now have a grandson, which is one of the most joyful things in my life. And in the last two years, I had two kids graduate from college and find good jobs, so that’s a plus. For me, I’m still writing every day (except Mondays when I babysit my grandson) and I still love (almost) every minute of it.
With it being the new year, have you set any goals for the year?
I’m not a big goal setter. I’ve always felt that if I set a goal and achieve it, the goal was too easy and I’m not pushing myself. If I set a goal and miss it, then I feel like a failure. So I focus more on the little things: putting in the time. This goes for everything, from writing to personal relationships. That said, 2024 was a bit difficult because my husband had some health issues and I got behind on my deadlines. When you’re late on one, everything steamrolls. My goal is to be back on track by the end of this month, and so far, so good! Both for my husband and my deadlines.
See How They Hide is the sixth installment in your Quinn & Costa series and it’s out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Two murders on opposite coasts.
For those who haven’t picked up the series, what do they have to look forward to?
See How They Hide is a good place to start the series because the last book resolved an ongoing conflict for Detective Kara Quinn, one of my protagonists. In this book, the FBI Mobile Response Team (the “best of the best” who travel to small communities to solve unusual or complex cases) is finally fully staffed. Now, they are working together to solve two murders that happened on opposite coasts at the same time with the same M.O. The team splits up to cover more ground, but end up together in Colorado which seems to be a common thread between the victims. If you like police procedurals with complex characters (both good guys and bad!) then you’ll like the Quinn & Costa series.
And for those who have, what can they expect from this new installment?
The MRT is finally fully staffed with the addition of rookie FBI agent and former Marine Sloane Wagner (introduced in The Missing Witness.) If you’ve been following the series, now Kara and Matt are in a good place both personally and professionally, and the team is (mostly) working well together. In See How They Hide you’ll get the same twisty, complex mystery that has defined this series, set in three beautiful areas of the US – rural Virginia, southern Oregon, and the Rocky Mountains. Themes about starting over, family loyalty (and disloyalty), retribution, and forgiveness … and of course secrets, vengeance, and murder.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?
I love all the characters in the Mobile Response Team. Most of the books center around Kara Quinn, and one thing I love in this series is the friendship and trust that is built between Kara and her partner Michael Harris. They don’t agree on everything, but they trust and respect each other and it really shows in this book. I also enjoy how Kara and Matt’s relationship has progressed over the series. This isn’t a romantic suspense, so their relationship takes a back seat, but it’s grown organically as I think would be realistic if they were real people. And Riley Pierce, a potential witness and victim, was a very interesting character to develop. She is very different from me, so I had to really dig down and get to know her. It wasn’t easy, but I’m very happy with her and how she evolved.
Specific moments that stand out … Riley’s memories of Havenwood are probably the most powerful because they are both beautiful and inspiring, but with a very dark undertone.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Every book is different, so the challenges are different. For example, See How They Hide flowed pretty smoothly for me, with only a few kinks along the way. My biggest challenges were related to weather and location – I had the book completely written, set in early March, and realized my characters wouldn’t be able to do half of what I had them do because the area would have been too deep with snow. So during revisions, I changed early March to early April – still snow on the ground, but no major rewrites. The book I just finished, Don’t Say a Word, was a lot harder because I knew who the bad guy was from the beginning (I don’t always) and I felt it was too obvious, so I spent a lot of time writing and rewriting and rewriting to make the story as strong as possible. And then my editor also felt it was too obvious, so I did more work during revisions. (Sometimes it works for the story to know who the bad guy is – it builds suspense – and other times, it flops.)
What’s the best and worst writing advice you’ve received?
Best: It never gets easier because a professional author will always strive to make their next book better than the last.
Worst: “You can’t …” fill in the blank; “You must …” fill in the blank. You can’t write romantic suspense, it’s not selling. You must have sex scenes. You can’t write a standalone thriller until you’re established. You must plot. You can’t kill off a main character.
I hate it when people say I can’t or I must do something. My advice? Write the book you want to read. First and foremost, you have to love what you write.
What’s next for you?
Well … my books for 2025 are done and in production. Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds is a standalone romantic mystery out in June, and Don’t Say a Word is the second Angelhart Investigations book out in September. I’m currently writing the next Quinn & Costa thriller that will be out in early 2026 … this one set mostly in Florida and Georgia.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up in 2025?
So I’m actually reading The Big Empty by Robert Crais and listening to Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz, both of which I received advanced copies for and were two of the books I was most looking forward to reading in 2025. So I have a head start on my 2025 reading! I’m also looking forward to Elle Cosimano’s next mystery, Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave.
