We chat with author Annelise Ryan about Monster in the Moonlight, which sees a quiet rural lane become the scene of a shocking crime that may be the work of a mythical monster.
Hi, Annelise! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Sure. I should probably begin with a clarification about who I am. My real name is Beth Amos and Annelise Ryan is one of two pseudonyms I’ve written under. I’m a retired registered nurse with nearly 50 years of experience and I spent the last 20 years working in the emergency room. I’m also a mystery/suspense novelist with 29 published books. I’m currently at work on the 30th book, which will be the fifth book in my Monster Hunter Mystery series. My books are published under my real name, under the pseudonym of Allyson K. Abbott, and more recently as Annelise Ryan. People often ask why I have the pseudonyms, and I tell them it’s because my ER patients probably wouldn’t have been comfortable knowing I spent my spare time trying to think up clever ways to kill people. But the truth is, it was a marketing decision both times.
I live in the beautiful state of Wisconsin with my partner of 38 years and my two English Cream Golden Retrievers. Oh, and two goldfish: Goldilocks and Lunch (it’s best if you don’t ask how that second name came about.)
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
When I was a child, my family moved around a lot, and I was always the new kid in school. It made it hard to make friends and fit in, and it didn’t help that I was always bigger than all my classmates and kind of dorky looking. Okay, really dorky looking (if you doubt me on this, check out my second grade school picture here. If you look closely enough you can see where the photographer pencilled in my hair because I’d decided to give myself a haircut a couple of days before.)
I learned early on that making up stories about myself, my family, and my life, stories that made me sound more interesting than I was, helped me to make friends and break into the cliques. Sometimes my stories were about random, imaginary people told simply to entertain. My mother and teachers called it lying, but I prefer to think of it as early rehearsals for my career as a fiction writer.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Oh, geez. I have no idea. Probably something by Dr. Suess.
- The one that made you want to become an author: I wanted to be a writer from as far back as I can remember and I spent years writing short fiction that I was never able to get published. I read everything I could get my hands on—magazines, books, newspapers, shampoo bottles, cereal boxes … you name it. If there were words on it, I read it. I spent several years freelancing in nonfiction writing, but in my late thirties I read two novels, both by Dean Koontz, that made me decide to try a novel length work. They were Lightning and Watchers. If you read my first published novel, Cold White Fury, that early Koontz influence is obvious.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: I recently finished Wildwood by Amy Pease, the sequel to Northwoods. It’s a somewhat dark and compelling story with a plot that is very relevant to our modern times. I love her writing.
Monster in the Moonlight is the fourth installment in your Monster Hunter series and it’s out January 27th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Scooby-Doo meets The X-Files.
For those who haven’t picked up the series, what can readers expect?
The main character in the books, Morgan Carter, is a cryptozoologist with a tragic past. For those who may not know, a cryptozoologist is someone who hunts for and studies cryptids—creatures thought to exist despite no proof, like the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. She and her rescue dog, Newt, live in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin where she runs the family’s books and oddities shop, Odds and Ends. Her parents, who were murdered a few years prior to the start of the series, were also cryptozoologists. Morgan carries on in the field after she is approached by law enforcement officers for help in explaining some deaths where possible cryptids might be involved. Her first case involves a potential sea monster in Lake Michigan, and during her second outing she tries to find a homicidal Bigfoot in the Chequamegon National Forest. For her third assignment, she travels to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, to find a killer Hodag, and the fourth book, Monster in the Moonlight, has her searching for the Beast of Bray Road, a werewolf-type creature in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The books also reflect some of the more intriguing aspects of Wisconsin history, including buried treasures, sunken ships, circus history, and Al Capone.
And for those who have, what’s to come in Monster in the Moonlight?
Morgan makes some interesting discoveries about herself and her parents’ murders in this book. As usual, there is an unexplainable death, that of a woman found in the woods along Bray Road where there were multiple sightings several decades ago of a creature most described as a werewolf or dogman. Both the victim and her car have some unusual claw marks on them, suggesting the Beast of Bray Road has returned. And a witness saw the creature eating some kind of animal just two nights prior to this death. Adding to the mystery are some intriguing items found in the victim’s pockets.
During Morgan’s investigation she sees the beast herself, and various clues lead her down a puzzling trail of deception, savagery, and a Wisconsin bootlegging history involving Al Capone. She also experiences a journey of self-discovery and forgiveness that will dramatically change her future.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring further?
Morgan’s ex-fiancé, the person she thinks killed her parents, has been an ongoing, somewhat minor character in the books. In Monster in the Moonlight, his character reveals some stunning things that will make readers question everything they believed about him before this. Is he telling the truth or is he gaslighting Morgan even more than before? It was great fun writing these revelations and exploring the effect they have on Morgan.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
There are always challenges: writing myself into plot holes I can’t climb out of, trying to stick to my writing schedule when life gets in the way, trying not to spend too much time going down rabbit holes I find on Google while doing my research. Oh, and the middle of the book. I hate the middle of the book. Plus, there’s my natural inclination to be a procrastinator. Sometimes I think I avoid writing on purpose to put pressure on myself as my deadline gets closer. I’m an adrenaline junkie. It’s why I spent most of my nursing career in the ER. When I write under pressure because a deadline is looming, I think it improves my writing.
Or maybe I’m just deluding myself.
What’s next for you?
Well, no big surprise I have a deadline lurking just around the corner for book #5 in the Monster Hunter Mysteries and I’m not as far along with it as I’d like to be at this point. It involves a hunt for a flying cryptid that might be a Mothman or a Thunderbird and I’m super excited about it. When I finally get it done and turn it in, I plan to spend a month catching up on some TV and movies I’ve wanted to see, and doing some binge reading.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I’ve been building a list for some months now in preparation for my binge. At the top of it are Wreck My Heart by Lori Rader-Day, Never Flinch by Stephen King, The Five Year Lie by Sarina Bowen, and The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. I’m also eagerly awaiting the April release of A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz.
