We chat with author Deanna Raybourn about her latest release, Killers of a Certain Age, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Deanna! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a 54-year-old Texan living in Virginia with my husband of almost 32 years. We have one daughter, one son-in-law, and a pair of spoiled-ass dogs. I love yoga and rosé wine which makes me a cliché, but I’m too old to care what other people think. I also think any day can be improved by a good red lipstick.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t making up stories. I distinctly recall being so excited about learning how to print because I could get stories out of my head and onto paper at last! My Barbie dolls had some pretty wild adventures.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Little Women. Jane Eyre. My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.
Your new novel, Killers of a Certain Age, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Fun, unexpected, badass, fresh, optimistic.
What can readers expect?
It’s the story of what happens to four sixty-year-old female assassins when the organization they work for would rather see them dead than let them retire. From the minute they realize they’re marked, they have to work together, using only their experience and their loyalty to each other to survive. It’s fast-paced and fun—the sort of book to buy for your best friend so you can talk about it when you’re finished.
Where did the inspiration for Killers of a Certain Age come from?
My publisher called up one day and said they wanted a book about older women doing badass things and asked if I’d be interested. That was literally the entire brief—I had carte blanche to do whatever I liked. After writing a dozen and a half historical mysteries, I knew I wanted to do something completely different and asked them to let me write it as a contemporary. To their everlasting credit, they let me take a huge risk and give them something unlike anything I’d ever written before.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
My biggest hurdle was finding my contemporary voice. Writing so many historical means that my Victorian writing voice is just there, I don’t have to think about it. But developing the voice for Killers meant I had to let everything fall away. I finally cracked it when I stopped trying to write it and began to tell it instead.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I love all my killers, but I have a soft spot for Billie. And there’s one line in particular that makes me laugh every time I think about it. I’ve already had readers messaging me when they come across it, and I’m glad it’s amusing them too. I’m not sharing it here because this is a spoiler-free zone.
Were there any ‘must-haves’ you wanted to incorporate when it came to writing your novel, such as tropes, topics, characteristics etc?
I wanted variety across aptitudes, sexual orientation, and especially across ages because it’s important to me that as many people as possible find something in this book to point to and say, “Hey, I’m in here!”
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best advice was early on in my career when I was having a lot of trouble getting published and my agent told me to stop writing for a year and just read. Her rationale was that you don’t know who you are as a writer until you know who you are as a reader. (It’s brilliant advice, by the way.) The worst advice is that a writer is supposed to write every day. It’s absolute nonsense.
What’s next for you?
I have just finished writing the eighth book in my Veronica Speedwell series and getting ready to start book nine. I also have a few other projects on deck that I’m excited to start.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
Kismet by Amina Akhtar. Finished it three weeks ago and I’m still freaked out.
