We chat with author Erin Dunn about He’s To Die For, which is a sparkling romantic murder mystery: it’s murder cute in the first degree when a detective finds himself falling for the lead suspect in a career-making case.
Hi, Erin! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a cat mom, a proud auntie, a foodie, a musician, a gardener, a world traveller, and most of all, a hopeless romantic. I love to read, I’m fascinated by history and philosophy, and I will happily follow you down the deepest, nerdiest rabbit hole for the pure pleasure of learning something new. As a result, my brain is bursting with random factoids. You want me on your pub quiz team, trust me.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
The stories came first, maybe since before I could talk. As a toddler, I would cheerfully spend hours playing by myself, chatting away with my toys. (They talked back, at least in my mind.) I spent my entire childhood with my head quite thoroughly in the clouds—and come to think of it, I’ve spent most of my adulthood that way, too. As for the writing, I’ve been in love with books for as long as I can remember, and my mom still has stories I wrote (and illustrated, hilariously) at 4 and 5 years old, so I guess that part is pretty hardwired, too.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Paper Bag Princess
- The one that made you want to become an author: Dragons of Autumn Twilight
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Your novel, He’s To Die For, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Light, fun, swoony, twisty, cheeky.
What can readers expect?
A breezy beach read that pairs a twisty whodunnit with a swoony rom-com. The setup is cheerfully implausible (an ivy league-educated, fashionista Brit in the NYPD finds himself falling for his number one suspect, a reserved indie rock star with anxiety issues) and what follows is 50% mystery and 50% romance. I wouldn’t call it romantic suspense—the mystery has cozy vibes, and the romance is sweet as well as steamy—but it’s still very plot driven and has a twist ending I guarantee you won’t see coming.
Where did the inspiration for He’s To Die For come from?
The whole thing started with the pandemic, and my binge reading rom-coms. Like so many people, I really needed some joy and optimism in my life and rom-coms were really hitting the spot. They say you should write what you love, so I thought I’d give it a shot. They also say write what you know, and for me, that’s cozy(ish) mysteries, so… voila! One plus one equals something I’d never tried before and am so, so happy I did.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
It was honestly a privilege to watch these characters grow. That probably sounds strange, since I’m the one writing them, but it’s one of the coolest things about being an author. There’s this moment when, if you’ve done your job well, your characters jump from 2D to 3D. They seem to take on a life of their own, and you become a passenger on their journey instead of the driver. Suddenly all those plot points—Jack’s troubled past, Rav’s estrangement from his parents and his alienation at work—are no longer just devices. They’re baked in, part of the characters’ DNA, key to understanding who they are and why they make the choices they do. At that point, your job as the author is just to get out of the way and let them grow, and these two just swept me off my feet. The way they fought for each other, protected each other, healed each other. My favourite line in the book comes from Jack:
“I just forget what it’s like to feel safe sometimes. It’s okay, though, because you’re reminding me.”
I melted into a puddle right along with Rav.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was trying to blend two very different genres—mystery and romance—in a way that satisfies the expectations of both. It’s much trickier than I would have guessed, and I had to be really thoughtful and deliberate about it.
For example, the pacing. Mystery readers tend to expect a fast-paced narrative, without too many detours into character backstory. They get impatient if things don’t move along at a good clip. Whereas for romance readers, it’s all about the characters—not just the MCs but the secondary characters, all of whom have backstories and agendas that readers want to know about. The romance, meanwhile, needs to decant slowly and be given time to breathe, like a fine wine. So while half your readers want you to move it along, the other half want you to slow down and savour it. Striking the right balance between the two was something my crit partner, my editor, and I spent a lot of time fine-tuning.
Having a cop fall for a suspect posed another set of dilemmas. I was determined that Rav wouldn’t step over the line, no matter how badly he wanted to. Temptation can be a great source of suspense, but eventually, readers expect the relationship to go somewhere. How could Rav and Jack take their relationship to the next level without crossing a line? On top of which, in order for Jack to be a plausible suspect, he had to be kept at arm’s length. That meant no dual POV, which many romance readers prefer. How do you convince a reader to fall in love with someone who’s a little remote, let alone a possible murderer?
These very technical challenges ended up leading to some of the book’s best moments. To develop Jack’s character without giving away whodunnit, I dug deeper into his backstory—leading to a secondary plot I might never have come up with otherwise. The need to keep things between Rav and Jack strictly above board led to a significant plot twist that greatly upped the stakes for Rav. Meanwhile, that unanticipated secondary plot ended up delivering a surprise ending and one of the biggest emotional punches of the book. There’s a life lesson in there, probably. The tough stuff is worth doing!
What’s next for you?
Another murder cute, this time set in the south of France. Readers can look out for it next year!
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?
I read The Charm Offensive, which I quite enjoyed, along with Funny Story. During my next writing break, I’m looking forward to picking up Written in the Dark by one of my favourite authors, Guy Gavriel Kay.
