Chelsea Cain

Chelsea Cain interviewed Chelsea Cain for The Oregonian. The Q & A opens:

O: Tell us a little bit about the book [Heartsick, her first novel featuring Portland detective Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful and brutal serial killer].

CC: It’s a thriller about a Portland detective who led the hunt for a beautiful serial killer for ten years. She captured him and tortured him for ten days before mysteriously turning herself in and saving his life. Now it’s two years later. She’s in jail and he’s addicted to pain pills, and there’s another serial killer on the loose, and the detective is called off medical leave to lead the search for the new killer.

O: Sounds funny.

CC: I know. It’s a departure.

O: Do you worry that fans of your gentle and nostalgic Sunday column in this paper will be put off by how dark and violent the book is?

CC: A little, yeah. The book’s got a very different tone. But the characters are witty and I hope that Oregonians will enjoy reading a book with corpses that wash up in familiar surroundings.

O: One of the killer’s victims is a student at Cleveland High School and several scenes in the book take place there. What do you have against Cleveland?

CC: Nothing. I participated in Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools program several years ago, and I served a two-week residency at Cleveland. I loved it. I had this group of incredibly smart students that could writer better than I can. When I needed a high school for the plot, I chose Cleveland because I’d spent time there and could conjure some details. For the record I also kill students from Lincoln and Jefferson.

O: At one point in the book you describe torturing a victim by pulling out her intestine with a crochet hook. Do you worry about contributing to the culture of violence?

CC: I would worry about the war we’re fighting in Iraq and Saw III and the 24-hour news channels, before I blamed our culture of violence on books.

O: You’re evading the question. You have a...[read on]

Learn more about the author and her work at Chelsea Cain's website and blog, and at iheartgretchenlowell.com.

The Page 99 Test: Sweetheart.

The Page 69 Test: Evil at Heart.

--Marshal Zeringue