Burke's new novel If You Were Here features former prosecutor turned journalist McKenna Jordan.
From the author's Q & A with Cat Acree for BookPage:
Learn more about the book and author at Alafair Burke's website and blog.What do you think readers will most like about McKenna Jordan? How is she different from your past heroines?
Is it fair to say that a character will be liked for becoming more likable? Most of my past books feature series characters who evolve slowly. They grow, like most of us, in increments and with subtlety. McKenna, in contrast, endures more trauma and drama than most people experience in a lifetime, which allows her to make enormous discoveries about herself in one little book. She's also incredibly tenacious, for better or for worse. I think knowledgable crime fiction readers might also recognize that I've borrowed some familiar tropes of the genre and turned them upside down (or at least I hope so).
How has your law career most influenced your career as a writer?
I've been teaching criminal law for 12 years and, before that, was absolutely blessed to work as a prosecutor for five years. As luck would have it, I happened to work for a prosecutor who believed in taking lawyers out of the courtroom into the community, so I spent about half that time working out of a police precinct. Without that window of time, I wouldn't be the same kind of writer. Criminal investigations don't look...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: If You Were Here.
--Marshal Zeringue