Wallace Stroby’s The Devil’s Share is the latest novel featuring one of the most compelling anti-heroes around today, heistwoman Crissa Stone. From the author's Q & A with MysteryPeople’s Scott Montgomery:MPS: This was the novel where it appeared Crissa had changed a bit without completely putting my finger on it. At what place do you see Crissa in her life?Learn more about the author and his novels at the official Wallace Stroby website and The Heartbreak Blog.
WS: I think over the course of the books, what’s been happening – though I don’t think I knew it at the time – is that she’s gradually been surrendering her illusions about where her life’s going. In Cold Shot to the Heart, the first book, she’s actively trying to build a “normal” life for herself – buying a house, trying to get her lover/mentor out of prison, attempting to reunite with the daughter she gave up. At the end of that book, most of her hopes go up in smoke – literally. In Kings of Midnight, she comes to accept the fact that her lover, Wayne, is likely *never* going to get out of prison, and that she’s basically on her own. She’s harder and colder in the third one, Shoot The Woman First, but her relationship with the young daughter of a slain partner thaws her a bit. In The Devil’s Share, she’s in the driver’s seat, picking the team, planning the heist, etc. In one sense, she’s become Wayne.
MPS: You have a great character in Hicks, and his relationship with Crissa is what makes the book for me. What did you want to explore with it?
WS: I wanted to finally give Crissa – who’s been pretty isolated and lonely in the previous books – a relationship with someone who was...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: Gone 'til November.
The Page 69 Test: Cold Shot to the Heart.
The Page 69 Test: Kings of Midnight.
The Page 69 Test: The Devil's Share.
--Marshal Zeringue