Attica Locke's latest mystery is Heaven, My Home.From her CrimeReads Q&A with Molly Odintz:
Molly Odintz: As a Texan who grew up hearing about Lake Caddo as the only natural lake in Texas, I was really excited to see the book was set there. How do you think of geography when you’re writing?--Marshal Zeringue
Attica Locke: It’s usually the number one or number two thing I’m thinking about—particularly with the Highway 59 series. I knew before I wrote the first book that each book in the series would touch on a town along Highway 59. I wanted to write about Caddo Lake because I’d seen it as a child and as a young adult, and it’s so evocative and amazing and interesting. I knew I was going to write about Caddo Lake before I had a story—geography shaped this whole story.
MO: Is Lake Caddo as creepy and beautiful in real life as it is in the book?
AL: Probably creepier. I’m so glad I didn’t just go by photographs! There was a part of me that knew I had to go there. In March 2017 I did a research trip to Caddo Lake. I stayed in a cabin on the lake and then I went to Jefferson for a few days. I took a boat tour over part of the lake and to be in it is…I can’t explain it. I hope I captured it in the book. When you go through one of the Cypress forests, it’s so insanely majestic-looking—you’re literally floating through woods in water. It gets so quiet. They say it’s the Spanish moss, but if...[read on]