Alice Henderson

In addition to being a writer, Alice Henderson is a dedicated wildlife researcher, geographic information systems specialist, and bioacoustician. She documents wildlife on specialized recording equipment, checks remote cameras, creates maps, and undertakes wildlife surveys to determine what species are present on preserves, while ensuring there are no signs of poaching. She’s surveyed for the presence of grizzlies, wolves, wolverines, jaguars, endangered bats, and more.

Henderson's latest Alex Carter mystery thriller is The Vanishing Kind.

My Q&A with the author:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Originally I wanted each book in this series to be the group name of an animal and the animal, like "A Murder of Crows" or "An Obstinacy of Bison." But I quickly learned with the first three species I focused on (wolverines, polar bears, and mountain caribou), that they had no specific group names. So I made up fitting group names: A Solitude of Wolverines, A Blizzard of Polar Bears, A Ghost of Caribou. Originally I gave The Vanishing Kind the working title of A Prowl of Jaguars, and it was the first time the group of animals I was focusing on had an actual, pre-established group name: a prowl. But it was at this time that my publisher wanted to go in a different direction with the title themes, so The Vanishing Kind was chosen instead. We thought the title would convey a mystery...what is vanishing? And at the same time it applies to both the critically endangered jaguar and to certain events in the book.

How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?

I think my teenage self would be happy with my novel. Even back then, I was working to help wildlife both in the field with rescue/rehabilitation and habitat improvement. I was writing letters, circulating petitions, and donating money to wildlife non-profits. So to know I'd written a series about a wildlife biologist dedicated to helping endangered species would have made me quite happy.

Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?

They are equally challenging for me. I want to immediately invite readers into a mystery, so I put a lot of thought into what's going to unfold at the start and how it will tie in to the story later on. But for endings, it's also very important, especially in a thriller or mystery, to tie up all the threads you've introduced over the course of the novel.

Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?

I see a lot of similarities between me and my protagonist. We're both wildlife researchers, we both have a deep love of nature and conservation. But villains who want to destroy habitat are definitely a world apart from me, so it's interesting to get into their mindsets.

What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?

Nature is infinitely inspiring to me. Most scenes in my novels are written while I'm out in the wild. I have a portable word processor and I'll sit outside on a boulder or under a tree in a forest, writing and gazing out at the scenery. I camp in the very places where I set my books, so I'll steep in the setting -- what the air smells like, what bird songs I hear, what wildlife I see.

Visit Alice Henderson's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Vanishing Kind.

My Book, The Movie: The Vanishing Kind.

--Marshal Zeringue