Suzanne, welcome to TMR! Tell us about yourself.

I'm 39 (really-I swear). I was born in Manhattan and partly raised there and in Tenafly, N.J. I now make my home near New York. I've been married for 13 years to a deputy chief in the New York City Fire Department. I went to college at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL and almost went to New York University's School of Law, but I decided not to at the last moment. I didn't have a passion for law and it felt like I was going through the motions.

Are you coming to mystery writing from another job?

I was a writer and editor for Reader's Digest for a decade before I became a novelist. I also taught writing at the New School University in Manhattan. I left journalism about a year ago to concentrate on my fiction writing, but I still teach writing at the college level.

What led you to write mysteries?

I like reading mysteries and have read them for years. I like the notion that a story-almost any story-can be wrapped around some sort of life-or-death situation. I think that life-or-death element gives mysteries their tactile quality and narrative drive--virtues sometimes missing from other forms of fiction. I feel as if my writing would bog down and become boring if it didn't have something crucial at stake as a central force in the story.

Tell us about your road to publication.

It took me five years of solid writing before the book was published. I wrote the first draft over two years, while holding down a job. I wrote the second and third drafts over year three. Under my agent's skillful guidance, I wrote three more drafts over year four and under my editor's careful eye, I wrote the final three drafts over year five. And when I say drafts, I mean FULL drafts. A lot of rewriting went into my book. The rewriting paid off, though, I think. When I started looking for an agent, I was already shopping a third draft-not a first. I wrote up a one-page "teaser" about the book-similar to flap copy on a published novel. Then I shopped the teaser and got two interested agents in three months. I went with my agent because he wanted to take his time and make the book the best it could be and this too, paid off. When we finally submitted the book to publishers a year later, we got three offers and sealed the whole deal in ten days-the fastest thing that has happened to me in publishing.

What kind of research was involved for your first book?

A lot of research went into my book. I was fortunate because my husband is a New York City Firefighter, so he was able to help me with the details. But I also interviewed firefighters and fire marshals-male and female, in New York and outside of it-to give the book the gritty sense of reality it needed. I live near Manhattan, so I walked the buildings I was going to write about. I went to arson investigation scenes. I hung out and listened to the men talk. And I used the internet to find out those random things that could take a day to get answered otherwise.

Who are your influences as a writer?

I have been a long-time admirer of Scott Turow and Dennis Lehane. I love the works of Lee Child and Jeffery Deaver-both of whom I admired so much, I approached for quotes for my bookjacket. I enjoy a lot of first-time authors, too. Janet Fitch (White Oleander), Tawni O'Dell (Back Roads) Eliot Pattison (Skull Mantra). For inspiration as a writer, I look to Anne Lamott. She is truly one of the funniest, most original non-fiction voices I know. I also loved Andrew Klavan's novel, True Crime. I loved it so much, I read it twice and got interested in the whole subject of innocent people on death row as a result of his book.

What does your family think of having a mystery author in their midst?

Everyone has been very supportive-my husband, my friends, my parents. It's a hard road for family members because what you're doing looks like a "hobby" even though it's not. It's a great feeling when you publish because it tells the world you were serious all along. My friends and my mom get more excited than I do sometimes at how everything has turned out. For my husband, it has brought our two worlds closer together. Of course, deep down, my father would still have preferred I'd become a lawyer!

Tell us about plans for future books.

I'm under contract for a sequel to The Fourth Angel, starring Georgia Skeehan and am in the process of wrapping up a first draft of that sequel now. I'm hoping to have it out in hardcover in 2002. I hope to write many, many more books about Fire Marshal Georgia Skeehan and the New York City Fire Department. I love her and I love her world, so I can't imagine doing anything else at the moment.

How can readers get in touch with you?

Unfortunately, I don't have a website yet. So the best way for a reader to contact me is by snail mail to the publicity department at Putnam Publishing Group, 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

Suzanne, thanks for joining us! Readers, we'll have a review of The Fourth Angel on our site shortly.

March 15, 2001