Author Visit With Meg Gardiner

Author Visit! Our book for discussion this month was Austin author Meg Gardiner’s newest book, Into the Black Nowhere; some of us read more of her books before the meeting. I counted 13 lucky members who were able to attend. Gardiner began writing books when she lived in the Santa Barbara area of California and now enjoys living in Austin. She studied law, worked in civil law, and now writes crime mysteries with aspects of criminal law in them. Gardiner said that she always liked mysteries. Upon being asked about her favorite mystery author, she told us that Sue Grafton was her hero and inspiration. Grafton is a contemporary and is also from Santa Barbara. (The city is called "Santa Teresa" in Grafton’s books.)  

Our questions and Gardiner’s answers shaped and highlighted our discussion.

Question: Joyce M. asked how Gardiner learned about crime scenes and how the FBI works.

Answer: Gardiner wanted to keep technicality minimal in her books, so that readers would enjoy the books. She found that the FBI offers seminars for writers, through which she visited the FBI Field Office in New York City and learned what FBI agents do, how they act, what their lives are like, how they got into the profession, how cyber-crimes are investigated, and what’s happening in crime. The FBI included presentations about specific crimes and evidence. The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives offered an instructional day for writers. Gardiner also took an opportunity to ride with the Austin Police.

Question: Dennis asked whether Gardiner had interviewed convicts or mass murderers. 

Answer: Gardiner said she had decided to avoid that, because it has a reputation for being upsetting. Gardiner seems to understand that well, as her law-enforcement characters, e.g., Caitlin, struggle with psychological aspects that plague them when they interact with her criminal characters, e.g., Kyle. Gardiner said that the phone call Caitlin made to Kyle when he was manning the telephone crisis line was based on an idea she had after reading a famous true crime book about Ted Bundy: The Stranger Beside Me, by Ann Rule. Rule volunteered at a crisis hotline, where she answered phone calls alongside Bundy. According to Rule, Bundy was an effective crisis counselor, good at talking to people who called the hotline.

Question: Flo asked how Gardiner gets names for her characters and titles for her books. 

Answer: Gardiner first figures out what important characteristics are going to be necessary. The name has to be distinctive and not easily confused with another character’s name, and it has to fit the character. Gardiner tries different names to choose one. She said that editors often have title suggestions or ideas to help her choose the title. After creating a long list of possible titles, Gardiner thought of Into the Black Nowhere and wrote it into the book in 2 places: (1) where Caitlin said it during her fake call to Kyle, when he was manning the hotline phone and (2) near the end of the book, when Caitlin said it again to the trapped Kyle to let him know it had been her on the phone call. Gardiner also told us that her book, Crosscut, was going to be named “Coyote Road,” until the editor suggested she use a title more suggestive of a crime.

Gardiner also explained some details about organizing a book with an outline and using the outline to stay on track. She said the author has to know the turning points and the ending in advance, to make it work. Gardiner told us how some other crime mystery writers approach their outlines and characters. Several members enjoyed hearing how other of their favorite authors go about their writing.

We asked more questions, some detailed and some general, and Meg Gardiner was very open and fascinated us all with her answers. Several members commented to me later that they had very much enjoyed the author visit and liked Gardiner’s friendly and approachable manner.

Thanks to Meg Gardiner for a fun and memorable meeting!

And now, what we are all waiting for: The next book in the "UNSUB" series is titled The Dark Corners of the Night. The book is set in Los Angeles and will be published in February, 2020. We’ll look for Meg Gardiner at the 2020 Texas Book Festival!