Q&A with Tracy Clark

 

Photo by Bruno Passigatti

 

 

Tracy Clark is the author of the new novel Edge, the latest in her Detective Harriet Foster series. Clark is also an editor, and is a Chicago native. 

 

Q: What inspired the plot of Edge, your new Detective Harriet Foster novel?

 

A: I can’t wait for inspiration. What if it never came? I just go out and try to find a story that might have some energy to it and go with that.

 

For Edge, though, I ran across a small story in the paper about a new party drug that had sickened a couple of 20-somethings in a bar. The victims survived, I think, but it got me thinking about what would happen if there was a bad drug out there, people were dropping like flies, and what the police could do about it?

 

Q: How do you think Harri views her career at this point?

 

A: Harri is not enthusiastic or gung-ho about her career, or about anything for that matter. She’s just plodding along doing what she has been trained to do for the department she works for.

 

She does solid work, she doesn’t sluff off or take shortcuts, she’s by the book and a solid cop, but there is an innate cynicism to her, a grounded attitude about the difficulty of her profession. It’s hard work, it takes everything for her to do it, but she keeps pushing at it, knowing she’s making at least some kind of difference.

 

Her partner, Det. Vera Li, brings the enthusiasm. Li is bucking to make police superintendent one day.

 

Q: How did you research this novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: I Googled opioids, their treatment, their effects, and took a look at the stats on ODs and the pervasiveness of party drugs. There’s a new one popping up almost every day and most of those who take them have absolutely no idea what’s in them. It’s like playing Russian roulette with your life.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: I don’t write to relay messages or shove themes or worldviews down readers’ throats. I write complicated people trying to get through their lives while knee-deep in trenches I’ve dug for them.

 

Dead bodies? Sure. Crime? Yep. An interesting cat and mouse pursuit? Love it. But bottom line, my goal is to write a solid, entertaining crime novel. Period.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m writing You’ll Never Find Me now. It’s due out December 2026. This is my first standalone novel. Different kind of pace, different rhythm, much different feel. I keep wanting to dump a body on the page and have to stop myself. I’m working the delete button on my keyboard like crazy. I think it’s true, writers of murder mysteries are born not made.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Nope. I think you’re good. Writers aren’t as captivating as people think they are, which is probably why that writer trading card brainstorm I had at 13 wasn’t a good idea. LOL.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Tracy Clark.