Q&A with Darby Kane

 

 

 

Darby Kane is the author of the new novel What the Wife Knew. Her many other books include Pretty Little Wife. She also writes under the name HelenKay Dimon. She lives in San Diego.

 

Q: What inspired you to write What the Wife Knew, and how did you create your character Addison?

 

A: My thrillers tend to contain a mix of unresolved trauma, secrets, danger, vigilante justice, angry women, and family dysfunction.

 

I decided to combine these ideas in a different way than I had before. In an extreme way, one that would feel almost incomprehensible until you look at real life crimes and realize some of them grow out of a series of incomprehensible choices. That’s where What the Wife Knew started.

 

At the same time, I’d been watching and listening to this public discussion about people like the Menendez brothers, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Scott Peterson. Men who were viewed as pure villains during the time their original crimes unfolded.

 

With social media and changing attitudes, and this reexamination of facts with the benefit of hindsight, perceptions about these specific convicted murderers and others have changed.

 

This touched off a “who people are in public” versus “who people are in private” battle that I wanted to bring out in the book. After all, people have very different views about who is a villain and who can be redeemed.  

 

Addison, who is one of the favorite thriller characters I’ve ever written, grew out of this convergence of ideas. I wanted a strong woman to take on a famous, supposed national hero, and ruin him.

 

Building the who, what, where, and why took some time, but I love Addison. She, like many people, hides behind sarcastic barbs and acts like she’s not affected by the nonsense and danger around her, but she is.

 

I wanted her to be tough yet have a capacity for empathy. To ache for a connection with someone yet not be able to recognize a real connection as it forms. Smart, flawed, a little dangerous, and very savvy.

 

In other words, someone you’d want to have a cup of coffee with…even though you’d worry about what she’s thinking while you do.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Addison and her mother?

 

A: So dysfunctional.

 

Writing a character with a tough outer shell who really, at heart, is desperate for the connection and unconditional love she never experienced with a parent is a challenge.

 

I didn’t need Addison to be likeable—though, I do love her— but she did have to be compelling. A level of loss and yearning drives Addison to make decisions she otherwise wouldn’t make.

 

People might question why she does what she does, but I hope they see the truth: Addison’s mother weaponizes Addison’s desire for a relationship and nearly destroys her in the process.

 

That type of extreme family messiness is both awful and, I fear, far too relatable for some readers.

 

I hope Addison’s realization that this sort of back-and-forth, “you owe me” game is one she could never win and encourages anyone locked in a battle for affection with someone who should give it freely but doesn’t to engage in self-preservation. Sometimes leaving is the only survival strategy.

Q: Without giving anything away, did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I knew the bones of the story. That’s usually how I start. I have an idea for an opening and a general plot line. Then I revise. And revise. And revise. The book never quite looks like I think it will when I start. In fact, Addison’s mother started as a tiny piece of the overall book, but she took on a much larger role as I wrote.

 

Anyone who has read the book probably wants to know if I always intended to include that final chapter, the final twist, and the answer is yes. I just had no idea how to get there until I got to know Addison during the writing process.

 

Q: In our previous Q&A, you noted that What the Wife Knew is your first first-person-point-of-view story. Why did you choose that point of view for this novel?

 

A: What the Wife Knew is my first first-person point-of-view book. I tried writing the first few chapters in deep third person but worried there could be a strong disconnect between the reader and Addison. One that I might not be able to overcome, regardless of any explanation for her behavior.

 

You know from the beginning Richmond, Addison’s husband, is dead. You also know she hated him. She married him with the intention of ruining him and then getting rid of him. That’s a little wild! 

 

In order to make her choices make sense and for the reader to “see” her I thought they book had to be mostly in her head. Again, no one had to like her, but I wanted the reader to “get” her. I didn’t see that as possible without diving pretty deep into her thoughts and actions.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am writing a thriller that will come out in late 2025. It doesn’t have an official title yet, but it takes place in Sleepy Hollow, New York, and has a really creepy vibe. (hopefully).

 

The book is about the missing Tanner family and the three women who hold pieces to explain the truth about what happened the night the family disappeared 13 years ago...and what happens now that the Tanner daughter has come back. This book has been a tough one to put together, but it’s zipping along now.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m a huge thriller reader. I also love lighter mysteries and romcoms. If you’re in the mood for something with that sort of vibe, I have a release coming out on March 11 under my other writing name, HelenKay Dimon, called The Usual Family Mayhem.

 

It has a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, a bit of humor, family hijinks, and a set of grandmas who may have gone into the poison pie-making business. So fun. I hope you give it a try.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Darby Kane.