Q&A with Rachel Paris

 

 

 

 

Rachel Paris is the author of the new novel See How They Fall. Also a lawyer, she lives in Auckland, New Zealand.

 

Q: What inspired you to write See How They Fall, and how did you create your characters Skye and Mei?

 

A: The power of a mother’s love is at the heart of See How They Fall. As a mom of three, I couldn’t imagine a more compelling or emotional premise for a story than a mother trying to protect her young child. After all, as moms, aren’t we always on edge, alert to danger, fearful of the worst happening?

 

Skye has married into the super-wealthy Turner family, and she has a 6-year-old daughter, Tilly. She comes from a very different background to her husband, so she still feels like an outsider walking on eggshells around her in-laws.

 

When a tragedy occurs at the start of the book, Skye is forced to confront any parent’s worst nightmare. She also has to question her marriage and do everything in her power to protect her young daughter.

 

It was easy to see how Skye’s sense of reality would disintegrate as she started to doubt her husband, and then began to uncover her in-laws’ horrifying secrets.

 

I knew I needed another point of view for the book from outside of the Turner family. It made sense for that character to be a homicide detective, and Mei O’Connor popped into my head. It was important to me that she was a fully-fleshed woman, rather than just an auxiliary character.

 

When we meet Mei, her personal life is in freefall — her partner has left her for another woman and her mother’s terminally ill. Then she’s drawn into the Turner murder investigation which is a media feeding frenzy and brings its own pressures from her superiors who are eager to close the case quickly.

 

While outwardly Skye and Mei are totally different, they are both smart, complex, and courageous women—inspired by the women I know in real life.

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The original title for the book was The Unraveling to signify the unraveling of not only a mystery but also of a family.

 

However, my publisher felt that the title was too long to support a legible cover design, especially when viewed as a thumbnail online. Then two other books were released just prior to mine with that title, so we decided to change it at the last minute.

 

My editor suggested See How They Fall and I liked how it sounded both sinister and innocent, almost like a line from a nursery rhyme. It also lent itself to a much cleaner cover design!

 

Q: 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 very final reveal, but that was all. So, I had to come up with 79,000 words to fit in-between the beginning and that finale. Given it was my first novel, I quite enjoyed the process of discovery that came with not having a plan.

 

However, now that I am underway with my second book, I do have a loose outline to guide me so I can spend less time hitting “delete” (I hope!).

 

Q: Did you need to do much research to write the novel, and if so, did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: I sure did! I wanted the book to be as accurate as possible, so drawing on my legal background, I did extensive research into different killing methods, forensic pathology, psychosis, police and legal procedure, black ops intelligence and surveillance technologies.

 

Given my search history, I wouldn’t be surprised if my name is at the top of the Government’s spy agency watchlist.

 

There was plenty that surprised me — mainly how easy it is to source banned poisons via online marketplaces like eBay and Craigslist.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My second novel is also going to be a murder mystery about rich people behaving badly, although this time around the main characters are three middle-aged sisters.

 

I’m exploring some of the tensions and challenges that women face in that stage of their lives, and what “success” really means in the end. The working title is Triumph & Disaster.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: A Hollywood production company has optioned the screen rights to See How They Fall with a view to developing a streaming television series so watch this space!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb