Q&A with Sue Hinkin

 

 

 

Sue Hinkin is the author of the new novel The Snake Handler's Wife. It's the last installment in her Vega & Middleton series. She lives in Colorado.

 

Q: How did you initially create your characters Lucy and Bea?

 

A: Decades ago, I took a job as a TV news photographer at a station in the Midwest. With FCC sex discrimination suits against them, they feared losing their broadcasting license, so were forced to hire more broadly. There were very few females in this male-dominated position back then--like none. Despite their skepticism that a woman could do the job, they hired me.

 

Just before I came onboard, a young woman had been employed as their first African-American reporter in a city that was hugely Black. The two of us outliers were often sent together to cover stories. That’s where my idea of TV journalist partners, photog Lucy Vega and reporter Beatrice Middleton, took root.

 

Q: What inspired the plot of The Snake Handler’s Wife?

 

A: I’ve always been fascinated by cults. What are the psychological dynamics that turn seemingly sane, reasonably intelligent people into sycophants? In the current political climate, the question rises again.

 

The phrase "the bitch that bore him is in heat again" is the iconic concluding line of Bertolt Brecht's play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, set in Al Capone’s Chicagoland, mirroring the rise of Hitler in Germany.

 

I actually grew up in a house once owned by Capone’s lawyer. Later, I lived in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon for years where the murderous Manson cult is a notorious part of canyon history.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Lucy and Bea and how have they changed over the course of the series?

 

A: Lucy lost both her parents as a child and struggles with survivor’s guilt and PTDS. As a result, early in the series, she could be recklessly impulsive with almost a death wish.

 

Bea is the mother of two teens, twice divorced and is often Lucy’s grounding force. Lucy helps uber-responsible Bea, daughter of a Baptist minister father and a high school principal mother, (this is a bit autobiographical…) tap into her more impulsive and risk-taking side.

 

The two are both seekers of justice for all, and of a solid family in a Hollywood environment where traditional values and families are often elusive.

 

Over the course of the series, Lucy becomes much more at peace with herself and embraces the value of the unique family she has created in her life. Bea is now more willing to go after what she wants, allow her children to do the same, even though pain is an inevitable part of the process.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this series, and what do you hope readers take away from this new book?

 

A: This statement has been credited to many people but I have George Eliot’s version (aka Mary Ann Evans) posted on my wall: It’s never too late to be what you might have become.

 

I started into this writing gig late in life. Didn’t get my first book published until my mid-60s. And now, even though I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) several years ago that has left me permanently damaged, I still write every day and will do so as long as I can.

 

Bea and Lucy, my protagonist partners, have a similar drive to try and live their most meaningful lives despite crises and challenges. I hope the readers enjoy the action-packed stories and can see a bit of themselves in Bea and Lucy’s struggle to right wrongs while growing and maturing as human beings.

 

Q: Now that you’ve finished the series, what are you working on next?

 

A: I finished the first book in a new romantic suspense series featuring a woman TV crime writer, an attractive enigmatic LAPD detective who lives on the corner, and their quirky Venice, California, neighbors.

 

I also recently completed a historical screenplay, and am working on a Bea Middleton and Lucy Vega TV pilot with a modern Cagney & Lacey or Rizzoli & Isles point of view.

 

I’m a Cinematography grad from the American Film Institute and maintain a long-time interest in all things film/TV so I wanted to give screenwriting a shot and really enjoyed it.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb