Q&A with Tess Gerritsen

  

Photo by Josh Gerritsen

 

Tess Gerritsen is the author of the new novel The Shadow Friends. It's the third in her Martini Club series. She is also a physician and a filmmaker, and she lives in Maine.

 

Q: Why did you decide to focus on your character Ingrid in your new Martini Club novel?

 

A: I was interested in the marriage between Ingrid and Lloyd. They are two such different people -- she's a risk taker and a former covert operative while Lloyd, the retired analyst, is more cautious and thoroughly domestic.

 

How did they ever fall in love, and what if, at this late stage in their lives, something threatened their seemingly stable marriage? I introduce a temptation from Ingrid's past -- a charmingly attractive ex-lover who walks back into her life and puts her marriage to the test. 

 

Q: What inspired the plot of The Shadow Friends?

 

A: Shadow Friends features a global affairs conference in the fictional town of Purity. In my real town, we have a similar conference called The Camden Conference. It was started nearly 40 years ago by CIA and State Department retirees who live here, and it brings in fascinating speakers from around the world.

 

What if one of their speakers gets murdered? With so many international guests in town, the list of suspects -- and other targets -- is a long one.

 

Q: How would you describe the friendship between Maggie and Ingrid?

 

A: It's one of intense loyalty, mutual admiration, and trust. Although in Shadow Friends, I put that trust to the test.

 

Q: You’ve said, “Of all my projects, this series feels the most personal to write, because the story reflects my own feelings about growing older.” Can you say more about that?

 

A: For years, I've known about the retired spies in my town, but I didn't know how to turn that information into a novel.

 

As I got older, and felt myself growing more and more invisible to society because of my age, I wondered what it was like for people who've lived adventurous lives to now be looked at as harmlessly doddering old folks when in fact they are still as sharp -- and dangerous -- as ever.

 

That's how the Martini Club was born. The fun part of writing these stories is seeing young police chief Jo Thibodeau slowly realize she's being outmaneuvered by five gray-haired people whom she completely underestimated.

 

Q: What are you working on now? Will there be more Martini Club novels?

 

A: I'm at work on the fourth in the series, tentatively titled The Italian Affair. It focuses more on Jo Thibodeau, who wins a free trip to Italy. She's never been to Europe, she goes a little wild while in Italy -- and vanishes. The Martini Club comes to the rescue!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I'm having a great time writing about characters who could very well be my neighbors!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Tess Gerritsen.