Saving
Grace
by
D.M. Barr
Genre:
Psychological Thriller
Grace
Pierrepoint Rendell, the only child of an ailing billionaire, has
been treated for paranoia since childhood. When she secretly quits
her meds, she begins to suspect that once her father passes, her
husband will murder her for her inheritance. Realizing that no one
will believe the ravings of a supposed psychotic, she devises a
creative way to save herself – she will write herself out of
danger, authoring a novel with the heroine in exactly the same
circumstances, thus subtly exposing her husband's scheme to the
world. She hires acclaimed author Lynn Andrews to help edit her
literary insurance policy, but when Lynn is murdered, Grace is
discovered standing over the bloody remains. The clock is ticking:
can she write and publish her manuscript before she is strapped into
a straitjacket, accused of homicide, or lowered six feet under?
With
a cast of secondary characters whose challenges mirror Grace's own,
Saving Grace is, at it's core, an allegory for the struggle of the
marginalized to be heard and live life on their own terms.
One felony was all it took to convince Andrea Lin she was better suited to committing crime on paper than in person. As renowned mystery author Lynn Andrews, she understood conflict equaled good drama. Like her readers, she should have expected the hiccups, even relished them. What she hadn’t counted on was the accompanying agita, especially while sitting in her Bergen County kitchen, far from the action at the Bitcoin Teller Machine.
Her one job had been to place a single phone call when the money hit and tell the hacker to lift the encryption on Grace’s computer. Trouble was, her dozen calls remained unanswered until a few minutes ago, throwing their meticulous plan off schedule.
Andrea stroked the blue-gray Nebulung purring on her lap and tried to ignore the churning in her stomach. “Denver, the next time I consider helping a sibling with some crazy scheme, you have my permission to use my leg as a scratching post until I come to my senses. Agreed?”
Denver looked up, his green eyes filled with innocence, and answered with a single meow before leaping onto the table toward her plate of shortbread cookies. “
I’ll take that as a yes.” She sipped her tea, willing the sugar to sweeten the acrid taste in her mouth. The phone interrupted her meditation. No doubt a check-in from her brother, the extorter-in-chief.
“I figured you’d have called by now. Everything on track?” Joe’s strained voice conveyed his own jangled nerves. They’d agreed to be vague when communicating. In these days of Siri and Alexa, anyone could be listening.
“Finally. Took forever to get through to our friend, but she said she’d take care of ‘our project’ as soon as her meetings wrapped up. From here on out though, I’m sticking to fiction. Real-life intrigue is too stressful.”
Andrea missed Joe’s response, instead perplexed by her cats’ sudden change of behavior. Denver had tilted his head and leapt from the table; Vail and Aspen sat frozen, ears perked, staring toward the foyer. Then she heard it too, the sound of papers shuffling in the living room. She leaned forward, muscles taut, hackles raised, ready to pounce. “Joe, hold on a sec. I think someone’s in the house. I’ll call you back later.”
***
“Wait, what? Andrea??” Silence. The connection was dead.
After twenty minutes of weaving in and out of rush-hour traffic to travel one mile, Joe “Hack” Hackford pulled up outside his sister’s Ridgewood home. Adrenaline pumping on overdrive, he jumped from his car and sprinted toward the house. Door wide open—not an encouraging sign. He steeled his nerves and hastened inside. The living room looked like a hurricane’s aftermath, with furniture overturned and papers littering the carpets and floor.
“Andrea? Are you here?” He rushed into the kitchen, which lacked any signs of their celebratory dinner—no spaghetti boiling on the stove, no cake rising in the oven. Only the door to the backyard ajar and a shriek emanating from the next room, piercing the eerie silence. Hair stiffening at the back of his neck, he raced into the dining room where a redheaded woman stood frozen, staring across the room.
“Who the hell are you?” he growled.
The stranger remained wide-eyed and unresponsive. He followed her gaze to the floor, where he witnessed the unthinkable. His beloved sister lay in the corner, surrounded by a pool of blood, a kitchen knife stuck in her chest. Her eyes remained fixed on the ceiling. A trio of feline guards circled her lifeless body.
Hack’s knees turned to jelly, and he grabbed onto a chair for support, forcing back the remains of the snack he’d consumed only minutes earlier. Once the initial shock waned, he reverted his attention back to the intruder. At second glance, she did look somewhat familiar, though the woman he’d met a few weeks back—the missing heiress whose computer they’d just hacked—was brunette. Had she uncovered their con? With a bolt of fury, he reached forward and pulled the wig from her head. A thousand questions zigzagged in his brain, but only one forced its way past his lips:
“Oh my God. Grace. Oh my God. What the hell have you done?”
What inspired you to write this book?
Saving Grace is about a woman who wonders if her husband plans to murder her for her inheritance once her rich father in Florida dies. My father lives in Florida and my husband has asked more than once about my expected inheritance. I started thinking, what if…
What can we expect from you in the future?
My next book, just finished, is a contemporary romantic comedy about pursuing second chances.
Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
I based my favorite character, Zev, on the Hasidic men I met at my last job. They always made me laugh and so Zev provides the much-needed comic relief in the book.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Saving Grace?
The protagonist is Grace Rendell, a 45-year-old New Jersey wife and mother who is the only child of an ailing billionaire and has been treated for paranoia since she was six. Her husband is an advertising exec named Eliot who grew up poor and appears to be cheating on her. She has two sons and a father named Barrington who lives with his “chippie of the month” Caprice. Grace’s therapist is Emma Leighmann and the woman who helps her write her book is Andrea Lin, whose pen name is Lynn Andrews. Tom Druthers is the poisons expert who helps her and becomes a love interest. Andrea’s brother “Hack” and his friends also play a big part in the novel.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
Actually, I rewrote this book around ten times, so I guess what I liked most is when I was finally finished.
Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?
Once Grace goes off her meds, she comes to believe that once her father dies, her husband will kill her for her inheritance. So she decides to write a novel, with the main character in the same predicament, so she can subtly expose his plot to the world without destroying her life and her family’s life if in fact, her views are a result of her resurgent paranoia and are completely wrong
How did you come up with the title of your first novel?
As a Realtor, I specialized in Expired Listings. It seemed like a great title for a book where a serial killer was offing all the real estate agents in a small town.
Who designed your book covers?
Each was designed by a different artist. Kim Killion worked with a photo and concept I selected for Expired Listings, and I had a second, less graphic cover designed by Syneca Featherstone. There are two covers for Slashing Mona Lisa, one designed by Carl Graves and a second by the artist at Beachwalk Press, and for my current novel, the cover was designed by David King, the inhouse designer for Black Rose Press, again using a photo and concept I chose.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
My first editor for Saving Grace was Elf Ahearn. If I could do it all over again, I would have listened to her suggestions from the start. In the end, I used them anyway, but it took a long time for me to accept her criticisms were right on.
Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?
Prowritingaid.com is an invaluable tool.
If your book were made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?
Sandra Bullock would make a perfect Grace.
Anything specific you want to tell your readers?
When you read the metaphors, if they seem odd or strained, remember that Grace experienced everything she knew of life from books. Also keep in mind that Saving Grace is an allegory for the struggle of the marginalized to be heard and live life on their own terms. To me, it’s about women who are forgotten by society after they’ve had their children and “served their purpose.”
How did you come up with name of this book?
Not only is Saving Grace an expression, it is also a perfect description of the plot.
What is your favorite part of this book and why?
I always love the funny scenes, so I love the scene that satirizes critique groups. I also love every scene with Zev, especially the one where he’s in Hack’s home and some bullies throw a note attached to a rock through the window and he holds it up to Hack and says, “I believe this is for you.”
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
A combination. There are parts of me in all my heroines: I was a Realtor like Dana Black, I was a reporter with weight issues like Camarin Torres, and like Grace Rendell, I’m a housewife and mother of a certain age who sometimes feels like no one sees me anymore.
Do your characters seem to hijack the story, or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story? My characters always do things that surprise me. In Expired Listings, I didn’t originally intend for Aidan Cummings to become a love interest but once Dana saw him, there is was. In Saving Grace, Zev is a character who came from nowhere.
Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.
It’s a unique concept, the idea of a woman who couldn’t write a book to save her life, until she had to. Not that many books out there who weaponize literature.
Have you written any other books that are not published?
No, happy to say everything I’ve written has been published, except my newest book which I hope to sell in the next few months.
Originally Hack’s story was much more elaborate and ran concurrently with Grace’s. There were elements I hope to include in a sequel.
Is there a writer which brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be and why?
I had the opportunity to interview Brad Parks and ask him how he was able to make Carter Ross so likeable. You can see the interview at www.author-groupie.com, where I interview authors with a new adult fiction book just out, or one that’s in pre-order.
By
day, a mild-mannered salesperson, wife, mother, rescuer of senior
shelter dogs, competitive trivia player and author groupie, happily
living just north of New York City. By night, an author of sex,
suspense and satire.
My
background includes stints in travel marketing, travel journalism,
meeting planning, public relations and real estate. I was, for a long
and happy time, an award-winning magazine writer and editor. Then
kids happened. And I needed to actually make money. Now they're off
doing whatever it is they do (of which I have no idea since they
won't friend me on Facebook) and I can spend my spare time weaving
tales of debauchery and whatever else tickles my fancy.
The
main thing to remember about my work is that I am NOT one of my
characters. For example, as a real estate broker, I've never played
Bondage Bingo in one of my empty listings or offed anyone at my local
diet clinic.
But
that's not to say I haven't wanted to...
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