Interview with thriller author Liz Crowe

Thriller author Liz Crowe is chatting with me today about her new domestic suspense, Cul-de-Sac.

Bio:
Liz Crowe is a Kentucky native and graduate of the University of Louisville living in South Carolina. She’s spent her time as a three-continent expat trailing spouse, mom of three, real estate agent, brewery owner and bar manager, and is currently a digital marketing and fundraising consultant, in addition to being an award-winning author.

The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

Her favorite things to do when she’s not scrolling social media for cute animal videos is walk her dogs, cuddle her cats, and watch her favorite sports teams while scrolling social media for cute animal videos.

Welcome, Liz. Please tell us about your current release.
Cul-de-Sac is an up close and personal, honest/humorous look at a mixed old/new money neighborhood in a Midwest college town complete with doctors, lawyers, teachers, and at home OCD moms who are the pillars of their community. They all enjoy the finer things that their hard work has allowed them to enjoy: golfing, pickleball playing, cocktail drinking, vacations, and, of course, polyamory, but just among themselves. It’s about the psychology of marriages both old and new and how they’re helped and hindered by attempts to “liven things up.” And it’s ultimately about whether or not one of them committed suicide, or was murdered by one of their own. It’s not about the sex*. It’s about what happens because of the sex.

*There are no scenes of polyamory in this book. Discussions, yes. Arguments, plenty. But no actual orgies. Check my back list for that.

What inspired you to write this book?
After writing over 40 romance novels and being told by my hard core fans, and not a few critics, that my books are realistic, I decided to branch out and take my own love of telling stories about relationships a little further and explore things like polyamory but not from the, technical perspective, as I have in several of my romance novels. This time I dive deep into the motivation that drives each couple to agree to participate, not to mention the motivation of one person to kill one of the others in on the cul-de-sac. It’s a mystery in the same way a book like Big Little Lies is a mystery—you can tell that there are bad people in the group of neighbors but “bad” is just a way to level everyone. We all have some bad in us. But some more than others. The way these folks figure out who’s actually bad is by a lot of marital introspection and reluctant honesty. Frankly, I love to read this sort of deep character studies-as-plot sorts of novels and so I tried my hand at one.

Here’s a look at some of the dynamics between Amelia Ross, the “newbie” on the street and one of her new neighbors, Emily.

Amelia’s phone buzzed, interrupting her favorite Spotify playlist. The unobtrusive Siri voice told her she had a call from a number that was not one she immediately recognized. When asked if she wanted to take the call, she told Siri she did, then turned the volume up on her wireless earbuds. “Hello?”

“Hi! Amelia? This is Emily. Your neighbor.”

“Oh hi,” Amelia said, trying to recall what Emily looked like. She was easily the most forgettable of the women she’d met these past few weeks and at the party. Melissa she knew well, based on the time they’d spent together as Realtor and client. Janice was the attractively preserved older woman at the end of the cul-de-sac. A sort of matriarch for the group who’d hosted the party. Cassie was the gorgeous young woman with the bright-blue eyes who was pregnant and seemingly not too happy about it. Emily…which one was she?

“So, I was wondering if you’d like to come out to brunch with us.”

“Oh um…” She was preparing to beg off, not willing to change her plans for the next forty-eight or so hours. She’d been walking around feeling like a giant exposed horny nerve ever since she’d let Michael fuck her on the kitchen table earlier that day. She wanted more. A lot more. And she was about to get it.

“I mean, um, next weekend. While the boys are golfing?”

Amelia blinked then realized what she was talking about. The “boys” had invited Michael to golf. And she was going to lunch with the ladies. Part of her bristled at this. Why couldn’t they be in on the golfing? But she hated golf. So why not?

“Sure, that sounds like fun. Where?”

“Oh, at the club. I figured you guys had already joined.”

“No, not yet.” To be honest, she’d avoided it, although she knew they should do it. She’d done her research. And her mother had, too. They’d decided that Forest Hills Golf and Swim Club was the best one to join. And she liked to believe that the fact of her husband’s skin color wouldn’t matter in this enlightened, Midwest college town. But part of her wasn’t certain about that, and she was reluctant to put Michael through it. Perhaps going to a day at golf and lunch would ease their entry a bit. “But we have every intention of it.”

“Any of us can sponsor you. They still require that. It’s so…colonial, don’t you think?”

Amelia hesitated, wondering if Emily would realize the awkwardness of that question. She picked up her pace, nervous and yet somehow pissed off at the same time.

“Well, anyway,” the woman went on, not realizing it, apparently. “Why don’t you ride with me? The guys usually all carpool to their golf days.”

“Sure, sounds good.” She didn’t want to go now. In fact, all of a sudden, if she never saw or spoke to any of her immediate neighbors ever again, she’d not mind it one bit.

She shook her head at this ridiculous thought. One of the reasons she’d chosen this street was for the social opportunities. She was being paranoid. Her neighbors were just…a little enthusiastic and, well, touchy, when it came down to it. The memory of the women surrounding Michael, leaning in, hands on his thighs and arms as he sat in the midst of them like some kind of a sultan among his harem wafted through her brain. Even as she recalled the way she’d been the center of the male attention most of the night. How attractive they all were, those men, from brash contractor Ryan to soft-spoken, exotic-looking Sai, to the two older men, Barrett and Allen. All of them were rich, handsome, fit to the point of model-perfect. And they’d been all over her.

She stopped in her tracks, recalling something else from that night she must have been suppressing as a figment of her imagination, or something her drunken brain had conjured. The large bedroom window on the second floor of the Coopers’ house. The light, the shadows she’d taken for Janice and Allen at first in an embrace. Then the other shadows that joined them. The other people who’d been in that room and…and…

That is crazy, Amelia Elizabeth. Stop it. You’re pent up and horny and are taking care of all of that within hours. Get a damn grip on yourself. These people are inviting you and Michael to a snooty country club that has likely only recently allowed black people to be members. You can’t expect someone like Emily to be as dialed into institutionalized racism as you are. Keep things in perspective.

“Amelia? You still there?”

“Yes, sorry. I’d be happy to join you all. Looking forward to it.”

“Great! Super. We’ll…um…” There was a beat of silence that made Amelia weirdly uncomfortable again. “Anyway, if you need any tomatoes, you should stop by this week.”

“Tomatoes,” Amelia said, confused by the shift of topic.

“Yes. Between my garden and Cassie’s, we’re overflowing with them. There’s only so much sauce and salsa I can make. Talk soon!” She hung up before Amelia could say anything else.

What exciting project are you working on next?
I’ve got several things on deck as I plan my next focused project. I am pondering a memoir (unless I fictionalize it to protect people’s feelings) about my 7 years spent overseas in 3 different countries with my young family. We went through a LOT with a capital LOT in those years and it feels ripe for mining for a memoir or a novel.

I also want to finish my women’s fiction novel about a group of old friends on a road trip to visit breweries in Michigan. It’s like Sideways, only with women and beer (and of course, complicated relationships). My knowledge of beer and the industry helps keep things real when it comes to those parts and it might be an excuse to head back up for a fresh revisit to some of my fav spots.

And I have my eye on a sports romance that take the Ted Lasso story and American football-izes it. I can’t resist a good sports romcom and now that Ted Lasso is my comfort watch (going on 4 times through the season now….) it feels like a natural thing for me to try.

And finally, I already have another thriller written I just have to decide what to do with it. It’s a near future medical style thriller in the Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood) style only it’s the county’s water that is under siege.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I guess when my first book was “published” (using the term lightly here) in 2008. But It was when I hired my first professional publicist in 2023 that I considered myself a grown up, realistic one.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I write full time, sometimes. I also am a digital marketing and social media marketing consultant for real estate agents (which I have also been in a past life), nonprofits (in this case an animal shelter where I was once the development director, and a mid-sized law firm. I fit the writing in around that but because I call the shots of my own schedule and am known to be someone who will adhere to her own deadlines, that sometimes gets tricky.

My favorite time of day to write is early mornings, or on weekends when it’s quiet. I’m an empty nester now but my grown and gone kids claim I have replaced them with pets (ok, maybe I did that) so they keep me busy too.

In the bad old days of my writing career (you’ll see why I call it that as soon as I say the next thing), I was a serious marathoner. I would latch onto an idea or plot and write that sucker non stop, and I mean non-stop which meant my kids would have to order pizza for dinner and the dogs went begging for walks. Seriously, I could crank out an 80,000 word novel in a month. It was not a healthy way to write but it was my way until recently when I realized that it was not good for me or my family. I do similar things now but do not allow myself to get so engrossed I forget to walk the dogs (or rather, they won’t let me).

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I think most writers will say that they have at “pet” word. I’m no different but I pick a new pet for every project. Sometimes it’s “just” many times it’s “sigh” and I’ve even caught myself saying “grin” too much. It’s a weird phenomenon but it happens every single time. That’s what great editors are for!

Also, I tend to “fog eat” as my Noom app calls it, when I write. I will write, stand up, walk to the pantry or fridge and pull out something, who knows what, and sit and consume said something without any recall of it as I continue to write. I’m trying to break myself of this, not to mention drinking wine while writing, unless it’s on a Saturday. I’ve come to after a hard bout of creativity to see myself sounded by empty Cheez-It boxes and wine bottles one too many times!

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a veterinarian, thanks in no small part to the James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small series. I have read them, listened to them and now enjoy the new TV version of them a lot, still. And I get to live the vet life vicariously through my youngest kid who will graduate from Purdue Vet School this coming May.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I’m super proud of my backlist of romance novels. I don’t anyone to think I view them as lesser than or any less emotionally and otherwise satisfying than this book or any of my planned non-romance projects. In fact, I think being able to craft a book and tell a love story with a happy ending that has as solid story arc with fleshed out characters in a realistic manner is one of the toughest things to do with any success. Whether I can be considered a success at it is a subjective discussion by I have a lot of fans and sell my fair share of books. I also have my fair share of critics but my proudest brag about it that basically, you either love or hate a Liz Crowe romance but if you hate it, you can’t put it down or stop reading it.

I consider Cul-de-Sac and my other upcoming projects to be possible because I learned how to write “a novel” by writing—and have had professionally edited—over 40 novels in the contemporary and sports romance genres. Besides, they’re kinda fun. I’m not stopping them, either. I have two rom coms planned in the coming months and years!

Links:
Pre-order Cul-de-Sac | Website | Liz’s Author Newsletter | Liz’s Substack newsletter | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | BookBub | Amazon Author page | Goodreads