A new month means new reads! One book that should definitely be added to your September TBR list is L.S. Stratton’s In Deadly Company.
Stratton’s latest novel follows Nicole Underwood, assistant to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Nicole balances so much (too much, really), and none of this is made easier by her selfish nightmare of a boss, Xander Chambers. As Nicole preps for Xander’s birthday bash, no one can imagine the chaos that would ensue, including a murder. With fingers pointed in all directions with many plausible suspects, In Deadly Company is a fast-paced whodunnit you’ll have to read.
The NAACP Image Award-nominated author is no stranger to the mystery-thrillers, with her previous two novels (Not So Perfect Strangers and Do What Godmother Says) being part of that category as well. Of course, after reading In Deadly Company, I knew I wanted to speak with Stratton about the plot of her new novel, the choices she made throughout, and her journey as a writer, specifically in the mystery-thriller genre.
Read our full interview with L.S. Stratton below:
In addition to In Deadly Company, you’ve written other mystery-thrillers throughout your career as an author. What is it about the genre that you enjoy and that speaks to you the most?
L.S. Stratton: I started my career as a romance author. But after a while, I started to realize I was having more fun with the non-romance subplots in my novels than the romance itself. One of those early subplots had the romantic hero, a detective, and the heroine go on a cross-country caper to track down a man who swindled money from her. They fell in love during the car trip. In another book series, I had one of the major characters suffer an attempted murder, and I slowly revealed over the course of the series who was behind the attempt. All those subplots had some mystery or thriller element.
I liked how the mystery helped build suspense in my romance novels and left the readers guessing and eager to pick up the next book in the series to see what would happen. After a while, I thought, why not just take the leap and write a real mystery? I’m glad I did!
How would you say that your former work as a crime reporter has helped inform your writing as an author?
L.S. Stratton: I get that question a lot, but the truth is, being a crime reporter does influence my work, but not in the way most people think. Rather than bringing realism to the crimes and investigations by pulling from my memory bank of news stories I once covered, it’s made me better at writing stories from multiple characters’ perspectives—the good and the bad.
I had to sit in trials mere feet away from murderers and Hell’s Angels drug dealers. I was shocked to realize that criminals weren’t mythical figures like in movies or TV, but real people with lives and backgrounds, just like their victims. Having that experience allows me to humanize my characters—both those who are victims of crimes and those who commit crimes. It makes the stories more believable and immersive.
I enjoyed that you do a bit of time-travelling in the novel, going back and forth between current events and past ones. When you were crafting the plot for In Deadly Company, was this something that was planned or did it come about as you were writing the book and creating the characters?
L.S. Stratton: Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Almost all my mysteries so far, with the exception of the first mystery I wrote, have been dual timeline. I just love the roller coaster effect of jumping from the past to the present and back again. It helps to ramp up the speed of the narrative and slow it down a little, then pick it back up again. It’s a slow tease that keeps readers wanting to keep turning the page to see what’s going to happen next.
From the main protagonist to even the characters that are more in the background, everyone has an important role to play. When writing In Deadly Company, what inspired you to create such a broad cast of characters?
L.S. Stratton: I’ve been a fan of the cult film Clue since I was a kid, and I’m a huge fan of the Knives Out Mysteries. All those films are satirical mysteries with ensemble casts. I loved the dynamics between the characters and their funny banter. I love how distinct all the characters were and the roles they played in the story. With the Knives Out Mysteries, I also appreciated how they weaved in social commentary. I wanted to try something similar in In Deadly Company.
Throughout the novel, Nicole goes through a lot with various relationships, including at work and with her family, specifically her mother. Was there something specific that inspired the dynamic between Nicole and her mom?
L.S. Stratton: I love a good mystery, but I want my characters to have some depth. I wanted to show how Nicole evolves in the course of the novel (who she was before the chaotic birthday weekend and who she was after), and I thought the best person to help convey how she changed would be someone who’s known her all her life—her mother. Nicole’s mom also motivates her. She nitpicks with Nicole, but she means well, and she’s there to give Nicole a heavy dose of truth and perspective when she needs it.
I appreciated the addressing of colourism as it pertains to casting choices, as we read in the book that the actress hired to portray Nicole in an upcoming film does not look like her. We see this in casting choices in real life often, so was this always something you planned to talk about in the book?
L.S. Stratton: Much of the novel that’s set in the present is about how the film isn’t going to be a way to “set the record straight” like Nicole had hoped. I had to think of ways of how the production was going wrong, from her perspective. In addition to weird script changes and disagreements with the producers and director, I thought another thing that would irritate her was miscasting. As you point out, colourism is well known in Hollywood. More than one black actress (or actress of other ethnicities but darker skin tone) who don’t look racially ambiguous talk about how they find it hard to get acting roles. As a black woman, I could imagine being deeply disappointed if a movie about my life would cast a woman who didn’t look remotely like me. I figured Nicole would feel the same way.
While writing In Deadly Company, did you learn anything new about yourself and your writing when working on the book?
L.S. Stratton: I learned that I could still be funny after writing so many serious stories for so long. I started my career writing romantic comedies, so it was refreshing to see I could still crack a joke after all these years.
If you could describe In Deadly Company in three words that will intrigue readers most, which words would you use?
L.S. Stratton: Humorous, fast-paced and spicy!
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