Interview with Crime Writer Liz Alterman – S. 9, Ep. 13

This episode of the Crime Cafe features my interview with crime writer Liz Alterman. Don't miss her book giveaway! Liz is giving away a signed copy of her novel The Perfect Neighborhood. To enter, just subscribe to her Substack newsletter. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two eBooks for sale: the nine book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy inks for both on my website, debbimack.com under the Crime Cafe link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. We also have a shop now. Check it out! Check us out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/crimecafe Debbi: But first, let me put in a good word for Blubrry podcasting. I’m a Blubrry affiliate, but that’s not the only reason I’m telling you this. I’ve been using Blubrry Podcasting as my hosting service for my podcast for years and it’s one of the best decisions I ever made. They give great customer service, you’re in complete control of your own podcast, you can run it from your own website, and it just takes a lot of the work out of podcasting for me. I find for that reason that it’s a company that I can get behind 100% and say, “You should try this.” Try Blubrry. It doesn’t require a long-term contract, and it’s just a great company, period. It also has free technical support by email, video, and phone, so you can get a human being there. Isn’t that nice? If you want to podcast, try out Blubrry. No long-term contract, excellent distribution, and great technical support, too, by email, video, and on the phone. I’ve included affiliate links on this blog. Download a copy of the transcript here. Debbi: Hi everyone. My guest today is the author of a book that I've had the pleasure of reading and reviewing. A suspenseful novel that weaves in humor and social commentary. It's called The Perfect Neighborhood and I highly recommend it. It's my pleasure to have with me today the author, Liz Alterman. Hi, Liz. How are you doing today? Liz: I'm good, Debbi. Thank you so much for having me, and for reading the book as well. Debbi: Oh, I loved it. And I'm glad you're on. I'm so glad you're here with us. Liz: Thank you. Debbi: What inspired you to write the novel? Liz: Oh, thanks for asking. It's funny, I love to read thrillers and mysteries, and I guess one day I woke up from a dream with the idea for the plot, sort of the beginning and the ending, but I didn't really have the middle. I mentioned the idea to my husband, and the story involves a little boy who goes missing on his walk home from kindergarten. When I told my husband, you know I just had this really vivid dream, he was saying, oh, I wouldn't write it. There were so many kidnapping stories. Just try to come up with another idea. So I tried for about six months, and as I was kind of doing the dishes or gardening or something, these characters were speaking to me, and the plot was kind of revealing itself and coming alive. And after giving it six months with no other ideas, I thought, okay, I'm going to sit down and try it. And my kids—I have three boys—and my oldest will joke, why would you write about a missing child? That's so disturbing! Can't you write something light? I said, as a parent, to me, that's so much more frightening than let's say a zombie story. The thought of something happening to my kids is probably the most frightening thing I can imagine. Debbi: Wow. You know, it's funny because I have been reading so many books about either missing children, kidnapped children—what was the other one I was thinking of—at-risk kids. Liz: Sure. Debbi: It's like there's this huge sub-genre of kid-related anxieties coming out in writing. What are your thoughts on that? Do you see that as well? Liz: I do. I think we see that a lot. It almost goes in cycles where I think we see a lot of that,