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Author Interview: Heather Day Gilbert

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Do you love a good, intriguing, suspense novel?
Bonus if it’s about a writer? Read on…

Author photo: Heather Day Gilbert. Also contains a tree and a river.

HEATHER DAY GILBERT is an RWA Daphne Award-winning author who writes Hitchcock-style suspense with tenacious female leads who know how to fend for themselves. Like her characters, she’s a little bit sweet and a little bit dangerous. She loves nothing better than to surprise her readers—and herself—with unpredictable twists. A West Virginia native, she brings modern-day Appalachia to life in her novels. Find out more at heatherdaygilbert (dot) com.

Here are 5 quick questions and answers about Heather’s new suspense novel, Queen of Hearts.

Janet: Writers are shaped by what they read. Who or what have been your key
influences in the suspense genre?

Heather: I grew up reading all the Agatha Christie, Phyllis Whitney, Daphne du Maurier, and Mary Higgins Clark I could get my hands on. So it makes sense to me that I largely read psychological thrillers and mysteries today!

Janet: Why did you choose a protagonist with autism, and what do you hope
readers will take from being in Alex’s head throughout this story?

Heather: I really wanted readers to understand that autism doesn’t always look like Rain Man. You might know or be related to someone with high-functioning autism and just think they are quirky. In fact, THEY might just think they’re quirky. But neurodivergence can eventually manifest itself in many different ways, such as anxiety or burnout or OCD or depression, so it’s always good to research the root of the issues at hand.

Janet: You’ve written cozy mysteries, Christian romantic suspense, Viking
historicals, and now psychological suspense. Are there certain elements
you find yourself including across these different types of fiction?

Heather: I’ve asked myself that question many times, when searching for a quippy tagline! But there are certain things I’m drawn to in books and in life, such as strong female characters who don’t back down from fights, wooded (and Appalachian) settings, family dynamics, marriage dynamics, and survival scenarios, as well as the theme of justice. I love plots I can’t predict, with plenty of twists, and characters who stick with me. That’s what I’m trying to write, along with clean reads that are appropriate for teens through adults.

Janet: What’s next, writing-wise?

Heather: Hopefully, many more psychological thrillers, but I’m also planning at least two more books in my Barks & Beans Cafe cozy mystery series, and I have a time-travel fantasy coming down the pike at some point. 

Janet: Sounds like fun! How can readers connect with you (in a non-stalkerly way!) and how can they buy a copy of Queen of Hearts?

Heather: You can read all about me and my books at heatherdaygilbert.com, and there’s a Contact Me page if you want to get in touch (definitely in a non-stalkerly way, though!) 😉 And Queen of Hearts is available for Kindle preorder on Amazon now, and the audiobook and softcover versions will release along with the Kindle version on July 23, 2024! 

Janet: Thank you so much for taking time for a chat. Despite my increasing timidity with suspense novels, I throroughly enjoyed Queen of Hearts. Readers can find my review here. Highly recommended!

Book cover: Queen of Hearts, by Heather Day Gilbert. Open door of a small building, dark sky, clouds.

Alexandra Dubois, a NYT bestselling author, has made a name for herself by crafting twisted serial killers in her romantic suspense series. When threatening notes from an “invested reader” escalate into violence, Alex has to admit she’s not safe in her own home. Although her autism makes any changes to her routine difficult, she reluctantly accepts her editor’s advice to fly to his sprawling vacation home in West Virginia so she can focus on her looming deadline.

Fighting paranoia that the stalker has discovered her mountain hideaway, Alex still forces herself to write several chapters in her novel. But when a thunderstorm leaves her stranded and she hears a knock at her door, she’s about to discover that life truly is stranger than fiction.

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock, Mary Higgins Clark, and Misery are sure to be hooked by this clean, fast-paced domestic thriller by RWA Daphne Award-winning author Heather Day Gilbert.

Review: Queen of Hearts, by Heather Day Gilbert

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Queen of Hearts, by Heather Day Gilbert (WoodHaven Press, 2024)

“Her readers love her…
but one has gotten a little too attached.“

Queen of Hearts is a deliciously twisty, engaging read that keeps readers guessing.

Recovering from a messy divorce and struggling to meet the deadline for the final book in her bestselling suspense series, author Alexandra Dubois receives a threatening letter from a “Highly Invested Reader.”

Determined not to give in to the demands—or to let the stalker’s escalating activity sabotage the focus she needs to finish her novel, Alex escapes to a private hideaway in the West Virginia mountains. As events make her fear the stalker has followed her, she doesn’t know who to trust.

I so enjoyed this novel. The swift-running plot. The mountain scenery—complete with a storm! The small-town characters. The clues that kept me guessing.

Alex as a first-person narrator drew me in and revealed how her autism shapes her perspective and her reactions. It’s hard to understand what look like foibles when they’re only seen externally, but in Alex’s head it all makes sense.

Writers, experienced or novice, will appreciate this book, either nodding in agreement with Alex’s observations about writing or picking up tips to help their own work.

Mostly, it’s the voice or tone of the story that leaves me refreshed like I’ve had a drink from a clear mountain spring. It’s deeper, more energetic than the author’s lighter series (Belinda Blake and Barks ‘n Beans—both of which are good too.) It feels more like her A Murder in the Mountains suspense novels.

Highly recommended for fans of clean psychological suspense, Queen of Hearts is first in a new series.

West Virginia author Heather Day Gilbert is known for her strong characters, frequent mountain settings, and stories where friendship and loyalty play a key role. From Viking historicals to cozy mysteries to suspense and romantic suspense, from clean reads to Christian fiction, her books are sure to engage readers. To find out about the author and her books, visit heatherdaygilbert.com.

[Advance review copy provided via #Netgalley. My opinions are my own.]

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Review: The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon

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The Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth MoonThe Speed of Dark, by Elizabeth Moon (Del Rey Books Mass Market Edition, 2005)

Spend some time in a high-functioning autistic man’s head, and you may be surprised at how much you relate.

Lou Arrendale is in his 30’s, employed with a small group of other autistic people in the computer division of a large pharmaceutical company. He works at pattern analysis, although he likely couldn’t tell you the purposes of the patterns he creates from what’s on his screen.

The time is our near future. Other than people using “handcomps” (hand-held computers – tablets, anyone?) the main evidence of technological advance is that many health issues, including autism, can now be treated at birth, and that people who can afford it can have life-extending treatments. Oh, and there’s more funding for space exploration again.

Lou was born before the new treatments came about, but far enough into our future that good therapies and alternative learning approaches were in place. He has learned the “rules” for social interaction. He sums it up on the first page of chapter one:

“Everything in my life that I value has been gained at the cost of not saying what I really think and saying what they want me to say.”

Now he has the opportunity to try an experimental procedure that may reverse his autism. He’s content with his life, except for the way some people react to him. Should he submit to this opportunity? Does he want to? What if he’s “cured” but loses who he is?

The Speed of Dark is a fascinating look at the world through the eyes of someone who’s in some ways not so different from us “normal” people. Author Elizabeth Moon has an autistic son, and I assume the realistic feel of the book is based on her observations and research.

Lou and his autistic friends have been trained to act as normal as possible. Normal is happy. Normal is good. It doesn’t frighten people. Nobody told them that not all normal people are happy, good or un-frightening. Or that not all normal people like the same music or activities.

His work, his fencing practice (with “normals”), his research into the experimental procedure, all shape and grow Lou. He discovers that most of his brain really is the same as everyone else’s – that in fact he’s gifted at pattern analysis and capable of university-level learning. But he doesn’t like those things that act as barriers to his relationships with those around him.

This is a mainstream novel, with mild (and one instance of major) profanity. It also includes a scene in Lou’s church where the priest talks about one of Jesus’ healing miracles (John 5:1-15) and echoes Lou’s own question. Does he want to be healed? Even if the healing doesn’t look like he wants it to look? [The novel places this miracle at the Pool of Siloam instead of the Pool at Bethesda, but the priest’s theology is sound.]

Not just for science fiction fans, The Speed of Dark is for anyone interested in the search for identity and who at times feel they don’t fit in.

Elizabeth Moon also writes classic science fiction (I thoroughly enjoyed the Vatta’s War series) and fantasy. The Speed of Dark won the 2003 Nebula Award for Best Novel. For more about the author, visit her website: www.elizabethmoon.com

[Review copy from my personal library.]