Hush author Kate White breaks the silence (A Q&A)

Image source: www.katewhite.com  Kate White, author of Hush and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine, will appear at the Mohegan Sun as part of the Winning Authors Series on Tuesday night.

Today, Hartford Books Examiner welcomes Kate White.

The veteran editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan magazine (the top-selling young women’s magazine in the world), White is also a New York Times bestselling author. She has written the Bailey Weggins mystery series as well as popular career books for women, including Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead...but Gutsy Girls Do. Her recognitions include the Matrix Award for Outstanding Achievement in Communication and the Woodhall Institute Award for Ethical Leadership. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.

White’s first stand-alone thriller, Hush (HarperCollins, $24.99), was published in March. Publishers Weekly said the book “generates a real sense of jeopardy while avoiding clichés” and Lisa Gardner praised it as, “A nerve-jangling adrenaline rush! From the first sentence to the last, Kate White catapults you into a tense vortex of deceit, danger, and double-crosses, where one wrong word is all it takes to lose everything. When in doubt, hush...” The author will sign and discuss Hush as part of the Mohegan Sun’s Winning Author Series on Tuesday night. (See event details below.)

From the publisher:

When Lake Warren learns that her husband, Jack, is suing for full custody of their two kids four months after their separation, she's pretty certain that things can't get any worse. The upside is that she's working with the Advanced Fertility Center as a marketing consultant, alongside the attractive, flirtatious Dr. Keaton. But the morning after their one-night stand, Lake finds Keaton with his throat slashed and discovers that things can indeed become worse—they can become deadly.

So as not to jeopardize her case for custody, Lake is forced to lie to the police. Having just been intimate with a man who has been murdered, and wanting to protect herself from being charged with the crime, she begins her own search for the truth. Meanwhile, the police start looking at her closely, people at the clinic start treating her with hostility, and strange clues begin dropping—quite literally—on her doorstep, and Lake realizes that she is dangerously close to dark secrets, both about Keaton and the clinic. But can Lake stop what she's started before it's too late?

Now, Kate White breaks the silence…

1) Can you tell us how your two careers--mystery author and editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan--influence one another? What do you find to be the key to achieving balance in your endeavors?

Sometimes having two careers gets a little crazy, but they also do influence each other in a positive way. I pick up ideas and weird dialogue for my thrillers and mysteries at Cosmo, and it also helps to be exposed to so many people in their 20’s and 30’s. (I’d advise this for everyone.) And writing is a good stress reliever for my job. Cosmo is the number one selling magazine on the newsstand and the job does have just a tad of pressure at times.

2) HUSH is your first stand-alone thriller. What made you decide to venture outside of your series? Do you have a preference between the two?

I love working on my Bailey Weggins series, but I thought it would be energizing to have a break and I longed to try something different and scarier. I am working on a second thriller now, due out next year and then a new Bailey Weggins mystery, already written, will follow that.

3) Often times, readers either look for or assume similarities between author and protagonist. How did your life influence the creation of Lake Warren? Conversely, what would you say is the biggest difference between you and your heroine?

I’m not really like Lake. She’s introverted, I’m not. But like her, I had a birth mark that was pretty large. They were able to remove mine when I was a child but I tried to imagine what it would have been like to have had it at 14 as she did.

4) HUSH explores the world of fertility clinics and the possibility for both ethical and legal breaches that exist within. What inspired you to investigate this topic? Was there any one thing that proved especially surprising as you did your research?

I got interested in fertility clinics because so many of my friends have been to them and benefited from them. And yet still they seemed so mysteries to me. I also found out that there’s not a great deal of regulation, as you would assume there would be. Mistakes can happen. Just ask the woman in the Midwest who found out she was carrying someone else’s embryo.

5) What can you tell us about your next project?

My next thriller is about a woman who is teaching writing at a college and discovers there is a very dangerous secret society of girls there, which may be responsible for the deaths of a couple of students.

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And now, between the lines…

1) As a child, did you wear your literary lust loud and proud or were you a closet bibliophile?

Yes, as a child I did wear my literary lust loud. I read books on couches and porches, wrote in notebooks, stared dreamily into space. I never attracted a single boy, but now I’m grateful for that.

2) What book(s) were you likely to be caught keeping company with under the covers?

I wish I could say I was reading shocking European books, but in the early years it was Nancy Drew and more Nancy Drew. I discovered Fitzgerald in high school and Hermann Hesse and both were big influences.

3) What are you reading currently & what is your initial impression?

As for nonfiction, I just read both “Game Change” and “The Politician” and was agog about what a jerk John Edwards is. With fiction, I am in the middle of Sue Miller’s “Lake Shore Limited” and am loving it. She’s just the best.

4) What one book do you always recommend when asked?

Actually there is a book by Sue Miller I often recommend. “While I Was Gone”. A good literary novel with a haunting mystery. Also Anita Shreve’s “The Last Time They Met”. Mind blowing.

5) Which of your own books would you suggest to readers & why?

I’m pretty proud of "Hush" so I’d say try that one. The reviews all said it was a page turner and very chilling.

6) Is there a book or author that readers would be surprised to know you’ve read and liked?

I love “I the Jury” by Mickey Spillaine. That might surprise people.

7) Who is the one author that would, or did, make you weak in the knees upon meeting?

Bill Clinton. He is just as charismatic as everyone says.

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With gratitude to Kate White for taking the time to visit Hartford Books Examiner…

The author will be appearing at the Mohegan Sun on Tuesday night along with Steve Martini and Noah Boyd as part of the Winning Authors Series. There will be a discussion in the Cabaret Theater at 6:30 PM followed by a book signing in the Shops at Mohegan Sun at 7:30 PM. The event is free and open to the public. The casino is located at 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd. in Uncasville.

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Other entries in the “Between the Lines” series:

Between the lines with Karin Slaughter (A Q&A)

Between the lines with Tess Gerritsen (A Q&A)