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Bestselling Author Lisa Scottoline Rob Holden: Lisa Scottoline, welcome to ReadersRoom.com. It's a pleasure to have you with us today! Lisa Scottoline: Thrilled to be here! Rob Holden: I'd like to start this off by talking about your upcoming novel, Killer Smile. Can you tell our readers a bit about it? Lisa Scottoline: Sure. It came about when I found out that my grandparents were registered as enemy aliens in World War II. I hadn't known that Italian Americans had to do that, like Japanese Americans, so I decided to center a murder mystery around that. Killer Smile is the story of a woman who uncovers a decades old murder set in an internment camp for Italian Americans. Oh yeah, and she almost gets killed in the process! Rob Holden: Unlike most of your mysteries revolving around the fictional law firm of Rosato and Associates -- which are all placed in the present -- Killer Smile is rooted firmly in the past. Did this present any special problems for you? Lisa Scottoline:Well, really it is a modern story about a woman dealing with the past of a murder case and her own personal past. It presented a host of problems I can whine about, like I had to do real historical research at the national archives, since real

people were interned -- ten thousand in fact. I owed it to them and us to get the facts right. I also found a real internment camp, still existing as a museum in Missoula, Montana so I actually had to get off my butt. We're talking real hardship here! Also when you set a murder in the past, there's none of that cool CSI stuff like DNA and other modern technology to give your character clues. It's all reasoning and sleuthing and talking to people, which I liked. I like my characters to be non-experts, like me! Impressed yet?

Natalie R. Collins: I've heard you are meticulous in your research. So you actually went to Montana to visit the camp?

Lisa Scottoline: I did go to Montana, which was great. I had to see the camp, smell it and feel it, so that I could realistically lay out a murder. But part of the problem was that Missoula has changed, so I factored that into my character.

Natalie R. Collins: I doubt your fans would consider you non-expert.

Lisa Scottoline: Thanks, but they know better.

Rob Holden: Killer Smile is set for release June 1, I believe?

Lisa Scottoline: Yes, one month before my birthday. I'll be 21.

Natalie R. Collins: And we won't question that.

Lisa Scottoline: God bless you.

Rob Holden: I'd like to move back a novel to Dead Ringer, which is out in paperback I believe. Can you tell our readers a bit about that one?

Lisa Scottoline: Dead Ringer is also based on my life -- when at midlife I found out I had a half-sister I didn't know about. She was blood, she was family, so it was strange at first. Now I love her, but then all I could do was write a book about the experience -- which was Mistaken Identity. Dead Ringer is the follow up to that and asks the question: what if my half-sister, who looks and acts a lot like me -- but she types better -- had had a horrible life and I had a good one? How would she feel? What would she do to me? Of course I made her an evil twin, with her permission. Who wants to read about a good twin? This is America, after all!

Rob Holden: Everyone deserves at least one evil twin!

Lisa Scottoline: True!

Natalie R. Collins: I want an evil twin to blame....

Lisa Scottoline: Blame your mother, girl!

Rob Holden: Unlike the majority of series mystery writers, you focus your mysteries around a group of lawyers in Rosato and Associates. Did you intend this from the beginning of the series, or did it just develop?

Lisa Scottoline: It just developed. I started writing the characters, then I got separation anxiety. I need friends. Now I like to have a different main character each time, to keep it fresh for me and the readers. It's not really a series, that way. We're all too old to study anymore--no more pencils, no more books!

Natalie R. Collins: And you can always add to the firm.

Lisa Scottoline: Right, you can add -- and SUBTRACT! Moo ha ha! How dorky am I?

Rob Holden: About the same as we are.

Natalie R. Collins: You're cracking me up. I just spewed Diet Coke on the screen.

Lisa Scottoline: No spewing!

Rob Holden: Oh, the editing I am gonna have to do!

Natalie R. Collins: No!

Lisa Scottoline: Let it rip, baby.

Natalie R. Collins: Leave it be. It's funny!

Lisa Scottoline: No English major crap here. I'm over it.

Natalie R. Collins: Lisa, do you get attached to your characters? Live in their heads?

Lisa Scottoline: Honestly yes, just like you would your good friend, or boyfriend, that's how well I know them. Of course I'm divorced twice, so what does that tell you?

Natalie R. Collins: That tells me men are trouble.

Lisa Scottoline: PEOPLE are trouble! That is their charm.

Natalie R. Collins: Have you had to kill any off you were attached to?

Lisa Scottoline: Once. I killed off a minor character in my first book, Everywhere That Mary Went. I still miss that character.

Natalie R. Collins: Which one was it?

Lisa Scottoline: Brent the gay secretary. He was funny and nobody funny should ever have to die, but I had to show the threat on the main character, Mary DiNunzio. So he was sacrificed for ART.

Rob Holden: Okay -- let's talk about Philly, the :::shudders::: City that Loves You Back. With the exception of Gillian Roberts, who we have also chatted with, you are one of the few mystery authors who writes so lovingly about Philadelphia. I assume most of that is based on your life there. Did you grow up in South Philly?

Lisa Scottoline: For only my early years, in the Jurassic. But I write about Philly because I have never lived anywhere else and also because it is so real, and so gritty -- people can extrapolate the details and apply it to their own hometown -- that's what people who email me say they do, which I love. It's not like LA or NYC. Also if you want to talk about justice, which Killer Smile sure does, how can you not set a book in Philly, where the whole damn country-- and the law --was born? It's a natural -- like me at a typewriter. Can you believe I've typed eleven books this way?

Natalie R. Collins: Love that spell check.

Lisa Scottoline: Yep. Am I the worst author typist? Tell me true.

Rob Holden: You are not the worst typist. Neither Nelson DeMille or Clive Cussler typed their own interviews with us!

Lisa Scottoline: Who did?

Rob Holden: Mr. DeMille's assistant typed his, and Dr. Cussler's chat was on the phone.

Lisa Scottoline: Maybe I could get DeMille to type for me! Is Dr. Cussler Clive Cussler? He's a doctor? Wow.

Natalie R. Collins: Lisa, when you get an idea, do you write an outline, or just write the book?

Lisa Scottoline: I don't do an outline. I want the storyline to flow and the only way I can do that is to construct it chapter by chapter. Also people who do outlines probably do things like learn to type, and stay married -- solid citizens.

Natalie R. Collins: Lack of typing skills indicates lack of solid citizenship?

Lisa Scottoline: Yes, Natalie, well said.

Rob Holden: Lisa, since we announced this chat we've had a lot of questions from readers. Could you answer a few of those for us now?

Lisa Scottoline: Sure.

Natalie R. Collins: Crispin Q., Los Angeles, CA: I know you earned your degree in English before going on to get a law degree. Since I majored in English, and now spend my time waiting tables, I wondered if you got the law degree as a backup, or if you always wanted to be a lawyer AND a writer. And kudos for doing both...

Lisa Scottoline: Thanks, C, and I waited tables, so I'm with you. I secretly always wanted to be a writer but didn't have the guts, and then I got a crush on Perry Mason, and decided to be him. But honestly I think that all your life experience, schooling, and stuff you read makes you a better writer -- every minute of it. Books by people who don't live real lives get very shallow and don't ring true. If you are thinking about writing, go for it. My only regret is that it took me so long to try.

Natalie R. Collins: Allison J., Anaheim, CA: How did it feel to have a paperback (Mistaken Identity) and a hardback book (Moment of Truth) on the NY Times list at the same time? As a fledgling author, I can only dream of such a thing.

Lisa Scottoline: Thanks, A! That felt great, but the truth is that it feels great to be published at all. I feel very, very lucky and my greatest thrill is that someone reads me, no matter what list I'm on. I want to be read.

Natalie R. Collins: Carson K., Santa Fe, NM: How old were you when you discovered you had a half sister? This made for a fabulous book in Mistaken Identity, but please tell me your sister has never been quite so "evil."

Lisa Scottoline: I love her and she isn't evil at all! I found out in my late thirties, I think, and now we are all family. But I like books to be entertaining and have some dramatic conflict.

Natalie R. Collins: Shelly P., Springfield, OH: Which "I Love Lucy" episode is your favorite?

Lisa Scottoline: I Love Lucy! I think vitametavegiman is my fave! She is so cute. Lucille Ball was completely ahead of her time and that show is a perfect combo of plot, character and resolution in an entertaining way. Nathaniel Hawthorne said that easy reading is hard writing. That is true of books and TV, too, in my opinion.

Natalie R. Collins: Marie A., Palm Springs, CA: You seem more open to your fans than other "big name authors." Have you ever had a scary experience with a fan because of this?

Lisa Scottoline: Thanks for calling me a big name author, Marie! So far, so good. If you read my books, you know me. Someone once said that a novel is a secret you tell on yourself. That is true. So if you write in an open hearted way, which I do, you probably aren't a closed up, inaccessible person, which I'm not.

Rob Holden: Thank you for answering those. Lisa, one of the things our readers who are also writers like us to ask is about a writer's writing habits. Do you have a set schedule? Word count per day?

Lisa Scottoline: I do have a Web cam on -- not now --but often and they can watch me at www.scottoline.com, precisely because I get that question, two. But the bottom line is that I work all the time and try to do at least 200 words a day, to get through the first draft. Wait, I mean 2000 words!!!! Sorry.

Rob Holden: I was wondering.

Lisa Scottoline: At 200 words, the bank would take my house.

Natalie R. Collins: That's my goal! If I don't make 2000, I start panicking.

Lisa Scottoline: Now that you know me, Rob, what do you think?

Rob Holden: I liked you before I knew you!

Natalie R. Collins: I REALLY like her.

Lisa Scottoline: I LOVE you both and you do great together. You can be my friends now! Natalie, what do you write?

Natalie R. Collins: I write suspense. My "first" book comes out in October from St. Martin's.

Lisa Scottoline: What's the title? I'll be sure to get it.

Natalie R. Collins: The title of my book is Wives and Sisters.

Lisa Scottoline: Sounds cool. Congrats to you! Although I don't think you have to be published to be a writer, do you? A writer writes! It is self-defining.

Rob Holden: Do you research your novels as you write them, or before you start?

Lisa Scottoline: I never do ANYTHING in advance. Planning ahead is beyond me! Plus research yields surprises and you have to use them in the book. They're gold.

Rob Holden: Okay -- so this question might not get me anywhere but ... what is next for Lisa Scottoline?

Lisa Scottoline: A date? Okay, sorry. The next book is completely different!

Rob Holden: Can you give our readers a taste?

Lisa Scottoline: Nobody from before -- a completely new character and not at Rosato and Associates. The next book after Killer Smile is about drugs, guns, and brave young women.

Natalie R. Collins: All AWESOME subjects.

Rob Holden: Lisa, before we end this, I would like to thank Maria Elena Martinez at Harper Collins -- who helped make this happen. And your Web site is www.lisascottoline.com

Lisa Scottoline: We LOVE MARIE ELENA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We love my Web site, too! Check it out to see the first chapter of Killer Smile.

Rob Holden: Finally Lisa, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this here at ReadersRoom.com?

Lisa Scottoline: Thank you all for reading me, and thanks Rob and Natalie for having me.

Rob Holden: Lisa Scottoline, thank you, and all the best with Killer Smile, and the rest of your writing career!




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