Interviews
A Letter from Helen Hawthorne
Dear Readers:
My name is Helen Hawthorne, and I'm on the run in South Florida, where it seems like I've dated every drunk, druggie, and deadbeat. Along with all the rotten men in South Florida, I've also encountered all the bad jobs. That's why the mystery series about my life is called the Dead-End Job series. I work a different minimum-wage job in every book. I've been a bookseller, I sold bustiers to bimbos, and now I'm a telemarketer.
I also go topless in this new book, Dying to Call You, but it's not what you think. When a writer sets a mystery in South Florida, there's always a naked female (it's practically a rule). She's usually a sensitive stripper who only does it to keep her toddler in heart medicine. She also falls in love (or into bed) with the hero. I only tend bar topless once in Dying to Call You, and it is to save a life and solve a murder. In my story, I go topless from a feminist perspective. I mean, it's an outdoor bar, so my goose bumps are bigger than -- well, never mind. Just read it, OK?
Dying to Call You is a pretty amazing novel. First, it's an insider's look at telemarketing, which is a very hot issue right now. Both the author, Elaine Viets, and I have worked in the telephone boiler rooms, so we can tell it like it really is.
Second, the novel covers other controversial subjects like corpse clothes (there's a real traffic in those creepy things), sex in coffins, and charity orgies. Did you know that, for years, there's been a rumor that the bigwigs in Fort Lauderdale engage in charity orgies? In Dying to Call You, I actually go to one.
Here's another good reason to read Dying to Call You. The person who tells my story, Elaine Viets, has been nominated for a phenomenal number of awards this year: Three Agathas, and a Lefty, from Left Coast Crime. She didn't win any of those, but it was an honor just the same. She said that to everyone in the hotel bar after the awards ceremony. And, she's just been nominated for three more awards. That makes seven in 2004. This time, it's a an Anthony, a Macavity, and a Barry, all of which are given out at Bouchercon, the big mystery convention. I hope she wins at least one, or she's going to be the Susan Lucci of the mystery world.
So, read Dying to Call You. I promise, it's really funny. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to my next awful job.
Sincerely,
Helen Hawthorne
