Together, Lynne and Valerie Constantine have very intricately created this domestic tale of two very strong willed women in "The Last Mrs Parrish". The plot is so well thought of and seamless that thought of two writers penning their vision won’t cross your mind.
This being my first novel I reviewed that was co-authored, had me intrigued on the process of the collaboration of a physiological tale like this one. Which made me reach out to them for a short Q&A on the novel and I was thrilled when they kindly accepted my request and responded so quickly.
Q: What was the process of collaborating for this novel?
LIV: We spent about a month or so talking about the characters, the setting, their background of each character etc. Then we did some research. We assigned each other scenes to write every day and then email them to each other. In the afternoons we Facetimed and discussed what had been written. This continued through the process of the whole first draft. In subsequent drafts, we edited each other’s work until the book was finished.
Q: Were the both of you simultaneously involved in developing a character or individually worked on separate characters?
LIV: We developed all characters together but wrote the chapters separately.
Q: Was the end of the story decided first or did it conceptualize as the story evolved?
LIV: We knew the end of the story first. It was the outgrowth of a discussion we were having about gold diggers and we said: “What if things turned out differently.”
Q: How different would “The Last Mrs. Parrish have been if written as individual writers?
LIV: That’s hard to say. Our collaboration brings out the best in each of us and our strengths complement each other. One thing is for sure, we had a blast writing it together!
Q: Any recommendations from the contemporary thrillers?
LIV: There are so many wonderful thriller writers that it’s difficult to narrow down. You can’t go wrong with Lee Child or Karin Slaughter. We’d also encourage readers to try out debut authors. We’ve read so many amazing debuts this year.
‘The Last Mrs Parrish is an addictive and twisty debut’ Karin Slaughter
‘Wonderfully plausible, hypnotically compelling, and deliciously chilling and creepy – some of the best psychological suspense you’ll read this year’ Lee Child
"Filled with envy, deception, and power, it’s a great reading escape. And there is a thrilling twist at the end!!" Reese Witherspoon