Sue Coletta’s name is synonymous with award-winning, edge-of-your-seat crime fiction, and true crime stories. Her passion, range, and prolificacy ensure her fans always have something compelling to read, and her generosity within the crime writers community (links to her expert resources abound on her website and in her various blogs) promises support to fellow authors. We were so pleased to be able to sit down with her to discuss her latest books, her insights into the criminal mind, what goes on in her own mind, and so much more.
You have an enormous body of work to date. Can you give us an overview of the number of books you’ve written and how many series are among them and what genres they cover, etc.?
Sure. I’ve written seventeen books and published various other stories in anthologies and collections. All fall under the umbrella of Crime, either true crime or crime thrillers. I have two ongoing psychological/serial killer thriller series, Grafton County Series and the Mayhem Series, and two Mayhem Series Crossovers in Elle James’s World as well as Susan Stoker’s World. A few years ago, Rowman & Littlefield approached me to write true crime, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
Please talk about the difference between true crime and serial killer thrillers, not only genre-wise but in what goes into the process of each.
Genre-wise, thrillers are fiction, true crime is nonfiction. The process of writing is vastly different. All good crime fiction includes realism, but the writer decides how to use research to drive the plot. With true crime, the story is the story. We can’t remove or enhance parts of it to suit our needs. We also can’t let our imagination run wild or we’ve dipped into fiction.
True crime has real victims, real families grieving, real monsters who’ve committed the unthinkable. For an empathetic person like me, true crime takes an emotional toll, but the stories are part of history. That’s not to say the stories matter more—after all, an escape into a fictional world provides health benefits, as well—but I think true crime has a greater impact on our lives.
Historical vs. contemporary true crime differs, too. When I wrote Pretty Evil New England, my goal was to shine the spotlight on female serial killers: Why and how they turned to murder, their backgrounds, childhoods, crimes, and day-to-day lives. Crawling inside their heads allowed me to understand them in a way that drove me to allow these killers to tell their own stories. Because I delved so deeply into their lives, I think all five of “my ladies” will forever be part of me. But they’re long dead, and so are their victims’ families.
With contemporary true crime, the killer is often alive. More importantly, the victims’ families are still suffering a gut-wrenching loss. One of my top priorities is to not cause the family more pain. They’ve been through enough. But if I don’t write the story another writer will, and s/he might not be as empathetic. If the book could have a negative impact on the family’s work or personal life, I’ll give them the option of using a fictitious first name. Some writers won’t.
Please tell us a bit more about Pretty Evil New England.
Female killers are often portrayed as caricatures: Black Widows, Angels of Death, or Femme Fatales. But the real stories of these women are much more complex. Pretty Evil New England tells the story of five female serial killers, from broken childhoods to first brushes with death, and the overwhelming urges that propelled these women to take the lives of a combined total of more than one hundred innocent victims. The murders, investigations, trials, and ultimate verdicts will stun and surprise readers as they live vicariously through the killers and the would-be victims that lived to tell their stories.
In addition to Pretty Evil New England, you have another new book, this one a thriller. Can you tell us about that?
Yes, it’s called I Am Mayhem. As bloody, severed body parts show up on her doorstep, Shawnee Daniels must stop the serial killer who wants her dead before she becomes the next victim.
But can she solve his cryptic clues before it’s too late? Or will she be the next to die a slow, agonizing death?
What in your background led you from writing children’s books to writing crime?
Haha. Kudos for connecting those dots! How can I put this? I wrote children’s books at a time when I needed “light and fun.” I never pursued publication for any of them; I wrote the books for friends’ children to enjoy. Later in life, I decided to go after my dream of becoming a published author. Since I’ve always been fascinated by why and how people kill, crime writing seemed like a natural fit.
How do you get into the heads of the kinds of criminals you deal with?
For historic crime, I spend weeks scrolling through microfilm in search of dialogue, mannerisms, attitude, family dynamics—any details to let me get to know them on a personal level. I walk the same streets, visit crime scenes, graves, mental hospitals…anywhere they frequented in life, only decades, sometimes centuries, apart. Walking in a killer’s footsteps helps me to get in the right frame of mind to tell their stories. The same holds true for contemporary crime.
The difference is the investigation. I’m working on a case now where I basically need to reinvestigate the crime by using the case files as a guide. I’ll interview the killer in prison, but I won’t crawl inside his head to write the book. If I’m in the killer’s head, then I can’t be objective or empathetic toward the victim. See what I’m sayin’? When the crime occurred changes the dynamic. Contemporary crime is more victim orientated. For me, it is anyway.
Do you feel more sympathetic to criminal inclinations after you finish researching?
For my historic ladies, I did. Once I dug into their backgrounds and childhoods, I understood why they turned out the way they did. For the killer in my contemporary crime, no. I’m not sympathetic toward him whatsoever.
In the case of true crime, do you find you sometimes have to go beyond the facts to assign motivation? Or is assigning motivation unnecessary?
Assigning motivation isn’t necessary, but we all want to know why. So, I’ll puzzle out motivating factors. Though I can’t go beyond the facts of the case. Sometimes there is no rational reason. People are capable of unimaginable cruelty.
For example, while interviewing the lead investigator for my next true crime book, he told me about another murder. A husband sat at the kitchen table while his wife stood at the sink washing dishes. He pulls out a .44 Magnum and shoots her in the back. Why? No idea. The investigator never got a straight answer other than “I felt like it.”
Do you find that most criminals (real and the ones you create) have personality traits in common?
Yes and no. We’re all products of our environment and experiences. Do some experiences help to create a killer? Absolutely. Child abuse and neglect top the list. I view people as layered, with childhood at the core, then our teen years, then early adulthood, adulthood, middle age, senior, etc. When the trauma occurred matters. Maybe we’re not old enough to understand why or how something happened, or perhaps we are old enough but choose not to deal with it in a healthy way. Instead, we push it down, let it fester. Sooner or later, emotions from that trauma will resurface. Whether that means we’ll turn violent or sink into depression depends on various factors. If we live in a volatile environment, we could easily lash out. If we’re in a loving, safe environment, we might work through it without issue.
In your fictional stories, which comes first for you, the plot or the characters?
Depends. Sometimes I think of a killer plot, then create the character that would be most affected by the storyline. Other times I create a character, then create a plot that would most affect them.
Does paranormal phenomenon ever play a part in your work? Do mentalists or clairvoyants ever work with your law enforcement characters?
In my Grafton County Series, I included a paranormal(ish) thread in two of the books but not in the way that would require a mentalist or clairvoyant character to work with law enforcement. Can’t say more without spoiler alerts.
You personally know many law enforcement professionals, forensic experts, coroners, firearm experts, etc. In fact, many of these people have been guest bloggers on your award-winning crime blog. Do you rely as heavily on insights from them as you do on document research?
These days, I try not to bother them unless I can’t find the answer on my own. When I do reach out, they never fail to amaze me.
Many crimes these days seem to begin with identity theft and phone/email scams. Do any of your books deal with what must seem like “petty crimes” compared to serial murders?
Actually, yes. In my Mayhem Series, the main character runs the Cybercrimes Unit at a local PD. She also moonlights as a cat burglar who targets white-collar criminals. To say she’s “complicated” is an understatement.
Where can Occhi readers learn more about your work?
The best place is my website: https://suecoletta.com
I’m also on Twitter: @SueColetta1
Facebook: https://facebook.com/SueColetta1
And a gazillion other places online.
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