Q&A With Alafair Burke 

I am so excited about doing this Q&A with New York Times Bestselling author of mystery thrillers Alafair Burke. Alafair has written several standalone novels as well as series. Her series include the Elle Hatcher Series & The Samantha Kincaid Series & Under Suspicion Series with Mary Higgins Clarke. Some of Alafair’s many standalone novels are The Wife, The Ex & her upcoming release which I finished reading an early copy of back in late October, The Note which is available today January 7^th! 

Q: Alafair would you like to give a brief description of each of your series and standalone books starting with The Note? 

A:  THE NOTE is about three friends—May, Kelsey, and Lauren—who go to the Hamptons for a girls’ trip after not seeing each other IRL for years.  A practical joke goes wrong, and they end up in the middle of a police investigation.  Prior to THE NOTE, I wrote fourteen other novels and co-authored another eight with Mary Higgins Clark.  

Q: You used to be a prosecutor and now you’re a professor at Hofstra Law School where you teach criminal law & procedure! How do you juggle being a law professor on top of writing your novels? That’s so impressive!

A: It requires me to be very disciplined about my time.  I plan my work, and work my plan, as one of my mentors taught me years ago.  It helps that I only teach classes one semester now, which frees up the rest of the year to focus primarily on writing, whether it’s fiction or legal writing.

Q: I saw in the acknowledgements section of The Note that you did use a real criminal case for the story & in your amazon bio it said you use your experience as a prosecutor to write your mystery novels. So for anyone wanting to be a writer, would your advice be to write what you know? 

A: There’s a reason people say “write what you know.”  It definitely spares you some research.  More importantly, though, it’s a way for a new writer to write with confidence and establish a unique and authentic voice.  When you know what the heck you’re talking about, it shows on the page.  

Q: Which character in The Note do you think you are more like, is it May, Lauren or Kelsey or is it a combination of all three? 

A: I see them as three different parts of me, exaggerated in each of them.  But in May, I explored my own feelings about being mixed race (white and Asian), having “imposter syndrome,” apologizing too much, and always second guessing everything.  Without giving much away, I hope readers will see that all three of the women are struggling with identity issues that require them to be a little more honest with both each other and them to resolve.

Q: Can you reveal any projects you are currently working on now?

A:  I’m working on a new standalone with some pretty delicious twists. That’s all I have to say for the moment.  I need people to focus on THE NOTE!

Q: What’s it like having your work featured by The Today Show, People Magazine, The New York Times, O Magazine, MSNBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Sun-Times? It sounds like such an honor! 

A:  It is SUCH an honor.  When I wrote my first novel, I thought I would write one book that I could keep on the shelf behind my desk forever.  It went to auction & the acquiring editors all assumed it was a series, so I said, “Yes! A series, just as planned.” That was more than 21 years ago. I never thought I’d write so many books or find so much success, and yet somehow it all still feels so fragile.  I don’t take any of it for granted.  I’m so grateful to loyal readers who gobble up every book and for the new readers willing to take a risk on me.  My favorite social media messages are from people who have just discovered me and then go deep into the backlist, binge reading endlessly.

Q: The Note was my first time reading any of your books and I enjoyed it a lot! I loved how when I think I had the killer figured out you threw a curveball! It’s what makes a great mystery! Without spoiling too much, which scenes were your favorite to write? What would May, Lauren & Kelsy be doing right now if you were to write a sequel to The Note? 

A:  Oooh…. good question.  I think as hard as they may try to stay off radar, those three have a way of stirring up trouble.  I hate to say it, but I really enjoyed writing the scenes when they’re in conflict with each other.  Sometimes even a good friend needs to hear the truth, and the gloves came off in a couple of places.

Q: If/When any of your novels were to be turned into a series or movies, who would be your dream cast to play the characters from your books especially the Ellie Hatcher Series & The Samantha Kincaid Series & Under Suspicion Series & The Note? 

A:   I always pictured Kristen Bell as Ellie Hatcher and Neve Campbell as Samantha Kincaid.  (I feel validated by my casting wishes, because Neve Campbell was terrific as Maggie “McFierce,” a similarly smart prosecutor in Lincoln Lawyer.)  Since then, I’ve learned not to align my ideas of a character with any one real person.  What matters far more than appearance is whether an actor really understands the heart of the character.  The Better Sister has finished filming (for Amazon Prime), and I was blown away at how the cast poured themselves into the characters in all the right ways.  

Q: What lessons & emotions do you hope readers learn and feel after reading The Note? I was very entertained, and I learned that the bonds of true friendship strengthen no matter the circumstances, even murder 😉. 

A: First and foremost, I hope they’ll be entertained!  In terms of a lesson to be learned, it’s hard to say without spoiling it, but I think a lot of us show various faces situationally.  A badass at work, a caretaker at home, a funny, confident friend at happy hour, and someone else entirely on social media—not to mention the persona people conjure up when they imagine us on our worst day.  Over the course of a novel, May, Kelsey, and Lauren realize they might find happiness if they live a genuine life 24/7.