MBN Welcomes Karin Slaughter, Author of the Grant County Mysteries

Mystery Books News is thrilled to welcome Karin Slaughter as our guest blogger. Karin is the author of Broken (Delacorte Press, June 2010 Hardcover, 978-0-385-34197-4), the 8th mystery in the Grant County series but also featuring Will Trent, who she introduced in her 2006 mystery Triptych.

Today, Karin writes about her characters, and how they've changed and evolved through the series. And she's also providing our readers with an opportunity to win a copy of her book. Visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Karin Slaughter: Broken" contest link, enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (6071) for a chance to win! (One entry per person; contest ends July 14, 2010.)

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Photo by Alison Rosa, provided courtesy of Karin Slaughter

While many people deride “formula fiction,” the only formula I think writers need to stick to is to tell a better story with each new book. With Broken, I hope I’ve managed to do that. The story combines my two series, Will Trent and Grant County. In Undone, my last novel, Sara Linton was in Will Trent’s world, but with Broken

In her defense, Lena has changed a lot since Blindsighted, my first novel, but there are still parts of her personality that are the same. She’s older now, more introspective and working less by gut instinct and more by slow deliberation. Lena has always been a character who wants above all to do a good job. Unfortunately, she’s also prone to taking shortcuts. Sometimes, these shortcuts mean that other people get hurt. In the beginning of the story, she takes one that endangers her fellow cops and puts her squarely in the center of Will Trent’s investigation.

It’s actually Sara Linton who calls Will into town. She thinks that she’s finally found a way to send Lena to jail for her willful pigheadedness. Sara is home for the first time in four years, visiting with her family for the Thanksgiving holiday. Sara has changed, too, and we really see that as she interacts with her family. Some of the light-heartedness is gone, and I think of all the characters, the title of the book, Broken

Caught between these two women is Will Trent. He’s really the anchor of the book, the only narrator the reader can rely on. Despite having secrets of his own, he seems to be the most centered character. He’s already figured out his place in the world, no matter how tenuous the hold. Through Will, both Sara and Lena learn how to move on in their lives. I think at the end of the day, that’s the one thing I love most about the crime fiction “formula.” No matter what happens in the book, you know that the characters will carry on.

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Karin is a long-time resident of Atlanta, where she splits her time between the kitchen and the living room. Visit her website at KarinSlaughter.com.

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About Broken: When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner’s death. He doesn’t understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn’t understand her role in the death of Grant County’s popular police chief. He doesn’t understand why that man’s widow, Dr. Sara Linton, needs him now more than ever to help her crack this case.

While the police force investigates the murder of a young woman pulled from a frigid lake, Trent investigates the police force, putting pressure on Adams just when she’s already about to crack. Caught between two complicated and determined women, trying to understand Linton’s passionate distrust of Adams, the facts surrounding Chief Tolliver’s death, and the complexities of this insular town, Trent will unleash a case filled with explosive secrets—and encounter a thin blue line that could be murderous if crossed.

For a chance to win a copy of Broken, courtesy of Authors on the Web, visit Mystery Book Contests, click on the "Karin Slaughter: Broken" contest link, and enter your name, e-mail address, and this code (6071) in the entry form. (One entry per person; contest ends July 14, 2010.)