Georgia Writers Museum (GWM) is excited to bring together three renowned New York Times best-selling mystery writers — Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig (self-described as “Team W”) — as its Meet the Author(s) presenters Jan. 29 at downtown Eatonton.
GWM sent interview questions to each of the three authors, but just as in their latest book, The Author’s Guide to Murder, A Novel, they got together and provided their answers in one voice.
GWM: What is it about the murder mystery genre that most appeals to you?
Team W: There’s something very reassuring about a good murder mystery. You know, no matter how tricky the crime, how clever the murderer, in the end, justice will prevail, and the world will be set to rights again. It’s also a wonderful petri dish for human characters.
GWM: What is your favorite murder mystery movie and why?
Team W: Murder on the Orient Express, a classic murder mystery written by the OG Queen of Mystery herself, Agatha Christie, with one of the twistiest and most unexpected endings of the genre.
GWM: What background factor most encouraged you to become authors?
Team W: While we each took different roads in our writing careers, we have one element in common: we all loved reading from an early age. We discovered the magic of teleporting ourselves into different time periods and lives as children, something that continued into our adult lives as we are all still avid readers.
Reading fires the imagination and opens the mind. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to be a successful novelist without reading as much as you can in a wide range of genres.
GWM: How was writing a book together different than writing one solo?
Team W: It’s a lot more fun! We utilize what we have termed “The Unibrain” — one brain in three bodies — which takes the stress out of having to know all the answers as one does when writing solo. It also allows us to stretch our writing muscles, knowing that if we try something new and it doesn’t work, we have the other two brains to tell us.
GWM: What piece of advice have you gleaned from another author that you consider most helpful in your work?
Team W: Remember whose name is on the cover. Don’t write a book for anyone else. It’s hard to switch off the clamor of critical voices in our heads, and no writer should ignore the market altogether, but our best books have always come from writing for the joy of it and giving ourselves the creative freedom to do so without constraint.
GWM: Can you give us a sneak preview of your next book?
Team W: At this point, our next Team W book is just a twinkle in our eyes. However, we each have books coming out in 2025. Karen's That Last Carolina Summer will be out in July. Lauren's The Girl from Greenwich Street will be out in March, and Beatriz's Under the Stars will hit bookstore shelves in August.
The museum's Team W event is on Jan. 29 at 3 p.m., but doors open half an hour earlier.
Visit Georgia Writers Museum online at georgiawritersmuseum.org to purchase individual tickets for $40 or two or more for $35 each and pre-order copies of The Author’s Guide to Murder for signing at the GWM Meet the Authors event.