Interview: August 21, 2015

Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than three dozen crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, as well as a frequent collaborator with his wife Faye and son Jesse. His latest, THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER, is a stand-alone thriller about Grace Blades, who overcame early trauma to become a brilliant psychologist. When her past and present converge, Grace’s harrowing childhood returns with a vengeance. In this interview with Bookreporter.com’s Joe Hartlaub, Kellerman reveals the reason he was compelled to give Grace --- who originally appeared in the Alex Delaware universe --- her own story. He also talks about the roles that nature and nurture play in personality development, how he would reform the foster care system if given the opportunity, and the secret to successfully collaborating with family members (hint: lots of emails!).

Bookreporter.com: THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER may be my favorite book of 2015 thus far. I literally could not put it down once I started it. What got this novel going for you? At what point during the writing process did you realize that you had something really special happening here?

Jonathan Kellerman: First of all, thanks so much for the kind words. Deeply appreciated. Writing a novel is an interesting process: daily increments of five or so pages a day --- if I’m lucky --- and, after a year or so of gestation, a manuscript. Lots of rewriting along the way. Once I finally polished the book and sent it to my editor, I allowed myself a Manhattan on the rocks, jazz on Pandora radio, and a few quiet moments of satisfaction. I try not to get too introspective during the actual writing as it detracts from my focus. 

BRC: You and Grace Blades are similar. Grace is a very early bloomer academically, publishing papers and acquiring post-graduate degrees earlier than normally expected. You published your first paper --- on the weighty topic of childhood psychopathology --- at the age of 22, a point where many students these days are still deciding what major they are going to declare. Where did you find the elements of Grace’s personality and background that you do not share? Do they have real-world sources, or did they spring from your imagination?

JK: Actually, Grace and Alex Delaware both mirror my own experience in grad school --- graduating young. I was 24 and got tired of being asked by patients, “Doctor, how long have you been doing this?” So I grew a big black mustache.

In my case, being told by professors that finishing early was close to impossible --- because it entailed working full time as an intern while researching and writing a doctoral dissertation --- stimulated my interest in giving it a try. (Having always been a contrary sort; as my --- now 95-year-old --- mom said when I asked her why she was stricter with me than with my two younger sibs: “You took all the fight out of me.”)

Regarding sources and background, it’s always a combination of things I see or hear and my own overactive imagination. That even extends to geography. I combine real places with streets and cities that I make up. Inventing stuff is the most fun, so I try to do as much of that as possible while maintaining accuracy. Basically, I get paid to do what got me in trouble in school: spacing out and making up stories. LOL.

Common educational and occupational experiences aside, neither Alex nor Grace is me. They spring from my mind as do all the characters I’ve created over 30-plus years writing fiction for a living. Grace, in particular, is unique: The tagline for the book, “You’ll never meet anyone like her,” is true. She has aspects to her personality that could certainly be considered pathological, but knowing her past, we come to understand them. And, hopefully, to care about her as she fights for her life.

BRC: The issue of nature vs. nurture is raised subtly in THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER. Grace overcomes a horrendous and traumatic early childhood spent with biological parents who are losers by any reasonable definition. Her subsequent success is certainly due in part to later fortuitous foster placements, but, ultimately, she did the work. Where does that spark originate? What is your opinion in the nature vs. nurture debate? Is one or the other ultimately determinative when it comes to success or failure, or is it a combination of the two? Or is something else involved? 

JK: Most complex phenomena, such as personality, are likely the result of an interaction between nature and nurture, with the former not limited to genetics but also to other biological factors such as prenatal environment, nutrition, etc. I’ve been asked the difference between working as a psychologist and as a novelist, and my answer is that psychologists attempt to establish predictive rules about behavior, while novelists deal with the exceptions. Grace is the exception: Someone with a horrendous background who manages to survive and to thrive.

The notion of supersurvivors --- people who do much better than expected --- has always fascinated me. I dealt with it in another stand-alone novel, BILLY STRAIGHT. But I wanted to delve into the concept more deeply with a character followed literally from birth into adulthood. Grace is a person who needs to maintain an extreme degree of structure and control in her life in order to function. Her high intelligence enables her to function at an impressively elevated level. But she certainly has her issues.

BRC: On a related note, where did the initial conception of Grace Blades come from? Why did you feel compelled to give her a novel of her own rather than make her story and investigation part of the Alex Delaware series? 

JK: The previous answer may answer some of this question, but to expand: I really wanted to concentrate on Grace with a depth that could only be accomplished by featuring her as the protagonist and drawing the reader --- and myself --- into the nuances of her internal world. Delaware is a great vehicle for telling a certain type of story, but this was a different story; Grace needed to be more than an ancillary character in Alex’s life. This is a woman who, when faced with danger, doesn’t call 911. She takes care of business. The idea for THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER percolated in my mind for years. It was only when I convinced myself that I knew enough about Grace that I began the book. But, of course, I learned a lot more as I wrote.

BRC: THE MURDERER’S DAUGHTER takes place in Alex Delaware’s universe --- he even makes a couple of cameo appearances --- but is a stand-alone work (at least at this point). Still, you are known primarily as a series author. What are the advantages and disadvantages to writing additional books in a series as opposed to works that are set off by themselves?

JK: I love writing the Delaware series and hope to continue as long as I’m physically and mentally able to do so. However, being a novelist is about novelty, and we creative types often find ourselves drawn in multiple directions. For example, with my son, Jesse, I wrote a supernatural thriller, THE GOLEM OF HOLLYWOOD, as well as its sequel, THE GOLEM OF PARIS, due out in November. At my age, I have a rather feeble short-term memory so I write stuff down. Currently, I have 65 plotlines in the file. Most of them are for Delaware, but some are not. It really depends on where the story takes me. So many books, so little time!

BRC: Grace is, like you, a clinical psychologist. What do you consider to be the most important advancement and/or discovery in the field of clinical psychology since you started practicing in the 1970s?

JK: Two major advances stand out: The first is clinical neuropsychology, which is a field that has advanced the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities, brain dysfunction, etc., to an astounding degree. When I was in practice as well as directing a hospital program, neuropsych was in its nascence, but I could see the promise and included a neuropsychologist on my staff. The second standout is cognitive behavior therapy, a modality that has proven extremely effective in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. I found it tremendously helpful with my patients. One of the primary geniuses behind CBT was Dr. Aaron “Tim” Beck, a renowned Philadelphia psychiatrist. I had the pleasure of meeting Tim years ago when I received a distinguished alumnus or some such award from the UCLA psych department, and he came up and told me he was a fan of my books. For me, that was the greater honor.

BRC: One of the book’s themes concerns Grace’s early life, when she is placed in a series of foster homes. Assume for a moment that you are tasked with making significant improvements in the foster care system. What is the first change you would make?

JK: That’s really a tough one, because you have a chronically overburdened system. You’ll notice that, in the book, I avoided the facile tack --- portraying the system as a Dickensian horror. It’s not. Terrible things do happen, and there’s a lot of boilerplate mediocrity and amoral bureaucracy. The larger the system, the more that’s true. However, there are also wonderful people, and the novel makes clear that even someone with Grace’s resolve and talents couldn’t have made it without mentoring at crucial junctures. If I ruled the world, I’d find some way to increase the number of private institutions that could augment government set-ups. Unfortunately, we seem to be moving toward more government and less of an appreciation for the role of charitable groups. 

BRC: Some of our readers are working on their own novels and are curious as to how bestselling authors like yourself get the job done on a day-to-day basis. What is your writing schedule like?

JK: I can write at any time of day, but I prefer the morning. Faye and I spend some time after waking chatting, drinking coffee and listening to music. Usually we hit the home gym for an hour. Then we shower, get dressed, and head for our separate offices. I turn off the phone and begin typing. It sounds as if I’m disciplined, but I love it, so it doesn’t feel that way. Having worked all kinds of jobs since the age of 14, I appreciate being able to work what I consider to be the best job in the world. And I appreciate my readers for enabling that.

BRC: After doing anything for 30-plus years --- and that would include writing --- it gets difficult to find new challenges while staying sharp and resisting the temptation to “phone things in.” You have manifestly avoided this; each new book of yours seems different from the last. How do you stay inspired? What keeps you moving, and writing? Have there ever been times when you contemplated retirement?

JK: So far, so good. Lots of ideas, no intention of quitting. One pitfall of writing professionally is that it’s so isolating. However, having been married --- to another writer, no less --- for 43 years, and as the father of four wonderful kids, three of whom are married to wonderful people I also consider my kids, plus being the grandfather of four adorable tykes (so far), I’m in no danger of being lonely. I also have strong interests: primarily, playing classical guitar, in addition to other stringed instruments, and painting. Finally, I’m basically a gregarious guy with lots of friends, some of whom I’ve known for 55-plus years. All in all, a blessedly full and busy life. But I do cherish the quiet hours I get to spend with my characters.

BRC: In addition to your significant bibliographies of fiction and nonfiction, you have collaborated with your wife, Faye Kellerman (a highly regarded novelist in her own right), and, more recently, with your son, Jesse Kellerman, who also has enjoyed considerable success as an author. Is writing a story with someone else --- particularly a family member --- something you enjoy, or do you prefer writing alone? How do you make the decision to write with a family member?

JK: The basic difference is that in a collaboration one needs to drop any sort of proprietary notion (“This is mine!”) and be open to the process. I’ve enjoyed writing with both Faye and Jesse, and, in fact, Jess and I have just contracted for two additional novels. However, I consider collaboration to be a supplement, with the basic gig being writing solo. Interestingly, though Faye and I live together, we never had a single face-to-face meeting on the two books we wrote together. We did it all by email. That also worked when writing with Jesse, who lives in another city. However, because the Golem books are so complex and, to our minds, groundbreaking, we did --- and do --- talk over the phone and sometimes in person. In both cases, I was able to collaborate because my level of trust was high. Faye and Jesse had already established themselves as bestsellers, and I had so much respect for their talent.

BRC: Without going into the reason why I am asking this question, I have to ask: Have you ever been ziplining?

JK: Good Lord! Okay, here goes! I have a tremendous fear of heights. Even watching a movie featuring tightrope walkers, etc., makes me queasy. Unlike my wife, who is utterly devoid of such phobia. That said, we were in Costa Rica a few years ago and…there I was…dangling over a half mile of rainforest chasm. Strangely enough, I wasn’t scared. More like numb. However, when Faye cried out in delight “Isn’t this fun, honey?” I kept my mouth shut. Not just out of discretion. I felt as if I had lockjaw. I figured one day I might find a way to --- ahem --- integrate the experience into my consciousness.

BRC: What are you working on now, and when might readers expect to see it? Will we see Grace Blades at some point down the road, either in another book of her own or perhaps in a cameo or guest appearance in your Delaware series?

JK: As mentioned, THE GOLEM OF PARIS comes out in November. The next Delaware novel, BREAKDOWN, is finished and will be out in February. I’m working on the following year’s Delaware and pondering Grace-related ideas because I remain fascinated with her. I’m also collaborating with Jesse on a contemporary crime thriller and the third Golem novel, set in an extremely exotic locale. And so on!

Again, thanks so much for your gracious comments about THE MURDERER'S DAUGHTER and for thinking of me.