Loreth Anne White
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
Author of In The Deep, The Patient’s Secret, and THE UNQUIET BONES
About The Unquiet Bones:
A shocking discovery of human bones reopens an almost fifty-year-old cold case—and rips apart the lives of a group of friends—in a riveting novel by Loreth Anne White, the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of The Maid’s Diary.
When human bones are found beneath an old chapel in the woods, evidence suggests the remains could be linked to the decades-old case of missing teen Annalise Jansen.
Homicide detective Jane Munro—pregnant and acutely attuned to the preciousness of life—hopes the grim discovery will finally bring closure to the girl’s family. But for a group of Annalise’s old friends, once dubbed the Shoreview Six by the media, it threatens to expose a terrible pledge made on an autumn night forty-seven years ago.
The friends are now highly respected, affluent members of their communities, and none of them ever expected the dark chapter in their past to resurface. But as Jane and forensic anthropologist Dr. Ella Quinn peel back the layers of secrets, the group begins to fracture. Will one cave? Will they turn on each other?
The investigation takes a sharp turn when Jane discovers a second body—that of the boy long blamed for Annalise’s disappearance. As the bones tell their story, the group learns just how far each will go to guard their own truth.
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
About In The Deep:
“Real-estate mogul Martin Cresswell-Smith is the best thing that has ever happened to Ellie. After her daughter’s devastating death, a divorce, and an emotional breakdown, he’s helped her move as far as possible from the grief, the rage, and the monsters of her past. Her life is on the mend, and Ellie imagines her new home with Martin in an Australian coastal town will be like living a fairy tale. But when they relocate, and when Ellie is separated from her family and friends, behind closed doors a much darker, more sinister reality begins to emerge—one that ends in Martin’s brutal murder. And Ellie seems almost relieved…
Naturally, everyone thinks Mrs. Cresswell-Smith is guilty.
But Lozza Bianchi, a single mum and the detective charged with investigating the violent crime, is not so sure. Ellie is definitely hiding something, but could she also be a victim?
And as the case takes one startling twist after another, Lozza can’t shake the gut sense that Ellie could be playing them all.
Or is she?
Lozza has no idea what shocker lies below the surface ….
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
Author I draw inspiration from:
2024: I draw inspiration in some form or another from nearly every book I read, so I am unable to narrow it down to just one author. Authors I have loved for years in the domestic thriller/mystery vein (and who inspired me to attempt to write in this space) include Lisa Unger, Laura Lippmann, Lisa Jewell, Shari Lapena, Louise Doughty, Chevy Stevens, Tess Gerritsen and more. In the more straightforward police procedural/mystery vein, I have most recently been enjoying Ann Cleeves. The latest of hers I read and really enjoyed was THE LONG CALL. I am currently reading her DEAD WATER. The most recent of Laura Lippmann's I read was PROM MOM (I love her earlier Tess Monaghan investigative series, too)
2020: At the moment, Daphne Du Maurier.
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
Favorite place to read a book:
2024: On our cabin deck up at the lake during the long days of summer, or curled up near the fireplace in cold seasons.
2020: Outside in a deck chair in balmy sunshine, preferably with a water view!
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2024: This makes me realize I read a lot of dark stories with dysfunctional characters with whom I probably would *not* want to be stuck in an elevator! I have claustrophobia as is, so I really prefer not to be stuck in an elevator at all!
2020: Vera Stanhope, from Ann Cleeve's mystery series. Suitably curmudgeonly yet caring. (She might even call me Pet :) )
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2024: I can't think of an exact moment. It was more of a gradual over-the-years realization that maybe I could perhaps try my hand at this fiction writing gig. I finally did give it a shot well into my journalism career ... some time in the late 90s.
2020: If I had to pinpoint one moment in time it was in Cape Town, South Africa, while trapped inside our office building during a march to free Mandela. To while away time, a group of us journalists decided to try writing alternating chapters of a Mills and Boon style novel. The moment passed, Mandela was finally freed, but a tiny seed had been sewn deep down inside me. It took a while to germinate, but it finally did.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2024: Hardback for keepers and longtime auto-buy authors. Paperback for fast thrills and chills and for testing new author waters. I seem to have moved away from ebooks at present. Right now I'm truly loving the experience of stepping away from screens/digital and from long days of writing on the computer in favor of curling up somewhere else with a physical book, or indulging in audiobooks on walks/long drives/treadmill or a stationary bike. For me, going with paper is re-awakening that wonderful sensation of escape that fiction always provided. (Reading on screens started to feel like 'work')
2020: All three, depending on the story/author. Hardback for keepers. Paperback for the beach. Ebooks for fast reads and for traveling light. And I'm opting for audio more and more, especially while going on long walks, drives, or doing chores. Sometimes if I truly love an e-book, paperback, or audio, I will buy the hardcover version as well.
The last book I read:
2024: Lucy Foley's THE GUEST LIST. Loved it. Devilishly compelling and atmospheric. My kind of escape.
2020: THE SILENT PATIENT, Alex Michaelides. Currently reading THE INVISIBLE GIRL, Lisa Jewell, and DAPHNE DU MAURIER, a biography by Margaret Forster.
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
Pen & paper or computer:
2024: Both! I love to sit away from my computer and map out scenes with paper and ink (preferably green or purple ink), but then I flesh them out and type them up on a computer. When things are in the flow, I wake early (5:30 am), make coffee and have it in bed while mapping out three or so scenes as the sun rises. I'll then hit the gym, or trails, or swim, come home, have breakfast, then sit at my desk and flesh our those scenes during the day on the computer.
2020: Both! Brainstorming with pen and paper, and the actual writing/editing on computer.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2024: This is a good question because it makes me think about characters I love to follow in a story, and often they are questionable folk who make some really bad decisions, and I am not certain we'd be friends, but I do love (am compelled) to watch them screw up and fight it out on the pages in a removed sort of fashion.
2020: Barbara Havers in Elizabeth George's Inspector Lynley series. (The book version, as I see her, rather than the TV version :) )
Author Interview - Loreth Anne White
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
2024: This is probably why I *am* an author - I can dabble in so many fields/passions. Through my characters I can play at being an espionage agent, or a marine biologist, or a psychologist, or cop, a search dog handler, a psychic, a pilot of a small plane, or a professor of philosophy. When I started studying at university it was in the fields of psychology and English lit ... I think I've managed to combine those two passions through being a novelist, and at this point in my life I honestly wouldn't want another profession. I'd be retiring :)
2020: In an alternate universe, a psychologist or marine biologist. Or a search and rescue/tracker tech.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
2024: Sixties - so diverse as the spirit of the times moved from tailored to free flowing barefoot hippiedom
2020: I don't have a favourite - whatever feels liberating, makes one happy, expresses character, is comfortable, and functions for the purpose needed is good with me!
Place I’d most like to travel:
2024: There are so many places in the world I'd love to see. I love oceans and beaches, but would also like to visit Yellowknife in winter to see the northern lights there, or South West Africa to see those dunes meet that wild sea and those sand-swept ghost towns, or spend more time in Amsterdam where my grandparents were from, or visit the northern beaches of Europe, or Cornwall where my husband's ancestors are from.
2020: Right now, Australia and Indonesia.
My signature drink:
2024: Ginger kombucha
2020: Toss up between sparkling water and good coffee.
Favorite artist:
2024: At the moment, painter Louise Nicholson and her bears.
2020: Emily Carr
Number one on my bucket list:
2024: I plan to nail surfing this winter! And do another swim trek, this time in the Mediterranean. I would love to try Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim between Asia and Europe some day. Or the Nevis to St Kitts Cross Channel Swim in Caribbean.
2020: Swimming the Minoan trail off the coast of Crete. (I was almost there, but the trip was of course cancelled because of Covid)
Anything else you'd like to add:
2024: Thank you for sharing book love, and for hosting me here!
2020: I love to hear from readers, and I am most active on Facebook if anyone wants to connect. (And thank you for interviewing me)
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/LorethBeswetherick
https://www.instagram.com/lorethannewhite/
https://twitter.com/loreth
About Loreth Anne White:
Loreth Anne White is an Amazon Charts, Washington Post and Bild bestselling author of thrillers, mysteries, and suspense. With over 3 million books sold around the world, she is an ITW Thriller Awards nominee, a three-time RITA finalist, an overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Arthur Ellis finalist, and winner of multiple other industry awards.
A recovering journalist who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now calls Canada home. She resides in the Pacific Northwest, dividing time between Vancouver Island, a ski resort in the Coast Mountains, and a rustic lakeside cabin in the Cariboo.
When she’s not writing or dreaming up plots, you will find her on the lakes, in the ocean, or on the trails with her dog where she tries—unsuccessfully—to avoid bears.
