Author2Author: Kyra Davis & Lynn Messina, Conclusion

Kyra Davis: Mim Warner makes a very interesting case study. Before her series of bizarre and misguided trend forecasts, she was very in tune with the overall mood and desires of the general population. Yet she is completely out of touch with the mood and desires of the people with whom she personally interacts. Since the book starts out with her making dubious predictions about the impending popularity of slut-T-Shirts for third grades you could argue that her personal disconnect began at the same moment she (to use your title) lost her cool. But as a reader I got the feeling that her inability to exist on the same plane as her peers was more of an inherent character trait than something she had developed later in life. Is that how you see her or was it your intention to portray her as a woman who, due to outside circumstances, suddenly slipped off the deep end?

Lynn Messina: It's meant to be the former: Her inability to make deep connections precipitates her breakdown. The thing with Mim is that she keeps everyone at arm's length. Meghan, who only knows her in a work context, takes this emotional distance as a sign of her consummate professionalism, but she slowly realizes Mim lives her whole life that way. Which is why when things start to go wrong, Mim doesn't have the resources or the support network to help her deal with it and she falls apart completely.

We've talked a bit about how I feel about chick lit. Now I want to turn it around on you. I know Sex, Murder and a Double Latte is considered to be a chick lit mystery. I'm wondering what that means to you and how you feel about it. Also: Is Sophie's fictional novel, Sex, Drugs & Murder, a chick lit mystery?

Kyra Davis: The problem with the term "chick lit" is that everyone seems to have a different definition for what it means. If chick lit is escapist fiction featuring a sassy urban female protagonist and her friends then yes, my book, and Sophie's, is a chick lit mystery. Sex, Murder And a Double Latte isn’t going to change anyone’s world views but I do hope readers will find that it offers them a fun way to temporarily escape the stress of their own lives and that is (in my mind) an important service to provide. I honestly believe that while battling depression and/or anxiety Evanovich is a healthier choice than Dostoevsky.

However, if chick lit books are urban romances featuring female characters with body issues who hate their jobs and are desperately trying to find a man who will commit, then my book isn’t chick lit at all and neither is Sophie's. My protagonist mentions that she would like to lose five pounds but it’s clearly not a big priority for her. All my characters love their jobs and no one is interested in throwing themselves into a committed relationship. There is a lot of sexual tension between certain characters but no one really concerns themselves with love or romance. But if throwing a pink cover on my book helps to boost sales, I’m all for it.