Death by Cutting Table
Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Susie Black's Death by Cutting Table, book four of The Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series!
***Synopsis***
There wasn’t an honest bone in Mermaid Swimwear CEO Butch Oldham’s body. He was an equal opportunity scoundrel who screwed anyone and everyone in his wake. So, the question wasn’t who wanted the bastard dead. The question was, who didn’t?
After Mermaid Swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik finds colleague Queenie Levine standing over Oldham’s bloody corpse nailed to a fabric cutting table with a big honkin’ pair of cutting shears plunged deep into his chest, the cops soon find Queenie’s hidden blood-soaked sweater, discover her stormy relationship with the victim, and her public threats to make Butch pay for destroying Mermaid by stealing it blind. When Queenie is arrested for Butch’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to flesh out the real killer.
But the trail has more twists and turns than a slinky, and nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent for revenge.
How are the books in
the series related?
Death by Cutting Table is the fourth book in The Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series. The books in the series are related by locale and by a cast of continuing characters.
All the books in the series take place in the Los Angeles garment center. Holly Schlivnik, the protagonist, and the Yentas, her group of professional colleagues, appear in every book, as does Doctor Sophie Cutler, Holly’s lifelong friend and a Los Angeles County Assistant Coroner.
What is the sub-genre and trope?
The sub-genre is humorous cozy mystery. The trope is the stories all take place in the LA garment district. The main characters meet every morning for coffee at the same place and time. Garment jargon is in every story.
Did your characters lead you to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
No, the characters did not lead me to this genre. It was decided before the story began.
Are you more character or plot driven?
As a successful sales and marketing exec in the ladies’ swimwear industry, I am by nature a people person. So, I am more character driven.
Once the cast of characters is created, the plot falls easily into place because it reacts to the characters in the story, not the other way around.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind? Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?
All of my characters-with the exception of medical and law enforcement-are based on real people I know or knew, so it is easy for me to keep them separated in my mind. So, no, I do not need a story/vision board above my workspace to keep the characters straight.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
Are you kidding? With my cast of annoyingly pushy characters, ALL of them were determined to take their own direction instead of where I initially wanted them to go! LOL.
The cast of continuing characters and I have worked out a compromise: I write the beginning and ending of the story and the characters take the plot from the middle to the end of the story.
BUT…I have the last word. They know that they MUST get to my ending, not one of theirs. Generally, they behave, because if they don’t and I get really upset, they know I can write them out of the story…or kill them off.
Nothing as lasting as a relationship based on fear…
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes. With the exception of the LAPD Captain and the Homicide Detective, all of the male POVs are based on someone I know.
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
Yes. With the exception of the Assistant LA County Coroner and two of the murder suspects, all of the female POVs are based on someone I know.
Was there any one character that was harder to write about than the other?
Yes. Ironically, one of the murder suspects was quite a challenge to write about. Ostensibly, she was a nice, ordinary lady who was collateral damage to the terrible deeds the murder victim carried out, so it was difficult to transform someone likeable into a potential killer.
Was there a scene that was harder to write about than the other?
Yes. There is a scene where the protagonist’s houseboat was tampered with. The murderer tried to set off an electrical reaction from the wiring connecting the breaker box and the power outlet on the boat with the intent to set the boat on fire with the heroine sleeping inside.
Other than knowing how to put a plug into an outlet, I have no background in how electricity works, especially in a situation like this one. I had to do a fair amount of research to get the details right of how such a reaction would have to be set up in order for it to deliver the resulting fire and explosion.
What is your favorite book in the series?
Historically, I’d say my debut novel, Death by Sample Size. While that book will always have a special place in my heart, Death by Cutting Table has taken its place as my favorite.
The murder victim in this story is based on a real-life villain who actually stole the CEO job from my boss. Then this terrible man proceeded to steal the firm blind and eventually put it out of business. He destroyed many careers and put hundreds of employees in financial harms’ way.
While many of his employees dreamt of doing the deed, in real life he was not murdered. Candidly, I got great pleasure giving the devil his do, if only in my imagination.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
Hands down, Holly Schlivnik is my favorite character because she is based on me. Holly is the me I always wanted to be and more.
Series question - Who is your favorite couple and why did you decide on their dynamics?
My favorite series couple has recently changed from the couple in my debut book to a couple in Death by Surfboard: Jack Tyne and Carrie Le Beau.
I decided on their dynamic as the couple you love to hate because they are two selfish, conniving people who deserve one another.
How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?
Since these two characters are based on real people I knew and worked with, it was quite easy to get into their heads and find their perfect HEA as I imagined it to be.
Of course, their perfect HEA was perfect for me…for them…not so much.
What scene in this book sticks out the most for you?
The scene where Holly Schlivnik realizes that she was myopic in her focus on the wrong person as the murderer all along.
Why?
The profound sense of regret she felt when she must face the fact that the damning clues were right under her nose, but she didn’t pay attention to them because her focus was only on the suspect who tried to kill her. And her fear it was her fault that the real killer might have gotten away with murder pulled at my heartstrings.
What scene in the series sticks out the most for you?
The scene in Death by Sample Size when Holly’s colleague Sonia Wilson is so incensed by a lie Bunny Frank told to an HR manager that cost Sonia a huge job that she stalks over to a table where Bunny is seated in a coffee shop and grabs the latte right out of Bunny’s hand and pours it over Bunny’s head. Then Sonia walks back to the Yentas and calmly tells them the next round of coffee is on her.
Why?
Because Sonia’s visceral reaction to Bunny’s betrayal was so real it broke my heart.
Were any of the books harder to write than others?
This one actually turned out to be the hardest one so far because I ended up scrapping the original manuscript that took readers in real time through all the terrible things the murder victim did and the story ended with Holly and Queenie discovering the corpse.
I completely changed the story so that there are only references to those terrible things the murder victim did. I also revised the plot points so that the murder is discovered in paragraph one of page one and the investigation is what is in real time.
This question is if you write in MULTIPLE POVs not just the hero and heroine - I love the multiple POVs in a book. It’s not just the hero and heroine, but we get inside the heads of multiple characters throughout this series. I feel that it gives the story further depth. Do you think you will write another book or series following this multiple POV outline?
I write all my stories in the first person from the POV of the protagonist, so multiple POVs are not part of my writing scheme.
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
Since I scrapped the original plot, it took a lot longer than anticipated. This book took about four months to write.
The four books in the series took a little under five years to complete.
How did you come up with the title for your book and the series?
All of my book titles give the reader a clue of the plot and how the murder victim is killed. So, all the titles begin with “Death by…” In this instance, Death by Cutting Table gives the reader a hint that the story is about a victim whose corpse is discovered flayed out on a production fabric cutting table.
In coming up with the series title, I wanted to give the reader an idea of what all the stories in the series were about. The Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series tells the reader who the continuing protagonist is, a hint as to her profession, and that the series is in the murder mystery genre.
If you met these characters in real life, would you get along?
Since I actually did meet in real life the real people that these characters are based on, the answer is a mixed bag:
Some of them-absolutely yes.
Some of them would be just colleagues and others close friends.
BUT there are others-definitely NOT. We would buck heads most of the time.
Series question – Did you know in advance that you were going to write this as a series or did one of the characters in book one demand their own story?
I knew in advance that I was going to write this as a series, but the protagonist definitely demanded that every story featured her as the star.
If your book/series were made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?
Sarah Silverman- Holly Schlivnik
Katherine Heigel-Queenie
Melissa McCarthy-Joan
Elizabeth Banks-Sonia
Rebel Wilson-Hope
Kristen Wiig-Sophie
Anna Kendrick- Kelly Oldham
Juliette Rylance-Harriet Cowan
Edgar Ramirez or William Levy-Miguel
Samuel L. Jackson-Detective Jones
Ms. Markowitz-Charlotte Rae
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Whether a new book and series or a sequel to an existing series? Can you share a small tease?
The next book that will be released has a murder in the plot but the story is actually not a murder mystery. Rag Lady is the fictionalized story of how I got into the rag biz and the way that career led to my writing gig.
Here is a small tease:
“Holly Schlivnik dreams of being a writer, but fate has other plans. A family crisis throws her into an improbable situation and her life will never be the same. Determined to make her own luck when things don’t happen the way she plans, the irrepressible young woman takes a sledge hammer to the glass ceiling and shatters it to smithereens. The wise-cracking, irreverent transplanted Californian goes on a raucous, rollicking rollercoaster ride of hysterical adventures as a ladies apparel sales rep traveling in the deep South and finds herself along the way.”
I am also working on a prequel that features the series protagonist as a high school newspaper reporter and amateur sleuth. I have the first book plotted out already. Fingers crossed; the first book of the prequel will be out sometime in 2024.
Check out all my interviews/reviews for Susie Black!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2022/11/author-at-glance-susie-black.html
She reads, writes, and speaks Spanish, albeit with an accent that sounds like Mildred from Michigan went on a Mexican vacation and is trying to fit in with the locals. Since life without pizza and ice cream as her core food groups wouldn’t be worth living, she’s a dedicated walker to keep her girlish figure. A voracious reader, she’s also an avid stamp collector. Susie lives with a highly intelligent man and has one incredibly brainy but smart-aleck adult son who inexplicably blames his sarcasm on an inherited genetic defect.
www.authorsusieblack.com
After Mermaid sales exec Holly Schlivnik finds colleague Queenie Levine standing over Oldham’s battered corpse nailed to a fabric cutting table with a pair of cutting shears plunged deep into his chest, the cops soon recover Queenie’s hidden blood-soaked sweater, discover her stormy relationship with the victim, and her public threats to make Butch pay for destroying Mermaid by stealing it blind.
When Queenie is arrested for Butch’s murder, Holly jumps into action to flesh out the real killer. But the trail has more twists and turns than a slinky, and nothing turns out the way the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent for revenge.
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