Meet Susanne Lakin

Innocent Little Crimes was inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (sometimes called Ten Little Indians). In my psychological suspense novels, I prefer to kill my characters off psychologically rather than literally. To me, words and actions can just as powerfully destroy us completely as physical harm, which is what I intended to show in Innocent Little Crimes.

The key point of the novel, as hinted at in its title, is that we all commit “innocent little crimes” against others each day. Just one hurtful word can destroy a marriage or ruin a person’s reputation and send them into despair. Piled up, small hurtful words and actions can have a cumulative effect. I also wanted to explore the theme of revenge, and how it can eat away in us, and never brings any measure of satisfaction. Only forgiveness and letting go of blame and anger can free us.

If you are intrigued by this topic, I hope you will read my award-winning novel Someone to Blame. I think you can tell, by the title, what the theme of this book is.

I’ve been writing novels for twenty-five years, and when I’m not writing psychological suspense, I write fantasy. I currently have a seven-book fantasy series out (the first four books have been published so far) called The Gates of Heaven, and they are a collection of deep, rich fairy tales for adults, full of metaphor, evocative language, and happy endings. I suppose I alternate writing fantasy and suspense to ease up on the tension! I like to throw in a few talking pigs and feisty rumphogs to liven up the action!

I love to hear from my readers, so come find me on Twitter and Facebook or visit my website! I also write a blog for writers to help them in their writing journey: Live Write Thrive, and I work professionally in the US book publishing industry as a copyeditor and writing coach. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Cruz) and have two daughters (grown), a wonderful husband of thirty years, three persnickety cats, and a very BIG Labrador retriever named Coaltrane.