Some secrets are best left buried
After a violent home invasion, Neve Maguire returns with her daughter to Black Lake, her childhood summer home, hoping for a fresh start. But when the body of a woman is found floating among the reeds in the lake behind her house, she fears she has made a horrible mistake.
But others are worth killing for
Neve is hiding secrets, though. Detective Jess Lambert can tell. Recently back after her own personal tragedy, Jess knows what it’s like to live with skeletons in your closet, and she’s sure Neve has a few of her own.
When another woman’s body is found, Jess and Neve are forced to confront a horrible truth. Because one thing is clear: the darkness of the past is waiting. And the secrets of Black Lake are only just beginning to surface.
Netgalley Most Anticipated Thrillers of 2023
Q&A with Christina
I first read These Still Black Waters as an advanced copy (ARC) through Netgalley and absolutely flew through the book, telling my partner, mum, and best friend all the way about how much I loved the representation of the two main point-of-view (POV) characters. Christina saw my five-star review on my “Bookstagram” and we got to talking. I was lucky enough to have a chat with Christina virtually for this Q&A, after this initial connection via Instagram.
Rose: These Still Black Waters is your fourth novel now, releasing October 1. What makes this book special to you?
Christina: I think all of my books are special. They’re like children in that way. But the thing that sets These Still Black Waters apart for me is that it’s the book that got me back into writing. I was between contracts and bummed because my previous book had launched during Covid and wasn’t doing as well as I wanted, and I just sort of lost steam. I felt like what was the point in writing if I wasn’t going to be successful at it? So I started looking for jobs in digital copywriting, which is what I did before becoming a full time author, but all the while this idea was niggling at me and I was itching to start writing again. When I finally sat down to write it, I wrote it for me. Not for a contract, or even to get published (although, of course the hope was there!), but specifically for me because I love writing and it’s in my soul. The story that came out is These Still Black Waters, so it feels really close to my heart.
Rose: Can you tell us a bit about the two main POV characters of These Still Black Waters, Jess and Neve?
Christina: Neve is a mother and a veterinarian running away from a traumatic incident and determined to keep her daughter safe, while Jess is a detective suffering from her own personal trauma. The two are instantly connected over their pasts, even while Jess starts to become more and more suspicious of Neve.
The first drafts of TSBW were primarily from Neve’s point of view. I added in Jess’s point of view later when I decided I wanted to get an inside look at the investigation, but the plot itself came entirely from Neve. When I sold the book, my editor wanted to make it a series, and the best way to do that was to make Jess a primary protagonist, so I actually expanded her chapters in edits.
I come out of the curve and hit the throttle. The machine leaps at my touch. It was specially adapted for my disability after the accident – clutch-less gear shift, thumb throttle, modified foot plates, hand-operated side stand.
Rose: I was absolutely floored by the accuracy of Jess's character, with her post-accident injuries and her use of a mobility aid, and details of her customised motorbike! Can you explain what sort of research process you went through in order to be confident you'd portrayed Jess authentically?
Christina: Thank you so much, I worked really hard to make it authentic! A lot of Jess’s character came from me putting myself in her shoes. I do this with all of my characters, but especially for Jess because I knew that she would experience the world very different to how I do. So things like getting dressed, using a motorcycle, even walking down the street, I had to close my eyes and imagine how you would do it if you had a severe leg injury, if you were holding a cane, if you were unbalanced the way she would be.
Some of it I was able to envision because my niece has MS, so I’ve seen the different aids she uses to walk, but some of this came from empathizing and imagining what it would be like. That’s the power of writing (and reading!) is being able to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while and experience a different point of view.
Shit. I can’t hold my phone with its flashlight and my cane with my gun. I slowly, quietly place my cane on the floor. I’m off balance, but no way in hell am I giving up my flashlight or gun.
Rose: Is it difficult for you to figure out the logistics of what Jess is physically capable of, such as in the scene where she had to weigh up putting down her cane or her gun in a possible intruder situation?
Christina: No, not really. To be honest, when I’m writing a scene, and I know my character, I’m in it, I’m there. She is me and I am her. It sounds bizarre, but I’m just imagining it, and it’s so real, it’s not difficult to figure out at all. I just put myself in that scene, but with a cane, and all the practical stuff comes to me. If I have a cane in one hand, I wouldn’t have enough hands to hold a gun as well. So it’s really just about putting myself in that scene.
Rose: Jess Lambert is going to have her own series, I hear, which is super exciting for your future! What made you want to continue to explore crime through her perspective?
Christina: I’m really excited for this series and am just finishing up writing the second book in the Jess Lambert series! I wanted a character people could empathize with. There are a lot of hard-boiled detectives or detectives with traumatic pasts, but I really like to get inside my characters and make them stand out. Jess was in a terrible car accident, and that would leave its mark. Having a long-term disability is a very likely outcome from an accident like hers, and so I embraced it and made it part of who she is. I think she stands out as a character, not just because of her disability, but because of how she doesn’t let it hold her back. It makes her stronger. She’s a survivor.
Rose: And do you know yet just how many books Jess Lambert will get to her series, or a rough release timeline?
Christina: Right now we definitely have two books for the Jess Lambert series. That’s usually all an author ever knows, unfortunately. Book 2 in the Jess Lambert series will come out in autumn 2024, a year after These Still Black Waters. If it sells well, we’ll get a third book. So, fingers crossed!
I know the worry and anxiety exist only in my head, but the truth is that sometimes fear screams an awful lot louder than logic.
Rose: I've been slowly making my way through your backlist, and I've noticed a lot of representation throughout the stories you tell. What makes you want to represent the heavy topics you choose within your books, such as amnesia and emotional gaslighting in Behind Every Lie?
Christina: I suppose I’ve always been drawn to dark things, but not just dark stories with dark, dramatic twists. I want my characters to be realistic, to confront real life issues as well. To reflect the real tribulations and trials of the people around us. My mom is blind and my niece has MS, and I just think everybody has something or has somebody they love who struggles with something, so we should be more representative of real life in our writing. Representation is so important in literature, that’s why I have a disabled detective in TSBW, and a lesbian protagonist in Behind Every Lie, and a bad doctor in Do No Harm. Reading books with accurate representation helps us to understand the world around us, helps us see things from somebody else’s point of view. It creates a shared humanity so we can appreciate and respect our similarities and differences, so it’s really important to me.
She was paralyzed, but we also had to contend with the results of her brain injury. She was never the same person again. Her personality changed. She had a facial tic. Depression. Blood pressure that was dangerously out of control.
Rose: Does writing topics like amnesia, PTSD, gaslighting, deaths of loved ones take a toll on you? I imagine the fact checking and accounts you'd read to prepare to write these topics would be mentally taxing?
Christina: Surprisingly, no. It doesn’t really affect me when writing it. I guess maybe I’m a little clinical about it, reading other people’s accounts, but then I translate that into emotion when I write. I do sometimes feel mentally taxed, but not necessarily from writing about dark things. It can just sometimes be mentally taxing to be creative for eight hours at a time.
Rose: Lastly, I'd love to know how readers can get their hands on These Still Black Waters? Do you have a pre-order campaign currently?
Christina: I’ve fallen out of love with pre-order campaigns, to be honest. I live in the UK, so it’s pretty expensive for me to send things to the US.
Instead I’m going to do a launch week bonus campaign. It will include book club discussion questions, a deleted chapter, a conversation with me, a short alternate ending, and alternate cover choices my publisher and I discussed using. Anybody that orders These Still Black Waters during the first week of launch (or earlier if they’d like), will get access to all of these things as a download. I’m putting it together now, but I’ll have more details closer to launch available on my socials and on my website.
Facebook: @christinamcdonaldauthor
Instagram: @christinamac79
Thanks so much, RC!
Rose: Thank you so much Christina, I really appreciate you taking the time to do this for me!
Below is a snippet of my Goodreads review
This book had me hooked from the get-go, with rich story, characters I immediately felt I knew, strong motivations throughout, and incredibly accurate disability representation. These Still Black Waters follows three distinct POVs, with a single timeline plus flashbacks as necessary, seamlessly woven in.
The story had all the right tells to help you figure out what was unfolding yet keep the questions percolating. The ending was just superb, made all the more shocking yet delightful by the consistent pacing and sprinkling of foreshadowing throughout. Conversations felt natural, even between different generations, and the details were immaculate. Also beautiful descriptions of views and landscapes and old houses! I thoroughly enjoyed These Still Black Waters and would recommend it to anyone!
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