Robin Spano's detective protagonist, Clare Vengel, has been described as "sexy, sharp-tongued, and smart as hell ... a fully three-dimensional badass" (Owen Laukkannen) and as "an older, less formulaic, slightly slutty grown-up Nancy Drew" (FNord Inc.) She's now captivating readers in the third book of Spano's series, Death's Last Run; we talk to Spano about what it's like to write Vengel and genre in this interview.

Kiley Turner: As a female author writing a female protagonist, are you conscious of gender stereotypes when you’re writing Clare?

Robin Spano: Clare is sexually adventurous, which I think is typical of twenty-somethings today. That throws some readers off—they're used to James Bond, but not women with healthy sexual appetites who take the lead in relationships. She's a great mechanic; she can shine in a man's world that way. I'm not conscious of gender conventions while writing, but I am committed to letting Clare be fully herself, gender roles be damned. Still, I had fun throwing her a cover role in Death Plays Poker that forced her to wear makeup and high heels. She fought, but she wore them well.

KT: How much do you think of genre conventions when writing and how much do you go off the beaten track?

RS: I break one major rule: the hero is supposed to be great at their job. Clare isn't—not at first. She has talent, but she shoots herself in the foot with her stubborn resistance to authority. The series is about her shedding her fears and evolving into a strong, confident woman—and only then will she truly shine at her profession.

KT: Do you write with an audience in mind? Or is it more “this is my thing and whoever reads it, reads it”?

RS: The series belongs to readers and me equally. After Dead Politician Society, readers said it was a fun read but they wanted to see deeper inside Clare. I liked that advice, so in Death Plays Poker I gave her more air time and more introspection. After those two books, readers wanted to see Clare interact with her family. I agreed with that too, so in Death's Last Run there's a scene where she's home in Orillia visiting her father in the hospital.

I don't heed advice if I disagree. One reader was appalled that there was a lesbian couple. She said something like, "When I came to the part about the same-sex relationship, I stopped reading and promptly deleted this from my Nook." Since I don't think she's my target reader, I wasn't compelled to tone down my liberal social views.

KT: What is it like to write murder and gruesome details? How do you get that kind of narrative working?

RS: I don't write gruesome details. I'm intrigued by the pathology of people going off the rails to the point of murder, but blood and gore gross me out.

KT: What about making the mystery itself work … giving enough to the reader but not too much? How do you make sure you’ve got the plot right and that you haven’t made mistakes in the puzzle?

RS: Pre-readers are gold. Seven or eight friends read each story and tell me how or when they figured out the killer. Their feedback helps me add or delete clues and red herrings. The idea is to give just enough clues that the reader feels like they could have solved the crime, but not enough so they actually do.

KT: Mystery readers read mystery in large part for the thrill—they’ll put a book down if it’s not there. How do you create the thrill of mystery? 

RS: It's the questions. You lead with the big question—who killed Sacha?—and as the investigation moves forward, you raise smaller questions, like Who's Sacha's real father? or Did Georgia know her husband was sleeping with Sacha? or Why is Jana so obsessed with her dead friend?

Microtension is another way to turn pages. Each scene should have a mission and an obstacle to that mission. Like Clare wants Jana to show her Sacha's suicide note, but she can't be too obvious about wanting to see it.

Basically, you want the reader to always wonder something. If they're wondering, they're turning the page.

KT: Where do you get your ideas for books?

RS: Wish-fulfilment.

Dead Politician Society was born of political rage. I loved opening my manuscript and offing politicians. So fun. 

Death Plays Poker was born from my love of the game. I sent Clare on what would have been my dream assignment if I were an undercover cop.

Death's Last Run was born in a Whistler gondola. I eavesdropped on the transient young locals talking about their lives in town, which sounded like one long party. It seemed like a cool stopping place for someone in their 20s. Since I couldn't go back in time to when I was young and transient myself, I decided to send Clare undercover so I could live vicariously through her.

KT: How much of your work is planning and outlining, and how much is actually writing?

RS: The first draft is almost all writing—and illogical. I write scenes scattered all over the time line. I'll think of a fight I want Clare to have with her boyfriend at the 75% mark and write that scene. Then I'll think of an ending and write that. Then I might go back and edit the beginning. It's pretty random.

When I think I might have enough words for the story to be complete, I start organizing. So the second draft is planning: figuring out what goes where and what I need to add to sew the story together coherently.

KT: What is the rest of your writing process like?

RS: My special drink is coffee. Keeps my mind sharp for the morning, when I write as non-stop as I can.

In the afternoon I switch to tea and housekeeping—responding to email, working on blog posts or articles I've promised to write, or ditching my desk to work in the garden or take a walk in the woods, some kind of exercise. Sometimes (rarely) actual housekeeping, like laundry.

Toward the end of the day, I'll pour a glass of wine and work on fiction again for an hour or so before cooking dinner. Writing with wine (a small amount!) can loosen my mind and let dialogue flow more freely.

I love TV at night, a mix of crime and non-crime. Some favorite shows are Dexter, The Good Wife, Homeland, Luther, Shameless, Girls,and Game of Thrones.

KT: What’s next?

RS: I'm taking a break from Clare and working on a medical thriller. It's strange and different (for me) with an international espionage element. When I go back to Clare, I'd like to take her to Hong Kong.