Q&A with Alice Henderson

From my Q&A with Alice Henderson, author of The Vanishing Kind: An Action-Packed Mystery Thriller with a Wildlife Twist:

How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?

Originally I wanted each book in this series to be the group name of an animal and the animal, like "A Murder of Crows" or "An Obstinacy of Bison." But I quickly learned with the first three species I focused on (wolverines, polar bears, and mountain caribou), that they had no specific group names. So I made up fitting group names: A Solitude of Wolverines, A Blizzard of Polar Bears, A Ghost of Caribou. Originally I gave The Vanishing Kind the working title of A Prowl of Jaguars, and it was the first time the group of animals I was focusing on had an actual, pre-established group name: a prowl. But it was at this time that my publisher wanted to go in a different direction with the title themes, so The Vanishing Kind was chosen instead. We thought the title would convey a mystery...what is vanishing? And at the same time it applies to both the critically endangered jaguar and to...[read on]

Visit Alice Henderson's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Vanishing Kind.

My Book, The Movie: The Vanishing Kind.

Q&A with Alice Henderson.

--Marshal Zeringue