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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Last Seen Alive by Joanna Schaffhausen

Book Description

The fifth book in Joanna Schaffhausen’s heartpounding Ellery Hathaway mystery series.

Boston detective Ellery Hathaway met FBI agent Reed Markham when he pried open a serial killer’s closet to rescue her. Years on, their relationship remains defined by that moment and by Francis Coben’s horrific crimes. To free herself from Coben’s legacy, Ellery had to walk away from Reed, too. But Coben is not letting go so easily. He has an impossible proposition: Coben will finally give up the location of the remaining bodies, on one condition—Reed must bring him Ellery.

Now the families of the missing victims are crying out for justice that only Ellery can deliver. The media hungers for a sequel and Coben is their camera-ready star. He claims he is sorry and wants to make amends. But Ellery is the one living person who has seen the monster behind the mask and she doesn’t believe he can be redeemed. Not after everything he’s done. Not after what she’s been through. And certainly not after a fresh body turns up with Coben’s signature all over it.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Last Seen Alive by Joanna Schaffhausen shows why she is the master storyteller of serial killers. There is not a book she has written that is not terrifying, intense, and complex. She not only gets into the heads of the murderers, but also the victims. Readers will gain insight into what it is like to become a public figure because of circumstances beyond someone’s control, trying to find normalcy and privacy.

The prologue shows how FBI Agent Reed Markham and Boston Detective Ellery Hathaway have a long relationship. Seventeen years ago, he rescued fourteen-year-old Ellery, then known as Abby, from serial killer Francis Coben. This monster had kidnapped, tortured, and held her hostage in a closet for days. There were seventeen other victims that he tortured, mutilated, and killed.

Fast forward to current day when television celebrity and journalist Kate Hunter wants to interview Coben to supposedly get justice for the victims never found. But his one condition for the interview and to give up the location of the bodies is a face-to-face meeting with Ellery.

Coben is pure evil that lurks behind a normal face. He is one of the most terrifying psychopaths to ever appear in a thriller. Although the violence is not graphic, readers are able to understand his horrific crimes. He loves to get into Ellery’s head and knows that he will always be a part of her soul.

Ellery and Reed had a rocky relationship, first rescuer/rescuee, then friends to lovers, but never able to get out from what brought them together when they first met. Unfortunately, Ellery walked away from Reed to try to free herself from Coben’s legacy. Now they are back working together to find the other victims. The question for readers, will Reed and Ellery have their happy ending?

Although the crimes are dark, the author sets such a great pace that the book becomes a page turner that cannot be put down. There is something about serial killers that draws people to their stories. As with her other series and previous stories, Last Seen Alive, is part mystery, part character study. The conflicting emotions, the pain both physical and emotional, and the reality all play a part in the telling of this captivating thriller.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Were any of these characters based on real people?

Joanna Schaffhausen: Ellery, the victim, and Reed, the FBI agent are loosely inspired by two real people. Reed was based on Bob Keppel, the Seattle homicide detective who was on the job for one week when given the Ted Bundy case. At that time, they only knew there were missing women. The Ted Bundy case changed the trajectory of Keppel’s career. He ended up specializing in serial killers. He was one of a few law enforcement people who tried to get Bundy to confess to other crimes that they suspected, to give up the other bodies. Reed, as with Keppel, was a green law enforcement officer attached to one of the cases of the century.

EC: What about Ellery?

JS: She was loosely inspired by a woman named Carol DeRonch. Ted Bundy, pretending to be a policeman in Montana, abducted her at the age of eighteen. She was suspicious after he drove away from the police station. They struggled in the car, and she was able to escape. The day she escaped; Bundy found another woman who he killed. But being his first known living victim, Carol, was able to describe what he looked like and the car. Her survival allowed all the law enforcement officers in different states to put the clues together. Even though this is now more than forty years ago, she is still hounded by Ted Bundy enthusiasts. Although he is dead, he follows her around like a ghost. At this point she prefers to be left alone. People wanted to know more about her, to know more about what it was like, and even pretended to be fellow victims. The idea behind Ellery is that as a young person she was attacked and survived. But somehow her life is still about this horrible man. How do they find an identity for themselves when the worst thing that happened is perceived as the most interesting about them?

EC: How would you describe Ellery?

JS: As with Carol, they both had survivor’s guilt. But there is a lot of differences between Carol and Ellery. Abby was Ellery’s name when she was young, living in Chicago, deserted by her father, with a brother dying of cancer and a mother consumed by it. Abby had to fend for herself. After Coben got her, she grew up quick. She went with her middle name, Ellery, who sees herself as a separate person from Abby. She had dreams that were derailed. Ellery has a sense of loss. Even though Ellery survived, Abby died. They both end up with scars and recover from PTSD as she makes peace with what happened to her. Now for the first time she has healthy relationships. Ellery completes the healing journey for Abby.

EC: How would you describe Francis Coben, the serial killer?

JS: He has some elements that are Bundyesque. The infamy, the hunger for more, abducting young women with a lot of promise in their life. One of the reasons I write my books is that the public wants to make more of these awful men than is there to be found. This desire to imagine they are brilliant and charming when they have done horrific acts and should not be admired. I wanted to show like the others, Coben, is just this killing machine. The normal person and the monster live inside this one person. He compartmentalizes, is a habitual liar, narcissist, egomaniac, and sociopath. Coben is obsessed with Ellery, the one outstanding victim, the one who got away at the age of fourteen.

EC: How would you describe Reed?

JS: A people pleaser who wants to fix everything. Brilliant, charming, wants to be the hero. He grew up as the baby of all sisters. Being adopted, her was raised in a white family but he himself is white Hispanic. He feels the need to prove himself. He is also honest, caring, protective, has a stubborn streak, is a good cook, and enjoys playing the piano.

EC: Relationship between Reed and Ellery?

JS: I wanted to explore how the kidnapping and rescue was the worst thing that ever happened to her and the best thing that ever happened to him. The premise of the first book, The Vanishing Season, has them reunite after a decade and a half. Reed feels he is the hero of the story, catching Coben, and rescuing her. But after they reunite, he gets to see all the ways he did not save her. He participated in perpetuating Coben’s legacy by writing a book off her story. They are the only ones who know the truth about her story. They are a mirror of each other. She never has to explain anything to him. Both she and Reed can be themselves with each other that gives them a unique bond even with a 13 year age difference. Eventually they form a romantic attachment as adults.

EC: The journalistic quote by Ellery?

JS: You are referring to this one, “For years, people like you have sold my story and packaged my pain as entertainment. You set it to scary music and surround it with ads… You justify it by saying there’s a lesson here. We can learn about him. We can protect ourselves better in the future. Well, the fact that we’re here now, that you’re talking about giving him the stage and making him a big, big TV star… that proves you haven’t learned a thing at all.” People should be able to walk away and live their life in peace.

EC: My feeling about journalists is that they are mostly uncaring, self-centered, and ignore the truth. What about you?

JS: I think some can be described that way, but not all. I worked for seven years for ABC national news as an editorial producer. In general, I think they want to get it correct, especially the True Crime people. I have mixed feelings where True Crime runs the gamut from being offensive to being more thoughtful. Kate Hunter, the on-air journalist in the book, wants to milk the story between Ellery and Coben. She is looking for the big ratings grab. But does want to give the families justice for the victims that have never been identified. Readers will get the feeling that this is a secondary want for her.

EC: Next Book?

JS: For now, this is the last book in the series, because Ellery has completed the journey I intended her to complete. I originally conceived the idea for five books so there is no new book on the horizon. But I would like to hear from the readers if they would like more books. Please contact me at https://www.joannaschaffhausen.com/contact/

The new book in my other series, the sequel, is called Long Gone. It comes out in August 2022. Detective Vega blew up her life, both personally and professionally, at the end of the first book. Now she is called to the scene of a weird crime where a fellow police officer is shot dead. Present is his young wife who is unharmed. Vega comes up with a suspect who is dated by her best friend.

THANK YOU!!

BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen

Book Description

Gone For Good is the first in a new mystery series from award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen, featuring Detective Annalisa Vega, in which a cold case heats up.

The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no trace of him, many believe that he’s gone for good.

Not Grace Harper. A grocery store manager by day, at night Grace uses her snooping skills as part of an amateur sleuth group. She believes the Lovelorn Killer is still living in the same neighborhoods that he hunted in, and if she can figure out how he selected his victims, she will have the key to his identity.

Detective Annalisa Vega lost someone she loved to the killer. Now she’s at a murder scene with the worst kind of déjà vu: Grace Harper lies bound and dead on the floor, surrounded by clues to the biggest murder case that Chicago homicide never solved. Annalisa has the chance to make it right and to heal her family, but first, she has to figure out what Grace knew―how to see a killer who may be standing right in front of you. This means tracing his steps back to her childhood, peering into dark corners she hadn’t acknowledged before, and learning that despite everything the killer took, she has still so much more to lose.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Gone For Good by Joanna Schaffhausen is the first in a new mystery series featuring Detective Annalisa Vega. She writes very intriguing serial killer mysteries and this one was no different.

Readers are introduced to Chicago PD detective Annalisa Vega who has some personal experience with the new case assigned to her. Twenty years ago, in the Chicago Metropolitan Area, the Lovelorn Killer viciously murdered seven women. After hog-tying them with ropes, he watched as they suffocated to death. He also mailed hand-written love letters to the “Sun-Times.”

This serial killer has resurfaced, bringing back horrible memories for Annalisa. The Lovelorn Killer had murdered seven women including Annalisa’s neighbor, Katherine Duffy, who was also her high school boyfriends’ mother, and confidant, someone she felt close to. Her dad’s Parkinson’s disease, her brother’s alcoholism, and her boyfriend’s fear of commitment were all triggered by stress, fear, and sorrow wrought by the serial killer. The villain is diabolical, perverted, deceitful, and intelligent.

The current case finds Vega investigating the killing of grocery story manager Grace Harper. Grace is an amateur sleuth, part of the Grave Diggers group, and is found murdered in the same fashion. To make matters worse, Vega is asked to partner with her ex-husband, Nick Carelli, who was disloyal and a womanizer. In Grace’s apartment they find photos of women in similar poses, all victims of the Lovelorn Killer plus extracts from Grace’s journal that offer some great insights into a murderer’s mind. What makes the story even more interesting are chapters from Grace’s point of view, giving information about the cases that Grace and her team were uncovering as well as clues she discovered that would identify the killer. After the detectives appear to be zeroing in on the serial killer, he decides to target Annalisa by calling her cell, stalking, and threatening her. He is like a spider trying to entangle Annalisa in the web.

This story has many red herrings and twists. Just when the reader thinks they know who the killer is, it becomes obvious that there is another person of interest. Vega has a vicious cat-and-mouse game with an elusive killer. At the end of the book people start to sympathize with the detective as she must struggle with a painful ethical dilemma.

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Elise’s Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Joanna Schaffhausen: It was a combination of things: Online sleuths, the cases they take on, how they go about their business, as well as my interest in serial killers. This story came about when I thought what would happen if an amateur sleuth tries to find a Cold Case serial killer.

EC: Is the amateur sleuth group Grave Diggers realistic?

JS: Yes, there are some groups more organized and tend to have members with established credentials. They tend to take cases that track down missing persons and are willing to put in the hours. Localized law enforcement can only put in so much time so amateur groups can take the information and run with it. This is an area where they have pretty good success. Most of the cases taken on are not active investigations.

EC: So amateur sleuths can be helpful?

JS: Not all. Some do not produce results. Some are prone to conspiracy theories. The fantastical tend toward that. They create narratives but don’t solve any crimes unlike the Grave Diggers.

EC: How would you describe Annalisa?

JS: She is a second-generation dedicated police officer who is daring, determined, and fearless. She is caring and seeks justice. Because she comes from a broken family, she joined the police force to have a 2^nd family.

EC: How would you describe Nick?

JS: Charming. He makes each date feel like they are number one. But when married to Annalisa he was unfaithful.

EC: How would describe their relationship?

JS: He hurt Annalisa with his infidelities. Now he says he has reformed and appears more mature. It remains to be seen if she will give him a second chance. There is a love triangle where her old boyfriend Collin is back in the picture. Collin and Nick are competing for Annalisa’s affections.

EC: How would you describe Grace, the amateur sleuth?

JS: Smart, impatient, abrasive, usually right, and funny. She found the serial killer because of a clue she found. In searching for him she became fearless.

EC: How would you describe the killer?

JS: Someone who missed the “old glory days.” He was born with the devil inside, lacks human empathy, and just looks for an excuse to kill. He likes to humiliate his victims and is an egotist. He enjoys the hunt, the power, the control, and creating fear in his victims.

EC: Why Chicago?

JS: I first set it in Boston. To differentiate from the first series my publisher and I decided to set it in Chicago. I needed some place reasonably familiar to me that had neighborhoods with family generations staying there.

EC: What about your next books?

JS: In January will be the fifth book in the Boston Police Detective Ellery Hathaway series, titled Last Seen Alive. She and the FBI Agent Reed Markham must confront their old nemesis, serial killer Francis Coben. He claims he wants to make amends and will tell where the remaining bodies are buried but only to Ellery. Then a new body turns up with Coben’s signature.

In this series, the second book titled Long Gone will be out in August 2022. Annalisa is asked to investigate how a fellow police officer is shot in his own home with his much younger wife standing over the body unharmed. Her best friend is dating the number one suspect who has been accused of killing his girlfriend years ago. Now the family and some in the police force are estranged from Vega because of what she had to do in the current book.

THANK YOU!!