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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Blade by Wendy Walker

Book Description

Ana Robbins was an Olympic star in the making—until tragedy forced her to leave that world behind. At the age of sixteen, she gave up her dream and never looked back. Fourteen years later, she’s a successful defense attorney, revered for her work with minors. But when her former coach turns up dead, Ana lands right back where it all began, and abruptly ended: The Palace, a world-renowned skating facility nestled high in the mountains of Colorado.

Ana returns to The Palace to defend the young skater accused of the brutal crime—Grace Montgomery. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

But Ana’s investigation dredges up childhood memories of her own, triggering the fear that permeates this place where she once lived and trained far from home as an “Orphan.” With a blizzard raging outside, and time running out for Grace, Ana is determined to uncover the truth—even if it means exposing her own secrets that she buried here long ago.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Blade by Wendy Walker takes readers into the world of figure skating intertwined with a murder mystery. Drawing on her own experience as a teenage figure skater, Wendy Walker vividly brings the rink to life showing readers how the figure skating competitions are toxic with the pursuit of perfection.

The plot has former Olympic figure skating hopeful Ana Robbins, now a successful defense attorney, returning to the Palace, an elite skater’s facility. She becomes the defense attorney for Grace Montgomery, who is accused of murdering the assistant coach, Emile Dresiér. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

The chapters alternate between the past, Ana’s time as a skater at The Palace, and the present as a defense attorney. Ana’s investigation dredges up childhood memories of her own, triggering the fear that permeates this place where she once lived and trained under coach Dawn Sumner. She and three others became known as “The Orphans,” because they didn’t have parental support to help with Dawn’s sometimes cruel fear training. Ana and the other “Orphans” were each driven to the breaking point in pursuit of being the best and earning the praise of their coach, Dawn. This is a relevant read since next month the winter Olympics begin. Readers who watch the Olympics will be able to understand what goes on behind the scenes. In this story, what evolves is a dark web of suspense, exploitation, abuse, and shock.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Wendy Walker: Years ago, I was a competitive figure skater. I tried to craft a thriller with this sport. The plot is completely fictional. There is a forward story and backward story of 14 years ago. The focus of the story is not skaters attacking other skating but the pressure of the competition and how coaches misused the girls.

EC: What is true in the story about figure skating?

WW: There are four girls who are orphans living in a dormitory. There is also the rink, the competitions, some aspects of the skater mother’s, the Bleacher Bees, the way it feels to do the jumps, the Triple Axel, the take offs and landings, and how much they train. I did do research and speak with those more current in the figure skating world because my experience was forty years ago.

EC: What about the Orphans?

WW: They have this shared experience, so they forged close friendships. There were also other relationships and other people who are not trustworthy and are super competitive a la the Tanya Harding story from years ago. They developed this family structure, similar to the story The Outsiders, because they were missing parents. Joleen is the advisor, the more nurturing maternal figure. Kayla is the tough one, the stronger parent. Indy is the older sibling to Ana and the one who can best succeed. Ana is the lonely one, the youngest, and the most naïve.

EC: The setting of The Palace?

WW: There are a lot of people coming and going that can be an isolating experience as it was for me. I trained for three years, when I was 13 to 16 years old. I lived in a dormitory and only went home for the holidays and a week for the summer. The weather became an issue for me since I rode my bike to school. I felt so helpless because I was too young to have a car and did not have the emotional maturity to navigate that world. It was a free for all for me.

EC: Are the Bleacher Bees stage moms?

WW: Yes. My parents were not like the Bleacher Bees but there were some that were definitely there. Some moms were moms who were helpful and kind to me and others who did not have a family there. I think Indy’s mom was a real stage mom obsessed with making nationals and the Olympics. Indy’s mom lived vicariously through Indy. She went to the Olympics but never won a medal. She put everything into their child’s skating. They start to have the dream of their child.

EC: How would you describe the coach, Dawn?

WW: She wanted the ice skaters to be fearful of her and to have them strive for her acceptance. Winning becomes the entire self-identity of the skater, although it was not my training. Dawn has the philosophy that the skaters need to worship the coach and to please the coach. The fear of displeasing her is the greatest fear they have, more than falling or getting hurt. She was like an abusive spouse who gives love and affection at times while other times abuse.

EC: The philosophy was fear turns into rage, rage turns into action, and they should fight instead of fleeing or freezing. Did you get this from Yoda’s philosophy of fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering?

WW: No. I wanted to have a psychological phrase for the book. I thought about how much fear is involved in competitive skating where someone’s performance on that day is all that matters. If their brain is seized by the fear the jumps are hard to complete. They have to hurl themselves high into the air, pulling their legs in to get as many rotations as possible, and usually they will fall the first time they try. The fall hurts and skaters have to overcome that when practicing. They had to conquer the fear. There were girls that had huge bruises as Indy had in the story.

EC: How would you describe Grace, the one accused of killing?

WW: She can be impulsive, disturbed, rageful, with anti-social behavior. She has a high IQ. She is an enigma throughout most of the story.

EC: The victim Emile, can be described as?

WW: He is damaged, manipulative, a betrayer, a tattle-teller, and enjoys making the girls feel worthless. There is something sociopathic about him. He operates in the shadows. He suffered a knee injury as a skater because of Dawn’s training and became bitter. He has no empathy for these girls and finds enjoyment by interfering in their lives.

EC: Next book?

WW: It is set in wealthy suburbia. There is a love triangle that goes between the present and the past that involves a murder. The girl is part of a wealthy community and the boy is from the other side of the tracks. A little of West Side Story like. No title yet, and it will probably come out in 2027.

I am also writing another audible first novel next year. It is stand alone. It has a unique format, similar to The Room Next Door. It is a full-length novel with sound effects, music, and seamless narration with a full cast of characters that has a performer saying the lines.

THANK YOU!!

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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: American Girl by Wendy Walker

Book Description

Charlie Hudson, an autistic seventeen-year-old, is determined to leave Sawyer, PA, as soon as she graduates high school. In the meantime, she works as many hours as she can at a sandwich shop called The Triple S to save money for college. But when shop owner, Clay Cooper—a man both respected and feared in their small economically depressed town—is found dead, each member of his staff becomes a suspect in the perplexing case. Before she can go anywhere, Charlie must protect herself and her friends by uncovering the danger that is still lurking in their tightknit community.

Based on the #1 bestselling audio, American Girl is a riveting thriller told through the eyes of an unforgettable protagonist.

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Elise’s Thoughts

American Girl by Wendy Walker is a character study that begins as a murder mystery that then turns into a psychological thriller with elements of danger and twists. It is a story of good versus evil and life versus death. It about friendship and relationships between women surrounded by solving the crime of murder.

The story begins with the owner of a sandwich shop where Charlie Hudson works found murdered. Each member of the staff becomes a person of interest except Charlie who was hiding behind the counter. These people she works with have become her family, and she would go to any length to protect them.

Charlie is clever, thoughtful, resourceful, sensitive and has developed coping mechanisms for her autism that allow her to function.

The author is a master of suspense. The story has many twists and turns and readers will not want to put the book down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why did you take the audio book and make it into a printed book?

Wendy Walker: I worked with Audible for a novella of mine, Hold Your Breath. Once it went to Audible there were changes made to the story. The main character, Charlie, never had her condition spelled out. Readers could tell she was Neuro-divergent. This story became number one for Audible across all fiction. Since it was doing so well, I decided to revise the story sightly to make it for print. And here we are. It is an ode to a woman’s life that starts at seventeen.

EC: How did you get the idea for the story?

WW: The summer of 2019 I was at a restaurant bar with a friend. When the song, “American Girl,” came on I got up to dance. There were young people there who were flirting with each other, in their little packs. I had a lot of images in my head. I had a visceral that transferred me back to what it was like to be seventeen. As I was seeing women in different stages of life in this restaurant everything came together in a perfect storm. I had an acknowledgement on the realities of life. I thought of all the dreams I had. I became obsessed in writing a story. This was the first plot of mine that came from a character with all the other supporting characters giving life to Charlie. All the characters were written to express what I had experienced, the trajectories of a woman’s life.

EC: Why did you make Charlie autistic?

WW: I wanted to explain why she is perceptive of the world. When she narrated the story, she is analytical and a little bit dispassionate even when things around her are very emotional and chaotic. She was atypical at that age. Most teenagers at that age are consumed with their own lives, their friends, but not the adults around them. I remember thinking how the adults were irrelevant to me when I was seventeen, that parents could not understand me. I did a lot of research and spoke to specialists in the field, advocates of autism. It was really an education for me about autism. I learned how autistic people are all so different, and unique, especially the way their brains work.

EC: How would you describe Charlie?

WW: She has a good memory, good at math, but not good at relating to people. She does not like loud noises or bright lights. She concentrates, an observer, loyal, and protective. She was diagnosed at age eleven. This helps to understand why she is different. She found the diagnosis very liberating and made her divergent. She can navigate the grown-up world.

EC: Charlie had a bunch of rules, why?

WW: It is a story about an autistic girl and how any person put in Charlie’s situation would handle it differently based on their set of skills. The most important rule, “there are no rules when it comes to love.” Love is a central theme to the book. The love between Charlie and her mom, between Charlie and her best friend Keller, and between Keller and her boyfriend Levi. Love is the one thing that throws off all the predictors. It causes all the other rules to fall away.

EC: What was the influence of Charlie’s mom?

WW: She felt trapped which is why she escaped from her parent’s clutches. She tells Charlie how love would destroy her. She tries to be supportive. She was rejected by her parents. She applies the lessons of what happened to her to everything for Charlie. All her dreams were stolen and now she has no dreams. What is important to her and for Charlie is getting out of their town, Sawyer and to focus on survival.

EC: How would you describe Keller?

WW: She is all consuming and passionate. She is an idealist, fragile, and harassed by the victim. She drinks and smokes.

EC: How would you describe one of the co-workers Janice?

WW: She once had dreams. She is devoted, affectionate, proud, a worrier, and a mother figure.

E: How would you describe one of the co-workers Nora?

WW: She is resigned to life and feels pride in her work. She is a managerial type who is honest, loyal, disciplined, and a loner.

EC: What about Ian, the policeman?

WW: He was a childhood friend she was in love with. He is wound tightly and is trustworthy, sarcastic, and understanding. He is conflicted about his life’s circumstances. He has unresolved issues and is shackled to the town. Charlie wants him to get over his past.

EC: Readers feel no sympathy for the victim-correct?

WW: He is not a good person. He had a persona of what he wanted people to think of him versus his real persona. He was power hungry, greedy, lusted, and was not caring. He represents the bad things of this small town. He enjoys humiliating people and takes advantage of people. He is corrupt. He exploits his employees and takes away their dignity and self-respect.

EC: Why the phrase, “lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions”?

WW: I worked in a sandwich shop at seventeen through college. The way the sandwich shop is described in the story is based on this shop. It was a chain called D’Angelos that have been around forever and puts those items on the sandwich. I had bosses who were sleeping with the teenage employees.

EC: Next book?

WW: There will be an Audible book, an audio play titled Mad Love. I describe it as Dirty John meets the Tinder Swindler meets the psychological thriller. It takes place in a wealthy suburban town.

EC: Will this be made into a movie or TV show?

WW: It has a TV series option. All my stuff had been optioned.

THANK YOU!!

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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: What Remains by Wendy Walker

Book Description

She saved his life. Now he‘ll never let her go.

Detective Elise Sutton is drawn to cold cases. Each crime is a puzzle to solve, pulled from the past. Elise looks for cracks in the surface and has become an expert on how murderers slip up and give themselves away. She has dedicated her life to creating a sense of order, at work with her ex-marine partner; at home with her husband and two young daughters; and within, battling her own demons. Elise has everything under control, until one afternoon, when she walks into a department store and is forced to make a terrible choice: to save one life, she will have to take another.

Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn’t feel like one. Steeped in guilt, and on a leave of absence from work, she’s numb, even to her husband and daughters, until she connects with Wade Austin, the tall man whose life she saved. But Elise soon realizes that he isn’t who he says he is. In fact, Wade Austin isn’t even his real name. The tall man is a ghost, one who will set off a terrifying game of cat and mouse, threatening Elise and the people she loves most.

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Elise’s Thoughts

What Remains by Wendy Walker is part procedural, part domestic suspense, part mystery, and a cat/mouse thriller between a policewoman and a stalker.

The story opens with Cold Case Detective Elise Sutton stopping at a department store to buy her children a gift. She hears gunshots and is confronted by an active shooter. One man is about to shoot another, so she decides to make the choice to take one life to save the other. Elise is very shaken having killed someone, even if it was necessary to save other lives. As a detective who works cold cases, she has little need to fire her weapon in the line of duty. She is hailed as a hero, but she doesn’t feel like one. Steeped in guilt, and on a leave of absence from work, she’s numb, even to her husband and daughters, until she connects with Wade Austin, the tall man, whose life she saved. She asks him if it was a good shooting, which saved his life.

But this meeting will put her life in turmoil even though Wade, known as The Tall Man, hails her as a hero. She is guilt ridden that she took a life and tells him more about herself than she should. The problem is Wade is not his real name and when she tries to find him, he becomes a ghost.

This is where the story takes a turn and deals with the psychological aftermath of a shooting. Elise comes to grip with letting her guard down with a total stranger who is hellbent on ruining her life unless she gives into his demands of spending their life together. He begins stalking her and threatening the people she loves including her husband, daughters, and police partner. It now becomes a dangerous, twisted, and deadly game between Elise and the man she saved.

This is an edgy, intense, and chilling novel where readers take a journey with Elise. Readers will not be able to put the book down.

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Author Interview

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

Wendy Walker: I was listening to the news years ago and heard about a shooting in Boulder Colorado in a grocery store. Listening to the bystanders interviewed it was so clear they suffered a trauma. I wondered what happened to them. This is where the title, What Remains, comes from. This was a sudden acute trauma and I wondered what happens to people emotionally. This is where the character was born and from there, I decided to make her a police officer, Elise.

EC: The steps of trauma?

WW: I found it interesting to find these stages. In the research, some had seven stages, some six, some five. Someone’s brain goes through this process of what happened. I put in the books these steps: shock, denial, pain, guilt, anger, bargaining, depression, then an upward swing toward acceptance and hope. I had Elise, obsessed with finding one of those caught up in the store to try to put her mind at ease about the shooting. She feels isolated and alone because she has stopped herself from going through these stages.

EC: How would you describe Elise, the police officer?

WW: She has an internal conflict after being hailed a hero, yet she has tremendous guilt and doubt about the shot she took killing the shooter. She tends toward having anguish, is a puzzle solver because she can control it, vulnerable, and a risk taker. Before the shooting she is confident and happy with her life.

EC: What about after the shooting?

WW: What happened really shakes her and changes her. As a police officer she second guessed herself. She is strong, tough, capable, and protects herself. I do not see her as a victim. She is kind of a bad ass because she decided to use her weapon to save people’s lives. She feels tormented, puts herself in danger, feels alone, and has secrets. Elise feels isolated, which comes from the shooting because she sees life darker. There is a disconnect from her emotional brain and thinking brain. The book has a scene where the psychiatrist tells her, ‘The worst kind of loneliness is to be with people you love and feel that they don’t see you, then to be alone. It is more painful.’

EC: Readers understand what a stalker does?

WW: Stalkers are irrational. The like to target, humiliate, create fear, and the victim feels helpless. They are compulsive, torment, play a game of wits, and love the control. If they cannot have someone in their life this is the way they do it. There is no end game because the victim will never be with them. They need to have it in that moment, a connection with the person being stalked. It is just in the moment. They crave power over that person.

EC: How would you describe Wade, the stalker?

WW: He is fragile and is in a compromised emotional state when he enters the store. In the store his behavior is less than heroic. His self-esteem is shattered. The focus on Elise is because he has “rescue worship,” which is based on obsession. He believes that the shooting was meant to be to connect him with Elise. He did not see it as random. Being connected to Elise is essential for Wade’s emotional survival. He is also ruthless and violent because he is desperate and loses control.

EC: The role of her partner and husband?

WW: Rowan is her police partner and is meant to be someone who witnesses what she is going through. He ends up helping her and keeps her secrets. He is the other man in her life even though there is no romance but is protective of her.

Mitch, her husband, had an affair that they are trying to overcome. With this dynamic it makes it easier for Wade to torment her and to get at her because of this vulnerability. What they managed to rebuild is challenging and being exploited by Wade. What Elise loves about Mitch is that he is protective, strong, and supportive. He is trying to understand what she is going through but does not.

EC: Next books?

WW: American Girl was an audible original in 2021. It is coming to print in October. There is a TV option for it. An autistic 17-year-old in a small town witnesses a crime, the death of a wealthy business owner. It is a fast-paced thriller. It was inspired by the Tom Petty song, “American Girl.”

Next year there will be an audio play called Mad Love. It is a psychological thriller. A con man is married to a wealthy widow and is found murdered in his bed and she is shot and in a coma.

Also, next year there will be a new novel coming out in 2024 titled Kill Me Softly. It is a play on the song, “Killing Me Softly.” It is about a serial killer who is targeting middle aged women and making it appear like suicides. A young feminist researcher comes to believe there is a serial killer.

THANK YOU!!

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