The Woods of Hitchcock (The Henrietta Series) by Ann W. Jarvie

 Please welcome Ann W. Jarvie author of The Woods of Hitchcock (The Henrietta Series)

Ann W. Jarvie will be awarding a $75 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The Woods of Hitchcock

(The Henrietta Series)

by Ann W. Jarvie 

 

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GENRE: Thriller, Psychological Suspense

 

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

Two people inspired me the most. The first was a wonderful high school teacher who saw something she liked in my writing, selected me as yearbook editor, and encouraged me to become a journalism major, which I did. She also was one of my biggest cheerleaders when I started writing novels. The second person was someone who passed away long before I was born: my maternal grandmother, Henrietta, who was also the inspiration for my first novel, The Soul Retrieval. Henrietta lived on an Apache reservation with her physician husband until he mysteriously died there. Her life and the family’s murder mystery intrigued and haunted me. I couldn’t let it go. So I started making up a story about it, with a Henrietta-inspired character as my protagonist. 

In my new thriller, The Woods of Hitchcock, my Henrietta character plays a secondary role as the sage grandmother to my protagonist Suzanne Clayborn. The Woods of Hitchcockis the sequel to The Soul Retrieval, although both novels stand completely on their own.

 

What elements are necessary components for this genre?

The most important element of a thriller, besides being suspenseful and compelling, is having a deadline that requires action from the protagonist to save him or herself, someone loved, something important and/or critical in terms of life-and-death. In The Woods of Hitchcock, I have two such deadlines. In the opening scene, there is a ticking bomb from which the heroine must escape to save herself and a co-worker. Later, a mysterious stranger gives her another deadline of only a week for solving a life-or-death riddle to save those she loves.

 

How did you come up with the idea for your new novel?

A lot of story ideas I’ve had over the years and many of my life themes converged to form the inspiration for my new thriller, The Woods of Hitchcock.

When I was growing up in Aiken County, South Carolina, and first heard the name “Hitchcock Woods,” which is a real place, even as a young teen, I honestly thought it sounded more like a suspense novel than the enchanting equestrian forest preserve that it is. Perhaps I was seeing into my own future. While I was living in Chicago and started writing novels, I kept coming back “home” and to Hitchcock Woods, walking and riding horses in it with family and friends, eventually realizing it, as well as Chicago, would be the ideal settings for my protagonist, Suzanne Clayborn, and her suspenseful Hero’s Journey. 

 

Does Hitchcock Woods have anything to do with the filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock?

Not at all. But I’ve intentionally included a few subtle Hitchcockian film themes and plot devices in The Woods of Hitchcock—for fun, surprise and added suspense. I’ve even included something that might be likened to one of Alfred’s famous “cameo” appearances, and I challenge readers to find it! 

 

What expertise did you bring to your writing?

I have a B.A. in journalism and twenty-five years’ experience as a copywriter in advertising and PR agencies, in Chicago and South Carolina. As they say, “write what you know.” So I brought my background into The Woods of Hitchcock, giving my protagonist Suzanne the same career and the type of clients I had while working in Chicago.

 

What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

I was classically trained in ballet, which gave me an appreciation for classical music. I like to listen to it while I’m writing because it helps me get into a flow. I then started to realize there is a fascinating rhythm and cadence to writing. For example, action scenes are like a Mozart staccato and must be written with short sentences, sharp verbs and jabs. Descriptive writing is slower and flowing and plays in my mind, much like a Tchaikovsky waltz.

 

Who is your favorite character in the book? Can you tell us why?

My favorite character is unexpectedly a secondary character who ended up surprising my protagonist Suzanne (and me)—and that isSuzanne’s father, JJ. He initially appears to be superficial, obsessed with expensive thoroughbreds, and lacking in any heroic qualities. But later he shows remarkable psychological depth and good humor just when Suzanne least expects it. My next favorite secondary character is Suzanne’s mother, Lita. The most hilarious southern expressions come out of her mouth, and some readers might think I was being overly comical with her. But Lita is a true composite of some of the finest, most generous and funniest southern women I have known. She tickles me to death, as we say in the South. 

 

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I’m working on the third novel in my “Henrietta Series,” although each story stands on its own.

 

Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I think it’s essential to get feedback on your manuscript before you pitch it to an agent or publisher. And I have been fortunate to have a “critique group” of trusted beta readers, writer friends and editors who keep me on the right path.

 

What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

The best advice is this: Don’t even think about publishing a novel until you’ve written a good one. Completing a solid first-draft manuscript requires a lot of hard work. Just to finish, you must have incredible perseverance. And you must love what you’re writing about and the characters you create—the good, the bad and the ugly. Once you have a completed manuscript, give yourself a toast and a hearty pat on the back. Then hire a developmental editor to give you constructive feedback and the “go ahead” before proceeding to the next step.

 

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

Although I did not outline my first novel, I wrote a detailed outline for The Woods of Hitchcock. I found it helpful and efficient, so I will continue to do so for my third and future novels.

 

How do you maintain your creativity?

Meditation, reading, listening to great music and dancing.

 

Are your plotting bunnies, angels or demons?

I’m plotting angels for sure, but you also must have demons (antagonists) to make the story interesting.

BLURB:

 

The Woods of Hitchcock by award-winning author Ann W. Jarvie is a thriller about a psychically gifted Chicago copywriter and victim of violence who returns to South Carolina's equestrian country to solve a riddle involving murder, the metaphysical and the secrets of her eccentric family.

 

Suzanne Clayborn is a psychically gifted southerner working in her dream job in Chicago, which also conveniently takes her away from the ghosts of her past. But when she's nearly killed, she realizes all she wants is to return home to her eccentric family, her horse and the one place she feels safe: Hitchcock Woods, an enchanting equestrian forest in South Carolina.

 

But instead of finding solace, Suzanne becomes entangled in a murder spree, while stumbling upon an old manuscript, written by her sage grandmother. As she explores it, Suzanne uncovers a tome of long-buried family haunts and ancient metaphysical secrets offering healing and inspiration. She also begins to understand her unwanted psychic abilities, especially after meeting a mysterious stranger in the Woods whose ominous riddle suggests others close to her will die within the week...

 

Brimming with raw emotion and a trail of psychological twists, a story of hope and transformation begins to unfold. Yet with the riddle's deadline looming, Suzanne's present must ultimately collide with a violent past. Will she be able to solve her life's riddle and fulfill her destiny? Or will she die along with those she loves?

 

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EXCERPT:

 

Suzanne Clayborn woke up in darkness, mouth taped shut.

 

Jerking only made the ties around her wrists and ankles tighter, but it wasn’t just the bindings holding her down. Her muscles weren’t working right, like her whole body had fallen asleep. All she could do was lie there on a floor, heart pounding in terror, listening to the eerie bangs of pipes hidden somewhere behind the shadowed walls.

 

Her body trembled, despite an overwhelming heat, heavy and putrid, falling on her face and neck like the terrible breath of a monster. She had no memory of what had happened to her or where she was now. She only knew she was immobilized, maybe paralyzed, and every inch of her head ached. She might’ve welcomed another blackout, but the fumes were acting like smelling salts, forcing her to remain awake.

 

Yet she preferred consciousness—she didn’t want to die. It wasn’t that she feared the afterlife. That was actually the only good thing about the tragic accident years ago, when she was thirteen, when she’d felt her soul float away in bliss. It was the coming back that was the scary part. What she’d seen and felt when she’d woken up, and almost every day since then, could not be unseen or unfelt. It was a secret horror, her life irreversibly altered with strange, new abilities she didn’t need or want. Still, she didn’t want to die—not now, not like this—because she was struck in this dark moment with an awful knowing, a bothersome niggling in the deepest part of her soul about something important she had to finish in this life.

 

 

 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Ann W. Jarvie has a B.A. in journalism and twenty-five years’ experience as a writer in advertising and public relations agencies, in Chicago and South Carolina. Although it stands completely on its own, The Woods of Hitchcock is an indirect sequel to Jarvie’s award-winning debut novel, The Soul Retrieval, which received four literary awards, the highest score by Writer’s Digest e-Book Awards’ judges (5 out of 5 on all points) as well as myriad positive reviews. Jarvie currently lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona with her husband, their boxer dog and boxer mix rescue.

 

Website and Social Media:

 

ANNWJARVIE.COM

facebook.com/annwjarvie

instagram.com/annwjarvie

twitter.com/annwjarvie

 

 

The Woods of Hitchcock, A Thriller by Ann W. Jarvie, is available online everywhere, including:

 

Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-woods-of-hitchcock-ann-w-jarvie/1139765258

 

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Woods-Hitchcock-Thriller-Henrietta/dp/0578932008/ref=sr_1_1

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

 

Ann W. Jarvie will be awarding a $75 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

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