I’m not going to wear white boots, but HOT PEPPERS? Girl!

You like to talk about genre divisions a lot, Lori.

I do. Why? Wreck Your Heart is, honestly, not breaking any genre barriers. It’s a traditional mystery, period. I think you’re going to like it. I like it.

But my career is a little bit of a genre quandary. I’ve written dark psychological suspense. I’ve written traditional mysteries. I’ve written historical fiction. I’ve written a book that people nearly got into fistfights about, trying to decide if it was a thriller, a mystery, or not a crime novel at all. WHAT IS IT? WHO ARE YOU?

That’s actually something my agent said to me when she read Wreck Your Heart for the first time. Who are you? She meant it in an admiring way, like, hey, look at you pulling off this thing I’m really enjoying. I think?

But being interested in more than one kind of story, while allowed in “literary fiction,” isn’t exactly a plus in genre fiction. Genre readers love a series, for instance. They love that continuity, that same character, same style, new adventures but adventures much like past adventures. Oops. I forgot to write a series.

Personally I don’t think writing more than one kind of crime fiction is a problem. I like to read widely within the genre (and beyond). And beyond that, all my books sound like me. That’s my genre. Lori Rader-Day books. My genre is, I hope, stories where I get to play and take you with me.

One of the author newsletters I never skip is Amy Stewart’s. She writes historical fiction, interesting nonfiction, and a hell of a newsletter, often talking about visual art, which is something else she does. She told a story in 2025 that I nipped a quote from:

“I’m reading Martin Gayford’s book Spring Cannot Be Cancelled: David Hockney in Normandy and it’s magnificent and filled with beautiful pictures and I love it.

Early on, Gayford tells us that Hockney has never been concerned about cultivating a signature style. When people tell him that his latest work doesn’t look like a Hockney, he says, “It will.”

What a badass! Only Hockney decides what looks like a Hockney. And you know what? He’s only 87! He’s not finished exploring his style. Why should you be?”

How great is that?