Caz Frear: On the Truth Causing Catastrophe

Caz Frear has a degree in History and Politics, and when she’s not agonizing over snappy dialogue or incisive prose, she can be found shouting at Arsenal football matches.

She is the author of three crime novels featuring Cat Kinsella: Sweet Little Lies (which was nominated for a Barry Award), Stone Cold Heart, and Shed No Tears. She grew up and now lives in Coventry, England. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Caz Frear

In this post, Caz discusses how a fleeting real-life moment inspire her new mystery novel, Five Bad Deeds, her advice for other writers, and more!

Name: Caz Frear
Literary agent: Eugenie Furniss
Book title: Five Bad Deeds
Publisher: Harper
Release date: December 5, 2023
Genre/category: Mystery/Thriller/Domestic Suspense
Previous titles: Sweet Little Lies; Stone Cold Heart; Shed No Tears 
Elevator pitch: A woman who believes she’s a good person is forced to confront that self-appraisal when five “bad” deeds come back to haunt her in the most devastating of ways. (“bad” in quotes, as it’s really up the reader to decide if what she did was bad or simply misjudged!)

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What prompted you to write this book?

I got the idea from a very everyday experience. I was leaving a restaurant where I’d had really rude service, and when the manager asked if we’d had a good time, for once I didn’t just say “Yeah, great thanks!” Instead, I told the truth. But then later I started to worry—what if the waitress had just had a really bad day? What if her husband had left her that morning? What if a friend of hers was sick? And now what if she gets fired because I said she was rude …

It was all fine (she didn’t get fired!) but it got me thinking about intention. It certainly wasn’t my intention to get her into trouble, I just impulsively gave an honest answer to the manager’s question. But those small impulsive decisions can have catastrophic consequences, often without us ever realizing. You just never know the impact you could unintentionally have on someone’s life. And out of that incident, the character of Ellen was born—someone who would never intentionally make life difficult for someone else, but who is far from the “good person” she believes herself to be.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

A long time! I started toying with the idea during the first U.K. lockdown, but like most people, my focus probably wasn’t the best around that time! The core idea didn’t really change, but the character of Ellen definitely did. When I first started the story, I imagined Ellen to be this truly “good” person who had unintentionally upset someone, but during the second draft of the manuscript, she became a lot more flawed. Not unlikeable, but real (I hope!). After all, most of us have a side, or occasional dark thoughts, that we choose not to share with the world. Unfortunately for Ellen, someone has decided she doesn’t get that choice.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Four books in, I don’t think there were too many surprises! And as I’m so fortunate to have worked with same editor in the U.S. and U.K. since the start of my career, I think we all have a good understanding of how the other works. One thing that is new, though, is that the U.S. and U.K. covers are very similar in concept. The colors are the only thing that really differ, and even then not by much. I think, or at least I hope, that this synergy in cover design reflects the fact that Five Bad Deeds is a very universal story that should appeal to a wide audience (so, doesn’t need to be very specifically targeted towards any particular market).

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

Writing multiple perspectives was a real learning curve for me. My previous three novels (police procedurals) were centered around one detective, whereas Five Bad Deeds—while we do have a main protagonist in Ellen—is much more of an ensemble piece. The biggest surprise was just how hard it was! The constant head-hopping between characters, making sure they all had a distinct voice.

There are always surprises throughout the writing process, though. While I plot out my novels in detail, I always find there’s at least one curveball! It’s hard to go into too much detail without giving away spoilers, but one of the main narrative turns only occurred to me once I’d finished the first draft. Which is crazy, as I now can’t imagine the novel without it!

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I just hope that it’ll be thought-provoking, that’ll it’ll promote lively discussion. Every character in the book either makes, or has made, a decision that some will agree with, some won’t, and I can’t wait to hear who readers like and dislike (and most importantly, who they relate to the most).

Above all, I just hope they’re entertained. The world is quite unrelenting at the moment and we all need escapism.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Your reader’s time is likely limited. Attention spans are getting shorter. While you don’t need a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, or a new revelation on every page, always make sure that at page level, there’s something to keep the reader interested. This may sound really obvious, but it’s quite easy to forget that you as the author know that there’s a great twist coming up in five chapters’ time, but your reader doesn’t know that, and they need to be intrigued the whole way through. Just a new piece of information is fine, maybe a different side to a character, but there needs to be something to keep the reader turning the page.

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