Nina Simon: Combining Family Drama With Murder Mystery
Nina Simon writes crime stories about strong women. A former NASA engineer, slam poet, and museum director, Nina lives with her family in an off-grid community in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In this post, Nina shares how she originally wrote her novel for an audience of one before widening the net, worked to combine family drama with murder mystery, and more.
Nina Simon (Photo credit: Crystal Birns)
Name: Nina Simon
Literary agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit
Book title: Mother-Daughter Murder Night
Publisher: William Morrow
Release date: September 5, 2023
Genre/category: Mystery, Women’s Fiction
Elevator pitch for the book: A big-hearted mystery about a grandma-mother-daughter trio trying to solve the murder of a naturalist who washes up near their coastal California home.
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What prompted you to write this book?
At its heart, this book is a love letter to my mom. I never expected to write a novel. I’ve been writing all my life—poems, articles, nonfiction books, museum exhibit labels—but not fiction.
Then, in late 2020, my LA business mogul mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. I quit my job and headed to Los Angeles to care for her. Our days became filled with doctors and drugs, and we desperately needed something to talk about that wasn’t cancer. So, we turned to a lifelong shared love: murder mysteries.
I started pulling out old favorites to share with her again. And then one day I turned to her and said: “What if I tried writing a mystery with someone like you as the lead detective?” And Mother-Daughter Murder Night was born.
We’d brainstorm about characters in hospital waiting rooms, argue in the chemo clinic about the best way to kill someone. I wrote, and my mom read, and we both got stronger through it.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
From idea to publication was just under three years. I wrote the first draft in six months, then queried and signed with my terrific agent, Stefanie Lieberman, who guided me through revisions to a richer, more entertaining novel. The book sold to William Morrow in a pre-empt in the summer of 2022, and it is being published in September 2023.
While the core elements of the book stayed the same throughout the process, the intention behind it changed completely. At first, this story was for just one reader: my mom. It was an intimate, creative project for the two of us. It was only once she started to get stronger that I made the intentional choice to attempt to get it published. At that point, I knew I’d have a lot of work to do to make it a story worthy of a broader audience.
In partnership with my agent and my incredible editor, Liz Stein, I worked to make this a novel that is both a satisfying mystery and a powerful family drama. Balancing these two aspects of the story wasn’t easy. Sometimes, the mystery demanded more twists, more suspense, and a faster pace. At other points, I focused on the changing relationships among the three women at the center of the story. The result, hopefully, is a novel that is both murderous and heartwarming.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I learned more about writing from the editing process than I did from my initial drafting. As a debut, I didn’t entirely understand what it would be like to work with a publisher. I had a misguided assumption that once the book sold, I’d hand it off to an editor who would fix everything I’d done wrong. That didn’t happen.
Instead, my wonderful editor challenged me with dozens of questions, suggestions, and observations about elements that could be stronger. I was the one who had to address them. No one could rework that flat character but me. No one could fill those plot holes but me. I was surrounded by supportive partners every step of the way, but I had to do the work.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I developed the three main characters in this book—the grandma, single mom, and teenage girl—in conversation with my mom. We spent many hours chatting before I ever wrote a word.
At the time, this approach made me feel itchy and embarrassed, like I was playing at writing a book instead of actually doing it. But all our conversations made those women real. Once I sat down to write—especially dialogue-heavy group scenes—I knew exactly what each character would say and do. Now that I’m working on new writing projects, I’m carrying forward the value of really getting to know your characters before writing them down.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Mother-Daughter Murder Night explores themes of environmental conservation, familial interdependence vs. independence, and the ways society can render older women and women of color invisible. I hope this novel is a launchpad for readers and book clubs to discuss how these issues show up in their own lives.
But most of all, I hope this book is a source of pleasure. I wrote it to help my mom and me through a tough time in her cancer journey. It was a time when I found rare slivers of joyful distraction reading entertaining, warm-hearted, gripping stories. I hope Mother-Daughter Murder Night can offer readers that same kind of comfort and joy.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Hit the library, read widely, and note what resonates with you.
When I see an author who is brilliant at something, I try to identify what they’re doing, even if I’m not yet skilled enough to execute it myself. List the ways they transition seamlessly into backstory. Diagram the pacing of their stellar action scene. Identify the word choice and rhythm that makes their dialogue snap.
Sometimes I even write out favorite passages longhand, trying to get a visceral feel for the choices that author made as they wrote.