Karen Odden
Karen Odden received her PhD in English from NYU, where she wrote her dissertation on Victorian literature and history. After teaching at UW-Milwaukee and writing for academia, she turned to writing mysteries set in foggy 1870s London. Her first, A LADY IN THE SMOKE, was a USA Today bestseller; A DANGEROUS DUET won best historical novel at the NM-AZ book awards. Her most recent, A TRACE OF DECEIT (William Morrow, 2019), was inspired by her time at Christie’s auction house during the scandalous ‘90s. She lives in Arizona with her family and her rescue beagle, Rosy.
Twitter: @karen_odden
Instagram: @karen_m_odden
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
This is a great question because I think the film genre itself has shaped my process. Often, as I reach the point of knowing my characters well, I will put two characters in a room together, and as they move and speak, it’s as if I’m watching a scene from a movie and merely transcribing what happens. So the film genre itself informs the way I produce my writing, if that makes sense. That said, I’m a sucker for almost any historical film, but I’m drawn particularly to those with themes of self-sacrifice or redemption or heartache, or those that show how a profound truth comes to light after the lies have done their damage: Sommersby, The Spitfire Grill, A Star is Born, The Shawshank Redemption, The Last of the Mohicans, Holiday (that scene between Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn: “I don’t need entertaining”), Rogue One, the last Harry Potter movie, La Grande Chemin (The Grand Highway), The Year of Living Dangerously, Saving Private Ryan, Amazing Grace, and La La Land.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about.
The Victorian era, always. I wrote my PhD dissertation on the novels and other texts written about Victorian railway disasters. Medical men, parliamentary committees, poets, novelists, playwrights, newspapermen—everyone was writing about them because they were so new and dangerous and wreaked so much havoc. But as I researched the period from 1837, when Victoria came to the throne, until 1901 when she died, I was awed by how much changed for England in every sphere—social, economic, political, legal, geographical, and so on. And with the rise of literacy, the number of novels and papers and newspaper articles that were generated for the growing audience of readers was astounding. So there are an infinite number of accounts written by observant Victorians about their world. I have set all three of my novels in 1870s London—and even limiting my scope that narrowly, I find completely fresh material that surprises me all the time.
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
I had one reader ask if I secretly wanted to cause a railway disaster, just to watch it happen. Um … no.
Favorite non-reading activity?
Hiking. When my family and I moved from Connecticut to Arizona 16 years ago, I began to meet friendly moms at my daughter’s school, and they’d say, “Oh, you’re new here? We should get together.” I’d reply, “Great. Do you want to get coffee or something?” “Well … do you hike?” It happened a couple of times in a row, and I realized that this was a “thing” in Arizona. So I found myself hiking a few times a week and eventually hiking the Grand Canyon, down and up in one day, 16 miles! It was something I never thought I’d be able to do. Now, most days I will get out on the trail for two hours in the morning before I start writing. And foolish me. Before we moved here, I thought the desert was brown and boring. It’s not. It’s alive with color—flaming oranges, deep purples, sharp yellows, and wild magentas. No pastels. Also, I pretty much worship the big blue inverted bowl of sky overhead. The light in Arizona is like no other I’ve found.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
I usually give a book 30-50 pages, especially if it’s been recommended by a friend I trust. (We all have those friends, right? The ones who say, “You MUST read this book,” and we add it without question to our TBR list or even buy it then and there.) It’s interesting because I’ve had some experiences of it being just the wrong time to love a particular book. Years ago, a friend recommended THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY, and I picked it up, read a fair chunk and thought, Arg, what did he see in this? A few years later, I took it off my shelf, thinking I might donate it to someone who would enjoy it but decided, Well, I’ll give it another chance. I read the first twenty pages and thought, “This writing is brilliant! How did I not love this book? Where was my head?!” It happens that way sometimes and makes me laugh at myself.
