Authors at Home: Elle Marr; “Strangers We Know”

Published in

The Reading Lists

7 min readApr 29, 2022

We’re thrilled to be chatting with suspense author Elle Marr on Authors at Home, where we learned more about murder, mommyhood, and her writing motivation, which is fueled by bags of Hershey’s kisses! Readers love the many twists and turns Marr threads throughout her thrillers and are excited to meet Ivy Hon in Strangers We Know, which publishes on May 1st. Read on for more about Elle Marr!

What are you currently reading, watching, listening to? Anything you wholly recommend as being inspiring, uplifting or just really fun?

I just finished binging Love is Blind, Season 2, which is really compelling. Season 1 was great to watch at the beginning of the pandemic, and this follow-up really feels like a more mature version of who we all are now — how hopeful we can be during difficult times. Currently, I’m reading American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. These books are not exactly uplifting, but they contain fascinating storylines.

What’s your day-to-day routine like — when you’re writing a book, and when you’re not?

When writing a new book, I carve out time during the day wherever I can. For me, so much of putting a new idea to paper is simply spending time with the characters and mulling over a plotline — things that I can’t shortcut. With a toddler, that can be extremely difficult, so I have to remain flexible in my windows of productivity — writing thirty minutes here and there or waiting until the kiddo goes to sleep and then really attacking the pages. My preferred writing time would be during the mornings, but often that’s only possible on the weekends.

I’m very fortunate to have been writing under contract almost non-stop for the last three years, so my brain breaks are few and far between. However, when I’m not writing, I like to read one or two books at a time — for research for the next novel and another for fun, to diversify my bookshelf and support authors I admire.

We understand you’re a mom to a toddler and a newborn! Congratulations! How do you balance motherhood and writing?

Thank you! I mostly write in the evenings and on weekends and am grateful for those pockets of time. Currently, I’m completing developmental edits on my fourth book, and I just had my baby! I imagine that, with two small children, I’ll have to get even better at time management — but I have a pretty strong work ethic. I’ll figure it out. Although it can be hard, I have a very supportive crew in my toddler and my husband, and — ultimately — not writing, not exploring new storylines isn’t an option for me.

Is there anything you need on-hand during your writing sessions? A particular food or drink? Do you have to have a certain atmosphere to be able to settle into the writing zone?

I was formed in the trenches of distracted writing, even before babies came into the mix. I’ll write anywhere, with any background noise. That might change, but for now I’m grateful I’m able to zero in on a page, regardless of my environment. A few key resources for me are my air pods and a hefty bag of Hershey’s kisses.

If writing books wasn’t your career, what do you think you’d be doing instead?

Archaeology; to my mind, that field is all about uncovering whole histories and stories of artifacts or bones, which is very similar to writing novels. I seriously considered archaeology in college before setting my sights elsewhere.

This book has echoes of true crime events, such as the discovery of the Golden State Killer. What was the inspiration behind Strangers We Know, and what was your research process like?

The inspiration was a combination of true crime revelations with DNA testing — similar to the Golden State Killer’s conclusion — as well as my own personal experiences. I grew up in Sacramento, the stomping grounds for the GSK, and was shocked to learn later as an adult that the East Area Rapist, as he was then known, had never been caught. Years passed, until the GSK was arrested and identified, in part thanks to genetics testing. When that happened, I began piecing together a story with that situation at its heart, knowing it’s an idea that many people have considered themselves: what revelation might I learn through submitting my genetics test? When I submitted my own spit sample to a genetics testing company, I nervously waited for the results, both curious and concerned at what they might be. Ivy Hon, the protagonist of Strangers We Know, has that same experience, and I drew on my own thoughts for her mindset.

Strangers We Know highlights the struggles of identity and belonging. How did your own experiences play into writing this book?

My mother is an adoptee, so I grew up with the knowledge of both how special that status can be and also how full of mystery, for some. It was always an aspect of my history that I found intriguing. When I first got the idea of exploring the ideas behind Strangers We Know, I knew I wanted to weave in my own experience as the child of an adoptee, and also as someone who submitted their DNA sample to a major testing company. Eventually, I found certain answers to my lifelong questions, after meeting several biological family members, but others remain. I tried to imbue Ivy’s motivations with that desire for clarity.

In this book, you do a wonderful job of switching between different perspectives and between different points in time. Why did you choose to write it this way and what were the challenges in mapping it out?

I’m so glad that came across. In choosing three different main characters, I aimed to take readers on an exciting and, at times, tense journey toward the story’s conclusion. The most interesting stories to me are the ones that approach the same narrative from multiple points of view, allowing me to form my own suspicions before the author reveals what they had planned. Mapping out the various plot points was definitely challenging, however. I kept a detailed Excel spreadsheet across all three main characters — and have a very skilled editor!

What do you hope readers will take away from reading Strangers We Know?

When I write a novel, I’m always hopeful there are a few themes that readers recognize at the end — in this case, Strangers We Know was, for me, a story about family in its various forms, as well as the dangers of taking family for granted; the question of nature versus nurture played heavily into my plotlines. However, I love learning what readers themselves interpreted from my writing, as everyone is entitled to their experience. What I intended may not be what readers walk away with — and that’s fascinating to me.

What are you working on now? Can you tell us about your next book? Will it involve serial killers!?

I’m finishing edits on my fourth thriller, which is titled The Family Bones. The best way I can describe it is a locked-room mystery set in the rural backwoods of eastern Oregon, where a family retreat among psychopaths goes horribly wrong. While not the main element, there is a dash of serial killer in this one too. It’s set to publish in Spring 2023 and can be pre-ordered now. Thanks for this fun Q&A!

Book Summary:
The search for a serial killer leads a woman into the twisted tangle of her own family tree in a chilling novel by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Missing Sister and Lies We Bury.

Adopted when she was only days old, Ivy Hon knows little about her lineage. But when she’s stricken with a mystery illness, the results of a genetic test to identify the cause attract the FBI. According to Ivy’s DNA, she’s related to the Full Moon Killer, who has terrorized the Pacific Northwest for decades. Ivy is the FBI’s hope to stop the enigmatic predator from killing again.

When an online search connects Ivy with her younger cousin, she heads to rural Rock Island, Washington, to meet the woman. Motivated by a secret desire to unmask a murderous relative, Ivy reaches out to what’s left of a family of strangers.

Discovering her mother’s tragic fate and her father’s disappearance is just the beginning. As Ivy ventures into a serial killer’s home territory, she realizes that she may be the next victim of poisonous blood ties.

About:

Elle Marr strives to tell powerful and compelling stories of women who demonstrate resilience in the face of great obstacles. She is the author of two previous thrillers, The Missing Sister (2020) and Lies We Bury (April 2021). She believes representation matters, and as a first-generation Chinese-American on her father’s side, she is passionate about including mixed-race, Asian-American characters who look like her in her novels.

Originally from Sacramento, Elle Marr graduated from UC San Diego before moving to France, where she earned a master’s degree from the Sorbonne University in Paris. She began writing novels out of a desire to explore the mixed-race experience and the question of cultural identity in fiction. When not working on her next book, she enjoys watching French Netflix shows with the subtitles off, in Oregon, where she lives with her family.

Connect with Elle:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok

Authors at Home: Elle Marr; “Strangers We Know”

Written by Stephanie Elliot