Lee Martin: On Writing a Fast-Paced Literary Suspense Novel
In this interview, author Lee Martin discusses how his new literary suspense novel, The Evening Shades, is partly a crime novel and partly a love story.
Lee Martin is the author of five novels, including The Bright Forever, a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. His writing has appeared in numerous publications including Harper’s, Ms Magazine, The Georgia Review, and The Kenyon Review, and his work has been anthologized in The Best American Essays, and The Best American Mystery Stories. His books have been widely translated, and won numerous awards, including a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers award. He teaches in the MFA Program at The Ohio State University. Follow him on X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.
In this interview, Lee discusses how his new literary suspense novel, The Evening Shades, is partly a crime novel and partly a love story, his advice for other writers, and more.
Literary agent: Gail Hochman at Brandt and Hochman
Book title: The Evening Shades
Publisher: Melville House
Release date: March 25, 2025
Genre/category: Literary Suspense
Previous titles: The Glassmaker’s Wife; Gone the Hard Road; Yours, Jean; The Mutual UFO Network; Late One Night; Break the Skin; River of Heaven; The Bright Forever; Turning Bones; Quakertown; From Our House; The Least You Need to Know; Telling Stories
Elevator pitch: A woman rents a room to a mysterious boarder and finds herself in the middle of the romance that develops and the secrets that threaten it.
What prompted you to write this book?
At the end of my novel, The Bright Forever, one of the main characters, a man named Henry Dees, leaves Tower Hill, Indiana, carrying his secrets with him. I always wondered where he went and what happened to him after he got there. I had to write The Evening Shades to find out.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I began writing the book in 2020—a pandemic project—so it took about five years to bring it to publication. The idea didn’t change much because it had the benefit of all that happens in The Bright Forever. That previous book, though, also presented a challenge. Writing this sequel, I had to learn how much of the previous story to include while still making The Evening Shades its own book and one readers could engage with without ever having read The Bright Forever.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I’ve been blessed with a long career, so not much surprises me when it comes to the publishing process, but this time I’m becoming more aware of the importance of bloggers when it comes to getting word out about a book—that and the good work independent booksellers do when they recommend a title to their customers.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
When I put Henry Dees in motion, I had no idea he’d meet Edith Green, a never-married woman, who has her own secret. She’s pledged half a million dollars to the Mt. Gilead, Illinois, public library foundation, but it’s money she doesn’t have. I didn’t know Edith and Henry would fall in love, nor did I know Henry’s past would test that love.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers experience a fast-paced novel where everything is in doubt until the very end. I also hope readers find the main characters, broken and complicated as they may be, worthy of loving and being loved in return. The Evening Shades is partly a crime novel and partly a love story. It’s a story of accommodation, resilience, forgiveness, and love in the face of all that threatens the splendor of our ordinary lives.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
The advice I always give comes from Isak Dinesen, the author of Out of Africa, who said she wrote a little every day without hope and without despair. I love this advice because it places the emphasis on doing what we love, moving words about on the page or the screen. It stresses the process rather than the result. I’m a firm believer that if we stay true to what we love, the journey will always take us where we’re meant to be.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
