Tuesday's Title To Catch A Fox, Susan Calder

A Calgary woman recovering from a psychotic breakdown searches for answers in California.

Title: To Catch a Fox

Author: Susan Calder

Date of Release: 01/18/2019
Genre: Psychological Suspense

Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.
Buy Links:   Amazon  /   Books2Read /

Blurb:

Julie Fox is on the run. A psychotic breakdown has shattered her career in Calgary, her marriage and her love for her child. Julie travels to California to search for her mother and learn the root of her problems.

Clues at a cult-like retreat appear to hold the answers. As the retreat leaders lure Julie into their twisted game, her ex-husband tries to wrest her from their control. Trapped in a tangle of lies, Julie’s grip on reality falters.

Who will catch Julie Fox? Or will she break free, confront the truth about her past and set out on a new journey?

Behind the Scene:

To Catch a Fox has been a work-in-progress for 25 years. An earlier version of the story was the first complete novel draft that I finished. I revised the manuscript for many years, eventually decided it didn’t work and put it away the drawer. I was certain that was the end of it. But about eight years later, the fox leapt up and bit me with a totally new concept. By then, I was writing and publishing murder mystery novels. But I worked on the new To Catch a Fox on the side, and then it was finished.

The story was inspired by my episode of clinical depression when I was nineteen years old. Twenty years later, a personal crisis propelled me on an internal quest to discover the roots of my problem. I emerged with a desire to write about this experience through fiction. Along the way of writing my novel, a mentor suggested I make Julie psychotic to raise the stakes of the story. I told her this would be a stretch for me, but with research and more years of writing fiction I felt able to imagine a woman going through a psychotic breakdown.

The novel’s major setting in California was inspired by holidays in Italy and California, which share a Mediterranean climate. I realized California would be easier for me to revisit for further research. So the novel’s primary location is a California retreat with an Italian fantasy theme. My favorite character in the novel? Julie, my heroine, although I can’t help falling for my charming rogue, Sebastiano.

Author Bio:

A native of Montreal, Canada, Susan Calder worked as an insurance claims examiner before taking up writing at the age of 39. Susan moved west to Calgary in 1996 with her husband and two sons. She is the author of three novels and numerous short stories. Her work ranges from murder mystery to mainstream and suspense.

Susan teaches fiction writing courses and workshops at the Alexandra Writers Centre Society. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and serves on the board of Calgary’s annual When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers. Her non-writing activities include traveling, hiking and visiting her sons and granddaughter in Ontario. To learn more about Susan and her writing, please visit www.susancalder.com.