I adore the mystery series: for the reader, it's an opportunity to get to know a character or characters in a variety of situations and settings; for the writer it's a chance to grow those characters, to create people whose arcs extend over a period of years rather than days. I hate it when my favorite writers decide to go "out of series." And yet. . .
I believe in writing what you need to write when you need to write it, in trying new techniques, in listening to new voices. In starting over.
Em's voice first sounded in my head one summer when I was visiting friends on Cape Cod. At the beginning I thought she would be a new detective, the heroine of a new series. Whenever I start to write, I can count on one thing: things rarely turn out the way I think they will.