A MESSAGE FROM CATHERINE O'CONNELL

Favourite kind of thrillers

As for my favorite mysteries and thrillers, it so hard to say. It’s such a vast universe. I like to say that reading is like eating. Sometimes you’re in the mood for gourmet and sometimes you’re in the mood for fast food. So sometimes I’m in the mood for something deep and complex — other times for that quick page turner. But the one thing I like is when the author takes me somewhere I think I know what’s behind that door and I’m chewing my fingernails saying to the protagonist, “Don’t open it!” And she opens it anyway. And it’s not what I think. To put it into words: TWISTS. I would have to say twisty mysteries are my favorites.

Some examples of mysteries I love:

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Final Girls by Riley Sager
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger
And all P.D. James

Currently reading

I just cracked the spine of my first C.J. Box mystery, Storm Watch. As a Colorado girl, I look forward to reading a book set in neighboring state Wyoming.

Picks to play main characters:

Maggie Trueheart — Emma Stone is Maggie, the bride-to-be. She would be the perfect person to play the challenged bride to be who is trying to cover up her drunken indiscretion. She could capture Maggie’s impish nature — sexy without being overtly so. Not an obvious beauty at first, but her beauty grows on you just as Maggie’s grew on Flynn, her fiancé, as well as Steven, the carpenter, who threatens her marriage.

Suzanne Lundgren — To play the dedicated career woman, Suzanne, I have two actresses in mind — Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lawrence. Both women have that cool, Grace Kelly sort of unattainable beauty that drove Suzanne’s married lover, Vince, so crazy.

Kelly Delaney – Saoirse Ronan would be perfect as the recovering alcoholic trying to put her life back together while pestering the police to solve the mystery of Angie’s murder. Ronan is good at looking both beaten down and jubilant.

Angie Lupino — Monica Barbaro would be great to play the murder victim, a voluptuous, loudmouth sexpot who is actually a total prude.

Three words to describe The Bachelorette Party:
Marriage, infidelity, murder.