Marriage & Co-Writing: Alexandra Sokoloff, Craig Robertson, and their novel THE GRAPEVINE
I recently hosted a podcast interview with award-winning crime writers, Alexandra Sokoloff and Craig Robertson. They co-wrote their latest crime novel, THE GRAPEVINE and both joke that despite working together, they’re still married.
My connection to Alex and Craig
I met Alex and Craig at Left Coast Crime in Albuquerque in 2022. It was my first crime writing convention, and coming out of the pandemic, it felt like a creative oasis. My husband Johnny Shaw was on a few writer panels, including one with Craig Robertson on location and setting. The first thing I noticed about Craig was his Scottish accent. It’s hard to miss. Johnny introduced us after the panel, but the real connection happened after the convention was over.
Johnny and I had a long gap between hotel checkout and our flight. A big part of it was spent in the hotel lobby. And who should join us but Alex and Craig, who also had a long wait. I remembered Johnny mentioning Alex to me because she’s also an LA girl like me. We became fast friends as we reminisced about Los Angeles things and chatted about her Huntress Moon thriller series. Both Alex and Craig were so down-to-earth. Even though I didn’t have anything published yet, I still felt a sense of belonging. Alex and I both had so much in common, coming from the West Coast and moving abroad. I even had a revenge story I was working on at the time and asked her questions about how she handled violence. She gave me some really great tips and was so encouraging. I will always remember that first conversation with fondness.
Hotel on the Isle of Bute where I stayed during Bute Noir crime convention
The second time I connected with Alex and Craig was at another crime convention called Bute Noir. This time it was on Craig’s turf in Scotland. Craig organizes this convention, which takes place on the Isle of Bute, just off the Scottish mainland. Getting there was a pilgrimage from Bansko, Bulgaria (where we were at the time): a car, a plane, a bus, a train and a ferry to the isle. Johnny was invited as one of the guest authors. One of my favorite parts was when several authors, including Craig, had to get up and perform a rap battle. At crime conventions there are author panels and events, but the real fun happens at the bar when the authors hang out together.
Their recent book, THE GRAPEVINE along with their wedding photo in Joshua Tree
My review of THE GRAPEVINE
I recently read THE GRAPEVINE: Book One in The Lost Highway series. I immediately connected with the sense of place. As a native Californian, I’ve made the drive up the coast from LA to San Francisco too many times to count and was familiar with every location in the book. It’s been almost a decade since I’ve returned to my home state. Alex and Craig transported me back to all those places. Anyone who lives and drives in California has probably had the experience of driving on the descending curves of the Grapevine on the I-5 freeway. The view from the top of the hill is magnificent, but if you’re stuck in traffic or have any issues with your car or truck it can be a nightmare.
Lou Gomersall, the main character in THE GRAPEVINE, is an angry, grief-stricken mother, desperately searching for her daughter up and down the California highway. Even though I’m not a mother myself, I was able to empathize with the character, her frustrations when no one seems to be able to help her. Desperate times sometimes require desperate measures. She does some things that are questionable. She’s a flawed person, but understandably so. The people in this novel are handled with care. Each person has a unique voice. The college students in the story feel grounded in their own vernacular.
Much of the story is told literally on the road as the main character travels to various locations, exploring leads and learning more about other missing girls. There is also the human story of Lou and her husband, who remains at home. They each deal with the grief and uncertainty of their missing daughter in different ways.
The thing I really loved about this crime novel is at the heart of what I love about all crime novels. The crime is the frame, but what’s inside the frame is the heart of what the story is about. On the surface it’s about a mother searching for her missing daughter, but underneath the plot is the character and Lou’s relationship with the other characters: her husband, law enforcement, various suspects, college students, and ultimately herself.
Writer bios
ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF is a native Californian who sold original scripts and wrote novel adaptations for major Hollywood studios before becoming the award-winning author of fourteen thrillers. CRAIG ROBERTSON spent twenty years as a journalist, covering some of the biggest stories across the globe. His eleven crime novels, mostly set in his native Scotland, have been shortlisted for all the UK’s major awards. They met in the US, now live in Scotland, and despite writing two books together are still married.
Book summary
The Grapevine The Lost Highway Thrillers Book 1
(Book promo photo)
How far would you go to find your missing child?
Lou Gomersall’s going as far as it takes.
When her nineteen-year-old daughter Abby disappears, Lou embarks on a reckless road trip in the family RV, scouring the highways and back roads of California.
A year later, the police don’t believe Lou’s theory that four other missing young women have been taken by the same elusive predator.
So when another college sophomore disappears, Lou jumps on the fresh trail, enlisting millennial vanlifers, Gen Z entrepreneurs, boomer RVers, homeless sages, truck stop sex workers and everyone in between in her do-or-die mission to rescue Abby…
Or kill the man who took her.
Author contacts:
http://alexandrasokoloff.com
https://www.facebook.com/craig.robertson.31586
http://www.facebook.com/alexandra.sokoloff
https://authoralexandrasokoloff.substack.com
https://www.instagram.com/craig_robertson_author/
https://www.instagram.com/alexandrasokoloff/
If you’d like to watch the interview with Alex and Craig go here
If you’d like to listen to an audio version go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify
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