Take Five: Catherine McKenzie and I’ll Never Tell

We’re always excited to share bookish news when it comes to WU contributor and bestselling author Catherine McKenzie. Her upcoming thriller I’ll Never Tell released today! It was chosen as one of the most anticipated mystery/thrillers by Goodreads for 2019.

A graduate of McGill University in History and Law, Catherine practices law in Montreal, where she was born and raised. An avid skier and runner, Catherine’s has published eight bestsellers which have been translated into numerous languages.

“When it comes to psychological thrillers, lies and dark family secrets are the very best kind, and Catherine McKenzie handles them both with skill in I’ll Never Tell, a riveting story of siblings linked by long-ago tragedy. Suspicions swirl, and the truth is revealed in steady, page-turning increments that culminate in a whopper of an ending. A smart and surprising story you won’t want to miss.” —Kimberly Belle, bestselling author of Three Days Missing and The Marriage Lie

Congrats, Catherine, and thank you for taking the time to share more about your latest release!

Q1: What’s the premise of your new book?

A family of five children inherit the family summer camp when their parents die suddenly. But something happened to a young girl at camp 20 years ago. Until they solve that mystery, they can’t settle the estate. Think Agatha Christie goes to camp…

Q2: What would you like people to know about the story itself?

It’s a multiple narrator story that shows the same weekend (and the past) from everyone’s point of view.

Q3: What do your characters have to overcome in this story? What challenge do you set before them?

This is a family with a lot of secrets – some worth keeping and some that need to be exposed. If they could all be honest with one another, the mystery would be easily solved. But a lifetime of hiding makes that impossible.

Q4: What unique challenges did this book pose for you, if any?

Many! The many narrators, the tight time frame – it takes place over a weekend – I had a chart in the book and that had to be revised many times to get it right.

Q5: What has been the most rewarding aspect of having written this book?

I think it all came together the way I wanted. That’s always satisfying. I’ve long wanted to write a book set at a summer camp and it was great to finally find the right story to do so.

Writer Unboxed

Writer Unboxed began as a collaboration between Kathleen Bolton and Therese Walsh in 2006. Since then, the site has grown to include ~50 regular contributors and a variety of guests on rotation throughout a given year.

In 2016, the Writer Unboxed team published a book with Writer’s Digest / Random House. AUTHOR IN PROGRESS: A No-Holds-Barred Guide to What It Really Takes to Get Published is a comprehensive guide focused on helping writers over/around/through hurdles faced at every stage of the novel-writing process. It’s received some ***** reviews; we hope you’ll check it out.

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