Can we clear something up before we begin – is this book called Watch You Die or Names of the Dead? Why do your books have different names in the US and UK? 

My title for the novel is Names of the Dead.  My editor at my UK publisher, Random House, decided to change it to Watch You Die to better fit their market.  She almost always changes my titles.  I do get final approval, but of course I prefer my original titles.  If there’s a difference between my US and UK titles, it’s the US title that’s original.

Tell us what the book is about.

Darcy Mayhew, a recently widowed young mother, relocates to New York City to pursue her career as an investigative journalist for the New York Times. On her first day on the job, she meets Joe Coffin, an ordinary young man who hails from her hometown of Martha’s Vineyard, and agrees to accompany him to lunch. But one lunch with Joe quickly turns into a series of unwanted gifts, midnight phone calls, and even several break-ins.

Joe’s fixation begins to threaten Darcy’s job, her friendships, and even her family. She goes to the police, only to realize how powerless she is in the face of a stalker who hasn’t officially done anything worthy of a night in jail. So when Joe attacks someone very close to Darcy, it’s up to her alone to bring down the worst threat she has ever had to face.

What genre is it?

Psychological suspense

What kind of readers will it appeal to?

Readers who like to combine the tension of a thriller with the slow-boil character development in a literary novel will probably enjoy this one.

Complete this sentence for us: If you like ­­­­­­­­­______________ you’ll love Names of the Dead. 

­What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.

You are probably best known for your Karin Schaeffer novels. Can you tell us a bit about them and about Karin?

Karin came to me after reading an article in the New York Times about the high rate of suicide among cops.  I started to think about the intense pressure on police and how hard it must be to sustain sanity.

In the first novel of the series, You Are Next, Karin is suicidal following the murders of her husband and young daughter, by a killer she’d helped to put in prison.  After he escapes, he comes for Karin, and she waits for him.  The series begins at this extremely low point for a devastated woman who is, by then, a former detective.  From there, she gradually regains her strength as she battles to protect the rest of her family and capture this killer once again.

In the second through fourth books–Next Time You See Me, Vanishing Girls, and The Money Kill–Karin’s personal and professional lives evolve.  The story in each individual novel is like a standalone, but the arc of the characters’ lives builds and grows.  Ultimately, I give Karin the gift of happiness, but for her, it is always hard won.

It isn’t just your books that have multiple identities; you have a number of pen names, don’t you? What are they – and how do you keep it all straight in your head? 

Good question!  In my life, I have been Katia Spiegelman, Katia Lief, and Kate Pepper.  I was born Katia Spiegelman.  My married name is Lief.  Officially, I am Katia Spiegelman Lief, but these days my books are published under the name I mostly live by, which is Katia Lief.  When I first started publishing thrillers, though, I took the pseudonym Kate Pepper because at the time it seemed like a good idea to make a separation between my commercial fiction and my first two literary novels (published as Katia Spiegelman, before my marriage).  I didn’t much like having a pseudonym, so eventually I dropped it, except in Germany where Kate Pepper continues to thrive (a decision made by my German publisher, and I was happy to oblige because it was important to them).  Looking back, I think it would have been smarter, and I know it would have been simpler, to stick with just one name.

What else do we need to know about you?

Along with being a full-time novelist, I’m also a part-time adjunct college teacher, and the mother of two teenagers.  All that put together keeps me extremely busy.

Have you got a website where readers can keep up with your work? How can we follow you on Facebook and / or Twitter?

Website:  www.katialief.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/readkatialief
Twitter: @KatiaLief

What’s next?

The fourth in my Karin Schaeffer series, The Money Kill, will be published on Marcy 26, 2013 by HarperCollins.  Meanwhile, I’m working on a new novel that isn’t part of the series.  Stay tuned.