Latest Books FIVE FATAL FLAWS with Louise Mangos

A missing baby. A dead councilman. Five suspects.

When psychotherapist Trudy’s baby disappears one afternoon, the individual motives of four members of her post-trauma therapy group are gradually revealed. But when the police begin investigating baby Benny’s disappearance, the seemingly unrelated death of a local councilman brings each member of the group under firm suspicion, along with Trudy herself.

Louise Mangos recently sat down with The Big Thrill to discuss her latest mystery, FIVE FATAL FLAWS.

Louise Mangos

Can you pinpoint a moment or incident that sparked the idea for this book?

Being long-listed for the Bath novel-in-flash competition with chapters from these individual characters made me realise that there was a much longer story for each of their journeys, so the novella became a full-length novel.

When you first created your protagonist for this book, did you see an empty space in crime lit that you wanted to fill? What can you share about the inspiration for that character?

When I began plotting this novel, the #MeToo movement was fresh and raw. A couple of the characters in the self-help group in the novel have been victims of domestic abuse. One particular character, Rachel, has been carrying her burden for years, and I wanted to highlight issues that might prevent someone from coming forward about their plight.

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

I’d created my characters for a flash fiction competition, and I couldn’t let them go. I became completely invested in their journey and was compelled to write a full-length novel about them.

Were there any particular books, movies, or songs that were knocking around in your head while you were writing this one?

Women Talking, Asking For It, and Luckiest Girl Alive were novels that kept coming back to me as I was writing FIVE FATAL FLAWS, although not all my characters are victims of domestic abuse.

In addition to a great read, what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

I hope readers will enjoy the characters and be surprised at the number of red herrings leading them down different paths in the narrative.

What can you share about what you’re working on next?

I’m currently working on a humorous novel about a failed crime writer, a murder at a literary festival, and a satirical peek into the world of publishing called “Confessions of a Crime Writer.”