Q&A: Crime Author Tracy Clark on Dead Bodies, Midwestern Mysteries, and More
Like most authors, Tracy Clark was a reader before she wrote anything of her own. Growing up, she was particularly fond of crime novels and mysteries—think “Harriet the Spy,” “Nancy Drew,” Agatha Christie books, and other whodunnits—before realizing she wanted to dream up her own world of complex characters and fascinating puzzles to solve.
Fast forward a few decades, and Clark has fully cemented her place in the modern crime writing scene with the award-winning Chicago Mystery and Detective Harriet Foster series—two collections of novels following Black female investigators (Cass Raines and Harriet Foster, respectively) as they navigate personal and professional struggles against the backdrop of Chicago crime.
Released Dec. 2, “Edge” is Clark’s latest work and the fourth installment in the Detective Harriet Foster series. This novel chronicles Foster’s latest case: a mission to track down the source of a new opioid, known as Edge, that has claimed a handful of lives across the city. In the process, Foster finds herself at an edge of her own—a tipping point in her journey that has the power to change everything.
Following the book’s release, Clark is heading to the Twin Cities on Dec. 15 for Minnesota Mystery Night at Lucky 13’s Pub, where she will be in conversation with Guthrie Theater’s senior artistic producer, Tracy Brigden, who has directed several theatrical mysteries for the stage. Tickets for the event are available for purchase online.
Recently, we caught up with Clark to chat about her Midwestern roots, early career inspirations, the importance of identity in fictional and real-life spaces, and more.
Photo by Beuwerks Photography
As a young reader, did you have an ‘aha-moment’ that made you realize you wanted to pursue writing your own stories?
I think every writer does. We start as readers, but then just get to a certain point where you say, “Well, I wonder if I could do one of these by myself.” It’s a long process to get from reader to writer, if you have that in you. But if you do, that’s sort of the natural progression, [from] reading to wanting to write stories of your own. I think I started really thinking about wanting to do that maybe around 12 or 13. Then you have your little notebooks with your little stories that you write for yourself, and I think, again, every writer goes through that process. It took me another 30 years before I got to the point where I actually had a manuscript that was worthy of publication, and I was signing my name to a book contract. It took me over 20 years to get published. Over 20 years of writing and rewriting, and tearing things up, and angling the words this way and that way… sending out query letters and getting those rejection letters back—I think by the end of it, I had enough rejection letters that I could practically wallpaper my bedroom with them. But you just keep doing it… I tell young writers all the time, don’t give up, don’t stop, because you never know when your shot will come. Don’t waste the time, just keep writing.
What kept you motivated to keep going during those years?
I’m from the Midwest, I’m from Chicago… we’re stubborn people. I was not going to let somebody else tell me that this was not for me. I saw those rejection letters, they were sort of debilitating and discouraging at times, but you just keep going because that’s what you want to do. The more they told me no, the more pig-headed I got, and the more angry I got about it, because I could feel that I had something.
What drew you to crime and mystery novels as a child and young adult? And why do you still resonate with this genre the most?
I think, basically, because they’re puzzles. You have to figure out “whodunnit.” Even as a young kid, I would watch those black-and-white movies with my mother and grandmother… it was a puzzle. You have a detective here, he’s got a dead body on the floor, and he’s got to figure out who put the knife in the back. That always sort of intrigued me, because I liked that process of following the clues, following the red herrings. So, that’s the sort of stuff I started reading, when I began reading for myself. I stuck with the Agatha Christies and all the other ones like that. When I decided that I wanted to write, naturally, those were the kinds of books that I figured I’d give a shot at.
I started off writing those cozy, nice, friendly sorts of things. But, you know, something in my brain would dump a body in the most grisly fashion on the page, and that’s not quite what cozies are about. So, I sort of had to shift to the crime novels and the PI novels, and that was a better fit for me. I like dark, I like gritty, I like the morality play of good versus evil… and then to say something in addition to that, about the society we live in, the people who live in it, and how we deal with each other as our differences are presented.
Your work revolves around Black, female main characters. Before you became an author, did you see this identity being represented in the books you were reading?
Not for a bit. When I really started reading mysteries and crime novels, there was not me on the page… I was reading a genre, not finding myself in it. So, I know I’m interested in writing mysteries or crime, I’m not seeing myself on the page, I’m gonna put myself on the page, and we’re gonna see where we go from there. It was a conscious decision to have my main characters be African American females. Both series have African American females as the lead because that’s what I want to represent.
With Harriet, it’s a little different, because I put it in a triangulation. She’s Black, she’s a woman, and she’s a police officer. She’s got all of these forces going on… and now she’s getting some blowback from the community that she’s from. She’s in a department and in a job that has a sort of tenuous relationship with the community that she’s from. For the writer, for me, I like that tension, I like that conflict.
How does Harriet’s experience as a Black woman in a male-dominated field connect with your own professional experience?
I think the writing community reflects what’s in society. When I started going to conferences, it was me and maybe one other person of my color there, out of hundreds. So, we would sort of wander around, feeling out of place. But as the years have gone on, there are more of us, and there’s a wide variety of not just color but gender, sexuality—we’ve got transgender individuals, we’ve got all stripes and colors, and it’s absolutely wonderful. That diversity is wonderful, because that’s where the stories are. Now, we’ve got groups like Crime Writers of Color, where we have over 400 members… everybody who’s classified as “other” has a place now.
Now when we go to these conferences, it’s like going to a high school reunion—we find each other and then we go through this conference as a group, as a family… I love that diversity. I like that richness of the fabric of difference. Everybody’s got a voice, everybody’s voice is valid.
You’re a native Chicagoan, and your stories largely take place in Chicago. What makes the Midwest a good backdrop for mysteries?
I think it’s the people. We’re sort of “no BS” people. We know what’s going on, we see the corruption. Chicago is known for its lax adherence to the laws, let’s say. We’ve had four governors who have gone to prison, we have a city hall that has a dubious reputation. So, when you’re writing crime novels in a city that is rife with corruption and crime, it’s almost written for you. All I have to do is open my window and look out, or look at the newspaper… it’s not like I have to fantasize about what could possibly happen in the city of Chicago.
But it’s an interesting city to write about, because we have that history, but we’ve also got 77 neighborhoods filled with all different kinds of people. So, it’s interesting to have all of that come together in one little city, one little melting pot. When I’m looking for plots and characters and things, I just sort of look around and see what neighborhood I haven’t highlighted before. It’s wonderful for crime writers, I just can’t say enough about it.
How did your Detective Harriet Foster series come to be?
It started with the character, with Harriet. When I was thinking about what I was gonna write next, and looking for characters, and listening to voices in my head, this voice sort of popped up. When I envisioned her, I envisioned her standing on the sidewalk in front of the police station, not knowing whether or not she could go in and do her job, or if she wanted to run. I’ve given her quite a bit to deal with; she’s lost a son, she lost a partner, a marriage, and she’s at her lowest point. She’s standing on that sidewalk and has to decide whether or not to go in there and ramp it up again, or if she just wants to chuck it in and do something else. And she goes in, and that’s how the series starts.
I didn’t know any more than that—just the voice, just her profession, just the weight that I had given her. And then I sent her off into those doors, and gave her the worst possible case I could give her, and the worst possible partner I could partner her with. And so now, with all of that on her back, where does she go? Who is she? How is this series going to progress? What does she have to do to change from where she is now to where she will ultimately be at the end of book four? I’m thinking about all of that as I’m writing her into this world.
You mention the significance of change and how Harriet evolves throughout the series. Going into the fourth book, ‘Edge,’ how would you describe where she’s at in her journey?
Well, I titled it “Edge,” firstly, for the drug that she’s trying to find out where it’s coming from. It’s a toxic drug, an opioid, that has hit the streets, and bodies are falling. But it also has a meaning for her on her personal journey, because she’s on an edge—she can either go forward or back. Through those four books, she’s gotten a little better and she’s gotten a little further along, but now she’s at the edge where she can either go forward, consciously, purposefully, or she can stay where she is.
Harriet’s at a sort of precarious place. By the time the book ends, on that last page, she’s gotta make a decision. I kind of like that edginess, too. She’s gotta make a move, she’s gotta do something to get to the next phase. Will she, or will she not?
For new readers who may be interested in starting this series, what do you hope they take away from this world and collection of stories you’ve built?
I want them to concentrate not so much on the dead bodies, wherever I place the dead bodies—which is fun—but I want them to really dig into the character. I really want them to embrace Harriet and go through her journey with her. She doesn’t talk much, she doesn’t share her feelings much, even with the people that she works closest with. She’s a brilliant detective, but when she goes home and takes that badge off and puts that gun down, she’s got nothing. There’s barely any furniture in her apartment. There’s nothing in her refrigerator. There’s nothing in her room that says warmth, or invitation, or, you know, a lively person lives here. She just sort of sits, she’s in stasis.
So, I would like readers to sit on Harriet’s shoulders and follow her through this series, and be interested in whether or not she gets better and learns to live again. And if they like the bodies, I’ve got no problem with that—if that’s their jam, go for it.
“Edge” can be purchased at independent booksellers or online. Tickets are available now for Minnesota Mystery Night, Dec. 15 from 7-9 p.m. at Lucky 13’s Pub in Mendota Heights.
Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
