The legendary rivalry between Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli is well known in fashion history. What drew you to write about this notorious feud in The Last Collection? It seemed, currently, to be a very good time to be writing about strong, powerful women who do not back down from competition or threats.  I once visited a country that did not have freedom of press and information, and I needed a complicated visa to get there. The clerk at the embassy asked me what I did for a living (I was a journalist at the time) and I told him I was a writer.  He jumped up from his desk, truly alarmed!  He asked me what I wrote about, and I said family studies, human development, nutrition, consumer finance.  He sat back down and said , “Oh. Women’s stuff. Doesn’t matter.”  I got the visa, but I also got a strong lesson about what many people think of women’s issues.  This book says that ‘women’s stuff’ really does matter. Europe in the late 30s, as we know, is on the cusp of a tumultuous time that leads to WWII. What did this political landscape add to your story? How did…

The Undead Next Door, which releases January 29th, tells the story of a French vampire named Jean-Luc Echarpe. Jean-Luc has done many things since his transformation in 1513. He’s been a knight, a musketeer, a lieutenant-colonel in the Great Vampire War of 1710, the owner of a fencing academy in Paris, and the Coven Master of Western Europe. That’s him on the cover. What a hunk! Having lived through many different styles of clothing, Jean-Luc knows fashion. So much so that he began designing evening wear for vampires in 1922. By the 1930’s, he was secretly designing evening wear for the Hollywood elite. In 1975, he expanded his business into the mortal world and became a great success! What a great life! He’s a celebrity, surrounded by beautiful models. What more could a guy ask for? Unfortunately, the media has realized that Jean-Luc hasn’t aged in over thirty years. They’re following him everywhere, hounding him with questions. There’s only one thing Jean-Luc can do—go into hiding. He’ll disappear for twenty-five years, then return to his beloved Paris, posing as his own son. He’s too recognizable in Paris or Milan, New York or Los Angeles. Where can he go where no…