September 30, 2024 • 27 mins
What if unlocking the secrets of an ancient puzzle could take you on a thrilling journey across continents? Welcome back to The Bookshop Podcast, where we sit down with New York Times bestselling author Danielle Trussoni to uncover the mysteries behind her latest novel, The Puzzle Box. As the second installment in the Mike Brink series, this book showcases Danielle's meticulous research and the fascinating world of savant puzzle-solving. Follow along as we explore Brink's adventure from New York to Japan, unraveling enigmatic characters and deadly puzzles.
Danielle takes us behind the scenes of her character development process, particularly focusing on Dr. Gupta and Ume. From taking classes on cryptocurrency and encryption to drawing inspiration from historical female warriors known as onna-bugeisha, Danielle's dedication to authenticity is nothing short of impressive.
Danielle Trussoni is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Ancestor, Angelology, and Angelopolis, all New York Times Notable Books, and the memoirs The Fortress and Falling Through the Earth, named one of the ten best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review. She writes the monthly horror column for the New York Times Book Review. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and winner of the Michener-Copernicus Society of America Fellowship, her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.
The Puzzle Box, Danielle Trussoni
The Puzzle Master, Danielle Trussoni
Angelopolis, Danielle Trussoni
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Mandy Jackson-Beverly and I'm a
bibliophile.
Welcome to the Bookshop Podcast.
Each week, I present interviewswith authors, independent
bookshop owners and booksellersfrom around the globe and
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Thanks again, michael, muchappreciated.
(00:56):
When I started this podcast in2020, my intention was to
(01:16):
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If you'd like to financiallysupport the show, please go to
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(01:36):
You're listening to Episode 270.
Danielle Trussoni is the NewYork Times bestselling author of
the novels the Ancestor,angelology and Angelopolis all
New York Times notable books andthe memoirs the Fortress and
Falling Through the Earth, namedone of the 10 best books of the
(01:59):
year by the New York Times BookReview.
She writes the monthly horrorcolumn for the New York Times
Book Review and is a graduate ofthe Iowa Writers Workshop and
winner of the MissionerCopernicus Society of American
Fellowship.
Her work has been translatedinto more than 30 languages.
Hi, danielle, and welcome backto the show.
(02:19):
Hi, mandy, thank you for havingme back.
Oh, of course, anytime.
Well, first of all, before weget into the interview, I loved
book two in the Mike Brinkseries, the Puzzle Box.
I tend to read fiction rightbefore I'm going to bed, and
your book had me up to the weehours of the morning, which is a
good thing, right.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh dear.
Well, that's the sign that itwas a success or it's doing what
I want it to do, but I'm sorrythat you may have lost sleep.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You are forgiven because it's a wonderful read.
I just loved it.
What have you been up to sincewe last spoke about the Puzzle
Box?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, I was writing that book.
Actually, usually it takes me afew years to write a book at
least two and this one I wrotereally fast for me.
I wrote it in one year.
So since we spoke last, I washead down writing this book,
revising this book, doing theresearch for this book, which
(03:18):
was very extensive, and,generally speaking, just sort of
away from the world and working.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, all that work has paid off, because you've
written a fabulous book, thePuzzle Master and your latest
novel, the Puzzle Box, werebought in a two-book preempt by
Random House, what initiallydrew you to your protagonist,
mike Brink, the world's greatestpuzzle master.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I was drawn to that character by his brain.
I'm something of a cerebralperson, I think, and you know I
didn't realize that until peopleread these books and were like,
wow, these are really kind ofbrainy thrillers.
You know, the biggest draw tothat character was what his
brain can do.
And for those who haven't readeither of those books, he
(04:04):
suffers from something calledsavant syndrome.
He was a regular person likeyou and me, and then he had an
accident that damaged the lefthemisphere of his brain, which
resulted in a very rare butactually real condition called
savant syndrome, where the lefthemisphere of the brain sort of
compensates for the damage andpeople who have this condition
(04:29):
develop an unusual and almostsupernatural skill.
Um, so, you know, people whohave this have suddenly been
drawn to play the piano andwithin a couple of months were
composing concertos, that sortof thing.
Well with, well, with Mike Brinkit's, you know, that damage,
that condition, brought him topuzzles and patterns and solving
(04:53):
things.
So for me, that ability saidfiction, fiction, you know,
really like it, just like wasvery, very clear to me that he
would be a great hero for a bookwhere there's a mystery.
And also I think that I'malways, as a writer, drawn to
characters who let us exploreconsciousness, in a way, and
(05:14):
what the human mind and what weas humans are capable of doing,
and he was kind of this perfectvehicle.
So, yeah, when I wrote abouthim, my editor at Random House,
andrea Walker, recognized thatthis could be a really good
series, and so she did buy twobooks and hopefully there will
(05:36):
be more.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Oh, I hope so.
That was going to be my nextquestion.
What I love about the characterMike Brink is that he is so
interesting and intelligent andhe has this endearing charm
about him that comes throughwith his little dog Conundrum.
But he also draws interestingpeople to him and I found that
(05:58):
fascinating with this book.
Now in the puzzle box, youquickly place Mike Brink in a
life or death situation, leavingthe reader unable to stop
turning pages.
When you first conceived theidea of setting the story in
Japan, was it difficult figuringout how to get Brink from New
York to Tokyo.
The way you got him there wasreminiscent of the hero's
(06:22):
journey, that invitation,without giving too much away.
Can you tell us a little bitabout this invitation?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Of course.
So the invitation that youmentioned is actually a kind of
puzzle, and it's the openingpuzzle of the novel, I suppose,
and it's brought to him by ayoung woman, a young Japanese
woman, who was sent by theemperor of Japan to invite Mike
Brink to open the deadliest,most difficult puzzle box ever
(06:51):
created.
It's been locked up in theImperial Palace, or so they say,
for 150 years.
So Mike Brink, of course, witha challenge like that, what can
he do?
Of course he decides to go.
But yes, you know, getting acharacter from point A to point
(07:11):
B and into the action for awriter is probably the hardest
part of a book.
As you said, I started rightaway and I do that with that
puzzle.
But, yeah, there were manydrafts where there were other
openings that I cut down, andwhat this book for me is is it's
(07:33):
a diversion, it's a lot of fun,it's a way to escape for me as
a writer, but also, I hope, forthe reader, into this other
world of Japanese puzzles anddanger and excitement and
questions about Mike Brink's ownabilities and what those mean,
and so the sooner I could get tothat, the happier.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I was, and in our previous conversation you said
you lived in Japan from 1998 to2000 and often imagined writing
a story there.
Why this story?
Why Mike Brink and why now?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, it's true, I lived in Japan.
I was a teacher in a tiny, tinyvillage in the southern part of
Japan, and it really changedwho I was as a person.
I went at a very formative timein my life in my mid-20s, and
so I've held on to this ideathat I would love to write about
that place, but I could neverfind a story that that could do
(08:28):
it justice.
I didn't want the setting orthe country to be secondary, and
so the idea of an elaboratepuzzle box that's intimately
connected to Japanese historybecause as you read, you learn
about Japanese history as heopens the box and discovers this
mystery that's just seemedperfect, a perfect way to use
(08:53):
both my experiences and sort ofan inside look at Japanese
culture, and a story that wouldbring other people into Japan
who maybe haven't experienced itin the same way I have.
So I was waiting.
It took 20 years to get there.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, it was definitely worth waiting for,
and Japan is such a beautifulcountry with beautiful people,
the gardens, the creativity, thehistory.
It's a magical, magical placeand the perfect location for
Mike Brink to be in.
Now in the puzzle box youfeature Dr Gupta, one of Brink's
(09:30):
oldest and most trusted friends.
Gupta is an MIT retiredmathematics professor and one of
the original cyberpunks, asmall group of men and women in
San Francisco in the 90s whodeveloped early digital
technologies to protectindividual liberties.
Who did you lean on for thetechnological information used
(09:51):
in the story and did you dreamup what you needed and then ask
for professional advice, or didyou research the information
before writing?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
A lot of it came with the first book with the Puzzle
Master, because I knew that if Iwere to include a character
like Dr Gupta, who is so complexand layered and is so brilliant
, really like just a genius, Ihad to get him right and I had
(10:21):
to get the research right.
I personally have very littleknowledge of the tech world or
the history of technology, but Idid do a lot.
I did, as you say, a lot ofresearch.
I actually took a class aboutcryptocurrency and the history
of encryption and I took this.
It was an online class and Imet every week with groups of
people who were studying thistopic and we read books and we
(10:43):
read articles and I was watchingvideos on YouTube about the
cypherpunks and I watchedinterviews actually with people
who were part of that earlymovement, and so all of those
details I transposed to Dr Gupta.
Also, I really thought it wasimportant that Mike Brink, who
(11:03):
lost his father early in hislife, as a character had a
mentor and Dr Gupta, as acharacter, comes back in the
puzzle box and I've heard fromreaders that he's one of their
favorite characters because hejust sort of comes in and he has
all the answers and you know,for me he's just a really fun
character.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And I love that you have these characters popping up
again in the stories.
It reminds me a little bit of aJames Bond book, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
That's such a compliment because I love James
Bond movies.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yes, me too, and I love the books.
I've actually just startedcollecting the books by Ian
Fleming.
They are so fun and they'rereally good for short reads.
I love them.
So that's my latest collectionof books.
Oh, those look amazing.
Yeah, aren't they wonderful?
Just these old paperbacks.
You can slip them in your purseor your back pocket.
They're kind of fun.
(11:56):
Okay, back to Japan.
My family and I studied Aikidofor about five years in Los
Angeles and that's how we cameto be in Japan, because we went
with our Aikido group and oursensei to meet another sensei
over there, our sensei to meetanother sensei over there, which
(12:17):
was just a fantastic journey.
So I was extremely interestedin the relationship between Ume
and Sakura and the history ofOnobugesha, a group of
pre-modern female warriors asdeadly and powerful as their
male counterparts.
So what led you to initiallycreate these two fantastic
female characters?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Well, first of all, Ume had a very minor role in the
Puzzle Master.
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I remember her.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
But she was a character that was working for
Sedge as his chief securityperson and I really loved that
character and I wanted to bringher back.
So that's one of the elements.
Also, she's Japanese and thebook is set in Japan.
But the real drive to includethis history of the Ono Bugesha
(13:05):
is that when I lived in Japan Iwould go and visit historical
monuments and a lot of them hadto do with the samurai or that
era when there were basicallythat there were samurai they're
not working but they wereprotecting um castles and that
sort of thing um, and inevitablybe um a little tiny mention of
(13:27):
a woman who was part of thatsamurai clan or there.
There would be, you know, justsort of a secondary history,
sort of, after all, of the youknow, you see, the armor and the
swords and all of theimplements that the samurai used
.
There would inevitably be somelittle thing about the women who
were in that family.
And so I started digging and Ifound that there was this rich
(13:49):
history of women being trainedalongside men, and it was always
women in the family, right,they weren't sort of brought in
from outside, but often when themale samurai left, they would
defend the home or they woulddefend the castle, and so I
thought that that was incrediblyinteresting and not something
(14:11):
that anyone talks about.
When I was at the SamuraiMuseum in Kyoto just last year,
when I was doing research forthis book, I asked the curator
and the guide about them andthere was not a display in that
museum about them, and he saidoh, you know, I really don't
have that much information aboutthem.
It took a lot of digging tofind more information about
(14:33):
these women.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, that is a little sad.
However, in some ways I canunderstand why.
At the time anyway, because Idon't want to give anything away
in the book, but because theywere female, no one expected
them to be these brilliantwarriors.
So in some ways I can kind ofsee why they kept that secret.
But now, yes, I wish we knewmore about them.
(14:54):
Of course you had me down arabbit hole of Google.
I was down that rabbit hole fora couple of hours just
researching the Onnabugesha.
What an interesting group ofwomen.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
This was the moment that I wished I spoke Japanese
better, because I think there'sprobably a lot more in Japanese
if I, if I, could read Japanese.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yes, I agree, language is often the key to
research.
Danielle, are you going to bedoing a book tour for the Puzzle
Box and, if so, where canlisteners get their books signed
?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I am doing a book tour.
I'm doing 11 cities actually.
It's kind of an extensive booktour.
People can find out the timesand places on my website I'm
going to be posting that or onsocial media, my Instagram
account.
I have it pinned to the top ofmy social media accounts.
But I'm starting.
I'll just do a very quickrundown.
(15:44):
I'm starting in the Midwest.
I'll be in Madison, wisconsin,then I'm going to Poison Pen in
Arizona and then to Houston,texas, mystery by the Book and
then I'm waiting another weekand then I'm doing a sort of
East Coast sweep.
So I'll be at the MorristownFestival in New Jersey and then
a couple of stops in New Yorkand then Boston Will you be at
(16:05):
the Mysterious Bookshop in NewYork.
This time I'm not.
I did that last week For thelast book for the series launch.
I did it there and it wasamazing.
That's my favorite customer inNew York.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yes, they are.
I had Otto Penzler on the showand my goodness, he is just a
wealth of information aboutmystery books.
He is incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
They're wonderful.
But this time I'm doing anevent at a store called PT
Knitwear I don't know if youknow it.
It's in the Lower East Side andit's a little bit bigger.
It's a nice bookstore as well.
It's not mystery and thriller,you know, based, but that's fine
.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
And the other bookshop you mentioned, the
Poison Pen with Barbara G Peters.
She's wonderful.
She's also been on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I'm so excited.
This will be the first time Iactually go to the store.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Let's talk books and authors.
What do you enjoy about writingthrillers and who are some
thriller writers that you admire?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So my first book I don't know if I mentioned this
to you when we talked before,but my first book was a memoir
and you know, my first impulseas a writer was to write about
me and my life and once I didthat I never wanted to do it
again.
So the really wonderful thingabout thrillers for me is that
(17:25):
it's other people's lives, it'ssituations and stories that are
elevated, exciting world events,you events taking elements of
history and taking the mostdramatic and high stakes
elements of the world and usingthem in a story.
But I find that when I do that,when I have a sort of
(17:49):
architecture like that, I'm alittle bit more free to fill in
the things like Mike Brink'sconsciousness or like these sort
of weird elements that I had inthe Puzzle Master.
You know about religiousmysteries or you know there was
a character, as you probablyremember, who had a terrifying
(18:09):
kind of supernatural experiencein an old house, like those
sorts of things.
I think if you didn't have areally strong plot and a very
high stakes structure would fallflat.
So for me it's reallystructural.
It allows me the freedom to dowhat I want as a writer and also
keep my readers turning thepages and coming along with me,
(18:31):
and it's also an escape for youtoo.
Completely.
It's not about me, which I finddelicious and really, you know,
and fun, and for me at thispoint in my career, in my life I
read for pleasure, I read tolearn about the world and I read
to investigate new charactersand interesting people I'm not
(18:54):
really at the point for me whereI want to write about my own
experiences.
So, yeah, it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And who are some thriller writers you admire.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
So in the past I've always read thriller writers who
kind of walk the line betweenliterary fiction and mysteries
and crime, like Tana French orAnthony Horowitz or you know
sort of people who have verylayered novels.
But recently I've been readingI'm kind of into locked room
(19:25):
mysteries and more classic,classic detective fiction.
I'm reading a lot of AgathaChristie.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I don't think you can go wrong with an Agatha
Christie novel.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I know, and you know, sort of going back and looking
at the structure of those books,it's really ingenious.
And so, yeah, I have a widerange of thriller and mystery
writers that I like, but I thinkI've sort of moved over to more
classic writers lately.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, like you, I love a good Agatha, me too, and
one of my favorites is theMirror Cracked.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
I just finished and there were none for like the
third time.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And you know, I'm a big rereader too, and I'm always
surprised when people tell methey don't reread books.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh, it is strange.
I'm someone who, if I love anauthor, I'll reread everything.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, same here.
And also I think when I rereada book, no matter how many times
I reread it, I always findsomething that I haven't found
before.
It's comforting rereading abook that you love Completely.
You've been the chair juristfor the Pulitzer Prize in
Fiction.
What does this entail?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So this I was actually a jurist for two years.
The first year I was not thechair, I was just a jurist.
There are five jurists andthose people hardcover books
sitting on your porch, on yourfront stoop, so we were all you
know.
All of these books weredelivered to us and then we met
and sort of divided them up.
We met on Zoom, actually, todivide them up or over email,
(21:11):
and then each of those juristssort of took a section of them
and we didn't read all of thosebooks, but we read the ones that
were in our area we read all of, and the other ones we could
read the first couple chaptersand see if we liked them, and
then everyone came up with alist and then we just talked and
it really, you know, for me asa writer myself, it really made
(21:35):
it clear how subjective theseprizes are and everything with
writing and with criticism.
I was also a columnist for theNew York Times Book Review and
every choice that is made by acritic is subjective.
It's about what we'veexperienced, what books we like,
what we're in, just in the moodfor that day actually.
(21:58):
So you know, that was thebiggest takeaway for me from,
you know, being a judge for thePulitzer is that there were so
many good books and so manyworthy authors, actually, and
those were the books that werethe finalists, you know, that we
chose were the ones that wejust it, just that moment it all
clicked together, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And I think you're right.
I think, as with any contest,it is subjective, depending on
the jurors.
Okay, let's talk books.
What are you currently reading?
I see you've got a little pilethere ready to go.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yes, I do so.
As I said, I've been reading,rereading Agatha Christie, which
has been fun.
I'm currently reading a novelcalled Exposure by Ramona
Emerson.
This is her second book and herfirst book.
What was it called?
It was called Shutter, thankyou, but I read it and loved it,
even though I can't rememberthe name.
And I'm going to be doing anevent with her online for Soho
(22:51):
Crime and I believe it's beinghosted by Mystery to Me in
Madison, wisconsin, so if anyoneout there wants to go and see
that, it would be great to haveyou there.
I'm also reading a novel by IvyPakoda called Sing Down.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
You cut out a little bit, but that novel is Sing Her
Down.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's a thriller and it won the Los Angeles Times
Book Prize for for thrillersthis year.
And I'm also reading I don'tknow if you remember the Woman
in the Window I'm reading AJFinn's End of Story.
It's the new one by him, soyou're reading a lot of
thrillers.
I know, I know it's clearlythat's where my interests are
(23:35):
these days.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yes, and have you met Ivy Pakoda?
I have.
We were at a conference, Isn'tshe lovely?
I met her at the Los AngelesTimes Festival of Books this
year.
She was signing books and Ijust went up to the booth and
chatted with her and she justseems so lovely natural
Wonderful person and also awonderful writer.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
It's great when those two things sort of come
together.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes, it is a great mix.
Now, didn't you recently haveanother book published?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, so I wrote a novel about 10 years ago called
Angelology and it is acompletely different kind.
It's a supernatural thrillerseries.
There's a couple of books inthat and my Spanish.
Actually my Spanish publisherjust did a completely new
translation and reissued it.
So I've been posting about thatand you know that might be a
(24:27):
little confusing, I guess, butit's in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's exciting, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, it is, it's nice.
It's really fun for me to beable to see a different kind of
demographic of readers, and I'vedone events where I go on and I
speak to them.
Obviously, I have a translatorand it's just, it's so rewarding
Danielle.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Congratulations on yet another wonderful thriller,
the Puzzle Box, and maybe we'llget to say hi in person when I'm
in San.
Miguel de Allende in January.
That would be wonderful.
Please, please do.
And that reminds me do you havethe dates set for the San
Miguel Writers Conference 2025?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I do, and it's going to be amazing this year.
I really encourage you to come.
It's February 11th or the 12this actually the opening keynote
speaker until the 16th.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Okay, so to confirm February the 11th through the
16th, 2025 San Miguel WritersConference.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yes, and there are incredible writers coming.
This year it's the 20thanniversary, so they are
throwing a huge party and Ithink it's going to be like
probably the best one.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I think I'm going to be there two weeks before, darn
it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Maybe you can stay.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Maybe I can.
Danielle, thank you for being aguest on the show.
I love chatting with you and Iabsolutely love the Mike Brink
books.
They're wonderful.
All the best of luck on yourbook tour.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Well, thank you, talk to you soon.
Bye, mandy.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You've been listening to my conversation with
Danielle Tressoni about herlatest novel, the Puzzle Box.
To help the show reach morepeople, please share episodes
with friends and family and onsocial media, and remember to
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(26:19):
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The Bookshop Podcast is writtenand produced by me, mandy
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Theme music provided by BrianBeverly, executive assistant to
Mandy.
Theme music provided by BrianBeverly, executive assistant to
Mandy, adrian Otterhan andgraphic design by Francis Farala
.
Thanks for listening and I'llsee you next time.
Hi, my name is Mandy Jackson-Beverly and I'm a
bibliophile.
Welcome to the Bookshop Podcast.
Each week, I present interviewswith authors, independent
bookshop owners and booksellersfrom around the globe and
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To help the show reach morepeople, please share episodes
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(00:33):
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Thanks again, michael, muchappreciated.
(00:56):
When I started this podcast in2020, my intention was to
(01:16):
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(01:36):
You're listening to Episode 270.
Danielle Trussoni is the NewYork Times bestselling author of
the novels the Ancestor,angelology and Angelopolis all
New York Times notable books andthe memoirs the Fortress and
Falling Through the Earth, namedone of the 10 best books of the
(01:59):
year by the New York Times BookReview.
She writes the monthly horrorcolumn for the New York Times
Book Review and is a graduate ofthe Iowa Writers Workshop and
winner of the MissionerCopernicus Society of American
Fellowship.
Her work has been translatedinto more than 30 languages.
Hi, danielle, and welcome backto the show.
(02:19):
Hi, mandy, thank you for havingme back.
Oh, of course, anytime.
Well, first of all, before weget into the interview, I loved
book two in the Mike Brinkseries, the Puzzle Box.
I tend to read fiction rightbefore I'm going to bed, and
your book had me up to the weehours of the morning, which is a
good thing, right.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Oh dear.
Well, that's the sign that itwas a success or it's doing what
I want it to do, but I'm sorrythat you may have lost sleep.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
You are forgiven because it's a wonderful read.
I just loved it.
What have you been up to sincewe last spoke about the Puzzle
Box?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Well, I was writing that book.
Actually, usually it takes me afew years to write a book at
least two and this one I wrotereally fast for me.
I wrote it in one year.
So since we spoke last, I washead down writing this book,
revising this book, doing theresearch for this book, which
(03:18):
was very extensive, and,generally speaking, just sort of
away from the world and working.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, all that work has paid off, because you've
written a fabulous book, thePuzzle Master and your latest
novel, the Puzzle Box, werebought in a two-book preempt by
Random House, what initiallydrew you to your protagonist,
mike Brink, the world's greatestpuzzle master.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
I was drawn to that character by his brain.
I'm something of a cerebralperson, I think, and you know I
didn't realize that until peopleread these books and were like,
wow, these are really kind ofbrainy thrillers.
You know, the biggest draw tothat character was what his
brain can do.
And for those who haven't readeither of those books, he
(04:04):
suffers from something calledsavant syndrome.
He was a regular person likeyou and me, and then he had an
accident that damaged the lefthemisphere of his brain, which
resulted in a very rare butactually real condition called
savant syndrome, where the lefthemisphere of the brain sort of
compensates for the damage andpeople who have this condition
(04:29):
develop an unusual and almostsupernatural skill.
Um, so, you know, people whohave this have suddenly been
drawn to play the piano andwithin a couple of months were
composing concertos, that sortof thing.
Well with, well, with Mike Brinkit's, you know, that damage,
that condition, brought him topuzzles and patterns and solving
(04:53):
things.
So for me, that ability saidfiction, fiction, you know,
really like it, just like wasvery, very clear to me that he
would be a great hero for a bookwhere there's a mystery.
And also I think that I'malways, as a writer, drawn to
characters who let us exploreconsciousness, in a way, and
(05:14):
what the human mind and what weas humans are capable of doing,
and he was kind of this perfectvehicle.
So, yeah, when I wrote abouthim, my editor at Random House,
andrea Walker, recognized thatthis could be a really good
series, and so she did buy twobooks and hopefully there will
(05:36):
be more.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Oh, I hope so.
That was going to be my nextquestion.
What I love about the characterMike Brink is that he is so
interesting and intelligent andhe has this endearing charm
about him that comes throughwith his little dog Conundrum.
But he also draws interestingpeople to him and I found that
(05:58):
fascinating with this book.
Now in the puzzle box, youquickly place Mike Brink in a
life or death situation, leavingthe reader unable to stop
turning pages.
When you first conceived theidea of setting the story in
Japan, was it difficult figuringout how to get Brink from New
York to Tokyo.
The way you got him there wasreminiscent of the hero's
(06:22):
journey, that invitation,without giving too much away.
Can you tell us a little bitabout this invitation?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Of course.
So the invitation that youmentioned is actually a kind of
puzzle, and it's the openingpuzzle of the novel, I suppose,
and it's brought to him by ayoung woman, a young Japanese
woman, who was sent by theemperor of Japan to invite Mike
Brink to open the deadliest,most difficult puzzle box ever
(06:51):
created.
It's been locked up in theImperial Palace, or so they say,
for 150 years.
So Mike Brink, of course, witha challenge like that, what can
he do?
Of course he decides to go.
But yes, you know, getting acharacter from point A to point
(07:11):
B and into the action for awriter is probably the hardest
part of a book.
As you said, I started rightaway and I do that with that
puzzle.
But, yeah, there were manydrafts where there were other
openings that I cut down, andwhat this book for me is is it's
(07:33):
a diversion, it's a lot of fun,it's a way to escape for me as
a writer, but also, I hope, forthe reader, into this other
world of Japanese puzzles anddanger and excitement and
questions about Mike Brink's ownabilities and what those mean,
and so the sooner I could get tothat, the happier.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I was, and in our previous conversation you said
you lived in Japan from 1998 to2000 and often imagined writing
a story there.
Why this story?
Why Mike Brink and why now?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, it's true, I lived in Japan.
I was a teacher in a tiny, tinyvillage in the southern part of
Japan, and it really changedwho I was as a person.
I went at a very formative timein my life in my mid-20s, and
so I've held on to this ideathat I would love to write about
that place, but I could neverfind a story that that could do
(08:28):
it justice.
I didn't want the setting orthe country to be secondary, and
so the idea of an elaboratepuzzle box that's intimately
connected to Japanese historybecause as you read, you learn
about Japanese history as heopens the box and discovers this
mystery that's just seemedperfect, a perfect way to use
(08:53):
both my experiences and sort ofan inside look at Japanese
culture, and a story that wouldbring other people into Japan
who maybe haven't experienced itin the same way I have.
So I was waiting.
It took 20 years to get there.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well, it was definitely worth waiting for,
and Japan is such a beautifulcountry with beautiful people,
the gardens, the creativity, thehistory.
It's a magical, magical placeand the perfect location for
Mike Brink to be in.
Now in the puzzle box youfeature Dr Gupta, one of Brink's
(09:30):
oldest and most trusted friends.
Gupta is an MIT retiredmathematics professor and one of
the original cyberpunks, asmall group of men and women in
San Francisco in the 90s whodeveloped early digital
technologies to protectindividual liberties.
Who did you lean on for thetechnological information used
(09:51):
in the story and did you dreamup what you needed and then ask
for professional advice, or didyou research the information
before writing?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
A lot of it came with the first book with the Puzzle
Master, because I knew that if Iwere to include a character
like Dr Gupta, who is so complexand layered and is so brilliant
, really like just a genius, Ihad to get him right and I had
(10:21):
to get the research right.
I personally have very littleknowledge of the tech world or
the history of technology, but Idid do a lot.
I did, as you say, a lot ofresearch.
I actually took a class aboutcryptocurrency and the history
of encryption and I took this.
It was an online class and Imet every week with groups of
people who were studying thistopic and we read books and we
(10:43):
read articles and I was watchingvideos on YouTube about the
cypherpunks and I watchedinterviews actually with people
who were part of that earlymovement, and so all of those
details I transposed to Dr Gupta.
Also, I really thought it wasimportant that Mike Brink, who
(11:03):
lost his father early in hislife, as a character had a
mentor and Dr Gupta, as acharacter, comes back in the
puzzle box and I've heard fromreaders that he's one of their
favorite characters because hejust sort of comes in and he has
all the answers and you know,for me he's just a really fun
character.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
And I love that you have these characters popping up
again in the stories.
It reminds me a little bit of aJames Bond book, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
That's such a compliment because I love James
Bond movies.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yes, me too, and I love the books.
I've actually just startedcollecting the books by Ian
Fleming.
They are so fun and they'rereally good for short reads.
I love them.
So that's my latest collectionof books.
Oh, those look amazing.
Yeah, aren't they wonderful?
Just these old paperbacks.
You can slip them in your purseor your back pocket.
They're kind of fun.
(11:56):
Okay, back to Japan.
My family and I studied Aikidofor about five years in Los
Angeles and that's how we cameto be in Japan, because we went
with our Aikido group and oursensei to meet another sensei
over there, our sensei to meetanother sensei over there, which
(12:17):
was just a fantastic journey.
So I was extremely interestedin the relationship between Ume
and Sakura and the history ofOnobugesha, a group of
pre-modern female warriors asdeadly and powerful as their
male counterparts.
So what led you to initiallycreate these two fantastic
female characters?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Well, first of all, Ume had a very minor role in the
Puzzle Master.
Yes, that's right.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I remember her.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
But she was a character that was working for
Sedge as his chief securityperson and I really loved that
character and I wanted to bringher back.
So that's one of the elements.
Also, she's Japanese and thebook is set in Japan.
But the real drive to includethis history of the Ono Bugesha
(13:05):
is that when I lived in Japan Iwould go and visit historical
monuments and a lot of them hadto do with the samurai or that
era when there were basicallythat there were samurai they're
not working but they wereprotecting um castles and that
sort of thing um, and inevitablybe um a little tiny mention of
(13:27):
a woman who was part of thatsamurai clan or there.
There would be, you know, justsort of a secondary history,
sort of, after all, of the youknow, you see, the armor and the
swords and all of theimplements that the samurai used
.
There would inevitably be somelittle thing about the women who
were in that family.
And so I started digging and Ifound that there was this rich
(13:49):
history of women being trainedalongside men, and it was always
women in the family, right,they weren't sort of brought in
from outside, but often when themale samurai left, they would
defend the home or they woulddefend the castle, and so I
thought that that was incrediblyinteresting and not something
(14:11):
that anyone talks about.
When I was at the SamuraiMuseum in Kyoto just last year,
when I was doing research forthis book, I asked the curator
and the guide about them andthere was not a display in that
museum about them, and he saidoh, you know, I really don't
have that much information aboutthem.
It took a lot of digging tofind more information about
(14:33):
these women.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, that is a little sad.
However, in some ways I canunderstand why.
At the time anyway, because Idon't want to give anything away
in the book, but because theywere female, no one expected
them to be these brilliantwarriors.
So in some ways I can kind ofsee why they kept that secret.
But now, yes, I wish we knewmore about them.
(14:54):
Of course you had me down arabbit hole of Google.
I was down that rabbit hole fora couple of hours just
researching the Onnabugesha.
What an interesting group ofwomen.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
This was the moment that I wished I spoke Japanese
better, because I think there'sprobably a lot more in Japanese
if I, if I, could read Japanese.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yes, I agree, language is often the key to
research.
Danielle, are you going to bedoing a book tour for the Puzzle
Box and, if so, where canlisteners get their books signed
?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I am doing a book tour.
I'm doing 11 cities actually.
It's kind of an extensive booktour.
People can find out the timesand places on my website I'm
going to be posting that or onsocial media, my Instagram
account.
I have it pinned to the top ofmy social media accounts.
But I'm starting.
I'll just do a very quickrundown.
(15:44):
I'm starting in the Midwest.
I'll be in Madison, wisconsin,then I'm going to Poison Pen in
Arizona and then to Houston,texas, mystery by the Book and
then I'm waiting another weekand then I'm doing a sort of
East Coast sweep.
So I'll be at the MorristownFestival in New Jersey and then
a couple of stops in New Yorkand then Boston Will you be at
(16:05):
the Mysterious Bookshop in NewYork.
This time I'm not.
I did that last week For thelast book for the series launch.
I did it there and it wasamazing.
That's my favorite customer inNew York.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yes, they are.
I had Otto Penzler on the showand my goodness, he is just a
wealth of information aboutmystery books.
He is incredible.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
They're wonderful.
But this time I'm doing anevent at a store called PT
Knitwear I don't know if youknow it.
It's in the Lower East Side andit's a little bit bigger.
It's a nice bookstore as well.
It's not mystery and thriller,you know, based, but that's fine
.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
And the other bookshop you mentioned, the
Poison Pen with Barbara G Peters.
She's wonderful.
She's also been on the show.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I'm so excited.
This will be the first time Iactually go to the store.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Let's talk books and authors.
What do you enjoy about writingthrillers and who are some
thriller writers that you admire?
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So my first book I don't know if I mentioned this
to you when we talked before,but my first book was a memoir
and you know, my first impulseas a writer was to write about
me and my life and once I didthat I never wanted to do it
again.
So the really wonderful thingabout thrillers for me is that
(17:25):
it's other people's lives, it'ssituations and stories that are
elevated, exciting world events,you events taking elements of
history and taking the mostdramatic and high stakes
elements of the world and usingthem in a story.
But I find that when I do that,when I have a sort of
(17:49):
architecture like that, I'm alittle bit more free to fill in
the things like Mike Brink'sconsciousness or like these sort
of weird elements that I had inthe Puzzle Master.
You know about religiousmysteries or you know there was
a character, as you probablyremember, who had a terrifying
(18:09):
kind of supernatural experiencein an old house, like those
sorts of things.
I think if you didn't have areally strong plot and a very
high stakes structure would fallflat.
So for me it's reallystructural.
It allows me the freedom to dowhat I want as a writer and also
keep my readers turning thepages and coming along with me,
(18:31):
and it's also an escape for youtoo.
Completely.
It's not about me, which I finddelicious and really, you know,
and fun, and for me at thispoint in my career, in my life I
read for pleasure, I read tolearn about the world and I read
to investigate new charactersand interesting people I'm not
(18:54):
really at the point for me whereI want to write about my own
experiences.
So, yeah, it's perfect.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
And who are some thriller writers you admire.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
So in the past I've always read thriller writers who
kind of walk the line betweenliterary fiction and mysteries
and crime, like Tana French orAnthony Horowitz or you know
sort of people who have verylayered novels.
But recently I've been readingI'm kind of into locked room
(19:25):
mysteries and more classic,classic detective fiction.
I'm reading a lot of AgathaChristie.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I don't think you can go wrong with an Agatha
Christie novel.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I know, and you know, sort of going back and looking
at the structure of those books,it's really ingenious.
And so, yeah, I have a widerange of thriller and mystery
writers that I like, but I thinkI've sort of moved over to more
classic writers lately.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Well, like you, I love a good Agatha, me too, and
one of my favorites is theMirror Cracked.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
I just finished and there were none for like the
third time.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
And you know, I'm a big rereader too, and I'm always
surprised when people tell methey don't reread books.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Oh, it is strange.
I'm someone who, if I love anauthor, I'll reread everything.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Yeah, same here.
And also I think when I rereada book, no matter how many times
I reread it, I always findsomething that I haven't found
before.
It's comforting rereading abook that you love Completely.
You've been the chair juristfor the Pulitzer Prize in
Fiction.
What does this entail?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
So this I was actually a jurist for two years.
The first year I was not thechair, I was just a jurist.
There are five jurists andthose people hardcover books
sitting on your porch, on yourfront stoop, so we were all you
know.
All of these books weredelivered to us and then we met
and sort of divided them up.
We met on Zoom, actually, todivide them up or over email,
(21:11):
and then each of those juristssort of took a section of them
and we didn't read all of thosebooks, but we read the ones that
were in our area we read all of, and the other ones we could
read the first couple chaptersand see if we liked them, and
then everyone came up with alist and then we just talked and
it really, you know, for me asa writer myself, it really made
(21:35):
it clear how subjective theseprizes are and everything with
writing and with criticism.
I was also a columnist for theNew York Times Book Review and
every choice that is made by acritic is subjective.
It's about what we'veexperienced, what books we like,
what we're in, just in the moodfor that day actually.
(21:58):
So you know, that was thebiggest takeaway for me from,
you know, being a judge for thePulitzer is that there were so
many good books and so manyworthy authors, actually, and
those were the books that werethe finalists, you know, that we
chose were the ones that wejust it, just that moment it all
clicked together, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And I think you're right.
I think, as with any contest,it is subjective, depending on
the jurors.
Okay, let's talk books.
What are you currently reading?
I see you've got a little pilethere ready to go.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Yes, I do so.
As I said, I've been reading,rereading Agatha Christie, which
has been fun.
I'm currently reading a novelcalled Exposure by Ramona
Emerson.
This is her second book and herfirst book.
What was it called?
It was called Shutter, thankyou, but I read it and loved it,
even though I can't rememberthe name.
And I'm going to be doing anevent with her online for Soho
(22:51):
Crime and I believe it's beinghosted by Mystery to Me in
Madison, wisconsin, so if anyoneout there wants to go and see
that, it would be great to haveyou there.
I'm also reading a novel by IvyPakoda called Sing Down.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
You cut out a little bit, but that novel is Sing Her
Down.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's a thriller and it won the Los Angeles Times
Book Prize for for thrillersthis year.
And I'm also reading I don'tknow if you remember the Woman
in the Window I'm reading AJFinn's End of Story.
It's the new one by him, soyou're reading a lot of
thrillers.
I know, I know it's clearlythat's where my interests are
(23:35):
these days.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Yes, and have you met Ivy Pakoda?
I have.
We were at a conference, Isn'tshe lovely?
I met her at the Los AngelesTimes Festival of Books this
year.
She was signing books and Ijust went up to the booth and
chatted with her and she justseems so lovely natural
Wonderful person and also awonderful writer.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
It's great when those two things sort of come
together.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yes, it is a great mix.
Now, didn't you recently haveanother book published?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Yeah, so I wrote a novel about 10 years ago called
Angelology and it is acompletely different kind.
It's a supernatural thrillerseries.
There's a couple of books inthat and my Spanish.
Actually my Spanish publisherjust did a completely new
translation and reissued it.
So I've been posting about thatand you know that might be a
(24:27):
little confusing, I guess, butit's in Spanish.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
That's exciting, congratulations.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Yeah, it is, it's nice.
It's really fun for me to beable to see a different kind of
demographic of readers, and I'vedone events where I go on and I
speak to them.
Obviously, I have a translatorand it's just, it's so rewarding
Danielle.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Congratulations on yet another wonderful thriller,
the Puzzle Box, and maybe we'llget to say hi in person when I'm
in San.
Miguel de Allende in January.
That would be wonderful.
Please, please do.
And that reminds me do you havethe dates set for the San
Miguel Writers Conference 2025?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
I do, and it's going to be amazing this year.
I really encourage you to come.
It's February 11th or the 12this actually the opening keynote
speaker until the 16th.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Okay, so to confirm February the 11th through the
16th, 2025 San Miguel WritersConference.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Yes, and there are incredible writers coming.
This year it's the 20thanniversary, so they are
throwing a huge party and Ithink it's going to be like
probably the best one.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I think I'm going to be there two weeks before, darn
it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Maybe you can stay.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Maybe I can.
Danielle, thank you for being aguest on the show.
I love chatting with you and Iabsolutely love the Mike Brink
books.
They're wonderful.
All the best of luck on yourbook tour.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
Well, thank you, talk to you soon.
Bye, mandy.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
You've been listening to my conversation with
Danielle Tressoni about herlatest novel, the Puzzle Box.
To help the show reach morepeople, please share episodes
with friends and family and onsocial media, and remember to
subscribe and leave a reviewwherever you listen to this
podcast.
To find out more about theBookshop Podcast, go to
(26:19):
thebookshoppodcastcom and makesure to subscribe and leave a
review wherever you listen tothe show.
You can also follow me at MandyJackson Beverly on X, instagram
and Facebook and on YouTube atthe Bookshop Podcast.
If you have a favorite indiebookshop that you'd like to
suggest we have on the podcast,I'd love to hear from you via
(26:42):
the contact form atthebookshoppodcastcom.
The Bookshop Podcast is writtenand produced by me, mandy
Jackson-Beverly.
Theme music provided by BrianBeverly, executive assistant to
Mandy.
Theme music provided by BrianBeverly, executive assistant to
Mandy, adrian Otterhan andgraphic design by Francis Farala
.
Thanks for listening and I'llsee you next time.
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