Killers hiding in plain sight. Small-town secrets. A girl who knows too much. From the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Unspeakable Things and Bloodline comes a nerve-twisting novel inspired by a shocking true crime.
Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games.
Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.
Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can’t stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger.
She also knows she’s next.
Reviews ~
“[The Quarry Girls is] one of the most anticipated thrillers of the fall season…[The] novel is about innocence lost, the unwritten rules of silence in small towns, what ‘broken men’ do to others, and what boys growing into men do in packs that they would never do alone. And then there’s the courage of one woman who will not allow herself to be killed.” —St. Paul Pioneer Press
“Jess Lourey’s new novel The Quarry Girls is a love letter to Gen-Xers and Murderinos everywhere.” —The Big Thrill
“Few authors can blend the genuine fear generated by a sordid tale of true crime with evocative, three-dimensional characters and mesmerizing prose like Jess Lourey. Her fictional stories feel rooted in a world we all know but also fear. The Quarry Girls is a story of secrets gone to seed, and Lourey gives readers her best novel yet—which is quite the accomplishment. Calling it: The Quarry Girls will be one of the best books of the year.” —Alex Segura, acclaimed author of Secret Identity, Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, and Miami Midnight
“Jess Lourey once more taps deep into her Midwest roots and childhood fears with The Quarry Girls, an absorbing, true crime–informed thriller narrated in the compelling voice of young drummer Heather Cash as she and her bandmates navigate the treacherous and confusing ground between girlhood and womanhood one simmering and deadly summer. Lourey conveys the edgy, hungry restlessness of teen girls with a touch of Megan Abbott, while steadily intensifying the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small 1977 Minnesota town where darkness snakes below the surface.” —Loreth Anne White, Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of The Patient’s Secret
“Jess Lourey is a master of the coming-of-age thriller, and The Quarry Girls may be her best yet—as dark, twisty, and full of secrets as the tunnels that lurk beneath Pantown’s deceptively idyllic streets.” —Chris Holm, Anthony Award–winning author of The Killing Kind
Author interview with Jess ~
Tell us a little about
yourself and how you started writing.
It all started when I was six. I wrote this Minnesota haiku for my awesome grandpa:
Grandpas are full of love. Grandpas are full of tickles. But grandpas are especially full of pickles.
People loved it. Aunts hugged me, cousins were
jealous, uncles asked me to immortalize them next. My poetry skills have not
evolved since that day, but the enchantment with words and their power grew
inside me like a watermelon seed. I wrote my first novel when I was 26. It was
also my Master’s thesis and featured three women traveling across the United
States, three women suspiciously like myself and the two best friends I had
taken a road trip with a couple years earlier. Like most first novels, it was
embarrassingly self-involved, full of overwritten description and twenty-pound dialogue
tags:
"Why doesn't my alcoholic father accept
me for who I am?" Hannah asked pityingly, rubbing the burning, salty tears
from her chocolate brown eyes.
Amazingly, no publisher would take a look at
the first three chapters. (The fact that I was submitting directly to
publishers shows just how green I was.) I tried some light revising, working
under the misconception that my work was great and the world just wasn't ready
for it yet. When the adding of more adjectives didn't net me a three-book deal,
I took a sabbatical from writing the Great American Novel and got a real job.
(By the way, I'm forever thankful it wasn't so easy to self-publish back then,
or that stinker would be out there, following me everywhere.) I ended up with
two Master's degrees, one in English and one in Sociology, and a teaching job
at Alexandria Technical and Community College while living in rural Battle
Lake.
But, like most writers, I couldn't stop
thinking of book ideas, scribbling down sparks of description or snatches of conversation
that I overheard and would love to work into a story, feeling lazy and envious
when I read a fantastic novel. When a traumatic life event reminded me of the
true power of writing, I started penning MAY DAY, the first in my
Murder-by-Month mysteries for adults. Complete story here on that is here, in
my TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5vSLh3oPXI&t=2s
It turned out mystery writing fit me well. I
enjoy structure, adventure, humor, justice. My first draft was complete, I
thought, at 45,000 words. Confident that I had found my niche, I sent out 50
query letters and received 50 rejections. I researched the field, poring over
the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime websites, reading all that
Preditors and Editors had to offer me, camping out in Jeff Herman's fantastic
reference book as well as the Literary Marketplace and AAR. Out of all those
resources, two points stuck with me: no one would read a book shorter than
50,000 words, and if you're writing a mystery, publishers only want series.
I hired a freelance editor and pumped MAY DAY
up to 52,000 words. Next, I wrote JUNE BUG. Then I implemented my systematic
plan to wear down the publishing behemoth. I sent out 200 query letters. When
the rejections started trickling in, I sent out 150 more. Not an agent or small
press was spared. If they represented mysteries, they were queried.
If you're keeping score, that was three books
written, zero books published. Why did I put so much effort into this? Because
when I write, I feel like I'm in the right place at the right time. How did I
know MAY DAY and JUNE BUG didn't suck on five different levels like my first
novel? Because they were inspired by crucible experiences and I had done the
research, including reading nearly forty books in the mystery genre. I had
studied what made them great, and I had sought out and adhered to feedback from
a reliable and well-recommended editor.
Finally, a bite. I found an agent. We never
met -- she lived out west on a commune, where she edited technical manuals and
studied the healing power of crystals. After six months and a handful of offers
from publish-on-demand companies, we parted ways amicably. I found another
agent shortly after that, and after a year of rejections from New York
publishing houses, she found my books a home with Midnight Ink, an innovative
new imprint of a respected Minnesota publishing house.
MAY DAY was released in March of 2006, happily
received critical acclaim, and is available anywhere you can buy books. The
rest of the series followed—12 books total, all set in Battle Lake. I love
reading and writing mysteries, but in 2008, around the time my kids started
reading chapter books, I realized that there is this amazing genre called young
adult (YA). I started devouring my kids' books (figuratively speaking, munch
munch bwahaaa, crazy mom), and somewhere in there, the kernel for my own YA
trilogy sprouted. I called the series THE TOADHOUSE TRILOGY, and the first in
the series Book One (Yes. I know). Alas, although my agent loved Book One, she
couldn't sell it, and so began my odyssey into the world of self-publishing. I
also ended up self-publishing THE CATALAIN BOOK OF SECRETS, which is set in a
fictionalized version of Fergus Falls (I call it Faith Falls in the book).
I moved to my current agent
in, I believe, 2012. I loved my other agent, and we still hang out when I’m in
New York, but business-wise, she and I were not an ideal fit. My current agent
and I, though? It’s magic. With her help (as well as an incredible editing team
at Thomas & Mercer), I had my breakout book in 2021 with Unspeakable
Things, a thriller inspired by my time growing up in Paynesville in
the 1980s, when boys were getting abducted and returned. My next three
thrillers—Bloodline, Litani, and The Quarry Girls—are also inspired by
Minnesota true crimes.
I've written two books a year since 2006, and
I write whatever story idea captures my mind at the time, regardless of genre.
As of today, I'm at over 400 rejections, twenty-one novels, and one nonfiction
book. Most people would have given up a while ago with those odds, and there is
a word for those type of people: sensible. The rest of us, we're called
writers.
What are some things you enjoy when not writing?
I absolutely love to read and travel. Now that I’m writing full-time, I’ve got more time for both.
Do you have a particular writing routine?
I’m under contract to write two books a year, so I have to be disciplined. Or, I should be disciplined, and mostly I am. J I try to write in the morning because if I meet my goals for the day, it makes everything else more pleasant. I usually spend two-three weeks outlining a book using my Book in a Bag method (https://www.etsy.com/listing/884177250/book-in-a-bag-kityour-bestseller-is-in) and then another two-three months writing it. Once I have my first draft done, I sit on it for a week, edit it, then send it on to a freelance editor I hire and my agent. After I get and make their edits, I send it to my publisher.
Is there anything major that changed in this novel from when you first plotted it out?
When I wrote the first draft of The Quarry Girls, Beth—who turned out to be a central character—was never in the book. She didn’t enter the scene until I was in first round edits and was lucky to catch Mare of Easttown on TV. Watching that show made me realize my story was missing a ticking time clock. That’s when Beth showed up. Surprisingly, it didn’t require a major rewrite to add her. It’s like the story was waiting for her…
Finish this: “I can’t write without…”
An outline. I’ve tried because it seems so very creative and free to be a pantser, but I need my plots before I can write. I never follow them exactly, but they’re my security blanket.
What career did you think you’d have as an adult?
I thought I’d be a psychologist because growing up, I was surrounded by so many people struggling with their mental health. I am forever grateful that I ended up with my dream career of being a full-time writer.
Do
you have a ‘day job’ as well?
In August
2021, I retired from 22 years as a college professor to write full-time. I
loved so much about teaching, but I don’t miss the grading.
What
was the original title of this book?
The
Deep Dark Below.
I’m terrible at coming up with book titles, and I’m glad my publisher passed on
this one.
How
do you market your work?
When
I first dreamed of becoming an author, I never realized how much marketing it
would take. I have a publicist and marketing team who handle the big picture
stuff; that leaves me to send out a regular newsletter and post regularly to
social media. I also send out about 100 promo boxes when I have a new book. For
my indie-pubbed books, I add BookBub feature deals, Facebook ads, and Amazon
ads to the marketing to-do list.
What
are you working on now?
I
just turned in edits on The Taken Ones, a new series I’m writing for Thomas
& Mercer. It introduces Agents Reed and Steinbeck of the Minneapolis BCA,
and it has a touch of paranormal a la The X Files.
What
is a bestselling book you’ve been itching to read?
I
just bought Barbara Kingsolver’s latest release, Demon Copperhead, and can’t
wait to dive in!
Is
there anything you’d like to say to your readers and fans?
Thank you for your time and support! This wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without you.
To connect with Jess ~
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