GSMC Book Review podcast interviewed me about Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder
- Brandi Bradley
- Jul 10
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 21
Recently I had a chat with Sarah Meckler, the host of Golden State Media Concepts (GSMC) Book Review podcast about Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder.
Listen here:
In addition to the link to the podcast, she also was kind enough to share with me the transcript of our chat.
Here are some of the highlights!
Sarah Meckler: Yes. And one thing I thought was really interesting, often in books like this, and of course we're not going to talk about the end and you know, all that stuff, but often in books like this, it feels like they wrap things up in about a week, maybe? Maybe more? Maybe a month, at the outside? That is not the case here. So, you want to talk about the timeline a little more?
Brandi Bradley: That was … also something that I often think is like, wow, that Law and Order episode just knocked it out in what? a couple of days? They only have one case that they focus on. They don't have other things going on. No other crime happens in New York other than that one case that Lenny Brisco is working on. … As so many of us are becoming more educated in the true crime sphere … we're starting to realize that these things do not happen quickly. They don't happen in a week. Sometimes it does take months and it takes manpower and overtime and also just the exhaustion of investigating a case. So when I started working on this, I was like, okay, you have to be realistic in a sense of like it's not going to get wrapped up in a week. It's not an easy answer. It's going to take time. And what that allowed me to do is allow grieving time for the people who lost this guy who was very important to them, the victim. I tried to make sure that the victim wasn't completely lost in that sense of like … – again, I'm going to talk about Law and Order a lot because we've been watching it while we travel – and it does sometimes seem like in … both true crime and in the mystery crime space where the victim just kind of becomes the body. Yeah. And I didn't want that. I wanted this to be someone who was loved but also not sanctified. I guess that's a horrible word, but I mean like I didn't want it to be that sense of like … they were perfect … you know? The kind of thing like … people are complicated and so I hope that I was able to explore that complication.
SM: Although in some ways that's very natural with grief. Uh my my aunt always jokes I hate it when I go to a funeral and they only say nice things. She says when I die you tell everybody I was a B!
BB: I know. And that is kind of the thing about grief is that it's almost part of the stages of grief is wanting to turn them into saints and wanting to only remember the good times and the good things. And then as you develop some perspective and … that kind of changes. But from a fiction writer's perspective, … you want a little bit of that, but you also don't want it to be … you don't want to take it too far. I guess it's achieving that balance of … reality, but also it is fiction. You have to … you have to write it in a way where you like everybody or everybody … there's something that draws you to them.
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Love podcasts about writers? Be sure to listen to Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Laced with Morality with Dr. Katherine Hayes
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SM: Talk a little bit more about Lindy as the protagonist, in the fact that she's the detective. What about her do you think will resonate with readers?
BB: Well, I love … I love Lindy. I feel very drawn to her. I very much in that sense of, I wanted someone who really kind of embodied an Elmore Leonard detective spirit where they're a little cynical and they're a little cold, but they have a little bit of hope … Not always in that sense that things are going to get better, but, like, we're going to get through it, kind of way. And so with Lindy, you know, openly gay woman in western Kentucky who fell head over heels for a local girl who is bi and that creates complications in a lot of different ways. And that is something that (Lindy) finds herself confronted with is that, you know, I married this girl. I'm in love with this girl. and she's very rooted in her community who might be looking at this like, oh, it's a phase. And so just wondering how much community pressure is going to change their relationship as they continue to live in this small town … being committed to each other, but also knowing that the world is not rooting for them always, especially in a lot of these small towns. So, I really wanted to show that, you know, as much as I love The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love, like it makes my heart sing so much, I also know like it's not like in the movies. It's complicated and it's complicated on so many different levels. And let's … let's look at it. Let's go with it. Let's … let's explore it a little more.
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SM: Southern noir. You've said the phrase … that's what the book is described as in its … in its description, but what does that phrase mean for you? Because I’ve asked this question a lot and I get – I think – I get a different answer from every person. So, I'm always curious what does it mean for you?
BB: I found it interesting, too, when I started researching noirs that many people have that association of … Humphrey Bogart ... the fedora, Chinatown, which – again – things I love. But a noir is a mystery series. It is a mystery. It's crime. It is communities. It's the … It's the secret underbelly. It is the femme fatal, which does not have to be a woman. It is like all of these different ... elements of the genre and I'm like, "Yeah, but southern towns are perfect for that." I mean, as much as I love an LA noir –and that's what most people think about … LA – and I'm like, "But we have all of that, too." We have, you know, … corruption. We have behind-the-scenes wheelings and dealings. We have hubris … and we have many, many places to hide bodies. So it seemed ideal for a noir, but also thinking about like how many of those elements reoccur in narratives. We have high school noirs, we have … Scandi noirs, we have noirs everywhere, right?
But with the southern culture ... so much of living in the south is kind of accepting this is the … it's a cognitive dissonance, almost where it's like this is the face that we have for everyone else and this is who we are behind the scenes. And so when we ... poke at this mythology of the good southern family, then it's way more interesting … like, what they're trying to cover up. And I think people are fascinated by that. Or else the Murdoch case in South Carolina wouldn’t have captured everyone's attention. I think that when things happen in the South, people are like, "What? How? Where?" … and I'm just like, "Yeah. Let's talk about it."
Sarah Meckler was an awesome host and I am grateful that she afforded me that time. Thanks so much to her and the team at Golden State Media Concepts. Definitely check out her other episodes covering a variety of different genres.
If you have not grabbed your copy of Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder, then what are you waiting for? Head over to the brandibradley.com shop and order your copy today!
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