Sue Grafton spreads the 'W' word

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'W is for Wasted' is the title of Sue Grafton's new book. (Photo: None)

Author of beloved alphabet series announces title of 23rd novelGrafton says books come first and the titles followFate of series' Kinsey Millhone is still unknown to her, Grafton says

Last week Sue Grafton invited fans to guess the title of the 23rd novel in her alphabet series starring beloved private investigator Kinsey Millhone.

Did you guess W is for Wasted? If you didn't you were "W is for Wrong." More than 5,700 fans participated online for a chance to win an advance reader's copy of the book. Fewer than 50 guessed Wasted.

Other guesses included wicked, witness, wrath and whodunit.

Grafton spoke with USA TODAY's Carol Memmott about W is for Wasted (to be published on Sept. 10) and the remaining books in the series. And don't miss this exclusive peak at the book jacket.

Q. Why did you ask readers to guess the title?

A. For one thing, my readers are so caught up in this whole process. They enjoy trying to outwit me, so I thought, let's just give them a chance to participate. One website stated incorrectly that the contest was for readers to choose the title and I about fainted because there's no way I could open it up in that manner. Because who's going to guess what I'm writing about or how a title would apply?

Q: How does "Wasted" link to the novel's plot?

A: I think my use of the word is if you're drunk or out of it on drugs. You know, you're so wasted you can't stand up straight. And I am writing about a clinical trial and I'm writing about the homeless — two or three of the fellows participate in this study. And mostly it's the notion of all the waste in crime. Murder is a waste. There is just a sense that there's such a loss when it comes down to criminal behavior. So part of it is metaphorical, if you'll forgive me. I hate to use snooty words.

Q: Was this title hard to come up with?

A.: There did turn out to be quite a few usable words, so that was not an issue in itself. It's usually just a question of what is going to apply. O was a hideous problem because obituary, for instance, does not translate into other languages. And obit didn't sound right and it didn't have any meaning. So my husband came up with the word outlaw and that worked. And with W, I made a list as I always do as I began work on the book, just so that I had a sense of the words that might play into the storytelling process. And then at a certain point I settled on the term wasted.

Q: So you have to keep in mind whether the title will translate to a "W" word in other languages?

A: Often one of the main characters will have a name that starts with the letter of the alphabet so like in C is for Corpse there was Bobby Callahan and in some countries it was called C is for Callahan. And in some languages, there are certain letters that don't exist so I have to leave that to them to solve.

Q: We're wrong to think you already have titles in mind for the rest of the books in the series?

A: I know Z is for Zero, over and out. X is an interesting letter, but I don't know of a crime that starts with X. I'm hoping somebody will get busy on that. I'm waiting to see. Again there are certain odd words — xenophobe or xenophopia is the only term, that being a hatred of foreigners, that at least suggests a motive for murder. So I may end up, by default, using that.

Q: So you don't have the remaining books written and stashed away for future publication?

A: I do not. I'm lucky if I can figure out what's happening on the next page. I do a lot of note taking, I plan very carefully, and my books are very carefully structured. But there are so many surprises and so many unanswered questions when I start to work. Which makes me very nervous although if I knew all the answers I'd be bored to death. So maybe part of the thrill of it is hoping I'll get through it one more time.

Q: Do you know where Kinsey will end up when the last page of Z is for Zero is written?

A: I don't, and I have often said, "I don't tell her, she tells me." She assures me it's none of my business. But I will not kill her off. My readers are already worried about that — "please don't kill her off." I'm going, "Are you nuts? Why would I kill this woman?" She's adorable. She has been so much fun in my life because she's so naughty. But certainly whatever we do in Z is for Zero I will round it out and at least suggest life after the end of the alphabet. What she will do with herself, whether she'll end up married, joining the Foreign Legion ... I don't know what she will do. I don't need to know because it will take me six more years.

Q: Fans still have to wait for a Kinsey book to be published every two years?

A: Yes, because I'm slow. I'm very steady. I'm the tortoise as opposed to the hare. I do not write two books a year. I'm lucky to scramble out one. And I work, I promise you, every day. So it's not like I'm goofing off. I'm just so slow. I work through trial and error. I go down many roads that turn out to be dead ends. So I back up and try another approach. What I do know after all these many years is I know what doesn't work. So when I try a strategy or try a move I know if it's not working. I don't waste a lot of time going down dead-end roads, but I waste more than you'd imagine. And yet it isn't a waste. You discover something whichever direction you take.

Q: So fans will have to be satisfied knowing each book is your very best effort?

A: You would not have any respect for me the next morning if I went dashing through, slapdash, just cobbling together old plots. It would ruin it. My joy, to date, is that each book is crafted a little bit differently, the setup for each case is different and I try to deal with different subject matters. I don't want to write the same book 26 times. So far I'm on the track for that.

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