A new crime novel set in La Jolla is slated for release in early February, and readers who get hooked on the story can expect a second part to follow in June.
“Hooked: A Thriller” is the first installment of author Caitlin Rother’s new Katrina & Goode series, named after its two lead characters. The book currently is available to order and has an official release date of Sunday, Feb. 1.
The story follows investigative reporter Katrina Chopin as she and homicide detective Ken Goode cross paths and develop an immediate attraction to each other. But they soon are tasked with investigating two suspicious deaths in La Jolla from different angles.
Goode has to parse out whether the deaths of two biotech executives who were working on a sexual enhancement drug were homicide, suicide or some combination of the two. Chopin, meanwhile, is determined to get the scoop as she reports for the fictional San Diego Sun-Dispatch.
The second installment, “Staged: A Thriller,” picks up where “Hooked” leaves off and sees the mystery further unravel. It also is available to order, with a release date of Tuesday, June 16.
“Hooked” is the first installment of Caitlin Rother’s Katrina & Goode series, to be followed by “Staged.” (Thomas & Mercer)
Rother grew up in La Jolla and attended Muirlands Middle School and graduated from La Jolla High.
Her decision to set the story in La Jolla came from her experience living in the area.
Windansea, one of Rother’s favorite spots in The Jewel, serves as a second home for Goode’s character, while La Jolla Farms is the site of the deaths. The latter location, Rother said, was chosen because of its exclusivity and “amazingly huge houses” near the ocean.
The book opens with the two main characters having a conversation at Piatti in La Jolla Shores, one of Rother’s favorite restaurants.
Rother told the La Jolla Light that she decided to center the series on two distinct characters to explore their connection and the looming ethical implications of any romantic entanglement between them.
“Many detective novels only have one main character — the detective character,” Rother said. “And I chose not to do that. I chose to have two main characters because I wanted to have them interact with each other and I wanted the book to be about the dynamic between them and the chemistry between them.”
In a genre in which Rother says most main characters are morally corrupt or just plain bad, she set out to strike a more nuanced tone.
“I really wanted to have good characters that do the right thing and feel like the rule of law is important … [but] come up to the line,” Rother said. “It’s boring to have perfect characters. … So they’re definitely tempted, but that’s the dynamic of the conflict I was going for.”
Though “Hooked” is part one of this series, Goode was first introduced in Rother’s “Naked Addiction,” another thriller set in La Jolla, as he seeks a transfer from undercover narcotics to homicide detective. As he surveys the underbelly of the beach community, he is forced to face his own demons.
“Naked Addiction,” published in 2007 with a 2014 revision and re-release, was Rother’s first novel. She now has 16 credits as an author or a co-author.
Bringing her debut novel to life took 17 years, she said. Bringing back Goode’s character for the new series took even longer.
“‘Hooked,’ which originally had a different title, was supposed to be the second book in the series when I originally wrote ‘Naked Addiction,’” Rother said. “But I couldn’t get it published. It took all the time rewriting it a million times … going through several agents and writing 15 other books, [and] I learned my craft better.”
Before writing books full time, Rother was an investigative reporter with bylines in Cosmopolitan, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post, among other outlets. Her most recent reporting job was with The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Rother feels her journalistic attention to detail and penchant for digging into topics set her up for a book-writing career. But finding out how detectives conduct homicide cases required a learning curve.
“What I didn’t know when I wrote ‘Naked Addiction’ was exactly how detectives do their jobs,” Rother said. “I wasn’t a police reporter, I was just a reporter. Yes, I might cover murders now and then, but I had not covered an entire murder case all the way through. I didn’t know how detectives did homicide cases. I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
Nearly two decades later, Rother says she’s learned the craft better and grown alongside Goode’s character. While there are distinct differences, Rother also wrote Chopin’s character with her former career in mind.
“My investigative reporter character is not me, but obviously there are parts of me in her,” Rother said. “That developed a lot more when I became an author.”
To commemorate the release of “Hooked,” Rother will hold a pair of book-signing events in La Jolla — at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, at the La Jolla/Riford Library at 7555 Draper Ave. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at the new Barnes & Noble store at 8657 Villa La Jolla Drive. ♦