For Seller

By: David Tortorelli

Ann Kelly is author of the award-winning mystery novel Dead On. The story tells of a medical examiner being stalked by a killer who claims to have killed her in previous lifetimes. Based in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the gritty mystery with erotic undertones, and a hint of the paranormal, is a difficult book to put down. Ann Kelly recently answered some questions about her novel.

David: The idea of a murderer being reincarnated to kill the same victim across multiple lifetimes is truly unique. Where did you get the idea for your book?

Ann Kelly: Dead On started out as a paranormal romance and became something completely different. I don’t want to give too much away, but when I started Dead On, a little way into it, a character came out of nowhere and took the book over. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was finding my voice. Two major themes in my book are: Do any of us really know who we are? And do we have past lives or inherited memories? Perhaps that would explain things like sudden, irrational fears or memories. I found out that whether or not a person believes in past lives, past-life regression therapy can help a person deal with issues that haven’t been resolved through other traditional therapies. In many cases, you don’t have to believe in it for it to work. I was also fascinated by the idea of a group of souls being reborn throughout time and their histories repeating themselves.

David: Who is your favorite character in Dead On?

Ann Kelly: All I can say is my favorite character in this book is the character who writes the journal in the early 1900s (the story goes back and forth in time between the present and the early 1900s). I don’t want to give too much away!

David: I know you sold the movie rights for the book. Congratulations. Who would you like to see fill the various roles?

Ann Kelly: Yes, thank you. Gold Circle Films, known for the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, picked up film rights to Dead On and recently renewed the option for a second year. It’s exciting. I could see Lucy Liu playing Ann Yang, the smart, unconventional medical examiner and Leo DiCaprio playing Mark, Ann’s romantic interest and the carpenter restoring her Victorian home. Johnny Depp would be excellent as Farrell, a character in the 1900s. Loved him in Pirates of the Caribbean, and everything else he’s been in! Harrison Ford would make a great hypnotherapist. To play Nell, one of the main characters in the 1900s, I see Nicole Kidman or Naomi Watts. I can’t tell you who I see playing the character who writes the diary, because - again - that would give too much away!

David: Did you know how Dead On was going to end before you started writing the book?

Ann Kelly: No, not right away. But about two-thirds of the way into writing it, an ending came to me. I just let go, wrote it out and liked it. In fact, many of my readers tell me that’s one of the book’s main strengths"”the ending. It’s a seat-of-your-pants kind of thing with a big surprise. Even the most seasoned of mystery readers told me I managed to fake them out with the ending.

David: When talking to people who read your book, what are the one or two reader comments that stick out most in your mind?

Ann Kelly: The things that mean the most to me are when readers personally take the time to tell me what they experienced reading Dead On. The comments that keep me going are things like “Dead On is pure poetry.” “I stayed up until 2 am to finish it!” And “I couldn’t put it down–I read it in two days!” Also, a reader from Pennsylvania contacted me and pretty much summed everything up with the following quote: “I’ve finished reading your book. Loved it. You absolutely stunned me with the ending. I like your style. You use very few words and incomplete sentences and yet the meaning is enhanced rather than diminished. Your command of knowledge and understanding from history to forensics to emotions…is amazing.”

David: Do you have any other novels in mind? Can you give us some insights into what we can expect?

Ann Kelly: I’m currently at work on two other novels, one of which is a sequel to Dead On tentatively titled Dead Faithful. In Dead Faithful, Ann Yang is now an FBI agent working in New Hope, Pennsylvania, to solve a series of bizarre crimes including grave robbing, stolen art, and murders with vampire overtones. She is paired with a politically incorrect, almost-retired, lame-joke-telling partner and a psychic medium. There’s a lot more of my odd sense of humor in this one. I sort of think of the tone as Janet Evanovich meets Peter Straub.

I think of my other novel, Glass Wishes, as my dark literary experiment. This is a different set of characters and also goes back and forth between the present and another time, 1945, the end of WWII. Glass Wishes is set in Ocean City, New Jersey, a place I was introduced to as a kid and fell in love with. I’m working to release Glass Wishes next.

Visit http://www.DeadOnNovel.com to learn more about Ann Kelly and her novel Dead On.

David Tortorelli is president of Book Premieres - http://www.BookPremieres.com.