A lot of people like making scrapbooks for other people.
But in her mystery thriller novel Scrap (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), author and artist Calla Henkel puts someone in the unique position of making a scrapbook for someone who turns up dead, and the scrapable items may be key to solving the mystery.
In the following email interview, Henkel discusses what inspired and influenced this story, including how making a scrap book for someone else in real life led to her writing this story.
Photo Credit: Max Pitegoff
To start, what is Scrap about, and when and where is it set?
Scrap is a murder mystery, a chase, and a meta thriller that begins when Esther Ray, a true crime obsessed artist with a penchant for revenge, gets hired by the deliriously wealthy Naomi, to make scrapbooks of her family. The scrapbooks are supposed to be a surprise for Naomi’s husband Bryce, who has no idea Naomi has been hoarding their life’s detritus in a storage unit in their building. And when Naomi dies, and Esther is left to sort through everything from the scrapbooks, she becomes convinced the husband killed her.
The story is set between the high-octane money launderette of the art world in New York City, and the beautiful albeit gun loving Blue Ridge Mountains, of North Carolina.
Where did you get the idea for Scrap?
When I was still in art school, I was hired by a similarly deliriously wealthy family to be the art nanny. I did art projects with the kids. Soon, as a part of that job, I was asked to make a series of scrapbooks for the family. The mother was meticulous, and a bit of an emotional hoarder, so I had access to print offs of emails, and notes and photos, and I put it all together in perfect chronological order. I remained good friends with the mother, and years later, over dinner, I was complaining about how I wasn’t sure what my next book would be about, and she leaned her head into mine, and said, “What about the scrapbooks?” I thought she was insane, but then it dawned on me. What would have happened if the wrong type of person had access to all that information.
You kind of just answered this, but is there a significance to Esther being an artist who’s hired to make a scrapbook as opposed to, say, a filmmaker asked to make a video?
Esther moves through the world as an artist. She fixates, obsesses, and collages, layering meaning, sometimes recklessly, all of which shows up in the writing of Scrap.
But Esther also uses the age-old ability of the artist to move seamlessly through classes in society. She understands the corruption of wealth and the market within the art world, and I think it gives her a particular clarity in dealing with the people she finds herself surrounded by.
As you said, Scrap is, “…a murder mystery, a chase, and a meta thriller.”
Scrap is a thriller and a mystery. I love that thrillers have heavy plot driven engines because it allows me to complicate things. With the inherent speed of a thriller, I can add so much delicacy, I can slow down in strange spaces, I can create rhythms and windows into worlds which would otherwise maybe feel dull.
Scrap is your second novel after Other People’s Clothes, though you’ve written other things, including plays. Are there any writers, or specific stories, that you think had a big influence on Scrap but not on anything else you’ve written?
With both Scrap and Other People’s Clothes I relied heavily on the power of reading others. I love reading. I adore Renata Adler, she makes me believe that writing is a knife, and you can cut the world up and force people to eat it. I love Janet Malcom, I think she creates such disturbing space between herself and her subjects. I listen to endless thriller novels when I’m walking. I love mixing high and low. I love Carl Hiassan. I love Helen Dewitt. I love Paula Hawkins. Scrap in many ways is a meta thriller, highly aware of its own genre, with a deep bow to Gillian Flynn woven through the whole plot.
How about such non-literary influences as movies, TV shows, or games? Did any of those things have a big influence on Scrap?
I was influenced by true crime. I think the brain becomes rewired when listening to too much true crime, and I became interested in what would happen to a character who started to see murder and mysteries in places where perhaps there were none.
Now, Scrap sounds like a stand-alone story…
Scrap was absolutely a stand-alone story, I am already working on my next book, and very excited about it. I think stories for me live so closely in my heart, that it is important to let them have an ending. To move on.
Earlier I asked if Scrap was influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games. But as I understand it, Scrap is going to have the chance to return the favor since it’s being made into a show…
Scrap is going to be the best TV show you’ve seen in ages. It’s in the process of adaptation with House Production and Lionsgate Films. I am extremely excited about it.
This won’t happen, but if the producers ask you for casting suggestions, who would you want to play Esther, Naomi, and Naomi’s husband?
I mean I have always wanted Esther to be played by Kristen Stewart [Love Lies Bleeding], I adore her, she is one of those rare conductors of energy, and I think this role would be amazing for her.
Naomi could be so many people, but if I had to shoot for the stars, I’m obsessed with Nicole Kidman [Big Little Lies], and think she would tear it.
And Bryce, I think I’d go Germanic and cast [No Time To Die‘s] Christoph Waltz.
Finally, if someone enjoys Scrap, what would you suggest they check out next?
I absolutely adored Dead Animals by Phoebe Stuckes, the book is dark and gorgeous, and Phoebe has a criminal mind.
