San Diego's 'bright sun is hiding darkness' in new novel

S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. A Little Bit Bad is a murder mystery novel set against the backdrop of San Diego. Hear from the author , Cassandra Naish. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Okay , so it's been , you know , about that time of year to get your summer reading list dialed in. You'll definitely want to have that for the beach. Um , and here's one idea. A new novel called A Little Bit Bad. It features a love affair and a murder all set in San Diego , and it was recently named one of the best books to read last month by the Los Angeles Times. I'm joined now by Cassandra Naish , author of A Little Bit Bad. Cassandra , welcome to Midday Edition.

S2: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.

S1: So glad to have you here in studio. Tell me more about a little bit bad.

S2: Okay , well , so a San Diego woman has a wild affair with her anarcho Marxist roofer , and it ends in a murder. So the book starts with the murder and goes backwards into the story of their affair. Wow.

S1: Wow. So. And you were interested in exploring , really a relationship between a woman and a younger man ? Yeah.

S2: Mhm.

S1: Mhm. And as you mentioned , this book tells a love story juxtaposed with a murder.

S2: It took me quite a while to figure out the structure , but ultimately I settled on this dual timeline. So alternating chapters which are in the past telling the story of their relationship and in the present after the murder , sort of following that investigation.

S1: I want to dig more into the storyline here , but tell me why San Diego ? Why is it against the backdrop of the finest city in America ? Yes.

S2: Well , I grew up in New York , but in San Diego is my ancestral homeland. My dad is from here. My mom and dad met in high school here and then went to New York for graduate school. But there's a lot of books set in New York and Brooklyn , and I thought it would be way more fun to set it in San Diego. And then I got to sort of do research , because I come out here a lot of times every year , and I drive around , and then I started getting really into the canyons and how the canyons would be a really good way to escape. Once you committed a murder so that nobody would see your license plate and write it down , and it just became a really fun project to do every time I was out here. And it was more fun than actually setting it where I live. Interesting.

S1: Interesting.

S2: I think Linda Vista has a very noirish feeling. It's kind of isolated up there. There aren't a lot of shops. Um , and then it's right on Tecolote Canyon , which is one of the bigger ones. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. And although the book centers on a murder , the tone of the book , though it's not altogether dark and gloomy.

S2: I hope not. I hope it's funny. I love funny books. I want to laugh. Yeah , and I think it's kind of a family thing in the book. The character says it's the Irish in us. It's like we always laugh when things are even really , really bad. We just can't help it. So I kind of see life that way.

S1: I have to keep from crying. Yeah.

S2: Yeah.

S1: Yeah , I get it. So , um , you mentioned some of the San Diego research you did for the book. Tell me more about the writing process that you went through.

S2: Well , it was long and tortured , but that's apparently my style. Um , it took me about ten years , and most of that was settling on the structure because it was it was just hard to. Yeah , to do this. I first started it as a chronological narrative with the murder at the end , and then I realized I was kind of burying the lead. So then I started experimenting with the murder at the beginning and going backwards. Yeah.

S1:

S2: I absolutely love , um , I love Raymond Chandler , and I love I don't know that that feeling that , like , the bright sun is hiding darkness.

S1: I like. That.

S2: That.

S1:

S2: Yeah. And then if they see themselves. People have told me they see themselves in the character , or the character says things they wouldn't dare say. So that's I love that.

S1: Of course. Well , those. Though you're not from San Diego. San Diego , you do have some some generational ties to it. And it's history because I know this is your ancestral. Yeah. Homeland. Your home place ? Yeah.

S2: My great grandfather opened nine printers in the Coronado Hotel in 1899. And nine printers is still here. It's on Kettner. Um , my my dad and aunt are not involved in the print shop anymore , but their cousins run the print shop , and I hear it's doing very well. And under a pseudonym. It does appear in the book very briefly as Vestergaard printers. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. Okay. In addition to your writing , you also are the founding director of Abortion Stories. Um , that's an organization that helps people to share their own experiences. Can you tell me more about how you help people to share those stories , even ones which may be quite difficult and painful. Yeah.

S2: Yeah. Um , it's just an open forum inviting people to tell their stories without judgement or politics. Um , just , um , a safe space with the idea that , um , this is a very personal choice. Everybody is different , every story is different , and you're the only person who can make this decision. And when we hear other people's stories , it starts to humanize it. And it becomes more clear that this isn't a decision anyone can make for you. Mhm.

S1: Mhm. Tell me more about how people can tell their stories here.

S2: Um , well I organize , um , usually open ended events. Um , so far they've all been in New York City and one in Raleigh-Durham. Um , but yeah , it's just a you can also reach out to me through my website if you want to get involved , which is cassandra.com. Okay.

S1: Okay. And of course we'll have that on our website to pbs.org so people can do that. Listen , this is your first novel , but you've you focused much of your work in journalism , um , in nonfiction. Right.

S2: And I think that was an easy way for me to keep a hand in while I was a stay at home mom. Um , so , yeah , I just , uh , short format. And of course , I really love books and movies and art and I my mother is an artist , so I did art reviews too. Mhm.

S1: Mhm.

S2: I don't think it's actually that different. Um , yeah. I think any anything you're writing is going to be your point of view and needs to be approached as an art form. Right ? So it's you're editing it to be good rather than I don't know , I'm not so concerned if it's fictional or non-fictional or it's just trying to be good.

S1: Yeah , yeah.

S2: Yes , because there's a lot of descriptions in the book of music. So I was I was yeah , delving into that side of myself that can like try to talk about something that , that doesn't that's not easily discussed with words , which is music. And then like try to yeah , try to like really dig deep and think about how you can describe music. Mhm.

S1: Mhm. And tell me more about your I don't know what's your inspiration. You got you mentioned true crime movies , music. Tell me a bit more.

S2: Um well I think my core inspiration is , is not is novels. Like , I grew up reading a lot of novels and I've always wanted to be part of that conversation , um , because I've taken so much from novels and they've given me so much , um , solace and and happiness and laughter and. Yeah , if I could do that for somebody else , it would make me really happy. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. That's great. Your book is a it's a murder mystery. Mhm. So I'm curious what your take is on , you know , how that specific genre has changed over the years. I mean and maybe that's also influenced this book.

S2: Yeah for sure. I think that there used to be this sharp divide between literary fiction and quote unquote genre fiction. And that's become blurred and it's not really important anymore. I kind of learned that from Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami , who played a lot with noir in his literary fiction. And I started to realize , oh , you can loosen this whole thing up. You know , it doesn't have to be one thing or the other. You can. And then I do love true crime. I got really into true crime over Covid. I was listening to the My Favorite Murder podcast , and there are two comedians who talk about crime. And it made me realize that people would laugh about dark things , and I wasn't alone in that. And it wasn't weird. Um , so that kind of helped free me up to do that. Mhm.

S1: Mhm. And it sounds like like you , you know , you've really expanded your consumption of true crime. I hear you talk about podcasts. Is that pretty much what you listen to true crime podcasts.

S2: Um , no. Not only I mean , for one thing , I feel like I've already heard pretty much every crime that's ever existed. I do love forensic files. Um , yes. I love Law and order. I listen to podcasts about law and order. Um , yeah , I think , yeah , I think I'm going off to crime a little bit now , but it is such a cornucopia for a writer. It's just you cannot make it up. The absolute bananas behavior and the justifications. That's what I love , how people justify it. Yeah.

S1: Yeah. Oh my gosh. So , you know , since you , you do have sort of this blended fiction , nonfiction , um , writing background or , you know , are there any real life true crime mysteries that , um , have really piqued your interest and that and maybe in some ways inform your writing ? Yes.

S2: And now I can bring up Betty Broderick , San Diego's own. Um , which I do talk about in the book. Um , so for those who don't know , she was a housewife who put her husband through medical school and law school , and then pretty much as soon as he started working and getting a good paycheck , he , um , left her for his secretary , and she went over to his house and shot him and the secretary. Then she turned herself in. Um , and one thing I love , kind of love about that story is she felt it was justified. She went straight to the police and said , I did this. She didn't try to hide it at all. And there's something in that. It's like that simmering anger of like , I did all this stuff. I was such a good girl. I worked so hard , I supported you , I did all these things. And now I'm just thrown away like an old doll. And I'm going to take control of the narrative back again. Now it's my story. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. That's very interesting. And you , I mean , you're gonna you're going to be talking all about this. People get to hear , hear all about your writing and everything at an event that you've got coming up here in San Diego tomorrow at the Book Catapult. Tell me about that.

S2: That's tomorrow night at seven at the Book Catapult. It's open and free event. Um , it's going to be really fun. We'll have some wine and sparkling water , and we're going to read a little bit and have a discussion. Q&A with a wonderful Mara Altman , who's a local writer. And I just have to say , the book catapult is my favorite bookstore in the world. It's such a wonderful community , warm , like you feel the love of books when you go in there , and I'm so excited to be there.

S1: I've been speaking with Cassandra Naish about her new book , A Little Bit Bad. She'll be appearing again at the Book Catapult in South Park tomorrow , starting at 7 p.m. , and we'll include a link to that on our website at KPBS. Cassandra , thank you so much.

S2: Thank you so much. This was really fun.

S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.