HBT - Interview with author Lois Duncan

Today's Haunted Blog Tour post is an interview with author Lois Duncan! She has written a variety of books for all ages - including MANY young adult thrillers/suspense novels. Including: I Know What You Did Last Summer, They Never Came Home, Daughters of Eve, Killing Mr. Griffin, A Gift of Magic, The Twisted Window, Ransom, Don't Look Behind You, and Down a Dark Hall. She has also written the nonfiction book about her daughter's murder called "Who Killed My Daughter?"


How do you come up with ideas for your books?

The plots for my fictional suspense novels are a combination of personal experience and imagination.

Which of your YA novels are your favorites?

STRANGER WITH MY FACE, LOCKED IN TIME, SUMMER OF FEAR and THE THIRD EYE. STRANGER WITH MY FACE was recently a movie on the Lifetime Movie Network!

Which of your novels do you think is the scariest and why?

Most readers seem to think it's DOWN A DARK HALL, because it's a Gothic ghost story.

What’s the most memorable Halloween you’ve ever had?

The one on which my youngest son, Donnie, was born.

Do you have any Halloween traditions?

Back when I was a child, my parents used to turn our home into a "ghost house" on Halloween. My father's hobby was magic, and anyone who came to our door to "trick or treat" had to walk through our house from one scary room to another -- a skull would be clicking its jaws in one room; a sick ghost would be lying in bed in another room and the visitor would have to bend over and kiss its cold cheek (it was a white hot water bottle filled with ice water); in another room the visitor would have to thrust a hand into a bucket of "witches' brains" (cold slimy spaghetti).

What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?

Receiving a call from the hospital in the night saying that my youngest daughter, Kait, had been chased down in her car and shot to death.

Are you superstitious?

If, by that, you mean do I believe there are realities we cannot explain with our five senses -- yes.

What’s the strangest, funniest, or most unique Halloween costume you’ve ever seen or worn yourself?

I once went to a party wearing a gorilla suit.

If you could decorate your house for Halloween however you like, what would you do?

I'd leave it the way it is. I'm not much of a housekeeper and it's already messy enough to scare anybody.

Thanks so much, Lois!

You're welcome.

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If you've never read one of Lois Duncan's books, you should! She has many titles to choose from. Hope you are all enjoying my Haunted Blog Tour!