Former Senator Dorothy Gibson, aka “that woman,” is the most talked-about person in the country. Dorothy had been the independent candidate for President, and after her very public defeat she has retreated to her home in rural Maine. She invites a ghostwriter to join her so they can work on her memoir.
A ghostwriter tells other people’s stories for a living, and this is a dream assignment. The ghostwriter is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the lovely surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer, and she and the ghostwriter team up to launch their own murder investigation.
The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories … two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy’s political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation—much like the election—may not unfold the way anyone expects …
Questions for Kemper Donovan
Influence
The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan has been described as a mystery in the “timeless tradition of Agatha Christie.” In what ways has Christie’s writing influenced you?
Do you agree that the novel is Agatha Christie-esque? In what ways? Was that by intention?
The Ghostwriter Series by Kemper Donovan
Talk about the choice to create an unnamed female narrator.
Will the narrator become the lead detective (Holmes/Poirot) in the series or continue to serve as sidekick/observer (Watson/Hastings)?
It’s incredible that the suspects allow Dorothy to grill them. SI Locust also counsels her several times about her interference. Yet, if anyone could get away with it, she could.
Who exactly is the busybody? The narrator? Dorothy Gibson? Both? Will Dorothy Gibson appear in the future books in the series?
Is the “busy body” someone who meddles and pries AND someone who, say, works hard (a trait the narrator respects highly)?
Loose threads about the ghostwriter’s family situation (disconnected from her family) – addressed in future books in the series?
Did you plan for this to be a series from the beginning?
Dorothy Gibson and Hillary Clinton
It’s clear that both author and narrator have a lot of respect for this character.
She’s hard to love from afar but much easier to love in close connection.
She wears headbands and pantsuits. She has a punchy laugh (“cackle”).
She’s smart, hard-working, politically astute, observant, and an excellent listener – and real to her core.
After losing the election, she flees to her home in the woods (Sacobago – sock-o-bay-go – a suburb of Portland, Maine, vs. Hillary’s upstate NY).
Famous photo of Dorothy (Hillary) in the woods posing with locals.
Dorothy’s aide, Leila, Muslim woman ~ Huma Abedin (engaged George Soros’ son Alex)
The Structure of The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan
The Client, The Victim, The Autopsy, The Investigation, The Solution
P. D. James – “All the motives for murder are covered by four Ls: Love, Lust, Lucre and Loathing” [from The Murder Room, 12th book in the Adam Dalgliesh (dahl-gleesh) series].
Ghostwriting
Carolyn has ghostwritten a dozen books. In The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan, the narrator’s specialty is memoir. Carolyn’s is business and self-help books. Has Kemper ghostwritten any books? Where did he get his inspiration?
The narrator calls herself a “professional bullshit artist” but says she loves her job. She’s in the big leagues for sure and presumably pulls in anywhere from hundreds of thousands to a million or more a year.
She’s a situational extrovert who likes interviews with a clear purpose.
She has a Victorian novel-addled brain.
“I’ve had more than one client who never asked me a single question about myself. There were some I’m fairly certain who never knew my name, placing me in the same category as the people who cooked their food and drove their cars, i.e., “the help. … These experiences gave me an appreciation for what it’s like to be disregarded.”
Alone Together
The narrator in The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan loves “killing time in public spaces, loves everything about traveling because it affords me the opportunity of observing others, but never at the expense of having to interact with them. Sometimes I think if there’s a Heaven, it looks exactly like an airport terminal: a vast room in which everyone gets to exist “together alone,” always on the brink of something new, forever luxuriating in a blissful state of anticipation” (13).
“I’m proud of my refusal to partake of mediocre brunches with mediocre friends, or to settle for a partner who’s less than perfect for me. My high standards are proof not only of my self-worth, but of the fact that despite appearances, I haven’t given up yet.
“Not by a long shot.”
Doing the Work
“I could see the way [hard work] animated her, drove her: the love she felt not for whatever the end product happened to be, but for the process itself. It wasn’t the work she loved: it was doing the work, and I felt a kinship with her because it’s the exact same procedural fascination that keeps me going as a writer.”
“There are plenty of people who have a passion for administration, and if I’m being honest with myself, I’m one of them. There’s a unique satisfaction to the clarity of administrative tasks—the precision they require, the finality their completion affords. I find they scratch the persistent itch my neurotic personality generates on a regular basis.”
Parentheticals, Contradictions, and Allusions in The Busy Body by Kemper Donovan
The ghostwriter is constantly making parenthetical asides. Can you talk about this choice? I do not believe in miracles (I spit on miracles).
Frequently assessing her personality traits. p 38 I’m proud of my refusal to partake of mediocre brunches with mediocre friends. Can you talk about this choice?
Constantly making pop culture references (lookin at you Kim Kardashian) Can you talk about this choice?
Frequently referencing and dismissing her own past – Sisterhood was not as durable a bond in my experience but I let this go
