Tasha Coryell’s debut novel, Love Letters to a Serial Killer was released in 2024 from Berkley (US) and Orion (UK). Her book of short stories, Hungry People, was published by Split Lip Press in 2018. Tasha holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in composition and rhetoric from the University of Alabama. She currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband, son, and greyhound. In her spare time, Tasha likes to run, cross stitch, and watch copious amounts of television.

Tell us about your new book.

Matchmaking for Psychopaths is about a matchmaker who gets dumped by her fiancé for her best friend. She keeps the breakup a secret because she’s too embarrassed to admit what happened to her coworkers and in her emotionally vulnerable state, she ends up getting too close to a couple of her clients, who also happen to be psychopaths. She thinks she’s holding it together and then body parts start arriving at her house and she has to figure out if they’re from her psychopathic clients, her ex-best friend, or her mom in prison.

What drew you to the thriller genre originally?

I started reading a lot of thrillers when I was in graduate school. Most of the reading I did for class was either super literary or academic texts. In comparison, reading thrillers was so fun. It made me realize that I wanted to write fun things too.

What’s a recent thriller you loved?

I just finished The Exes by Leodora Darlington (full disclosure, Leodora is also my UK editor at Orion) and I loved all the insightful things she had to say combined with nonstop twists.

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Who is a fellow author you’d want with you if there was a murderer on the loose?

I’ve been slowly making my way through all of the Karin Slaughter books and I think she would definitely be able to figure out the murderer’s identity. I don’t normally go for detective fiction, but Karin Slaughter and Tana French are writers that I’ll break that for.

What’s the thing that scares you the most?

I’m worried this sounds dumb, but I’m scared of being alone.

What’s your favorite slasher movie of all time?

I rewatch all the Scream movies every October. They’re so funny and meta. I always try to convince my editors that murderers don’t need a motive because of Scream and they never buy it.

Which of your characters would you be most afraid to meet in real life?

Definitely Rebecca. I’m very intimidated by extremely hot women.

Have you ever scared yourself writing a scene?

I don’t get scared while writing, but sometimes my novels enter my dream space at night and that’s scary.

What’s creepier to you: an anonymous note, a neighbor who knows too much, or a familiar voice on the other end of the phone?

A familiar voice on the other end of the phone got a really visceral reaction out of me. Strangers are one kind of danger, but the prospect of people I used to know is terrifying.

What’s your favorite “thriller trope” to write or read?

I love locked room thrillers, especially when they locked in at a snowy mountain resort together. I’ve watched a lot of shark movies and my favorite thing is that they somehow have to keep getting people in the water so that the sharks can eat them. Locked room thrillers have the same problem. How do you get everyone in the same space to be murdered?

Matchmaking for Psychopaths

Matchmaking for Psychopaths by Tasha Coryell

Alexandra’s perfect life shatters when her best friend and fiancé run off together, and she plunges into her life’s work—matchmaking psychopaths—to distract herself from the pain. Amid her growing connection to two of her clients, her ex-fiancé’s body parts start showing up on her doorstep. Alexandra must determine whether the murderer is one of her clients or someone from her tumultuous past in order to secure a second chance at happiness.

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