Sue Hinkin is the author of the award-winning thriller series, The Vega & Middleton Novels, featuring the investigative team of Los Angeles TV news journalist Bea Middleton and best friend, photographer Lucy Vega. A former cinematography fellow at the American Film Institute, Hinkin has worked in higher education and as one of the first female TV news photographers. Now living in Colorado, she is active in the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers as well as Sisters in Crime and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Find out more at www.suehinkin.com.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory – what’s it about and what inspired you to write it?
Sue Hinkin: My father was a liberal Presbyterian minister; my grandfather was an extremely conservative Baptist minister (after careers as an iron worker and a pro baseball player). Grandpa ran revival meetings and oversaw rescue missions in small midwestern cities. Grandma played the piano, sang (some would say caterwauled), and headed up the meal lines.
Their ministry wasn’t a cult, but sometimes it had shimmerings of one that frightened me a bit. Things that frighten me, I want to know more about. How extreme views of any kind can morph into something rigid and destructive was always one of those themes of interest that floated around in my head so I decided to explore how my characters Lucy and Bea would deal with someone in the thrall of a cult.
SunLit: Place the excerpt you selected in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole and why did you select it?
UNDERWRITTEN BY
Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.
Hinkin: The excerpt is from early in the book. It vividly shows readers the relationship between the snake handling young pastor/cult leader and his “Chosen One,” protagonist Lucy Vega’s naïve, recovering addict step-daughter, Jaime, desperate for what she thinks is true love. Over the course of the story, Lucy and Bea help Jaime on the difficult journey from manipulated victim to independent thinker. Lucy also sees a bit of herself in the young woman and must step up in her own way.
SunLit: What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?
Hinkin: I could never quite understand the psychological dynamics that turn seemingly sane, reasonably intelligent people into sycophants. This has always been a fascinating mystery to me. In the current fractious and frightening political climate, the question of group-think and cults rises again.
The phrase, “the bitch that bore him is in heat again,” is the iconic concluding line of a Bertolt Brecht play I attended eons ago as an undergrad. “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui,” set in Al Capone’s 1920’s Chicago (I actually grew up in a house once owned by Capone’s lawyer), mirrored the rise of Hitler in Germany and shows how easily people fell into following him.
“The Snake Handler’s Wife”
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Later, I lived in L.A.’s Laurel Canyon where the murderous Charles Manson cult remains a notorious part of canyon history. In “The Snake Handler’s Wife,” I wanted to explore how a young woman could be manipulated by a charismatic, narcissistic leader and how she might escape.
SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?
Hinkin: In this sixth and final book in the series, I think I’ve finally hit my stride as a writer. Many of my colleagues agree that it takes a few books into one’s career before your voice and writerly skills are rocking along at a consistent speed. I also became quite knowledgeable about cults and about rattlesnakes. I’m now a regular viewer of the RattleCam.
Side note: Learn about the Colorado RattleCam. It is currently livestreaming (mid-September, 2025) a “Prairie Rattlesnake rookery” (MegaDen) at an undisclosed location. At this rookery, hundreds of snakes overwinter, shed their skins, and bask in the sun. Dozens of pregnant snakes spend the summer here preparing to give birth and care for their babies. The livestream runs 24/7 from May through October. If you are watching and the stream stops, it will begin again soon. The stream pauses for 15 minutes at 8a.m. and 8 p.m. MT.
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Hinkin: “The Snake Handler’s Wife” is the last book in a six-book series, starting with my debut novel back in 2018. It has been quite a personal journey for both myself and my characters. In this final installment, I hope to show how my characters have grown over the years but still keep their stories open ended, as our lives never wrap up in a tidy bow. Winds blow, people come and go, history slogs on, and new challenges always arise, whether we’re ready or not.
SunLit: What do you want readers to take from this book?
Hinkin: I want readers to be entertained, enjoy the story, and find a few thought-provoking scenes and characters that prompt reflection on our lives and society.
SunLit: What are the psychological dynamics that cause a person to join a group demanding complete loyalty to a rigid, charismatic leader-dictated belief system?
Hinkin: For those who are already lonely, vulnerable, and frustrated, with a weak sense of self, the need to feel special and part of a group with a charismatic leader with definitive answers to tough questions, who provides a sense of belonging and purpose, can feel wonderful and allay anxiety — for a while. Us vs. Them can also be intoxicating. Anger and a sense of victimhood can be more addictive than heroin. I try to bring understanding of these dynamics into “The Snake Handler’s Wife.”
SunLit: Tell us about your next project.
Hinkin: I have written a screenplay based on true events in the life of the famous first century Briton tribal queen, Boudicca. Am currently in the process of marketing it (brutal). I’m a former photographer and although my books are written in a visual style, I really enjoy writing in a purely visual medium. Has been a fun challenge. I’ve also started a new romantic suspense series.
A few more quick items
Currently on your nightstand for recreational reading: Local author Mary Birk’s Scottish crime drama, “Violent Seed” and former Coloradan Andrea Catalano’s, “The First Witch of Boston.” I try to read local authors—they’re such terrific writers and don’t always get the publicity our friends on the coasts can garner.
First book you remember really making an impression on you as a kid: The Nancy Drew series
Best writing advice you’ve ever received: Don’t listen to any writing advice….
Favorite fictional literary character: One? Impossible! Ozma (L. Frank Baum). Miss Marple (Agath Christie), Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy (Jane Austen), Nancy Drew (aka Carolyn Keene), Tyrion Lannister (George R.R. Martin), Dr. Zhivago (Boris Pasternak), Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), Matilda (Roald Dahl), Brother Cadfael (Ellis Peters/Edith Pargeter)
Literary guilty pleasure (title or genre): Historical adventure/romances like the “Outlander,” and I’m a total Scandinavian Noir junkie on TV
Digital, print or audio – favorite medium to consume literature: Digital, so I can make the type bigger…
One book you’ve read multiple times: “Dracula,” “Matilda,” and “Pride and Prejudice”
Other than writing utensils, one thing you must have within reach when you write: A big window
Best antidote for writer’s block: Butt in chair
Most valuable beta reader: My amazing Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers critique group that meets weekly at the Tattered Cover/Aspen Grove — smart, supportive, funny, caring, and committed. The Colorado writing community is the best.