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East Texas native May Cobb is best-known for her sizzling summer reads The Hunting Wives (2021) and My Summer Darlings (2022). Her latest thriller, A Likeable Woman, which publishes July 11, features a woman determined to unravel the mystery of her mother’s death. Kira can’t shake the feeling that her mother, Sadie, was murdered. When her grandmother offers the tantalizing possibility of new evidence, Kira decides that a lavish party thrown by some of her old crowd in her affluent hometown is a perfect opportunity to return for some sleuthing — and to reconnect with her (married) high school crush. What she uncovers about the past could spell the difference between life and death.
We caught up with Cobb to talk about the book’s title, what inspires her and the clash of values her novels explore. This conversation was edited for length and clarity.
Kira at one point says, “I have this tendency to try to warm up every interaction, smooth things over.” Is that the definition of “a likeable woman”?
For Kira, it definitely is. She is by nature prone to people-pleasing, to making things comfortable for others. And, to being liked, even by people she might not actually care for. For Sadie, though, being a “likeable woman” presented itself in terms of conformity. Instead of chasing her dreams of living in New York City, going to art college (which were, in part, dashed by the sudden loss of her parents), she gets married, settles into a new house in a suburban neighborhood, has kids. She loves her daughters and loves being a mother but does not like the square box she’s trapped in.
Sadie as an artist was “big on intuition” and “claimed that all art came not from its creator but through them.” As a writer, what do you think?
I’m a big believer in this myself. In his wonderful book On Writing, Stephen King says that all stories are buried fossils, and it’s up to us, the writers, to extricate them as carefully as we possibly can. In other words, stories already exist, and it’s our job to pull them out of the ether. Obviously, craft plays a huge role in storytelling, and most writing days are about having that discipline to sit in the chair, try to execute the best damn scene, hit your word count, but I do believe in the muse, and my favorite part of storytelling is when the unknown takes over and the characters and plotting practically start writing themselves.
Kira’s experience parallels Sadie’s in so many ways: the artistic ambitions, an early loss that changed the trajectory of her life. What did Kira learn from her mother that set her on a different path?
Yes, their lives are, indeed, mirrors to each other. I feel like the main thing Kira learned from watching Sadie is to have your own back. To not rush into the things that society deems are best for you, i.e. marriage and motherhood, if they’re not your vision. Also, to stay true to the artistic path, as difficult as it can be. And finally, Kira’s life is frozen in time in so many ways. She’s currently unable to paint and works in a dead-end job, because she’s carrying survivor’s guilt from Sadie’s life ending early before her dreams were ever realized.
Your characters often seem to turn up in the Land that Feminism Forgot, surrounded by women with values straight from the 1950s. What is it about that conflict that you find so compelling?
Guilty! Well, I find that so many women still struggle with being true to themselves, let alone the very notion of putting themselves and their needs first — or even third or fourth. I’m intrigued by the push-pull thing, how we endeavor to find balance and the prices we pay for trying to have and do it all. These themes only become exponentially larger and more pressing when we go back in time.
One couple in the novel has a child on the autism spectrum, a minor plot point that’s handled in a very matter-of-fact way. You’ve written in the past about your family’s experiences with autism. Do you see pop-culture representations of it changing?
I do, indeed, see pop-culture representations of autism changing. I love that outlets like Sesame Street, in creating the autistic character of Julia, and also Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, with the new character, Max, are helping autistic kiddoes see themselves represented and also helping neurodiverse children understand autism better. I haven’t watched the shows The Good Doctor and Atypical yet, but they give me hope to see autism portrayed in such a front-and-center way. What I do see a lack of, across the board, is awareness of people with autism who are on the more severe end, and I really wish this would change.
You’ve created some scorchers for reading by the pool or the lake. What are your favorite summer reads?
Anything by the queen of sultry, soapy thrillers, Jeneva Rose, is a summer-reading must, including her twisty latest, You Shouldn’t Have Come Here. Same for Caroline Kepnes’ “You” series, which I devour poolside. I can’t wait to read her most recent, For You and Only You. Also, Jesse Q. Sutanto’s “Dial A for Aunties” series, Riley Sager’s The Only One Left, Samantha M. Bailey’s Watch Out for Her, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn’s The Girls Are All So Nice Here, Robyn Harding’s The Drowning Woman, Eliza Jane Brazier’s Girls and Their Horses, and finally, I’m itching to tear through Michelle Cruz’s steamy suspense, Even When You Lie, which is set in Dallas!
What’s next for you?
I’m in edits on my next thriller, my first one set outside of East Texas, and it’s a Rear Window-esque suspense with a Hollywood setting.
A Likeable Woman
By May Cobb
(Berkley, 384 pages, $27)
Author event
May Cobb will hold a book-signing and discussion on July 12 at 6 p.m. at Interabang Books, 5600 W. Lovers Lane, No. 142, in Dallas. For more information, visit interabangbooks.com.