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Writer of mystery series visits library
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Tess Gerritsen, author of the popular Rizzoli & Isles book series, visited Youngstown’s main library Thursday. The event was a fundraiser for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
YOUNGSTOWN
The writer who created two of television’s leading female characters called libraries “the equivalent of a university for everybody who’s not a university student.”
Tess Gerritsen, author of the popular Rizzoli & Isles book series that has been adapted for television, spoke to Mahoning Valley residents Thursday during the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County’s eighth annual Literary Society Author Event.
“Libraries are where communities teach their children,” she said. “... Where does a community get together to do book club, have speakers, concerts? A lot of time, it’s at the community library.”
The event at the main library on Wick Avenue is an annual fundraiser for the county library system, said Deborah Liptak, library development director.
“[Gerritsen] has a huge fan base in the community and ... a lot of folks watch the show,” Liptak said. “We looked at circulation numbers, and people love crime and mystery. That’s what is checked out the most at our libraries, and this ties right in.”
Gerritsen said the best mysteries are “those that provoke some kind of feelings, whether it’s horror or shock or intense curiosity or anger,” and if an idea gets her upset, “I know it will be a good story.”
She also described how the television show “Rizzoli & Isles” on TNT is separate from her original novels featuring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles.
“The girls on TV are so much more beautiful than I ever pictured them [in the books]. What I love about [the TV series] is there’s so much more humor,” Gerritsen said. “... I think it adds an extra dimension to pretty dark stories.”
She added that many readers ask who she relates to more, Rizzoli or Isles.
“All you have to do is look at the biography of Maura Isles and you’ll see me all the way through it,” Gerritsen said.
Another common reader response, she said, is how “normal” she seems even though her work sometimes contains disturbing themes and characters, such as serial killers.
“I think mystery writers ... are trying to make up for what we see as a lack of a dark side in ourselves. Maybe we’re so ordinary that the opposite fascinates us,” she said.
Gerritsen’s most recent novel is “The Silent Girl,” the latest installment of the Rizzoli & Isles series.
The Literary Society Author series began in 2005, said Janet Loew, library spokeswoman. Proceeds benefit specialized programming at the library, she said.