Daily Dose — Nelson Author Roz Nay Completes her Legend Trilogy
By Ari Lord
Nelson’s best-selling author Roz Nay released the third book in her Legend trilogy, published by Simon and Schuster, during the summer.
The Hunted is an unexpected thriller about two couples who meet backpacking through Africa, but the new friendship turns towards obsession. Like most great thrillers, the consequences for the characters are deadly.
Nay’s debut novel, Our Little Secret, was a national bestseller, won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for a best foreign thriller in France, and was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Mystery and the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award.
The second book in the trilogy was Hurry Home. Nay has lived and worked in Africa, Australia, the US, and the UK. She lives in Nelson with her husband and two children.
For Nay, releasing her third book has been a positive experience.
“It’s been busy. The response has been really good. I was happy with the book and proud when it came out. Writing it was fun. All in all, it’s been quite a positive third go around.”
Writing the final book in the trilogy was a smoother process.
“There’s a lot of pressure on second books. They’re notoriously difficult because everybody’s waiting, and that’s a different way to write when people are expecting it and waiting, there’s a bit more pressure. Especially if that first one did well, they want you to recreate that, and it’s a bit of a magic trick. I found that hard. I still had to work hard, but The Hunted came out a bit more easily, and I enjoyed it more,” says Nay.
Nelson celebrated the release of The Hunted this summer.
“There was an in-person launch at Touchstone’s Nelson, which was lovely. It was July, so one of the first early days we could get together in a room. People were limited, but it felt celebratory, to all be back together.”
She also did a lot of online publicity for the book. “I had lots of zoom panels and interviews. I was on panels with big-name writers, so I had to kind of step my game up a bit,” laughs Nay.
“CBC was very supportive and lovely. They’re always giving me nods here and there and helping me out. It’s always nice to feel seen, and especially as somebody who wasn’t born in Canada; it’s been nice how supportive they are.”
Nay’s fourth thriller is underway.
“It’s going well. This one, I don’t have a contract on it, so that’s interesting. I’m choosing to write the whole thing on my own with help from key people whose opinions I absolutely trust, writers in the industry. I’m concentrating on the book more than anything else. I’m at a stage in my career where I’m a bit more confident. I am excited about the idea for this fourth one.”
Her fourth book, like The Hunted, is a travel thriller.
“I’ve discovered that I like writing travel thrillers, so combining adventures I had in my twenties and turning them into thrillers. It seems to be a good combo for me. The fourth book is another travel thriller. Those are quite topical at the moment because nobody can travel as much as they want to, so people are starting to do it more through books.”
She expects book number four won’t be out next summer, but likely the summer after that. Plus, she still has more release dates of The Hunted to anticipate.
“The Hunted isn’t out in the states yet. That’s coming out in July next year, so that will be big. It will almost be like relaunching it,” says Nay.
To learn more about Nay’s work, connect with her on Twitter @RozNay1 and Instagram @RozNay or her website RozNay.com.
