Bad Company

Lily was one of the CIA’s most effective field agents, but this was a bro world. After she rubbed too many bros the wrong way, they jumped at the chance to fire her. In her 70s now, she’s making a life in the civilian world. However, a New Yorker story blames her for crippling problems in the country where she did most of her work. Determined to clear her name, she starts digging into the past – a past that the Company wants to stay hidden. Suddenly Lily finds herself the target of a ruthless womanhunt, one which will tax her field skills to the limit.

Lily spent her professional life in Hayalistan, an imaginary country in Central Asia, near Kazakhstan and Afghanistan. It was great fun inventing Hayali history and topography. I created a language and wrote their epic poem about a hunter who is bewitched by an eagle. Both the American and British jacket covers feature the eagle. She broke the hunter’s heart but in a fit of remorse, saved his life when he leapt from the highest point on Mt. Muqqadas.

With V.I. Warshawski, I wanted to change the traditional depiction of women in crime fiction. With Lily, I’m hoping to challenge clichéd ideas of older women and what we can do.