Agatha Christie—the godmother of the mystery genre and the bestselling novelist of all time—has had a profound impact on author Jaclyn Goldis.
And Christie’s DNA can be found all over Goldis’ “The Last Time We Saw Her” (Atria $19). In it, a group of teenage American summer campers journey to São Miguel, an island in the Azores archipelago, for a rugged 5-week hiking trip. But a clue surfaces pertaining to a local legend about a buried treasure. The trip suddenly devolves into a frenzied treasure hunt, which culminated in the disappearance of “it girl” camper, Sydney Azulay. Sydney was never seen again, rumored to have been murdered, and the treasure never found.
Now, 10 years later, Sydney’s father is hosting a memorial service on São Miguel, and her closest circle returns to honor her memory: fellow campers Olivia, Sydney’s sister; Aiden, the supervisor of their trip; and Jules, the counselor who was like everybody’s best friend. All of them agreed to participate in a documentary about what really happened to Sydney. However, not everyone’s motives for returning to the island after all these years are totally altruistic and then someone turns up dead…
“Of course, it would be impossible to choose an island setting for a thriller without thinking of the Christie classic, ‘And Then There Were None,’” said Goldis, of Tel Aviv. “Island settings are natural pressure cookers—finite space, no easy way to exit. For a group of people all keeping secrets from each other, the inability to simply leave is an explosive device as Christie herself used to great effect.”
Goldis will speak about and sign copies of “The Last Time We Saw Her” on Wednesday, June 29, at 2 Dandelions Bookshop in Brighton and Wednesday, July 30, at Schuler’s Books in West Bloomfield (see sidebar).
“I love being back in Michigan, where I grew up and went to college, and I’m really looking forward to get to do some book events in person,” said Goldis.
The eldest of three children, Goldis was born in Detroit and raised in Farmington Hills. She graduated from Andover High School in Bloomfield Township. Goldis earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from University of Michigan and her juris doctor in law from New York University.
A strong sense of place underlies all of Goldis’ books. She travels to the locations where her books are set to authenticate her writing.
“Not only do I live abroad, but my father is an immigrant; I grew up with reverence and awe for other cultures and places. My previous thrillers were set at a chateau in Provence, an Italian Orient Express train trip, and a safari in South Africa,” she explained. “For this book, I felt drawn to an island setting. When I began to research, the Azores islands—with their deeply remote location in the middle of the Atlantic and enticing Portuguese culture— leapt out at me. An idea began circulating in my head about a young adult camping trip in which one of the campers disappears, and an ill-fated reunion a decade later of the rest of the now-adult friends. Add in a hunt for buried treasure, too! All of these threads ultimately interlocked explosively together.”
Goldis spoke about going to São Miguel to research “The Last Time We Saw Her.”
“Getting to conduct research on the ground is a great privilege of being an author, and it was especially fun to arrive in the Azores with a loose outline of the plot, but not the breadth. I was able to explore and hike and formulate the plot in real time, on the ground. Ideal locales for scenes often occurred to me while I was quite literally present inside of them. I won’t give away any spoilers, but I’d initially envisioned the climax differently until I stumbled across a real fixture on the island that inspired me to take it to a new level,” she said.
Her fascination with long-lost treasure stories made its way into her novel. One of her favorite books growing up was “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
“I was also riveted to the treasure hunt storylines in series like ‘Nancy Drew’ and ‘The Hardy Boys.’ I also attended summer camps as a child and teen, and we used to play the classic treasure hunt game, chanting the exact rhyme with hand motions found in the first chapter. The separate threads blended together with sinister perfection—a group of summer campers bent on hunting lost treasure when one of their own disappears, never to be seen again.”
For Goldis, the summer camp aspects were the best part of writing “The Last Time We Saw Her.”
“In the prior timeline, the high school kids are on a summer trip to explore their heritage where they camp out every night in tents, cook all their own food, and hike every day,” she said. “I went on a similar trip when I was 15 that was a supremely formative experience. I still look back on it as a massive life highlight. So getting to immerse myself in my imagination in a similar setup was great fun.”
She explained the complicated relationship between sisters Sydney and Olivia.
“Sydney was the ‘it girl’ of the summer camp trip, the sun around whom the rest of the campers (including Olivia) and staff seemed to rotate. I was drawn to a story involving her disappearance and to explore how the rest of them would cope once the sun has withdrawn,” explained Goldis. “I’ve always been interested in cold cases, and it gives me a cold chill to imagine how the families of people who’ve disappeared cope with the unrelenting unknown of what happened. Olivia’s sister, Sydney, disappeared on their summer camp trip in the Azores, and Olivia was rumored to have murdered Sydney, though that was never proven. How would such a horrific fate affect Olivia’s life, and have changed her as a person in the intervening decade?”
She spoke about the creation of Jules. “Jules is spearheading the documentary for the cold case disappearance of Sydney, one of the reasons why the original campers and staff have all returned to the island,” said Goldis. “Jules was a counselor on the fated summer trip—along with Aiden—and the brand of guilt she feels is accordingly unique. Plus, Jules is a local islander, needing to be scrappy for money, whereas most of the other campers are wealthier and from the United States. This discrepancy in income and status lends to conflicts and even motives.”
Readers have let Goldis know “The Last Time We Saw Her” is her twistiest and most difficult book to figure out yet.
“My aim is always for my books to blend suspense and thrill with an exotic atmospheric setting readers to which readers will love armchair traveling,” she said. “And I always incorporate some sort of historical element that affects characters in the present day. The Azores islands are hardly ever touched upon in literature, and I think readers will love the summer camp and treasure hunt angles.”
Nailing the ending was the most challenging part of writing this novel. “Every book has a distinct challenge,” said Goldis. “For this one, I knew certain elements of the ending, but I couldn’t figure out how to really knock it out of the park. I got an idea close to the end of writing it on how to finagle things, and it wound up really cementing the book.”
Goldis has lived abroad for nearly 10 years. She’s looking forward to returning to Michigan for her events.
“I love to hear from my wonderful readers!” she said. “If you pick up a copy, I hope you’ll love it. This book is dedicated to all the authors whose words have brought me so much joy, and my ultimate goal is always to bring that same kind of enjoyment, pleasure, and race-to-turn-the-pages to my readers.”
Visit Goldis at www.jaclyngoldis.com.
Jaclyn Goldis’ 2 book signings
Jaclyn Goldis will sign copies of her latest novel “The Last Time We Saw Her” at:
- 2 Dandelions Bookshop, located at 428 W. Main St. in Brighton, on Wednesday, July 29, at 6 p.m. RSVP for this free event today. For questions or more information, contact 810-522-5310.
- Schuler Books, located at 7260 Orchard Lake Rd. in West Bloomfield, on Thursday, July 30, at 6:30 p.m. RSVP for this free event today. For questions or more information, contact 248-920-9403.
