Liza Tully: Creativity Is All About Choices
In this interview, author Liza Tully discusses combining mystery with comedy in her new novel, The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant.
Liza Tully is a pseudonym for Elisabeth Brink, who writes dark thrillers under the name Elisabeth Elo, as well as literary fiction under the name Elisabeth Panttaja Brink.
Her novels have been published in six countries, chosen as a Book of the Month Club selection, given starred reviews, and included on an Indie Next Pick list, while her short stories have appeared in a variety of literary journals and been nominated for Pushcart Prizes.
Before turning to fiction writing, she worked as an editor at a children’s magazine, a project manager at a tech company, and a counselor at a halfway house. She earned a PhD in American Literature from Brandeis University, and is the author of scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as Cinderella and Walt Whitman. She lives outside Boston with her family.
In this interview, Liza discusses combining mystery with comedy in her new novel, The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant, the innate morality of murder-mystery novels, and more.
Name: Liza Tully
Literary agent: Chris Bucci, Aevitas Creative Management
Book title: The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
Publisher: Berkley
Release date: July 8, 2025
Genre/category: Comedy, mystery
Previous titles: Finding Katarina M., North of Boston, Save Your Own
Elevator pitch: A brilliant Boomer detective and her ambitious Gen Z assistant struggle to get along as they investigate the apparent suicide of a wealthy matriarch.
What prompted you to write this book?
I wrote this book to cheer myself up. My last novel was a grim thriller set in Siberia, and after being deeply immersed in some of the bleakest topics imaginable, my spirit needed a sunny day. I knew that writing a classic murder mystery would make me smile.
Murder mysteries have always made me happy. I love that they are unapologetically moral and that they see the highest crime as hurting others (murder being the extreme example of this). I love that they paint human nature, not in stark black and white, but in its many shades of gray—which is why so many of its characters, ordinary people in most respects, can yet be considered suspects. I love that they end with a solution, acknowledging the timeless truth that a story, any story, isn’t ever really finished until its conflicts have been resolved. And they’re inspirational, because the detective is always smart and utterly tenacious. He or she doesn’t stop until the job is done.
If your spirit is flagging from negativity overload, a murder mystery sets you firmly on your feet again. A comic mystery does all that AND makes you laugh? What could be better than that?
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
My first notebook entry for this project is dated September 2021. I sent a complete manuscript to my agent in September 2022. I did a revision based on his comments, and then he submitted it to publishers. It was accepted for publication in June 2023, went through another round of edits, along with design, proofreading, etc. and is being published now in July 2025. So, that’s almost four years from first idea to publication. Which sounds like a long time (and it is!). But most of my serious work was done in the first year. After that, there were various sporadic communications with agent and editor and a lot of time spent waiting. The process is a lot faster for the second book in the series, which is already in the editing phase.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Not really. I’m lucky to be working with terrific people who have made the process very smooth. If I was surprised by anything, it’s that people read the book at all. The even greater surprise was that they liked it.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
When readers close my book, I want them to feel refreshed and reinvigorated. After having kindly given themselves a little break from reality to wander in an imaginary world, I want them to return to their lives (and problems) with deepened smile lines, a disposition to go easy on everyone, including themselves, and a renewed appreciation for the beauty and absurdity of being human.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Creativity is all about choices. And the choices are limitless. For starters, you often don’t know what to write, you usually don’t know how to write it, and sometimes you can’t even decide where and when to write. Should your book be just like the one you read a long time ago that you really loved? Or should it be completely different? Should you outline or just jump in? Should your character be named Ted or Dan? Which one should be murdered? Should he have red hair and a limp? Should you get up early, go to bed late, or leave all your writing for the weekend? Should you take your laptop to a busy café or sit at the dining room table by yourself? Are you actually capable of writing a novel or are you delusional? Should you keep going or just give up?
Faced with so many questions, it’s easy to feel insecure and overwhelmed. You want the process to be easier, so you ask others “What should I do?” That’s fine, up to a point. But there’s a danger in taking that too far. Because those other people are not the ones writing your book. By your book, I mean the one only you can write. The truth is that you and you alone have to wrestle through each question as it arises, and make a choice that you fear might be wrong (but none of them really are). Then you have to keep doing that hard thing, over and over, ad infinitum. I haven’t counted, but your basic story choices will probably be in the dozens. Adding all the plot and character details will shoot you to a hundred or more. And if you include the words themselves, with all the revisions, your choice-count will climb over a hundred thousand. Your finished manuscript will be the completely unique end product of the truly staggering number of choices you made. There’s no way out. Endless decision-making IS the creative process. Don’t be in a hurry to shift the burden. Sit with yourself. Believe in yourself. You’re smarter than you think.
