Suzy Spencer is the author of four true crime books – Wasted, a New York Times bestseller; Wages of Sin, which was featured Investigation Discovery’s Deadly Sins and Scorned; Breaking Point, the story of Houston mother Andrea Yates; and The Fortune Hunter, which was called “riveting” and “blockbuster” by Globe magazine.
But after nearly 10 years of writing true crime, Suzy desperately needed to laugh. She thought writing about sex would help her do that. So in December 2004, Suzy began a journalistic investigation into Americans’ alternative sex practices. The result is her most emotionally challenging book yet — Secret Sex Lives: A Year on the Fringes of American Sexuality.
Secret Sex Lives, Suzy’s first memoir, was featured on Katie Couric’s talk show, Katie; was named a Publishers Weekly fall 2012 pick in the memoir category, as well as a Barnes & Noble editor’s recommendation; and was featured twice at the 2012 Texas Book Festival.
In addition to Katie, Suzy’s been interviewed on Good Morning America, ABC World News, Primetime, and Dateline NBC; numerous shows on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, Investigation Discovery, and Reelz; and on Oxygen and the E! Channel.
Suzy has freelanced for ABC News, Salon.com, People magazine, the New York Post, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, Los Angeles magazine, the Texas Observer, the Austin American-Statesman, and the Austin Chronicle.
She holds a Master of Professional Writing and a Master of Business Administration, both from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from Baylor University.
When you’re not reading or writing, what do you like to do with your time? I’m boring. I like to eat, watch TV, and then go to the gym to try to repent for my “sins.”
What’s your favorite opening line of a book? I don’t have a “best of times...worst of times” favorite quote. But I do love the opening line of Megan K. Stack’s Every Man in this Village is a Liar. “This memory from childhood is still there: the voices of the adults bounce fretfully, eternally, in rooms that have since been sold or abandoned.”
What word do you love? What word do you detest? I love the word hamburger. (I told you I like to eat!) Okay, okay, I know that’s not what you meant. You want something deeper, but I’m just not that deep. How about beach? I love the noun beach, but I don’t like the verb beach. I also love the word friend, in its truest, deepest form. I hate the word guilty.
What is a little known fact about yourself? I dreamed of becoming a professional water skier...or at least a water ski instructor at Club Med.