Four Questions with Author Jane Pek

We talk about characters, dating apps and more

Jane Pek wrote one the most inventive mysteries — with one of the most unique sleuths — I’ve read in ages. And, you all know, I read a lot of mysteries.

As I wrote in February, The Verifiers “is a fascinating and compelling book that hooked me quickly. It’s equal parts literary mystery, wry commentary on tech and dating, a coming-of-age story and a family saga. But, it was [the main character] Claudia that kept me reading. She’s a well-drawn, multi-faceted character: a queer, bike-riding book nerd keeping her new job and sexuality secret from her traditional Chinese mother. I’m hoping this is the first book in a series. I’m excited to see what Claudia — and Pek — do next.”

Well, as I learned when I spoke with Jane, we’re getting a sequel. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What was your path to writing and publishing?

I was born and grew up in Singapore. I came to the U.S. for college, stayed for law school and became a lawyer.

I had always wanted to write. It was something I did on the side. Then, about eight years ago, I decided to take a break from the law and do an MFA in Creative Writing at Brooklyn College. It was amazing. I had a great time, made good friends and learned a lot. That’s where I started working on The Verifiers, although it started out very different.

A lot of it was just trying to figure out how to write a novel, getting stuck along the way, restarting and trying new things. While I was working on that, [I was] trying to write short stories as well and had a few of them published. I finally finished my novel and was lucky to find a great agent. We were able to sell it and The Verifiers came out in February.

Claudia is such a distinct character. How did you go about creating her?

It’s interesting because people who read the book love the protagonist and having that voice in contemporary fiction. But she did not appear in the novel until the very last version of it, right before I sent it to agents.

It’s crazy when I think about it now. But for years, I was writing the book and it just had a different protagonist altogether.  I think part of it was, I had always known that I wanted to write a gay female protagonist, because growing up as an avid reader, I never really saw those types of characters in fiction. And even when I did, they weren’t the protagonist of murder mysteries. They weren’t the ones who are out there solving the crime or having adventures. I wanted to have that type of character in my own fiction so that readers could identify with her.

But, I hesitated a bit about making her Asian American because I’m an Asian American female. You wonder if it’s too close to home, if it will get pigeonholed as Asian American literature, if people will look at the character and assume you’re writing about yourself.

As a result, it took me a while to find the voice of the story because I was trying to write from a character who was an Asian with a totally different family background and family issues. It just wasn’t working. I had already started sending it to agents when I had this epiphany that it wasn’t the right narrative.  I stopped the querying process and re-wrote the book with Claudia as the protagonist.

Once I embraced that what I really wanted to write was a second-generation Asian American protagonist who has a complicated family dynamic, her voice came together quickly. I felt like I knew who this character was, what she was like, what her sense of humor would be and how she would think.

Claudia is a detective for a dating app. What drew you to exploring dating apps?

The premise behind The Verifiers was what if there was an online dating detective agency to verify the people clients met online were legit. It was a whimsical idea.

I wanted to play with the notions and tropes around the detective and detective agency, but I think the idea came about because I had been doing online dating on and off for a number of years. I had a very positive experience. My wife was the first person I met on OKCupid.

It worked out for me, but I always had the question in mind of ‘how do we know that the person we’re meeting — especially when it’s without  any context — that they’re telling the truth about themselves.

It operates on two levels. One, are they intentionally lying? They say they work at a big company when they’re really unemployed. But there’s another, more interesting level. The idea of online dating is premised on the idea that you, yourself, have a clear understanding of who you are and what you want. And I think a lot of times people can think that they want something or want to want something, when actually they might actually be drawn to a different type of person or want a different type of relationship.

I felt like these were fundamental questions about human nature and human relationships that would be interesting to explore through the lens of online dating. Especially because in online dating, we have the ability to craft the persona that we want other people to see.

What’s next for you and Claudia?

I'm delighted to now be able to say that I am working on a sequel. I had put together a synopsis for the second book and Vintage agreed to buy the next two books in the series, so it will be a trilogy.

I'm working on the second one, trying to figure out what happens in it and you know, who gets killed and why. I’m figuring out what happens, and how do I have family and other people in her life? It’s exciting.

Thanks again to Jane for chatting. You can follow her on Instagram and buy The Verifiers.

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