Author Interview Questions – Casey Jones

About the Book

1. My Little Pet is described as a dark lesbian mystery/thriller. Can you introduce us to the story and its central characters?

Ok, so My Little Pet is about a lonely barista named Brianna, she lives in a small Canadian town, and she is unaware that someone is watching her. That someone is MaskedLEO, a viral, silent TikToker, who is also the other main character Alex Robinson. Alex is an obsessive RCMP officer hiding her identity behind her skull-patterned balaclava. 

What starts as mysterious TikToks and eerie gifts spirals into a twisted, intimate bond. But danger lurks (dun dun dunnnnn…..) closer than Brianna knows. There is a killer imitating a familiar pattern, and the masked woman who keeps saving her might also be the one keeping her trapped! 

When the truth unravels…it’s already too late!

We have Brianna, the sharp, vulnerable barista with a growing obsession for MaskedLEO

We have Alex/MaskedLEO, the silent, dominant RCMP officer. She wears a skull balaclava. She is obsessed with Brianna, a dangerous protector and stalker. 

We have Callum, the serial killer targeting Brianna to punish Alex for her emotional attachment.

We have Sarah, the friendly new barista with her own secrets…she stars in the sequel I’m currently writing lol! So exciting!!!

We finally have Turtle….Brianna’s car, a symbol of comfort but also obsession! 

2. The story features a café owner and a masked woman posting videos—how did you come up with these intriguing plot elements?

Ok, I became a little too obsessed with the whole MaskTok algorithm for a bit there for sure, then I read Lights Out, which got me more into the MaskTok scene. So Alex is my MaskTok/Lights Out obsession come to life, but gay because there’s not enough lesbian vibes in the MaskTok community (at least from my perspective :P) Also, I’ve always easily fallen in love with any barista that’s given me any kind of extra attention, imagining our lives together long after I’ve picked up my tea from the counter.

3. Obsession and danger build throughout the story. How did you craft the suspense to keep readers on edge?

I really tried to pull from all the suspense books I’ve read. I was in a reading slump for so long, like years, and when I jumped back into reading I was like, holy man, I love suspense mixed with romance, and it wasn’t really a thing back when I was reading before. John Marrs and Frieda McFadden were my breath and life for a solid year when I got back into reading. I fell in love with suspense, then I found spicy shit and I was hooked so hard it hurt!

4. Without giving spoilers, what do you hope readers take away from this thriller?

I hope that readers take this opportunity to explore the dark side of obsession, protection, and control. I hope it blurs the line between safety and danger, love and possession. I hope readers feel unsettled, drawn by the intimacy I create and then left questioning their own instincts. I also hope that it resonates with straight women who are curious about the sapphic side of themselves in a safe way that satisfies their curiosity, even the parts wrapped in hunger fear and longing those feelings are still valid. Enjoying stories of women appreciating each other doesn’t make someone any less straight. It just makes them human. 

5. If you could describe My Little Pet in three words, what would they be?

I want to say gay, gay gay lol, but actually, I hope it would be intimate, obsessive, and unnerving.

Inspiration & Process
6. You mentioned being influenced by Lights Out, Butcher, and Blackbird. How did these works shape your story?

Ok, so I fell in love with spicy dark romance through Lights Out and Butcher and Blackbird, but they just weren’t gay enough, and I am a lady for the ladies, and just wanted something that was kind of funny, but also dark, but also gay, so I just started there and went for it. 

7. How does your Canadian background or personal experiences influence the story or characters?

Oh my goodness, the book is totally Canadian, like the only way I could make it more Canadian would be to have them eating poutine lol! All the spicy dark romance I read is very obviously american, and that’s totally valid, but I just wanted something that referenced life in Canada a bit, especially BC. The mountains, the culture, our history, our vernacular, I just wanted to see it represented in writing in a fun way.
8. What drew you to write a dark romance and thriller in particular?

Hahah, ok, so, here’s the thing the thing is, I was talking to my best friend about my newfound love of dark romance, and as much as she was interested, she is also a flaming homosexual, there was no way I could convince her to read any of it. Then she made an offhand comment about how if there was something like what I was reading, but super gay, she would totally be into it, so I was like, bet! Let’s do it! I’ll write you a goddamn sapphic dark romance book with all the shit you want. Because that’s totally what friends do for each other. Then…6 months later, here we are, and she’s read it, and she loves it. Really the book is for her :P

Characters & Themes
9. How did you develop the masked woman and the café owner—were they inspired by anyone real or purely fictional?

Oh man, well, Brianna is absolutely my perfect woman, the woman I wish I could be with. Smart, funny, logical, all the right things. 

Alex…well…she’s just all my trauma and messed up longing from when I was a kid falling for the bad guys in movies rolled into a hot, domineering, cop with a touch of autism to make her deliciously literal while also being a bit unhinged.
10. What themes, beyond romance and suspense, do you hope resonate with readers?

I hope they see how the internal mechanics of fixation can curdle into control, how love can become a justification for surveillance, and how protection can mask possession. There are blurred lines between love and possession and it invites the reader to question identity, desire, and power, especially in relationships where vulnerability and domination coexist. I hope it’s also a space for women to explore repressed fantasies without shame.
11. Were there any moments during writing where the story surprised you or took a direction you didn’t expect?

Oh boy, well, the first draft had a completely different ending, and when I finished it, it just didn’t feel…finished. It was a much lighter ending, but I realized it just didn’t fit, and so I decided to take a different turn. Which also meant another month of editing and revisions to make sure it all made sense :P

Writing & Publishing Journey
12. What was the most rewarding part of creating My Little Pet? 

Oh it’s a toss up, I loved peeling back the layers of obsession, control, and vulnerability. But also, when my best friend read it and told me what she thought about it at the end was so amazing, she was surprised and love it, so that was probably the best reward possible.
13. How did you balance writing this story with your day job and raising your son?

I found myself writing during lunch break a lot lol, I found that I could conservatively write about 1000 word in that hour. Then after my little guy went to bed I could edit, add dialogue, and make it make sense. Then my sin went for a visit across the country for a month I would spend all the time from when I got home until I fell asleep just writing and editing. It was fun but hard, and I absolutely drew on my ADHD to hyperfocus on it a lot :P
14. Are there any upcoming projects or sequels we should be on the lookout for?

Oh yes! So I am currently working on another book that goes into Sarah’s backstory and explains what she was going through when she started working for Brianna, it also goes deeper into the organization that Alex works for in more detail, so readers will have a better understanding of it if they want. The organization is called the Syndicate, and there are many many many moving parts in there. 

Fun & Quickfire
15. Favorite thriller or suspense movie that always inspires you?

Ok it might be kind of obscure, but there’s a movie called “Suicide Kings” with Christopher walken. It has a great twist, and my favourite quote that I say all the time and no one gets it, “you didn’t think this through too good did you?”
16. Writing fuel—coffee, tea, or something stronger?

Lol, well, I like to go by the old adage, “write drunk and edit sober” I always thought it was an Ernest Hemingway quote but apparently it’s not, it’s still great advice that I absolutely take to heart :P My best writing is absolutely when I’ve had a glass of dry red wine :P
17. One word to describe the masked woman.

Oh boy…one word….I’d have to say….unrelenting!

 18. One word to describe the café owner.

Well…in this case..I’d say unravelling! 

 19. One word to describe the book.

One word???? Oh geeze! OK,...possessive!
20. One thing you hope readers feel as they finish My Little Pet.

Oh, one thing….well…I hope they feel a bit of whiplash lol, but if I were to sum it up in one word I guess I hope they feel…haunted, not just by the twist, or the violence, or even the romance, but hopefully by the emotional complexity underneath it all. I want them to sit with the discomfort of desire wrapped in danger, and the tenderness laced with control. 

I want them to question what parts of themselves were stirred, what lines they might blur, and why.