Crime writer Tess Gerritsen on Listen to Me, her new Rizzoli & Isles novel inspired by coronavirus lockdowns, and why, as a Chinese-American, she still doesn’t feel accepted

News Snapshot:

When I first met Tess Gerritsen, back in 2008, she was making a name for herself as one of America’s most promising crime writers. She had built a respectable following among readers and critics with her six novels starring Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles: 2005’s Vanish won the prestigious Nero award; its follow-up, The Mephisto Club (2006), made bestseller lists around the world. But back then, Rizzoli and Isles were only bit part players in a conversation dominated, firstly, by Gerritsen’s Chinese heritage. “My mother was from Kunming, in Yunnan province. She left mainland China just in time to escape...