Stephanie Gayle�s "Idyll Threats"

Stephanie Gayle�s fascination with crime stories began when she first met a policeman at the age of 4 and outsmarted him. After flirting with the idea of becoming a defense attorney and then suffering through a few years as a paralegal, she decided writing crime fiction would be a lot more satisfying -- and fun. Gayle�s first novel, My Summer of Southern Discomfort, released in 2008 (William Morrow). By day, she's a financial assistant at MIT�s Media Lab.

Here Gayle dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Idyll Threats:

I�m not an author who usually thinks about casting actors for the film adaptation of my books - mostly because the odds of the book getting optioned and made are very slim. Plus, I know how much say an author has in the casting process (zero). But I�m game to play this round of My Book, The Movie.

My Idyll Threats protagonist, Thomas Lynch, is 44, a cop, tall, with brown hair and eyes. Big but buff. My first thought was Tom Selleck but he�s too old. Damn you, time! So then I thought of Joe Manganiello. He�s a bit younger than the Chief, but with that salt and pepper beard of his, he could pass, and I think he could project the combination of moody/smart/sexy that the Chief embodies.

For the secretary, Mrs. Dusnmore, with whom the Chief often argues, I�d cast Kristin Scott Thomas. I think she�d be great at giving as good as she gets. And the detective pair of Wright and Finnegan? Ooh. Maybe Don Cheadle for Wright and Paul Giamatti for Finnegan. They�d make a great team.

For director I�ll choose Fran�ois Ozon who directed a great film called The Swimming Pool. So I know he can handle suspense/mystery. And he�s worked with Kristin Scott Thomas before. Wow, this movie is really coming together! Now let�s just sit back and wait for Hollywood to call�

Visit Stephanie Gayle's website.

--Marshal Zeringue