Mystery and Reality: Author Jennifer Weiner

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IT'S BEEN EIGHT YEARS since Jennifer Weiner debuted her first plucky, plus-sized heroine in the chick-lit classic "Good in Bed." Now the Philadelphia-based writer merges mystery and humor in her eighth tome, "Best Friends Forever" ($27, Atria), about two old friends facing their high-school demons.

» EXPRESS: "Best Friends Forever" begins with an element of suspense, which seems different than your other novels.
» WEINER: It is definitely a departure for me, at least to start with. You're always thinking about what will get the reader hooked. What could be more interesting than watching a crime get committed?

» EXPRESS: What made you want to write something with a mystery angle?
» WEINER: I always want to push myself as a writer. You never want to end up with, "Yawn, here we go again." But at its core, this is still a book about friendship -- sort of a Thelma and Louise tale, but if they didn't have to drive into the Grand Canyon at the end.

» EXPRESS: So your longtime fans will still find something familiar.
» WEINER: Definitely. Trying to change the kind of writer that you are is kind of like changing your blood type. I don't think I could if I wanted to.

» EXPRESS: Your books often feature realistic women. Do you think that's appealing to readers?
» WEINER: I hope that I write stories where women can recognize themselves: their own voices, their own issues, their own figures. I grew up on the Judith Krantz-Jackie Collins diet. God love them, they can both spin a yarn, but there was never, ever, ever anyone who was remotely chunky. I'll never forget in "Scruples," the character goes to Paris and loses 80 pounds! Even as a child, I sensed that trip was not in my future.

» EXPRESS: Do you mind that you're known as a champion of full-figured women?
» WEINER: Not at all. I just wish there were more people doing it. We're living in a culture where even reality shows only cast thin, pretty people, which is funny to me.

» EXPRESS: In your books, the pretty girl doesn't always live happily ever after. She sometimes gets her due.
» WEINER: I hate the idea that the fat girl is miserable and the thin girl is happy. I want to unpack those shorthands; in real life, that's just not true.

» EXPRESS: Since your first book, you've married and had kids. How do these life changes affect your writing?
» WEINER: It's given me just a ton more material. Marriage, being a mother and having in-laws give you a lot of write about. I look at "Good in Bed," which I wrote when I was 28, just after I'd been dumped, and it's very much about my issues then.

» EXPRESS: Some of your books, like "In Her Shoes," have a strong fashion element. Is than an interest of yours?
» WEINER: No. I regard clothes as the thing that keeps me from being naked. I'd never say "Let's go shopping!" unless my kid threw up on my shirt. Any book that has that fashion element, you can be assured that I did a lot of research for it.

Photo by Andrea Cipriani Mecchi