Patricia Cane turns serotonin research into thriller SNAPS

Patricia Cane says her novel SNAPS began as a boredom project on a snowy day and grew into a 225-page suspense story about science, criminal law and moral responsibility. She is now writing Blackberries, a new mystery shaped by Oregon’s landscape and forensic botany.

Why it matters: - SNAPS uses a fictional medical condition to probe a real-world question: what happens when biology, medication and criminal responsibility collide. - The book blends suspense with science and law, giving readers a thriller built around accountability instead of only “whodunit” suspense. - Cane’s next novel, Blackberries, suggests she is building a body of work around science-driven mysteries.

What happened: - Patricia Cane says SNAPS began on a snowy day when boredom led her to start writing without a plan. - The manuscript was set aside, then rediscovered about a year and a half later when Cane cleaned out her computer. - Cane returned to the story, worked with a writing coach and developed SNAPS into a 225-page suspense novel. - Cane’s science interests helped shape the book’s core idea, including the fictional condition SNAPS, short for Serotonin Neurotransmitter Activation Protein Syndrome. - Cane is now working on Blackberries, her next mystery.

The details: - SNAPS follows Jameson, a scientist whose work begins with serotonin and animal research. - Jameson starts hearing from people whose relatives or friends committed violent crimes while taking antidepressant medication. - At first, Jameson dismisses the link because his research concerns laboratory animals, not human behavior. - The cases keep coming, and the people involved appear to share the same medication. - The story expands into scientific research, criminal justice and pharmaceutical company involvement. - The novel raises questions about whether a medication, a biological reaction or a pharmaceutical company could share responsibility for a violent act. - Cane writes intuitively rather than outlining every detail in advance, letting characters and situations emerge as the story develops. - Cane says the hardest part of writing her first novel was believing she could do it. - Her writing coach pushed her to focus not just on plot, but also on setting, atmosphere, character and scene detail. - Cane advises aspiring writers to find people who will tell the truth about what is working and what is not. - Cane also recommends reading widely and studying how authors create tension and keep readers turning pages. - Blackberries came from Cane’s Oregon home, where blackberry bushes are thick, wild and hard to remove. - Cane says a dense patch of blackberries prompted the idea that it would be a good place to hide a body. - The new story follows two 12-year-old boys who find what appears to be a human skull in a blackberry thicket. - Blackberries will involve an investigation using unidentified remains, DNA analysis, forensic science and forensic botany. - Cane says plants, pollen, soil and other environmental evidence can become clues.

Between the lines: - SNAPS is less interested in assigning blame quickly than in testing where blame should go when a person’s mental state may have been altered. - The premise reflects a broader anxiety about how much control people have over violent behavior when biology or medication changes the equation. - Cane’s work appears to rely on a recurring pattern: take a scientific idea, then build a crime story around the ethical questions it creates. - Blackberries extends that approach by shifting the science from neurotransmitters to environmental evidence.

What's next: - Cane is continuing work on Blackberries. - The new mystery is expected to move from backyard landscape to forensic investigation, with botany and DNA playing central roles. - Cane says her goal remains to tell a compelling story and give readers a reason to keep turning the page. - The writer says the best compliment is simple: a reader could not put the book down.