Katia Lief's "The Money Kill"

Born in France to American parents, Katia Lief moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in Massachusetts and New York. She teaches fiction writing as a part-time faculty member at the New School in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn.

Lief's Karin Schaeffer novels include You Are Next, Next Time You See Me, Vanishing Girls, and the recently released The Money Kill.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel:

The Money Kill is the fourth novel in a series, and when I previously (pretended to) cast the first two books in 2010, I chose Hilary Swank, Matt Damon and Jamie Foxx to play the lead roles. I still think they'd be terrific, but in the spirit of reinvention, I'm going to offer some alternatives for the series' latest installment.

Since great long-form television has lately proven its ability to rival the movies for high-end cinematic entertainment, and since I recently recovered from an addiction to Breaking Bad, I propose the brilliant Bryan Cranston to play my detective Mac MacLeary. If anyone can make sympathetic a man who leaves his wife for the love of another woman and still manages to be likeable and heroic, it's Cranston, who turned mild-mannered cancer-ridden Walter White into one of the most enigmatic, believable and compelling characters in all of television history.

While we're culling excellent actors from the ranks of illustrious good-parent-goes-bad drug-dealing television shows, let's cast Mary-Louise Parker from Weeds as Karin Schaeffer, my imperfect kickass investigator who teams with Mac MacLeary to do what it takes to fight crime. I have no doubt that Parker's range as an actor would capture the subtlety, intelligence, vulnerability and bravery that defines Karin Schaeffer.

In The Money Kill, Bryan Cranston and Mary-Louise Parker would get the chance to redeem their television personas by working for the right side of the law, and we would get to watch a mighty acting duo show us how it's done.

As for Detective Billy Staples, Karin and Mac's best friend and sometime partner, let's raid television's Criminal Minds to reclaim the mega-talented Forest Whitaker for the big screen. Though to be fair, I'm stretching the television theme a bit since Whitaker is an established Academy Award winning movie star. (Hey, how did he end up on TV?)

Learn more about the book and author at Katia Lief's website.

Writers Read: Katia Lief (November 2010).

The Page 69 Test: Next Time You See Me.

My Book, The Movie: Next Time You See Me.

The Page 69 Test: Vanishing Girls.

Writers Read: Katia Lief (July 2012).

Writers Read: Katia Lief.

--Marshal Zeringue