How Lily Chu's interest in obituaries inspired a bestselling 'enemies-to-lovers' rom-com

CBC

22-05-2025

Lily Chu has always been fascinated by the obituaries — and particularly how they offer the final story of someone's life to the world.
"I'm in such awe of the responsibility of pulling those lives together and just kind of having the final say on what someone has contributed," Chu told CBC Books in an interview.
That long-standing interest takes centre stage in Drop Dead, Lily's Chu latest novel — smart enemies-to-lovers rom-com with a twist of mystery.
The novel follows two rival journalists: Nadine, now an obituary editor after a career setback, and Wes, an aspiring investigative reporter stuck writing lifestyle pieces. After Nadine accidentally publishes a premature obituary for a literary legend Dot Voline, she and her old rival are thrown together in a race against time to uncover a hidden scandal from Dot's past. With just weeks before Dot's eccentric mansion is sold, Nadine and Wes dive into the mystery — and their tension-filled history.
As the story unfolds, Drop Dead explores deeper themes, including racism, sexism and complicated parent-child relationships.
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Chu writes romantic comedies set in Toronto with strong Asian characters. Her debut rom-com novel was The Stand-In. She's also the author of The Comeback and The Takedown.
Like Chu's three previous novels, Drop Dead was released first as an audiobook — featuring award-winning actor Phillipa Soo, known for her role in the original Broadway run of Hamilton, and actor John Cho as the lead voices.
In her own words, Lily Chu shares how she wrote Drop Dead.
Balancing romance and mystery
"The romance always had to take centre stage — it was the primary focus at all times. That really guided how I approached the mystery elements. They were there to support the story of Wes and Nadine, the two main characters, and their relationship growth, rather than taking over the entire story like a typical mystery might. So it was really more about balance.
As I was writing it, I realized that mysteries are actually really hard to write.
"The biggest challenge was that the mystery hadn't originally been planned. It just sort of came up. As I was writing it, I realized that mysteries are actually really hard to write. Doing any mystery-related stuff is extremely difficult. I've always wanted to write a mystery, though, so this was a way to dabble in it. But, looking back, had I done it again, I would have plotted it out much, much more clearly for myself."
Big and wonderful
"I think she [Dot Voline] is my favourite character I've ever written. She is so epic. She's mega. Everything about her was fantastic.
"I think many of us have one of those kinds of women in our lives, like an older woman who is maybe nearing the end of her time here, and they have a lot of wisdom to give. They have not a lot of care left about how they give the message.
She's based on all of these women that I've met in my life who are just so honest and strong and have lived their life to the fullest - Lily Chu
"She's based on all of these women that I've met in my life who are just so honest and strong and have lived their life to the fullest. Like, they are just out there doing what they want to do. And her lifestyle reflects that — you know, the caftans, jewelry, the car — everything.
"I wanted everything about her to be big and wonderful. And just the kind of woman — she walks down the street and I'm like, 'I want to be like her in 20, 30, 40 years. You know, that's what I want to be.'
"She's not based on any particular author in general, but just an amalgam of all of the fantastic female writers out there."
Grounded in reality
"A lot of those topics — racism, inter-family strife, mental health, the general unfairness of life — that's something that everybody experiences. So, even though it's a rom-com, it would be odd to me to remove these aspects of what I consider kind of everyday life for a lot of people and have the characters exist in a world where those things don't exist.
"The way I've written the world is a contemporary Toronto. These are things that people who live in contemporary Toronto have to deal with. So, those are things that characters will naturally have to deal with themselves.
These are things that people who live in contemporary Toronto have to deal with.
"I personally really like books that also deal with these topics because I think that helps make the characters a little more grounded. And it also is more emotionally resonant.
"I think books are, and storytelling in general, is how we gain a lot of knowledge about the world and how other people react to experiences that we might be having ourselves.
"Wes' mom is not great, not the best mother he could hope for. She's very selfish, she's very demanding. She is someone who Wes has had a lot of trouble dealing with and shields his sisters from her. I really wanted to look at that dynamic of somebody who felt the need to step up and be a parent and what that meant kind of within the family and for that character himself — not just within the family, but also within his other relationships."
Inside the audio process
" Drop Dead is my fourth rom-com, and like the others, it was released in audio first because of my deal with Audible. My book deal covers both print and audio, so it comes out exclusively on Audible first, then later in print. Drop Dead came out in audio last summer.
"The creative process is actually really interesting because we all work on the book together. Normally, a writer works with one editor to shape the book — figuring out what's missing, what needs to be strengthened, what's working and what's not. But in this case, it's collaborative. My audiobook editor, my print editor, and I work as a team, which is great. They're both fantastic.
My audiobook editor, my print editor, and I work as a team, which is great.
"On the audio side, I submit a draft, and then my editor helps shape it into an audio version. And when I say 'we,' I mean she does most of the heavy lifting, and I add comments. We include a pronunciation key, notes on accents or speech patterns, even audio snippets if needed.
"We also make small changes to smooth the audio — like cutting redundant dialogue tags — but otherwise, the audio is about 99 per cent the same as the print.
"Philippa Soo has narrated all of my books so far, so she was always going to be Nadine. When they asked what I thought of John Cho for Wes, I said, 'Sure — call me if you get him.' And then they actually did. I nearly passed out.
"Philippa always fits my books really well. The way she performs the characters is fantastic — she brings so much brightness and nuance to the words. I completely trust her to do an amazing job.
"And John was amazing. When you're writing, the voices live in your own head. So when you finally hear the narrators, it's funny — you start to hear their voices mixed in with yours. Now, when I go through Drop Dead, I hear their voices in my head alongside mine."