The Skinny Mystery: Who Is Charmaine?

Mia Goth would make a great Charmaine.

In my novel "The Skinny," which sees publication on March 24, one woman is particularly important. When Stan Kaminski makes a deal with a rich landlord to find this missing woman, he essentially has made a deal with the devil.
 
Charmaine Kazimierz is a brilliant but troubled woman who does not want to be found. In fact, she does not want to leave her apartment. Until recently, she worked as a server at Bertha’s, an East Village bar populated primarily by Polish Americans and immigrants. Some of Charmaine’s coworkers believe she is agoraphobic. She has stopped showing up to work.
 
It’s Charmaine that you see on the cover of “The Skinny,” moving through the half lit, rainy-swept streets of New York City.
 
As Stan discovers, there’s so much more to Charmaine than her need to stay inside and remain alone. Bad things have happened to her in the past, things grave and dark.
 
Charmaine finds it difficult to trust anyone. She wants to find her own way. Inside her soul, she is a strong woman who feels she does not need saving. But she has been daunted, and she has become enmeshed in a web of evil.

Charmaine and Stan explore what acquaintance means, what friendship means, and perhaps what love means. But, at the mystery's conclusion, does Stan really know Charmaine?  

If there were to be film version of "The Skinny," Mia Goth would make an excellent Charmaine.
 
In her role of Elizabeth in Del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” she is not a victim. She is a strong, opinionated woman who pushes back on Victor’s stupidity, madness and egomania. And her varied roles in director Ti West’s “X” horror trilogy, proves she has great range.

Do read "The Skinny" for yourself, and do let me know if I'm right about Mia Goth.