Goodreads asked Merry Jones:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Merry Jones In part, my most recent book, ELECTIVE PROCEDURES, takes Elle Harrison and her pals on a trip to Mexico, where one of them is having cosmetic surgery. The idea grew out of a trip to Mexico I took with my husband and cousins. The Puerto Vallarta setting and Mexican culture suggested uneasy contrasts between light and darkness, life and death--Common themes in Mexican holidays and art.
Beyond that, the novel is built around women's desires for physical beauty and what they will do to attain it. It deals with jealousy, competition. Suspicion. And love. These urges/emotions are part of everyone's life to a degree, but ELECTIVE PROCEDURES takes them to an extreme, and looks at what happens when they explode.
In addition, Elle's late husband Charlie reappears, raising questions about life and death, and supernatural possibilities. These are topics I love to consider. I found it a fun book to write, and I hope readers find it entertaining.

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