Shirley Kennett wasn’t afraid of doing “icky research” to finish her book.

Author of the acclaimed mystery novel Gray Matter, Kennett had to delve into the psychological mind to understand the background of her fictional villain.

“I didn’t want a cardboard character bad guy,” Kennett said. “I wanted to use the villain to help tell the story. So, I had to do all kinds of icky research into psychological studies and motivations of serial killers.”

Kennett, who will be giving a reading at Big Table Books tonight, isn’t a writer by trade.

“My background is in computer science and applied math,” Kennett said. “Writing a crime thriller was a surprise for me, although I’ve always had a long interest in it.”

In addition to researching villains, Kennett had to do months of research into police procedures and virtual reality, a task which was both tedious and provocative.

“I believe in the ‘write what you know’ rule, but I also wanted the challenge of something new,” Kennett said.

Gray Matter isn’t Kennett’s first book. Previously she had written a science fiction book that “didn’t go very well.”

“The problem was that I wasn’t passionate about what I was writing,” she explained. “I wrote science fiction because I thought that’s what people wanted. Now I know to write what you care about.

“Crime fiction is such a fascinating genre,” Kennett added. “I hope to write a series of suspense novels in this field. Now it’s just a matter of keeping up with the technology.”

Kennett will be at Big Table Books tonight at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.