St. Paul writer Tasha Coryell is not a psychopath, but she might know a few. You may, too.

Tasha Coryell has thought a lot about psychopaths.

“They are walking around in regular life. They’re married, they have kids, they have prestigious careers,” said Coryell, whose debut novel, “Love Letters to a Serial Killer,” came out last year and whose “Matchmaking for Psychopaths” is due this month. “Presidents. Surgeons. Pilots. Anything where there is high stress is more likely to have a higher number of psychopaths because they can tolerate that.”

Superficial charm and lack of empathy are common traits of psychopaths, a term no longer used in the health care industry. But it is used in the darkly comic “Matchmaking,” in which antihero Lexie works at a Twin Cities firm that specializes in yenta-ing for psychos. Lexie may even be a psychopath herself, since she exploits others in a book-long scheme to reclaim her ex-fiancee.

As part of her research, the graduate of Golden Valley’s Rudy Perpich Arts High School (Coryell also has a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Alabama) dived into memoirs by psychopaths. But she knows many of us throw around the term more loosely than the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders would like.

“My husband once described himself as a sociopath about Alabama football. I sometimes call myself a psychopath because I like to get up every day at 5 to go running,” said Coryell, over coffee at St. Paul’s Spyhouse.

Lexie has a grim backstory that’s gradually revealed in “Matchmaking” but is hinted at in light-hearted-but-menacing statements such as, “The one thing my parents had taught me, the single thing that I knew thanks to them, was how to dispose of body parts.”

Having done serial killers and psychopaths, Coryell and her editor are discussing how to up the ante in her next book. I spoke with her about Bravolebrities, giving birth (to babies and books) and why the “Matchmaking” acknowledgments cite her dad and brother but not her mom:

Q: I love that blending humor and romance with instability the way “Matchmaking” does underscores that romcom characters often behave psychotically. Julia Roberts, in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” is out to torch a relationship and ruin the lives of people she supposedly loves!

A: I think that’s so true. There’s a Christmas movie I’ve watched a bunch of times, “Holiday in Handcuffs.” She just kidnaps a guy — I think it’s Melissa Joan Hart — and brings him to her parents’ house and they end up falling in love. That’s pretty common, right? “I had to kidnap this person but now we’re in love.”

Q: The main character in your novel is very into the “Real Housewives” franchises, and those people are clearly damaged.

A: A lot of the people in reality television could be diagnosed as something. I’m going through the “Housewives of Beverly Hills” now and, the first season of that show, there’s a whole plot of horrifying domestic abuse that is just covered up and the husband ends up committing suicide. There are a lot of things going on in these shows that are more complex and serious than anyone wants to give them credit for.

Q: Because they don’t sweep trauma under the rug?

A: Yeah. “Let’s give validation to things that are not taken seriously in the culture but that are indicative of what’s actually happening in our world right now.”

Q: Your book has similar insights. Lexie observes, “I understood why reality television stars wore full faces of makeup while lounging around the house. They needed to appear put together even when their lives were falling apart.” Can psychopaths really hide in plain sight?

A: One book I read, the writer made the argument that psychopaths can be really good friends or partners. They’re constantly mirroring what other people want them to be, so if there’s a behavior they know will make a person do what they want, they’ll act in that way.

Q: The tone of the book is unique, covering grim subjects but with this carefree verve. Was that hard to get right?

A: I went through a lot of drafts and at times I edged more toward absurdism or silliness. I knew if I put too much in, my editors would tell me to reel it back. But there were other times, they’d say, “I know this is about psychopaths but we need more of an emotional response. Her fiancée is missing. Tell us what her feelings are.”

Q: You were reluctant to engage with the emotions?

A: I think it’s very Minnesotan to shove down your feelings. When I first met my husband’s parents on the East Coast, they actually looked up “Minnesotans” online because they couldn’t tell: “Is Tasha happy? What is she feeling?”

Q: Do you think your friends worry about you, writing all this dark stuff?

A: I am very different from the characters in the book. I took a psychopath test online. It’s ranked on a scale of, like, 40 points and I ranked very low. I was surprised. I was like, “I thought I’d be more of a psychopath than this.” But one feature of it is being impulsive, and I did not realize that. In my head, it’s more about control and planning. That’s very much who I am.

Q: Can you identify where the darkness comes from?

A: I did have difficult teenage years. I had and continue to have a very difficult relationship to my mother. Those are things I was reluctant to put in the book. At first, I didn’t even have a mother character [for Lexie].

Q: So there are things you can work out in your writing?

A: Of course I take things from my life but, by and large, it’s not about me. I feel more comfortable in that realm. When I get to the emotions, it’s harder. This time, I started having nightmares about my mom and it felt like, “Oh no. I am summoning this into my life.”

Q: Speaking of which, lots of writers describe their work as like giving birth. For you, that was literal?

A: I queried all these agents [for “Love Letters”]. A month before my due date, the rejections flooded in and I started crying because I was going to be pregnant forever, I was never going to get an agent. Then, I finally got a nice message from an agent who said, “Let’s talk on Wednesday.” But I went to my doctor on Monday and she said, “It’s time to induce you.” So I had to call the agent and say, “Um, would it be OK to reschedule our meeting?” But it worked out. She’s still my agent. Trying to publish a novel and trying to have a baby are both very difficult and, for me, it all happened at the same time.

Q: You wrote several unpublished novels while you were getting your master’s degree and PhD and then teaching, but couldn’t sell them. Then you moved back home to St. Paul and, bam, two published novels. What changed?

A: I actually reached a point where I was like, “I’m just going to keep writing novels because I love it and not worry about publishing.” I think I got better at writing novels, too, but the important thing was I began to appreciate it more. Writers, the typical thing is, “Ugh, I have to write today.” But I started to feel the opposite: “Why are you complaining? It’s the most fun possible activity!”

Matchmaking for Psychopaths

By: Tasha Coryell.

Publisher: Berkley, 326 pages.

Event: 7 p.m. July 15, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Av., Mpls. Registration required.