There are books that stay with you long after you read them. Books that immerse the reader directly into the plot, allowing them to experience the emotions of the main character as they navigate their way through the fictional world created by the author.
Is it the characters, setting, plot, or something more elusive that makes certain books so memorable?

Take one of my favorite classics, Wuthering Heights. Why is it so unforgettable decades after I read it? Wuthering Heights brings to mind the moors, the manor, unrequited love, tragedy, and revenge. But more than that, there is an eerie feel to it that leaves me haunted. It’s the haunting that stays with me. What specifically caused that response?
Perhaps the atmosphere?

How does an author achieve a particular ambiance? For me as both a reader and writer, the setting and the natural environment, along with the main character’s response to it, is integral to the atmosphere of a novel. Deliberate description of the setting, imagery connecting it to the theme of the novel, and the character’s inner thoughts as their surroundings impact them, along with dialogue, creates that atmosphere.

The interaction between characters and the time and space they inhabit brings the setting to life, as though it were a character in its own right. In Wuthering Heights, the desolate moors reflect Heathcliff’s gloomy disposition, and the societal expectations of the times result in a tragic outcome. The moors and this historical slice of society form a character as much as do Cathy and Heathcliff. Without this character we call ‘setting’, the book simply wouldn’t be as remarkable. Emily Bronte was very familiar with both the moors and Victorian society. It was her life. An author’s, and subsequently, the character’s immersion in a particular time and place elevates the plot off the page and into the life of the reader.

Like Emily Bronte, I set my characters into a location I know. Somewhere I’ve lived, a place I’ve visited and loved, a spot similar to one I know, a locale I have researched. The characters themselves are true to the setting, a blend of people I have known, met, or know of. And then there’s the fictionalization of it all where my writer’s imagination takes over from the reality.

In my latest mystery novel, Cold Query, the setting evokes an atmosphere of serenity. Port Ripley is a safe community—a small town set on the shores of Blue Water Lake with beautiful sunsets over the water. The residents are friendly, nodding and waving to passersby. People generally know each other. It’s so different from the bustling cities that are situated more than an hour away. Even the busy summer season attracts families looking for a peaceful day at the beach or unique shops in the downtown core. It’s a place I know well, inspired by a real lakeside town.

But that cozy feeling is threatened when a series of unexplained deaths occur, one on the heels of the other. A sense of unease builds into fear as police caution residents to be wary. When it becomes evident that there’s a serial killer in town, no one wants to believe it could be one of the locals. Because things like this simply don’t happen in the charming town of Port Ripley.

Ivy Rose, who moved to Port Ripley eleven years ago, lives an idyllic life, having escaped a traumatic past that still haunts her. As a respected highschool teacher and emergent writer, she is well-known in the community. The dangers that once pursued her are a distant memory replaced by pleasant thoughts of times spent on the beach, splashing in the water with her kids and soaking up the sun. Walks on the boardwalk and views of the gorgeous sunsets define her life. Calm, peaceful, like the lapping waves of Blue Water Lake. Familiar, safe, like the neighbors and townspeople she encounters on a regular basis.

Explicit description of a setting is crucial to a novel, and yet shouldn’t bog down the plot. And so, the reader sees the lake and town through the eyes of the characters. Their surroundings come to life through their inner thoughts, dialogue with other characters, and the effect of their surroundings on their lives set the scene in the reader’s mind. Ivy’s daily walks on the boardwalk, her weekly book club meetings, her school community, and the writing community in Blue Water Lake form the setting. So does her former friend, Detective Scott Evan’s view of the town and lake as he gets to know the business area, the lakeside, and the townspeople.

Character and setting become intertwined as Ivy’s safe haven transitions to a threatening environment where a murderer may be just down the street. Her past mixes with the present as Ivy realizes that no matter where she lives, danger follows. No matter how beautiful the setting, in Ivy’s world, it takes on a menacing stance. Unlike Wuthering Heights, there is no gothic-like mansion or eerie wind on the moors to define the atmosphere. Cold Query creates a feeling of fear by placing an unexpected danger—a serial killer—in the most beautiful and welcoming of backdrops. And as the threats escalate, the once calm and caressing waves become deep and dangerous undertows. Imagery plays a crucial role in the setting. As with the natural environment, the nature of people can be two-sided. A darkness lies beneath the surface.

Setting greatly impacts the story, leaving behind an aura long after the book is closed. The paradisiacal setting of Cold Query forms a contrast to the community’s terror with a serial killer at large. A fuzzy warm feeling mixes with the revelation that appearances can be deceiving, creating an atmosphere which may leave the reader wondering whether any place or any one can be a safe haven. Welcome to Blue Water. Take the plunge. And immerse yourself in the small-town atmosphere with the autumn chill of the lake that will seep into your bones and stay there.

Ivanka Fear is a Slovenian-born Canadian author. She lives in Ontario with her family and feline companions. Ivanka earned her B.A. and B.Ed. in English and French at Western University. After retiring from teaching, she wrote poetry and short stories for various literary journals. Ivanka is the author of the Blue Water Mystery series and the Jake and Mallory Thriller series. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, and Vocamus Writers Community. When not reading and writing, Ivanka enjoys watching mystery series and romance movies, gardening, going for walks, and watching the waves roll in at the lake.

By Andrea J. Johnson

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” or as one would write in steno, SKWRA*EUPBLG. What’s steno you ask? My novel’s main character, Victoria Justice, would say it’s the curious little language that has almost gotten her killed and earned her a front row seat to her town’s most heinous crimes. In actuality, steno—also known as shorthand stenography—is an abbreviated symbolic writing method done on a stenotype, which is a machine that increases the speed and brevity of writing compared to a standard computer keyboard. Thus, the goal of a person who uses stenography is to write as fast as someone can speak. But for me, steno is the inspiration for Poetic Justice, the first book in the Victoria Justice Mysteries, which launches its second and third installments in Spring 2025 and Spring 2026, respectively.

The character of Victoria Justice has lived in my brain since 2006—although back then I didn’t know what to do with her. She was inspired by the call for “original action stars” to compete in the reality TV series Who Wants to Be a Superhero? presented by Stan Lee. The premise of the show was for contestants to create characters who could become comic book heroes. In my mind, what better hero could there be than a court stenographer who seeks to undo bad verdicts through vigilante justice? But at that time, I hadn’t discovered my literary passion, so I couldn’t take advantage of the epiphany.

Cut to almost two decades later. By then, I’d left my full-time job as a courtroom stenographer to pursue writing and had started the search for a new novel idea. Luckily, I found my old notes on Victoria, tweaked her persona to read as more human than hero, and matched her up with highly fictionalized snippets of real-life court cases. And, voila, the Victoria Justice Mysteries were born.

Now, if you’re wondering about the tone of these books, they are a cross between traditional cozies and light legal thrillers (think Murder, She Wrote meets The Pelican Brief). Victoria Justice, is the story’s moral compass, so I devised a name that would leave no doubt about her ethics. She will always do what is right, and she will always prevail against evil. Sure, the moniker is a little on the nose as are most of the names in the series. However, I think that’s the best way to help readers quickly acclimate to the setting and identify the conflict. Of course, there’s also some backstory to the name. In the sixth chapter of Book 1, Victoria reveals that she’s adopted and that her birth mother was a teen hooked on drugs. Doctors had expected her to die from a neonatal opioid addiction, but she survived and her adopted mother named her Victoria in honor of her victory over death.

Even though the books are fictional, just about everything I experienced as a court stenographer has been crammed into this series—from brawls in the courtroom to missing evidence to bomb threats to gun-toting attorneys. And yet, the thing that’s had the most influence on Victoria’s characterization is the outward perception of the profession by those unfamiliar with what stenographers do. She’s often ridiculed for being the one person in the courtroom whose job it is to be seen, not heard. People ignore her, call her an overpaid notetaker, and assume she’s not very smart. I played into that a bit with the physicality as well by making her short and meek, but inside she has the ferocity of a panther and tons of snark. And while the thrust of the series is about solving murders, an equally large portion of it is about Victoria finding her voice and learning to stand up for herself. In a way, she becomes the town’s last bastion for morality by using the profession’s tenants of accuracy, honesty, and neutrality in the face of the law to claim her space in the world. She also finds love while maintaining her independence, which I think is a valuable lesson for young people today.

But because I’ve used several personal experiences to craft these books, all of my friends assume that Victoria Justice is my alter ego. After all, she’s a Black female like me, and I spent nearly ten years as a shorthand stenographer. However, that’s really where the similarities end between me and Victoria. If anything, we are polar opposites. Victoria loves her job and, despite the early childhood hardships of adoption and bullying, she is optimistic about working in the court system since that’s all she wants out of life. I, however, wasn’t a cheerful or disciplined court reporter because I knew my destiny lied elsewhere. I am much happier as a writer, but I love that the time I spent in the steno world has been memorialized in this series. Other than that, any crossover audiences think they see between Victoria and me is merely coincidental.

***
 
Andrea J. Johnson is a speaker, editor, book coach, and author of the Victoria Justice Mysteries. She also teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and her craft essays have appeared in several publications such as CrimeReads, Mystery Scene, and The Romance Writers Report. In addition, she has contributed commentary on popular fiction, films, and television as a freelancer writer for the entertainment websites Popsugar and The List. More notably, she’s authored a series of nonfiction books that include How to Craft a Killer Cozy Mystery, Mastering the Art of Suspense, and How to Craft Killer Dialogue. She has also given writing seminars on these topics through the Mystery Writers of America, Malice Domestic, Sisters in Crime, the International Thriller Writers Association, Women’s Fiction Association, and the Surrey International Writers’ Conference (Canada). When Andrea isn’t writing, teaching, or coaching, she loves dissecting reality television. Join her for those online conversations by visiting ajthenovelist.com or following her on Twitter (X), Pinterest, BlueSky, and Instagram @ajthenovelist.
 

Being an author is no longer about simply writing a book. That is the job of the writer. But an author has at least six different hats that they must wear. I have been publishing three books a year for the last five years and have been wearing all six of these hats throughout the course of a normal day. On six different books.
 
The first step in the evolution of a book is coming up with an idea. Inspiration for my books have come in a variety of methods. Many of my ideas for books have come from the daily news. Current affairs and my love of Robin Hood are the combination of ideas that have spawned my release this month of The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed, in which a modern-day Robin Hood and his not so merry band fight for justice for those wronged by the ultra-wealthy. But I have also gotten ideas from college professors (I am Cuba), in a bar (Mainely Power), and because of proximity to my daughter (Velma Gone Awry).
 
The second step in the evolution of a book is research. One of my early books saw me scrounging around in the tombs of the Bowdoin College archives (At Every Hazard). Hands on research is the most fun, though, and following the revolutionary war trail of Fidel Castro across Cuba and digging into the history of New Orleans (Love in a Time of Hate) ranks up there as two of the best. For my Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, I have taken to reading the 1923 and 1924 Brooklyn Eagle online at a site called Newspapers.com. The articles can be dry, but the social commentary and advertisements are fantastic.
 
The third step in the evolution of a book, writing, is the meat of the meal. As writers, we often get asked, what is the secret? No secret, folks. Sit down and write. It is like anything else, the more you write, the better you get. I don’t like to take breaks, so I write seven days a week, probably 350 days a year. I’ve found that if I were to take a weekend off, or even a day, or heaven forbid, longer, that I lose my rhythm. The way it works for me is that I write in the morning and spend the rest of the day planning what I will write the next day. No magic bean here. Sit your ass down and work at the craft and hopefully you gather up enough beans to grind up and make a cup of coffee the next day and do it all over again.
 
The fourth step in the evolution of a book is editing. My books have been known to go through nine edits. The first three edits are me getting the manuscript ready for the housecleaner, a.k.a., my paid for editor. He has worked with me on sixteen of my books and we have developed a wonderful rapport. He does three more edits. The first is my favorite, the developmental or global edits. Here, he makes suggestions on how to build scenes, characters, as well as cut and delete other pieces. I usually read these suggestions while going through the three stages of anger, denial, and acceptance. First, I curse him, second, I move to less rage and more that he is just plain wrong this time, and finally acceptance and make the change. My wife, who can find fault with me where nobody else can, then does a spit shine edit before sending it off to the publisher for two more edits.
 
The fifth step in the evolution of a book is marketing. This is when the author does the work once held by the publisher. No more. Which is fine by me, as I enjoy this business aspect of the career of being an author. My marketing involves two distinctive branches, the first being reaching out to reviewers, podcasters, bloggers, and other media avenues to promote my work. With each book, I tend to send out over a hundred queries for review. Over time, I have established about fifteen regulars and am always looking to grow that number. The second branch of my marketing involves reaching out to venues for onsite promotion. These involve libraries, bookstores, rotary clubs, retirement communities, book clubs, and pretty much anybody who will have me. I strive to query 200 of these such venues for each book.
 
The sixth and final step in the evolution of a book is promoting. These involve blogs and podcasts that have been set up in the marketing phase but are more focused on live venues. Last year, I did fifty-one book engagements. The bulk of these (thirty-seven), were COST TALKS at libraries where I talked about my books and writing to an audience. I love this, especially when there is an interactive and lively crowd of patrons.  Even if the turnout is low, I still believe this is beneficial to the process, as the library has spent a month promoting me and my books. Bookstore signings and talks at other organizations can be an equal amount of fun and help expand the base of my readership.
 
Those are the six different hats I wear every day for the evolution of a book, or books. I write first thing in the morning every morning. Without writing, none of the rest matters. Ideas are always floating around. Just this morning I saw a post about the Lumbee Indians who disrupted and dispersed a Klan rally in North Carolina in 1958. Boom. Idea. The day’s research usually holds a combination of a book not yet started, a book being written, and a book being edited. Marketing involves reaching out to the old faithful reviewers, podcasters, venue contacts, and whatnot, but also the grind of countless cold query letters looking for new blood.
 
I do love the final step of promotion. This is where I get to talk to an interviewer, fellow panelists, or an audience of interested readers. If you are interested in an interview, want me to come speak, or have more specific questions concerning the six hats worn by an author during the evolution of a book, please contact me at [email protected].
 
Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
 
Cost has published six books in the Mainely Mystery series, starting with Mainely Power. He has also published five books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, starting with Wolfe Trap. And finally, there are two books in the Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, starting with Velma Gone Awry. For historical novels, Cost has published At Every Hazard and its sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as well as I am Cuba. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed is his 17th published book.
 
 

There’s nothing worse than killing the wrong person.

If I said that to anyone other than mystery writers, I’d get myself arrested. Honestly, I think a night or two in the lockup might have been preferable to what happened when I realized I’d made a fatal error in the first draft of The Stuff of Mayhem.

The book, second in the Old Stuff series, begins with murder and, ahem, mayhem at the Fourth of July cannon firing in the tiny town of Unity, Connecticut. Historian Christian Shaw, her rainbow of found family, and her hot new boyfriend, prosecutor Joe Poli, now have to track the killer, relying on Christian’s knowledge of old things. The businessman who gets blown up made a perfect victim: slimy, pompous, and unethical, involved in a shady development project that threatened our sweet little community.

All good.

What wasn’t so good was the second death: the suspicious end of adorable ninety-something Edit “Amy” Taylor, a World War II bride who was studying for her long-delayed bat mitzvah with the town rabbi. Her death clears the way for a land sale that drives the topline plot, which we find out as we meet her various annoying relatives, one of whom turns out to have killed her with a hatpin to the skull.

Evil and creative, for sure.

And also entirely wrong.

Any writer with a couple of working brain cells could tell you it’s a huge mistake to kill off such an appealing character. As a matter of fact, Amy was happy to tell me herself, taking up a spot in my brain and refusing to leave as I started the first read-through of the manuscript.

Normally, I don’t have a traditional first draft. I do a quick edit of the previous day’s pages at the beginning of the next morning’s work as a way to get into the story. But I wrote this draft during NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month project many writers do in November.  Under the NaNoWriMo rules, you’re supposed to write as many words as possible and edit later.

Which I did.

There was a point, as I was writing the scene of Amy’s shiva (the traditional Jewish equivalent of calling hours) when I wondered what on earth I was doing. But then, the drive to finish the day’s words took over, and I kept on going.

NaNoWriMo has become problematic in the two years since I wrote the original Mayhem, but I learned my lesson during that read-through. About two chapters in, I started to get a nagging little feeling it wasn’t working. A tiny whisper: maybe this isn’t the right plotline.
By the end of the read-through, it was a scream. A window-shattering, Munch-painting howl of absolute anguish. Followed by several days of abject despair.

What on earth do you do when you’ve committed to something entirely wrong?

Well, I tried denial.

Maybe it was really okay, and I was just borrowing trouble as my Scottish grandmother
(and Christan Shaw’s, too!) used to say. I read it again. Nope. Still a mess, and it all stemmed from Amy’s murder.

So, there was nothing for it.

At the end of the day, it’s my work, and my name’s on it. It’s got to be the best it can possibly be when I turn it in. And killing off the bat mitzvah girl is a mistake.

You probably know how this ends by now.

Yep. Somewhere around three-quarters of the book ended up in the digital dustbin. And I started writing again. Without, thank you very much, an eye to daily word count targets.

The plot still revolves around the death of that rotten businessman at the cannon firing, and a land-use issue still becomes motive for murder. But, with a little inspiration from a real-life dispute over a Revolutionary War site in New York, Christian and her friends use their expertise on possible artifacts. And Amy’s very much alive, involved in the land-use issue, and studying for her bat mitzvah.

Now, the bat mitzvah is the setting for the big denouement – and Amy, unfortunate murder victim in the original draft – has the satisfaction of unmasking a killer.  Any more is a spoiler, so let’s just say Amy is a great addition to the cast in her new lease on fictional life.

Obviously, I’ve learned the hard way to think twice about who I kill. And to listen to that little caution voice. And The Stuff of Mayhem is a much, much better book.

So mazeltov to Amy…and me!

Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the Old Stuff and Ella Shane series, both from Level Best Books. Her stories, under her own name, and as Nikki Knight, have been in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, Mystery Magazine, and others, and short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. Active in writer’s groups, she’s served as Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and Co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Sisters in Crime Chapter. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

Novelists are often asked where they get their ideas. All writers know it’s an impossible question. Is there a muse that creeps into the writer’s nook, sprinkling idea dust across her desk? Perhaps. Maybe it’s divine intervention or a deceased writer channeling characters and scenes into the writer’s mind as she toils over the blank page.
 
All writers have their own approach. My ideas are stolen from everyday life, like a thief on the prowl for anything unusual, hilarious, gross or bizarre. I generally don’t have to look far as these things organically cross my path. The key is to pay attention and when it hits, I jot down observations on foolscap yellow notepads with an arsenal of rolling writer pens.
 
In my recently published kid-lit novel titled Ruby and The Boss Cricket, there’s an antique dresser discovered by Ruby, the protagonist, and the dresser is inhabited by an orchestra of crickets led by the Boss Cricket. The idea for the novel came when I discovered a dresser dumped by the curbside destined for the landfill. The dresser was scratched and water stained, but I know a thing or two about bringing old furniture back to life, so I hauled it home and refurbished it. Later that day I was skimming the pool and found a dead mole in the filter basket. I analyzed the waterlogged mole before putting it to rest in the woods. That night there was a cricket hiding in my room, chirping away at 2 a.m., causing sudden-onset insomnia. The foolscap notes from that day read: bossy cricket…jalopy dresser…drowned mole. I Googled mole and cricket and discovered that there is such a thing as a mole cricket. And so began the ideas for the first book in the Inspire Island series.
 
The sequel’s main character, Galvin the Tomte, was inspired by an adorable gnome garden statue that captivated my imagination. What if Galvin came to life and created mischief? What if only one girl could see him? What if they got together with Ruby and the Boss Cricket? The story took off from there and the novel will be published by Level Best Books in December 2025.
 
Recently, my spry 85-year-old mother popped over for lunch. We spent a lovely afternoon together on an otherwise bleak winter day, and I walked her to her car when it was time to leave.
 
“Be careful when you backup,” I said, pointing across the road. “I’m parked directly behind you.”
 
“I’ll try my best,” she said, grinning and revving her green Toyota Camry.
 
Cruuuunch.
 
She backed up into the bumper of my SUV, pumped the brakes, gunned the car into drive, and peeled down the block like Kurt Russell in Death Proof.
 
Foolscap entry: Short story idea. Working title Hitskip based on police slang for a hit-and-run. Mother hits daughter’s car, speeds home to her retirement community, finds her book called Old School Hacks, and whips up a toothpaste concoction to buff out the scratch on her car. The green Camry paint and the toothpaste concoction is a Leprechaun attraction-agent. Soon the elderly mother’s apartment is inundated with leprechauns…The ending hasn’t hit me yet, but I have my pad and pen ready for when it shows up. Perhaps I should invite my mother to lunch again.

​
Julie Sampson is the author of two novels, The Eye in the Ceiling and The Winter Hexagon, and two non-fiction books, Elite Wrestling and Beginning Wrestling. Ruby and the Boss Cricket is the first novel in the Inspire Island Middle Grade series. 

There’s a lot to love about cozy mysteries. Almost always, they begin in a picturesque small town filled with quirky characters we can easily imagine as our neighbors and friends.
 
While a thriller might keep us on the edge of our seats, a cozy mystery pulls us into our favorite reading chair with a cup of hot coffee or tea. Even the covers of cozies are warm and fuzzy, with bright colors and pun-filled titles.
 
Once we have selected our book, we can settle in for a fun read, where the language is clean and the murder takes place off-screen. Within the first chapters, we get acquainted with the village, find our way to the local library, and pick up a little gossip along the way.
 
The conclusion of a cozy must be as satisfying as playing an old-fashioned game of Clue, where the crime fits nicely into a logical outcome. “Naturally, Col. Mustard committed the murder with a candlestick in the kitchen,” we will announce to ourselves when the book ends. “That is exactly what I predicted.”
 
All of these aspects of a cozy mystery make us feel as comfortable as when we’re padding around in our pajamas at home. But the undisputed star of the cozy mystery is the amateur sleuth. She (because most are women) stumbles into a murder scene and quickly realizes she must solve the crime. No one else is as capable as she, for this dangerous task.
 
When others question the sleuth’s reasoning, she adeptly argues her point with one of several reasonable explanations:
 
“The murder occurred on my property.”
“I knew the victim.”
Or, “I’m on the suspect list and must clear my name.”
 
Without hesitation, she throws herself wholeheartedly into the search for the killer. As readers, we abandon all logic to support her zeal. In fact, we fall in love with her enthusiasm.
 
We adore the amateur sleuth because she is an ordinary person, placed into an extraordinary situation. We understand her, and admire her. Like us, she’s an everyday woman, taking on the world to get the job done in her own community. Before we know it, we have pledged our allegiance to her cause and are determined to help her identify the murderer and bring him to justice.
 
Never mind that the professionals want her to quit meddling in their case, the amateur sleuth cannot be stopped. Whether she is a bookstore owner, a nosy senior citizen, or an inquisitive news reporter, our main character is always a few steps ahead of the real detectives. We love to root for the underdog, and the amateur sleuth gives us plenty of opportunity.
 
She is generally likeable and well intentioned, even when she puts herself in harm’s way. She has no real training for the task, though she’s pretty good at solving puzzles, or dabbling in research on the Internet. Whatever her background, she is confident of her ability to be of assistance. Naturally, we are drawn to her: we see ourselves, in her adventures.
 
In some cases, the amateur sleuth has “super powers” that contribute to her success—ESP, or a connection to a well-informed ghost, perhaps. While cozy mysteries with a hint of the supernatural are fun to read, my favorites are still the ones that feature a smart, loveable, imperfect woman who solves the case with nothing but her wits, hard work, and a little help from her friends.
 
Inevitably, the cozy mystery plot is filled with twists and turns that keep our amateur sleuth guessing until the end of the story. Despite all the setbacks, the amateur keeps going. She surprises us with her resourcefulness, driving around all the obstacles until she finds her way to the end. And we, her loyal companions, are happy to be along for the ride.
 
Anna St. John writes cozy mysteries featuring a mature yet feisty former crime reporter, Josie Posey, as the amateur sleuth. Her debut novel, DOOMED BY BLOOMS, was released by Level Best Books in February 2023, followed by CLOCKED OUT in 2024. DOLLED UP FOR MURDER is the third book in the Josie Posey Mystery Series. Anna is a former journalist, award-winning advertising copywriter, and ad agency owner. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Kansas Authors Club. 

On January 14th, LBB released my sixth novel, a domestic thriller titled Deadly When Disturbed by D.M. Barr, which is a modern take on Single White Female. In the Spring, they will release my eleventh book overall, the first of my multi-volume nonfiction series called Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, which I wrote under my actual name, Dawn M. Barclay. (The Mid-Atlantic volume, featuring NY, NJ, and PA, comes out in September.) Since you are Level Best fans, invested enough to read our blog, I thought it might be fun to give you a bit of backstory and insight into these books, the inside scoop, as it were.

Deadly When Disturbed

I got the idea for the book, and specifically for the character Merry from the dissolution of a long-term friendship that went sour in 2016, just around the time my first book came out. A former actor, this person loved being the center of attention, but that’s where the similarity ends. She was not a tacky dresser, nor did she have any criminal or murderous tendencies. This was definitely a case of applying “What if...?”

I softened the Merry character by giving her a pet cause, fundraising to release captive dolphins back into the wild. A while back, I saw a documentary about a dolphin kept in a pool at a hotel for the amusement of its patrons. The creature was all alone in the water, with no stimulation, and only one plastic toy to play with. It broke my heart then, as it does every time I remember that poor, lonely mammal. I saw similarities between the dolphin and Merry’s back story, so it seemed like a good fit.

The shards of glass on the cover have a special meaning, because not only do they reflect two different people who resemble each other, but the book is also about the false faces we show both to others and to ourselves. (I can hear the lyrics to Billy Joel’s The Stranger playing in my head right now.). The shards are also meaningful because the book is about people who wreck homes, but also homes that wreck people (Dara’s architect husband’s hands were sliced to pieces by an imploding glass door at a job site.)

The novel’s autism theme came from my research for another book I wrote called Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). Having personal experience with individuals with autism, I had actually suggested the idea of ‘Birthday Parties for All’ to a local ARC chapter, but it never went anywhere. As I often do in my books, I take a legitimate, if unproven, business idea and fictionalize it. The wonderful thing about fiction is, all businesses can work if that’s my aim.

Deadly When Disturbed is the third of my novels to involve Rock Canyon Realty. (I’m a Realtor who works in Rockland County, NY.) The first, Expired Listings, involves a serial murderer who was killing off all the unethical real estate agents in town (meaning all of them) and no one cared. (The locals considered it a public service; the other agents saw it as less competition). What can I say, I love satire. In truth, 99% of agents are honest, hardworking people; it’s the 1% that end up in my books. The second, The Queen of Second Chances, features the stepdaughter of the local queen of mobile home sales, who reluctantly helps “Queen Bea” break into the elder market by infiltrating a senior center as a recreational aide. (I’d say this was purely satire but someone I work with—who I didn’t know at the time I drafted the book—specializes in selling mobile homes and volunteers for Meals on Wheels. He loved QOSC, by the way, and bought a second copy to send to his mom.)

But, despite the generally satiric nature of those previous books, the idea of Dara Banks using Ruben Bockelman’s kidney dialysis against him to secure a listing in Deadly When Disturbed was based on real life. I had a friend at my first real estate agency who confided she had breast cancer, then swore me to secrecy. She was sure that if other agents found out, she would lose potential listings, much as Ruben did. Sadly, that agent is gone now but we kept her secret secure at the time and her business never faltered because of her ailment.
 
Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide

There’s not as much backstory with this one. I conceived of the idea in September of 2022 during the Bouchercon convention in Minneapolis. (Bouchercon is the world mystery conference; it’s named after mystery writer, reviewer, and editor, Anthony Boucher.)  One of the pre-conference activities was a true crime tour of Minneapolis and St. Paul and since I’d never taken a tour like that before, I signed up. Not only was it fascinating, but it also got me wondering if anyone had ever published a reference guide listing all the true crime tours around the world.

The idea of my book took off from there, because not only did such a book not exist, but there was also considerably more to include than just those tours. My Vacations Can Be Murder guides  detail the summaries of major crimes; a listing of where to read more; hotels and restaurants that were formerly jails, or courthouses, or are reportedly haunted; true crime and ghost tours’ museums and other crime and justice-related attractions; the local prisons, where the bodies are buried; and itineraries to see all the true crime sites, including the street names where the actual crimes took place.

There will likely be ten volumes, though that could grow. For example, my second book was supposed to cover six states—NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, and DC—but because the first three had so much crime (especially New York!), I had to move DE, MD, and DC to a “Capital Regions” edition that will also include VA and WVA. So, I think it’s conceivable that Florida and Texas might end up with their own volumes, but I won’t know until I get there.
 
If you have questions about the thriller or the true crime series, or would like me to speak to your book club, please don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. You can follow me at www.dmbarr.com and www.vacationscanbemurder.com, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky at authordmbarr. Happy reading!

Dawn Barclay/D.M. Barr is an award-winning author who writes psychological, domestic, and romantic suspense. Her published books include Expired Listings, Murder Worth the Weight, Saving Grace: A Psychological Thriller, The Queen of Second Chances, and Simple Tryst of Fate. Dawn recently finished her second stint co-editing a Sisters in Crime NY/Tri-state chapter anthology, New York State of Crime, which includes her third published short story, Orchestral Removals in the Dark. In December 2025, Down & Out Books will publish Better Off Dead, Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, which she conceived and edited solo. A member of ITW and SinC-New England, she has served as president of Hudson Valley Scribes, vice president of Sisters in Crime-NY, and the newsletter author/board member of the NY chapter of Mystery Writers of America. 

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“When you die, I believe, God isn’t going to ask you what you published.  God’s going to ask you what you wrote.” (McNally, T.M. “Big Dogs and Little Dogs,” in Martone, Michael, and Susan Neville. 2006. Rules of thumb: 73 authors reveal their fiction writing fixations. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books).

There’s a certain wisdom to that remark, but, with all due respect to McNally and to God, the Almighty isn’t in my target demographic.  God, perhaps, will read my unpublished manuscripts, but the ladies in the Hungry Readers Book Club won’t read my books unless they’re published.

Now that The Other has been released, I find myself pondering two questions that readers often ask me.

Where do your story ideas come from?

Every book starts from an idea. Where do these story ideas come from? In the case of The Other, I found the story idea when I went down a rabbit hole. I trust you know what I mean. You start out searching for a certain bit of information. You have the best of intentions, but something grabs your attention, and you’re pulled just a little bit off course. Then there’s another grabber, and another, and before you know it, you’ve lost sight of your original question and instead you’ve spent the day reading about Camp Wille und Macht. At least, that’s what I did.

Camp Wille und Macht was the first Nazi youth camp in America, established in the summer of 1934 on the banks of  the Delaware-Raritan Canal. It only stayed open for a few weeks, but it became the prototype for camps in New York and New Jersey, as well as other sites scattered across the country.

I don’t write nonfiction. But I believe that fiction can reveal emotional truths in a way that a strictly factual account cannot. I set out to write a fictional account of a Nazi youth camp, on a fictional canal in a fictional New Jersey. And like most writers of fiction, I started with a simple What if?

What if the lock tender on the canal was Jewish? What would his  life be like if one hundred teenagers dressed in brown shirts erected tents in a field that abutted his home? What if those brown shirts spent their days marching along the towpath?
And then I asked myself, What if those brown shirts returned today? What would you do to protect your family if the Nazis came to town?

When does the book become real to you?

When I first get the idea for a book, the story exists in my head, only. I’ll carry that imaginary world around in my head for months, perhaps years. There are milestones along the way. A finished manuscript. A book contract. Final edits. A book cover. Advanced Reader Copies. The book release.

Then something remarkable happens. After the book is published, a stranger reads the book. Maybe you. And the story that was stuck in my head, gets stuck in your head too. That’s when the book becomes real to me. When the story that was stuck in my head, through the magic of reading, gets stuck in your head too.

The Other is a story of faith lost and faith found. Although the story is fictional, the problem of hate is all too real. And it is not ancient history.

If you read The Other, if the story gets stuck in your head, perhaps you’ll spare a moment to reach out and let me know. That’s the reality that makes a writer start thinking about the next great story.

Jeff Markowitz is the author of six mysteries, including the award-winning dark comedy, Death and White Diamonds. Jeff spent more than forty years creating community-based programs and services in New Jersey for children and adults with autism, including twenty-five years as President and Executive Director of the Life Skills Resource Center, before retiring in 2018 to devote more time to writing. In October 2021, a puzzle hunt based on Jeff’s novella, Motive for Murder raised more than $1 million for at-risk children in NYC. Jeff is a past President of the New York Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. He lives in Monmouth Junction NJ with his wife Carol and two cats, Vergil and Aeneas. 


 

I am a cozy mystery writer who decided one day to write what I call a historical cozy.  I enjoy reading historical fiction, but I would never consider myself a historian. But I loved the idea of using a historical event as the setting for a cozy mystery. That’s when Dot Morgan became my latest heroine. I placed her in the early sixties and gave her the not-so- glamorous job of secretary. This occupation was a splendid vehicle to put her in various work settings, but always in her small town in Texas. It also meant Dot would keep losing her job. To date, she’s lost three jobs, yet amazingly keeps getting hired.
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In the second book in my Swinging Sixties Series, If I Had a Hammer, I placed Dot and her cousin Ellie on the grassy knoll on November 22, 1963. Think about the writing hurdles here. Everyone knows this scene because they have seen it or read about it countless times, both in fiction and nonfiction. The assassination of John F. Kennedy is an event that some generations use as a “Where were you?” moment. Readers know the history of this day, so the thought of getting it wrong is not something I wanted to do.

The writing challenge was intimidating since my cozy characters pretty well plotted their lives around bake sales and beauty shop gossip. A presidential assassination brought a very non-cozy element into my story. I took a cue from historical writers and immersed myself in research. I studied black-and-white photos of the people who stood along the parade route on November 22 and then wrote my two characters in the middle of them. They were elbow to elbow with people in headscarves and boxy black glasses.  As the motorcade approached, I focused on my two young women.

What would they be thinking before the assassination?

They would look at Jackie Kennedy. My mother was obsessed with all things Jackie. She bought clothes in Jackie style and even mimicked her hairstyles. Yes, these characters would look at the first lady’s outfit and feel the way I remember my mother feeling. They would have great respect for a woman they had never met. They would refer to the president and his wife as Jackie and John, as if they knew them personally.

When the shooting started in my story, I zeroed in on Dot who was winding the wheel of an Instamatic camera. My reason for doing this, instead of her witnessing the entire horrific scene as her cousin did, was to keep Dot’s viewpoint at a safe, cozy distance. Ellie, the cousin, sees the whole thing and goes through PTSD after this scene. Dot, who I’ll need to solve a murder in her small town, remains a bit more removed. She never looks up, but only through the eyehole of the lens, and then to the wheel on the back of the camera to forward the film roll.

Cozy mysteries are about a sense of safety in the middle of a murder investigation. Miss Marple was rarely in danger, and if she were, she carried knitting needles. In writing a cozy historical mystery, I put my characters in a little more danger than Agatha Christie did, but they are still cozy with their three-network television, wind-up watches, and Instamatic cameras. I typically borrow more from Mayberry than the realities of that Dallas parade route in 1963.

After this book, I put Dot to work in a radio station in Listen, Do You Want to Hear a Secret? and in 2025 she’s working in a funeral home in the upcoming release, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. It was the only job she could get because people kept dying in her other jobs.

Dot Morgan tackles the sexism and racism of the sixties, along with overcoming her own stereotype of being a young, attractive, blond secretary (she must be simple-minded because she’s blond). I love including the history of this period because it gives my cozy mystery another layer of story. But don’t worry, even historical cozies will have plenty of bake sales and beauty parlor gossip.
 
 
Teresa Trent writes the Swinging Sixties Cozy Mystery Series as well as several other cozy mystery series from her home in Houston Texas. She is also the voice of Books to the Ceiling, a podcast that features narrated excerpts from new mysteries coming onto the market.  You can find her online at teresatrent.com and teresatrent.blog.

I got hooked on reading mysteries early. My dad was a sea captain on a cargo ship and his ports of call were along the eastern seaboard of the United States. I’d give him a list of books I wanted, and he’d scour the bookstores for me. He’d come home with Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys books. The characters were kids a little older than me, and the mystery was something that had to do with family or friends.
 
Soon enough, I moved on to Agatha Christie, followed by Carolyn Hart and Sue Grafton. Those were books that made me stop and say, “I want to do this one day”.
 
Why did I read mysteries so much?
 
There was a puzzle to be solved. Often, there was a murder. And figuring out who did it kept me turning the pages. I loved, absolutely loved, figuring out who did it. But more than that, I needed to know why.
 
The main characters were always someone who tried to do their best and come up with answers. They weren’t always police officers, sometimes they were just regular people. Women were smart, resourceful, and courageous. They solved crimes differently than men did. And they didn’t wait around to be rescued by some guy. They did it themselves.
 
The mysteries I read took me to different places around the world, far from my small village along St. Mary’s Bay. The details provided by the authors painted the settings well.

Mysteries provided me with an escape, one page at a time. Justice was served. The bad guy/girl got caught and sent away. 
 
In my first book for Level Best Books, Death at the Scottish Broch, I’ve worked to include the pieces of mysteries that I’ve enjoyed as a reader.
 
My main character, Dr. Mia Reid, is an archaeologist. She’s smart and resourceful. And not afraid to stand up for herself, her students, or for Ethan, the victim in this book. Ethan isn’t only Mia’s colleague; he’s a good friend. And his death rocks Mia to her core.

Mia digs deep to learn who killed Ethan and why they did. She also defends him against charges of artifact smuggling. She’s determined to clear his name and solve his murder.

The supporting cast of characters helps the story unfold. Mia can lean on them for feedback and a different perspective. They include locals from the Isle of Skye; the students working with Mia on the dig; Mia’s Gran back in Lakeview City; and Mia’s former lover, Luke Forbes, who’s now working for Interpol. Each of them contributes to the narrative in their own way.
 
The location for Death at the Scottish Broch is the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. It’s a magical place. Brooding mountains, green valleys, waterfalls, lochs, and the people. And it’s a little remote. You take a ferry or cross a bridge to get there. The area where I’ve set the dig is rugged, windy, and isolated. A perfect setting for a mystery.
 
 
So, yes. Mysteries matter. They can entertain, educate, and provide the reader with an escape from everyday life.  
 
If my books provide a reader with a few hours of entertainment and escape from the real world, I’m happy.
 
Thanks for reading!
 

Rose Kerr writes mysteries featuring strong, smart, women protagonists who must draw on their wits and resourcefulness to solve the crime.

Rose was born in a small community in Nova Scotia and has traveled across Canada.

Her working career included employment in figure skating, non-profit organizations, and in distance education.

More recently, Rose and her husband have moved to Southern Ontario. When she isn’t writing, Rose and her husband enjoy exploring the new region.
 

Winston Churchill is credited with saying “Never, never, never give up.”  Even though attempting to be a published author isn’t the same as surviving the Nazis’ bombings, Churchill’s mantra has echoed in my head for decades and has helped me keep my spirits afloat through pages and years of rejection letters, or worse, the echo of silence.

While I often say that I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was seven, it wasn’t until I received my MFA in my 40’s that I felt worthy enough to officially try. Did I need the MFA to write? No, but I did need it for courage, community, and a push—I had to write to justify the graduate school expense. Also, craft, as we know, can be taught, and I did have a lot to learn. I still do.

But, two, three, four years out of graduate school, and I still hadn’t published my original novel. No agent had an interest in me, and I grew tired of rewriting it over and over and over to make it better. (Was I actually making it better, anyway?) 
Then, by chance, I took a seminar given by Steve Berry, successful thriller writer. He shared that his first seven novels were still in a drawer. “Keep writing,” he said to the class.

His comment gave me permission to start a new story. That novel didn’t sell either. 
I wrote a third one. It also didn’t sell.

So, I wrote a fourth. Then a fifth. 
With the sixth, I thought I had a winner. Who isn’t intrigued by the Lizzie Borden saga? Nope. Struck out again.

All six novels are still in a “drawer,” so to speak.

Another turning point came when I gave up my search for a literary agent. I’m not anti-agent, at all, but coming up with a different mindset was freeing. The first glimmer of this idea came from a zoom conference that had representation from the three main avenues to publication: self-published, traditionally published with an agent, and traditionally published without an agent.  The latter had had an agent, for years, who never sold his book. He finally struck out on his own and landed a contract with a small press.

I also attended a conference where multiple writers spoke of agents who had found editors who were interested in publishing their work, but the editorial board of the publishing houses voted the works down. 
I thought of my years of struggling to find an agent to only have another round of disappointment heaped on if the agent never sold my work. “Why let two hundred and fifty people dictate my writing career?” I said to myself.  I know there are more than two hundred and fifty agents, but it seemed for my genre, I kept running into the same ones online and at conferences. Going beyond the agent process mentally opened me up to new possibilities. 
My friend and fellow writer, Cheryl, always says that until we actually land a book contract, we write in the dark. Even though we have feedback in our writers’ groups, we never know if what we’re really doing just needs a tweak here or there, because, commercially, agents and editors dismiss us. We have no true validation of our work.

One day, I also asked Cheryl for creative advice. “Should I rewrite my fifth or sixth novel, or start the Midcoast Maine Mystery series?” I had pages of notes for the 3M series, as I call it.

“Start fresh,” she said. “Start that series.” 
As she said the words, a raven sat on a branch outside of my window. 
“Ok,” I said, “and my protagonist’s name is Raven.”

Raven Oueltte was born in my seventh novel, Blaze Orange. The book was set up to fit into a series mold, not to compromise myself or to write to the market, but to recognize that if I wanted to be a true mystery writer, I could follow a character-driven plot formula with all the ideas that I had been gathering. Yes, Maine is a character too. There’s a reason so many mystery writers live here. 
Finally, my story worked! Level Best Books will publish Blaze Orange, the first in a series, in January.  I couldn’t be more elated.  Fourteen years and seven novels later. While I always say to never give up, and I hadn’t, it still all feels like a dream.

If you have a dream, whatever it is, keep at it—keep learning, and listening to feedback, and trying again, and again, and again. Unless it’s becoming a ski jumper in the next Olympics, chances are it’s never too late for you either.

​Allison Keeton lives in Maine with her muse, Tom, and their two dogs. 

She has twice been accepted into Rutger University’s invitation-only writers’ conference and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. Additionally, she received an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University.

Besides writing mysteries, she has written numerous business articles and published a book on job hunting called Ace that Interview. She also writes a creative non-fiction blog, Largest Ball of Twine.

Close your eyes and try to remember the last time you heard an accent. Was it spoken by a friend, a colleague, someone in line at the store, or maybe a telemarketer? What were the first assumptions that came to mind when you heard those accented phrases or words? Whatever you thought, your perception or judgment was likely shaped by both personal experience and the media.

In entertainment, accents are used to establish a character in seconds. Think Gloria Pritchett’s passionate Columbian lilt in Modern Family, Kamala Nandiwadal’s Indian inflection in Never Have I Ever, or (Nintendo) Mario’s Italian cadence. Accents hint at a character’s background without the use of words or action scenes, reflecting society’s diversity. But accents aren’t simple tools to play with as their portrayal leads to social categorization (the natural cognitive process by which we place individuals into social groups) and prompts conversations on authenticity, diversity, and stereotyping.
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A ”new comer” in the “accent realm” is Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS), a speech disorder I explore in Threads of Deception, my novel about a criminal attorney who switches career paths after a bomb destroyed her firm and left her with a French-sounding speech disorder. But FAS is more than an amusing plot twist, it challenges our notion of linguistic identity and what it means to sound foreign or native.

Accents aren’t just flavors—they shape perceptions of intelligence and what it means to be American. Did you know that Americans speak roughly 30 major dialects of English and that there are more than 350 languages spoken in the United States? Consequently, the US hosts a large number of accents, reflecting the country’s history and beautiful tapestry of cultures.
But, some accents, like the General American accent and the Queen’s English, have always had a superior status, gifting its speakers with assumed authority, intellect, or prestige, while others suffer from opposite assumptions. This bias places Claire Fontaine, the California-born-and-raised protagonist of Threads of Deception, under a constant microscope, her competence and presence being questioned. Though portrayed humorously, similarly to Adrian Monk’s obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias in the series Monk, the concept of accent discrimination is an important matter which requires attention.

The same is true with speech disorders. Individuals with conditions like lisp, stutter, or dysarthria often face additional layers of judgment based on how they speak. Just as with accents, society often attaches unfair assumptions about intelligence, capability, or even personality to those with speech impediments. This reality stresses the need for accurate and sensitive representation in media, as it directly impacts the perceptions and treatment of individuals dealing with such challenges.

Research has shown that media representation of accents shape how we view them and the people who speak with them. When accents become punchlines or stereotypes, it's not just harmless fun— such practice can fuel prejudice and keep harmful stereotypes alive. That is why storytellers need to handle accents with care and abandon the clichés in favor of authentic and nuanced representations. Speech impediments should be subject to the same considerations.

Through our stories, we can challenge stereotypes, champion inclusivity, and celebrate the wonderful diversity of our world. By including characters with accents or speech disorders authentically and respectfully, we not only enrich our narratives but also contribute to a more compassionate and understanding society.

Elle Jauffret is a French-born American lawyer, former criminal attorney for the California Attorney General’s office, and culinary enthusiast. She holds a Master of Laws from Université Côte d’Azur Law School (France) and a Juris Doctorate from the George Washington University Law School (USA). She is an avid consumer of mystery and adventure stories in all forms, especially escape rooms. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters In Crime, and International Thriller Writers. She lives in Southern California with her family. You can find her at https://ellejauffret.com or on social media @ellejauffret.

Autumn Embers, the third book in my Batavia-on-Hudson mystery series, is a story about family, friendship and identity. When I stopped to write this essay, I realized that identity is a theme I return to over and over.
 
So much of my writing has to do with characters attempting to fit in, trying to feel comfortable, getting to know themselves. Be it in a new community, in a profession, in a relationship, or even in their own skin. They are testing their potential, overcoming their personal blocks.
 
The Batavia-on-Hudson series started with Winter Witness where Bianca St. Denis is working to be accepted as a member of her new community, a small village in the Catskill Mountains, and learning how to live as a new young(ish) widow. It’s a new identity for her and she’s not sure she is ready to embrace it. Many of the other characters are also flailing: the local troublemaker teenager who can’t seem to shed the bad boy image no matter how hard he tries, the new young doctor in town who doesn’t measure up to Old Doc, the quiet Japanese man who lives alone in the hills above the village. They are all searching to know themselves and where they fit. 
 
Dead Man’s Leap, Book 2, is where Bianca comes to grips with her grief and learns what’s important to her. In fact, the entire community deals with a storm that causes enough damage that they all have to reassess what is important to them and their identity. They learn to cut their losses (material and emotional) and move forward with their lives.
 
It’s no surprise to me that I write on this subject. As a child, I was painfully shy and my affliction was complicated by a lifestyle of frequent house moves, including a major one out of the country. I needed to fit in again and again. And just as I thought I had it under control, we’d relocate one more time. Needless to say, these moves were very difficult for someone like me, but in the long run, I learned a great deal from these disruptions. Each time I settled in my new community, I was able to peel off a layer of my shyness—of my identity—until one day it no longer debilitated me. I had shed one version of me and replaced it with another version I preferred: someone more adventurous and more comfortable in my own skin. Each new location taught me that I could remake myself over and over.
 
I started investigating these ideas in my writing years ago. Some of my first pieces of short fiction were on the subject of my childhood as a daughter of immigrants. How I never really understood my friends. How I had to mold myself to be like them, dress like them, eat the foods they ate, and listen to the music they liked. In fact, one Friday in grammar school, after being embarrassed during recess for not knowing a pop song, I spent the entire weekend with my transistor tuned into WABC to introduce myself to all the hottest songs. By the time I returned to school on Monday morning, I knew them all, along with every word of their lyrics. This incident was the basis of my flash fiction piece entitled “Lost in America.” So, no, it’s no surprise to me that I write about identity.
 
As I said above, Book 3 - Autumn Embers, is a story about family, friendship and identity. Ian, Bianca’s son, has made a new life for himself in Japan. There, he has embraced the expatriate community and as a result, they have become like family—his chosen family. Bianca must come to terms with this painful realization, but she also learns that she has done the same thing in Batavia. She too has chosen her new family in the villagers of Batavia. Many of the expat characters in Autumn Embers are grappling with these same notions. They learn just how malleable their identities can be. In the meantime, at home in Batavia, Mike Riley, the sheriff and Bianca’s love interest, is grappling with his own issues. It looks like he may not be re-elected as sheriff and he has no idea how to not be a law enforcement officer. As if that weren’t enough, he has learned news about his partners death from years ago that calls into question who Sal really was. And Mike does this all while learning how to live his new life as a separated bachelor. He is in flux and learning the depth and complexity of his own identity.
 
My experience has shown me that my identity has many layers and many iterations. I have taken these lessons, shared them with Bianca and the others, and enjoyed watching each character evolve on the page.
 
 
This essay first appeared on the Wall-to-Wall Books Blog on October 23, 2024
https://wall-to-wall-books.blogspot.com/2024/10/autumn-embers-guest-post-by-tina.html

Tina deBellegarde’s debut novel, "Winter Witness", was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. "Dead Man’s Leap", her second book in the Batavia-on-Hudson Mystery Series, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel. Reviewers have called Tina “the Louise Penny of the Catskills.” Tina also writes short stories and flash fiction. Her story “Tokyo Stranger,” nominated for a Derringer Award, appears in the Mystery Writers of America anthology When a Stranger Comes to Town, edited by Michael Koryta. Tina co-chairs the Murderous March Conference and is a founding member of Sleuths and Sidekicks, where she blogs, tours virtually, and teaches writing workshops. She is a member of Writers in Kyoto and reviews books for BooksOnAsia.net. She lives in Catskill, New York with her husband Denis and their cat Shelby. She travels frequently to Japan to visit her son and daughter-in-law and to do research. Tina is currently working on a collection of interconnected short stories set in Japan. Visit her website for more: https://www.tinadebellegarde.com/

Want to add more punch to your prose? Sometimes a little research into the setting of your story is what’s needed. Research adds depth and authenticity to novels. It can be the defining feature between a work and a work of art.
 
As a historical fiction writer, I have to make my readers feel at home in Eighteenth Century Colonial America. In order to do that requires a great deal of delving into the details of daily life in this time frame. How did people dress? What did they eat? What were the social norms? People did not wear underwear in the 18th century. Underneath their clothes they were remarkably well ventilated. Modern underwear did not come into being until later in the 19th century.
People and societies evolve over time. What was commonplace in one time period would be flat out weird in another.  One example in the Western world between the mid 16th century and the late 19th century young boys and girls dressed alike in gowns between the ages of two and up to eight. The gowns were seen as gender neutral and made toilet training easier among other reasons. The goal of a good historical writer is to propel their reader back in time so that they feel they are walking those streets and living in that era. A well-developed setting creates the perfect framework for a story to take place.
 
Getting the information wrong jars the reader and casts doubt on the reliability of the author. It’s been several years ago that I was reading over a friend’s manuscript set during the American antebellum period. I was lost in the sultry south until the scene shifted to an airport.  Airport? Yes, she had absentmindedly put an airport in the 1850’s. My mind was hit with a situation I knew could not be true unless the story was about time travel-which it wasn’t. 
 
The most important component of research is using credible resources – places  you can rely upon to be factual and true. The reference desk at your local library can help you discover many reliable resources for your writing project.  It’s also important to realize that if an event really happened it will be recounted by more than one source.  For example, Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day 1776 is recounted in many places.  Washington chopping down a cherry tree – one. Mason Locke Weems was an early biographer of our first president who made up the story to show demonstrate the president’s honesty at an early age.
 
I like primary sources for my research when I can find them. These can be letters, memoirs, maps and newspapers. Colonial America had quite a few newspapers many of which are online. Reading them gives tremendous insight into the minutia of daily life some of it is funny, some of it is tragic The advertisements seeking information on runaway slaves never ceases to break my heart even if it was normal for this time period.
 
I utilize period maps as well as Google Earth to get a sense of a place. The beauty of Google Earth is that it utilizes satellite technology to put you in a precise location. You can walk the streets of a city or  neighborhood utilizing the street level option. Period maps tell you what was there in that time period and what they considered relevant. For my current WIP I have located a few maps of Valley Forge at the time of its occupation so I know where all the barracks are, Washington’s headquarters and all of his generals.  I can easily locate the roads, the artillery and geographic features such as Mount Joy and Mount Misery. The encampment was between the two.
 
Taking time to learn about the time and place you write about enriches your story in a multitude of ways. It enhances the narrative and provides a note of authority that you know what you are talking about. I love learning the details of life in time periods in which I write because it not only tells me what they did but gives me insight into why.

Julie Bates’ first novel Cry of the Innocent, premiered in June 2021. The Eight book Faith Clarke series is set in the America Colonies during the Revolutionary War. Needless to say she is an avid history buff – some would say nut. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Triangle Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Southeastern Mystery Writers of America (SEMWA) and The Historical Novel Society. She enjoys doing crafts, working in her garden and experimenting in the kitchen. When not plotting her next story, she spends time with her husband and son, as well as a number of dogs and cats who have shown up on her doorstep and never left.

​I never intended to write a series. The thought of going to the well too often was off-putting, and I feared getting stale. I wanted to write standalones; I believed they would test the limits of my creativity.
 
Then I wrote PUBLIC MORALS. Loosely based on a real-life corruption scandal in the New York City Police Department, it's told in two parts. In the first part, set in 1982, a crooked cop named Terence Devine is convicted for killing a sex worker. In the second part, which occurs forty years later, his daughter, Sheila, a documentary filmmaker, investigates the crimes that he and other people committed -- in the process unearthing startling new evidence.
 
As I put the novel through multiple drafts, I discovered that I really liked Sheila Devine (I do not always feel this way about my characters; in reviewing my novel MIAMI TWILIGHT, the mystery impresario Otto Penzler said that "Coffey has a genius for creating antiheroes"), and I wanted to extend her journey. For a number of years, I've also kicked around the idea of writing a book based on the Central Park Jogger case. I wouldn't say that I had a "Eureka!" moment, but after finishing PUBLIC MORALS, and not wanting to let Sheila go, I decided that she could be the vehicle that would allow me to write about the jogger case. The result is SPECIAL VICTIM, the second novel in what I am immodestly calling The Devine Trilogy.
 
Thirty-five years after it happened, the Central Park Jogger case still resonates in New York. I got a sense of that on Nov. 2 when I read from the book at a Mystery Writers of America event at a library in midtown Manhattan. Perhaps it's my imagination, but as soon as I began reading I felt I had the rapt attention of the two dozen people in attendance, all of whom were familiar with the story. The air seemed to leave the room, in a good way. When I was done, and the moderator Hal Glatzer asked for questions or comments, instead of the typical non-responses from the audience, many people waded in with pointed questions and comments. I was happy for the strong reactions, both pro and con, and after the session, I talked to a retired NYPD detective who had taken part in the interrogations of the five young men who were first convicted, and then exonerated, in the assault. It turns out that some of the people close to the investigation had doubts about their guilt from the start -- doubts that were memorably aired by Joan Didion in an essay in The New York Review of Books two years after the attack -- but groupthink prevailed, both in law enforcement and the news media.
 
Much as I'd like to pin the blame for this miscarriage of justice on police and prosecutors, I cannot. I was a journalist in New York City for many years, and this was one of my former profession's worst moments. The presumption of innocence may seem like a quaint and no-longer-relevant idea, but it was established for a reason. In this case, as soon as the young men who became known as the Central Park Five were arrested, they were convicted in the court of public opinion. Blaring headlines in the tabloid press assumed the defendants' guilt and wondered why they hadn't been put in prison for life already, placing an incredible amount of pressure on the police to arrest somebody, anybody, really didn't matter who it was. The overwhelming desire in New York was for vengeance, not justice, and inconvenient facts were ignored. Even after DNA established the identity of the real attacker, many people who were involved in the investigation, and who wrote stories about it, refused to admit that they had made mistakes, or had gotten anything wrong. As a result, many people in New York City still believe that the members of the Central Park Five were involved in the attack. (To be fair, some of those guys were in the park that night, and they weren't doing outreach to the homeless; they were beating up the homeless.)
 
Now I'm on to the third book of my trilogy, which I hope will complete the journey of Sheila Devine and her family. The book is tentatively titled STOP AND FRISK, and I'm reluctant to say anything about it because I haven't finished writing it yet. While it's not based on a specific event, it does deal with the all-too-frequent deadly encounters in this country between the police and young men of color. And in writing this trilogy, rather than writing each novel as a standalone, I've discovered that I've been able to delve even more deeply into story, into character, and into the state of the human condition.
 
Which means, I guess, that I may have to start another series.

Erica Miner and Lori Robbins took a similar path, from the stage to the page, when they drew upon their real-life experiences as inspiration for their books. Erica’s Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series and Lori’s On Pointe Mysteries take readers on a backstage tour that’s equal parts glamour and intrigue, even before the first murder victim takes a literal swan dive. The two authors interviewed each other to explore the connection between fact and fiction for them and their amateur sleuths.
 
Lori’s Questions for Erica:

• Are there any elements of your life as a performer you don’t address in your writing?

 
Many. I focus on the most dramatic elements possible, since that is what makes opera such a compelling subject for murder mysteries. Opera stories are among the bloodiest, most violent ever written. That’s why composers often choose novels, and the plays of Shakespeare, as the basis for their operas. It’s all about great stories, made even greater by setting them to music. The parts I leave out tend to be the more mundane aspects of my performing life, although I do touch upon those to make my protagonist, Julia, as believable as possible. She does have to deal with the daily routines of being a performing musician, but I think readers are more interested in the conflicts, the jealousies, rivalries and backstabbing that occur behind-the-scenes. A big part of Julia’s arc is to morph from starry-eyed neophyte to savvy survivalist. It’s the intensity of the operatic drama that gets her there.

• Other than the murders, how much is fiction and how much is true to life?

 
I like to say only the author knows for sure! But I also admit that my fictional portrayals, of the characters who work at the opera and of the atmospheres of the opera houses, are extremely authentic. In my first Opera Mystery, Aria for Murder, which takes place at the Met Opera where I was a violinist for 21 years, I drew upon my experiences about what goes on backstage there and my knowledge of the dark corners and hidden stairways in that huge opera house to create authenticity and an environment fraught with danger. It’s a very mysterious place; so mysterious that creating motivation for murder seemed natural to me. When it came to the opera houses in the sequels, Santa Fe and San Francisco Opera (Prelude to Murder and the next sequel, Overture to Murder), I had to do a great deal more research to build a realistic world of mystery. I was fortunate in that I had connections with people who worked in those places and gave me on-site tours from top to bottom, which I used to fabricate stories that are very true to life. (Just FYI, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, built in 1932, is the creepiest place ever.) But since I never performed in those opera theatres, I used my wicked imagination to create stories that would be believable.

• Did you base any of your characters on real people?

In Aria for Murder, most of the characters are based on a combination of traits of different people I worked with at the Met. Sometimes I would give certain attributes to certain characters but create them as different genders than they actually were. The exception was one key character who is entirely based on a real person. One of my colleagues who read the book immediately recognized this person who, sadly, is no longer with us. The protagonist throughout the series, Julia, is much like me when I first started out at the Met: naïve, unaware of the political machinations that go on behind the scenes. She becomes smarter fast, and I give her great courage and fortitude. That’s the beauty of fiction: you can give a character similar to yourself qualities you only wish you had. In Prelude to Murder, I also based characters on people I met in various departments throughout the opera house, but I extrapolated certain nationalities and traits of people who worked at the Met to create new and compelling characters who figured importantly in the Santa Fe plot.

• Is there any parallel between performing and writing?

For me, yes, when I’m writing about performing and performers. I’m constantly thinking of recreating my own feelings and remembrances of my performing life as I move these characters around in their performing world. I also am visualizing a performing milieu and feeling the deep emotions of performers as I write. The two elements are inextricably linked for me.

• Are there any elements of life as a performer that books and movies consistently get wrong?

I’m not going there!

• What surprises readers about the worlds you describe?

Most readers don’t have any idea what goes on behind the scenes at an opera house. They tell me they’re constantly amazed at the intensity of relationships between the multifaceted groups of people who work there. I try to make the descriptions of those conflicts, as well as of the many different locations within in the theatre, as vivid as possible. Many of those who have read Aria for Murder tell me the story and its descriptions of the Met brought them back to the times they’ve been to performances there. Others who have read Prelude to Murder have told me the descriptions are so intriguing they feel like getting on the next plane to Santa Fe!

• You use quotations to open each chapter of your books. What was the inspiration behind that decision?

 
I honestly can’t remember what it was initially, but I think it seemed the natural thing to do in order to further open up the world of opera to my readers. In these Opera Mysteries, the worlds of musical drama and real-time murder collide. The opera quotes that head the chapters give a hint or taste of what’s to come in the context of those bloody opera stories I mentioned above. Having the quotes first in the original language gives a flavor of the opera from which they come, and adding the English translation clues the reader in as to the subtleties of meaning. My readers tell me they love this feature of my books.
 

 
Short bio:
Award-winning Seattle-based author, lecturer and arts journalist Erica Miner believes opera theatres are perfect places for creating fictional mischief! Drawing on her 21 years as a violinist at the famed Metropolitan Opera, Erica’s fanciful plot fabrications reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series (Level Best Books): Aria for Murder (2022), finalist in the 2023 CIBA and Eric Hoffer Book Awards; Prelude to Murder (2023) (‘A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions’--Kirkus Reviews); and Book 3, Overture to Murder, just released last month. Erica’s debut novel, Travels with My Lovers, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. She is an active member of the Puget Sound chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Northwest chapter of Mystery Writers of America.  
Buy links, Overture to Murder:
 
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Third Place Books

 
Erica’s questions for Lori:

• Was ballet your first love? When did you decide to start studying?

 
I saw a production of Swan Lake when I was sixteen and fell in love with ballet. The next day, I signed up for my first lesson. Most girls my age were getting ready to audition for professional companies, and I knew my dream of one day joining that elite group was unlikely to come true. But, like my protagonist, dance was the only thing that mattered. Three years after I walked into the studio for the first time I signed a contract with a modern dance company in Miami. Ballet remained my first love, and I went on to dance in a number of regional companies, as well as with Ballet Hispanico. I still take lessons several times a week, and ballet remains an important part of my life.

• How did you determine you wanted to base your murder mysteries on ballet?

 
The dance world is filled with inherent drama, which makes it the perfect vehicle for a murder mystery. The competition is fierce, the careers are short, and the pressure is intense. Ballet offered a range of vivid possibilities for characters, as well as for plot and setting. Leah Siderova, the protagonist for the On Pointe mysteries, defies expectations, both fictional and factual. Yes, she’s embroiled in a murder mystery, but she’s also a ballerina on the wrong side of thirty and the stakes are higher for her than they would be for someone facing a less uncertain future.  Those challenges make her observant, wary, and more than a little cynical. In other words, the perfect amateur sleuth.

In my Master Class series, the protagonist is an English teacher who on the surface is very different from Leah. But she too is facing an uncertain future. There’s something deeply satisfying about writing, and reading, about amateur sleuths, no matter what world they inhabit. They show ordinary people, who, when challenged, find the strength and courage to do extraordinary things.

• Are there any elements of life as a performer that books and movies consistently get wrong?  

It’s rare for a movie or book to capture how intense and exhausting life as a performer can be. Many fictionalized portraits depict dancers indulging in nonstop sex, drugs, and barhopping. In real life, they rarely have the time, money, or energy that would enable that kind of lifestyle.

• Other than the murders, how much is fiction and how much is true to life?

The descriptions of a dancer’s life are all grounded in reality, but the stories and characters blend fact and fiction. The murders are works of my imagination, as are the characters, although both are inspired by real-life events. Murder in Third Position, for example, was inspired by problems the Metropolitan Opera had with the mechanical parts of an elaborate set that caused several minor injuries. In my book, the set design kills someone.

• Did you base any of your characters on real people?

Most are composite characters. Some, like my protagonist’s mother, are pure works of fiction, but I feel I know them! Barbara, in particular, is so vivid and commanding a figure, I think I’m going to have to give her her own book. Or at least, a short story.
It’s not only the characters individually but their relationships with each other that interest me. Professional dancers remain students for as long as they’re dancing. They take class every day, and their interactions with teachers and choreographers are a rich source of real-life and fictional tension. The dynamic between a grown daughter and her mother also offers continuing opportunities for both drama and growth. But not too much growth, or the exchanges between Leah and Barbara wouldn’t be nearly as funny.

• You also use quotations to open each chapter of your books. What was the inspiration behind that decision?

 
Dancers talk with their bodies. We don’t often get to hear their words, although many are remarkably eloquent speakers and writers. I added the quotations to give them a voice. In my Master Class mystery series, however, the quotations serve a different purpose, as they provide clues to solving the murder. Not all clues, however, are created equal. Some are genuine leads and others are designed to deceive. I love puzzles, and those quotations reflect that.
 
 
Short bio:
Lori Robbins writes the On Pointe and Master Class mystery series and is a contributor to The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers Cookbook. She won the Indie Award for Best Mystery and two Silver Falchions. Short stories include “Leading Ladies” which received Honorable Mention in the 2022 Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology. A former dancer, Lori performed with a number of modern dance and classical ballet companies, including Ballet Hispanico and the St. Louis Ballet. Her commercial work, for Pavlova Perfume and Macy’s, paid the bills. After ten very lean years onstage she became an English teacher and now writes full time.
Lori is a co-president of the New York/ Tristate Sisters in Crime and an active member of Mystery Writers of America.


​

 
 

 
 
 

Having recently published my first novel, I feel fortunate to have sampled the pleasures many aspiring authors despair of ever experiencing: the momentary disbelief when a publisher says “yes;” the tactile thrill of holding the printed copy of your “baby” for the first time; the rush of excitement when a complete stranger posts a laudatory review; the warm memories triggered when a hand from the distant past reaches out and pats you on the back; the encouragement implicit in an eager inquiry about the next installment in a planned series.

Grateful as I am for all these delights, what has struck me most profoundly is the individuality of readers’ responses. How differently readers react to this or that character or plot twist or interpret the meaning of an exchange of dialogue. The first time I read her a passage out loud, my own wife was aghast to learn that I pronounced the first name of my protagonist, Bruneau Abellard, with a drawn-out emphasis on the second syllable, lobbying vehemently for her Bruno over my Broo-know. Some found Bruneau’s on-again, off-again girlfriend overbearing; others wished she was more assertive. The city of New Orleans, where the novel takes place, was perceived as beautiful or threatening; fragrant or malodorous (author’s note: both these things are true!); mysterious and cloistered, or open and welcoming. And so on.

What the novelist comes to realize is that once the reader takes the reins, she is off and running, beyond your control. You have provided a map, and a well-marked trail, but she is free to wander where she may.

Contemplating the wondrous, and wonderful, phenomenon of the “runaway reader,” brought me back to my long-ago grad school days, when in a literary criticism class, we waded through a fascinating if at times impenetrable tome called The Implied Reader. Its author, German philosopher Wolfgang Iser, is best known for pioneering a school of literary theory called “reader-response” criticism. To crudely oversimplify, Iser’s central insight is that reading is as much an act of creation as writing. As she writes, an author may have a particular reader in mind, but that reader is a mere construct of the author’s imagination. The actual “flesh and blood” reader brings her own experiences and sensibility to her encounter with the text, creating impressions and points of view that are uniquely her own.

Remembering Iser’s treatise and experiencing for the first time the subtle shock of the runaway reader, brings me to two parting thoughts. The first is that I am now better able to articulate my longstanding aversion to the audiobook format, at least when it comes to works of fiction. I understand the appeal of the medium and suppose that listening to a novel beats never picking one up, but I remain firm in my conviction that the audiobook experience is a pale simulacrum of the real deal. The mostly passive -- dare I say, lazy? -- act of “listening” as a narrator appropriates the characters’ voices, cannot possibly replicate the creative engagement inherent in the act of reading.
​
My second, and parting insight, is that releasing a published novel is not unlike sending your kindergartener off to her first day of school. You’ve done the best you can to prepare her for this moment, but now she must make her own way in the world.


Norman Woolworth’s first novel, The Lafitte Affair, is a historical mystery set mostly in present-day New Orleans, with glimpses of the city during its “Belle Epoque” of the 1820s. In a starred review, Kirkus called it “a well-crafted mystery that is beautifully written, educational, and all-around entertaining.” BookTrib deemed it “a savory jambalaya that tempts you to take another bite and keep turning pages.” And Readers’ Favorite gave the book five stars, saying “the novel is as much about the city’s colorful characters as it is about the unfolding mystery.” It called the novel “a fast paced, edge-of-your-seat read … worthy of the big screen.” Woolworth is a retired corporate executive who resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife Lori and their blue-blooded mongrel, Nola.
 

​I pride myself in developing the settings in my books as if they were secondary characters. Often, they are. The good guys and the bad guys sweat when the sun’s blazing with heat, whether they’re in the barren landscape of west Texas or the smothering humidity of North Carolina. The quietness of a mountain snow can be deafening. The smell of freshly cut hay is starkly different than the smells lingering near the dumpster behind a restaurant in Newark, New Jersey.
 
Like many authors, I too, get sidetracked when researching a setting I’m not familiar with. Our dear friend Google makes it way too easy to fall down that rabbit hole we call research. When I was writing Wink of an Eye (Minotaur, 2014), I spent way too many hours researching Wink, Texas. Yes—there really is a small town in west Texas named Wink. The Roy Orbison Museum is located right there on Main Street. It’s by appointment only, though.
 
I was on a mission to learn everything I could about Wink, Texas. We all know how Texans like to spend their Friday nights under the lights watching their high school football games and Wink is no different. It’s home of the Wildcats. The population of Wink holds steady at about a thousand except when the oil’s hitting then it explodes to sometimes three thousand. I learned this from the mayor’s wife. We became friends on Facebook when I joined the Wink, Texas Facebook group. Rather than googling everything and relying on Wikipedia, I used a more reliable source—the actual residents.
 
With one scene, I wanted the common name for a specific cactus. I sent my friend the mayor’s wife a few photos I’d found and asked her. I said I wanted to know the slang name, the name she’d use if she saw it on the side of the road. I anxiously waited for a really cool name like Flowering Betty, or Lady Redbud. I was a little disappointed when she came back and said, “we call it a cactus.”
 
I’ve never been to Wink, Texas. Although I have been invited to dinner at the mayor’s house. But I did enough research, even longtime residents were impressed. I was told by more than one that I had “nailed it.”
 
While I’ve never been to Wink, I have been to the mountains of Appalachia. I’ve stood in a coal camp in the Coal Miner’s Museum in West Virginia. I’ve stopped in Goober Peas store in Meat Camp, North Carolina. I’ve taken so many day trips to Boone, I no longer use GPS. I’ve hiked the Linville Falls trails several times. I’ve been to the top of Grandfather Mountain and caught snowflakes on my tongue then drove down to the parking lot where we’d stop, get out of the car, and take off out coats because it was sixty degrees at the foot of the mighty mountain. I’ve been deep into the hollers bordering North Carolina and Tennessee. I was even invited to a snake-handling church but it didn’t work out. Yes, those churches do exist but they’re so well hidden, sometimes in plain sight, their very existence is hush-hush.
 
My other books, The Ava Logan series, and What the Monkey Saw are set in the North Carolina mountains. Two different series, two different protagonists, two different career paths joined by a common thread. The people of Appalachia.
 
I’m not really sure why I’m so drawn to that region, but I am. I was born and raised, and still live in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, but man, those mountains speak to me.
 
Watching the devastation going on in Western North Carolina right now thanks to a hurricane of all things, is like taking a punch straight to the gut. Honestly, I’m too stunned to cry. I stare at the images of homes reduced to scattered, splintered wood. Roads I’ve traveled that are no longer there. Entire towns that are no longer there. And I wish it was a nightmare we would wake up from and everything would be back like it was. From now on the survivors will think of time as before “the storm” or after the storm. There’ll be no in between. No other way to reference time.  
 
And somewhere in the far corners of my mind, I’m thinking about these two series I have with more books to come. How do I write them now? Do I include the day the rain came and the rivers and creeks rose and the mud rolled and raged like flowing lava and the very land my mountain people stood upon washed out from under them? Do I dare write about such a catastrophic event?
 
The terrorist attack on 911 forced the entertainment industry to rethink using images of the twin towers. Those towers that used to be there, but now they’re not.
 
Can I act like nothing’s happened at all and continue writing the two different series set as they were? Or do I, too, write before and after?

Lynn Chandler Willis is a best-selling, multi-award-winning author who has worked in the corporate world, the television news industry, and had a thirteen-year run as the owner and publisher of a small-town newspaper. She lives in the heart of North Carolina on a mini-farm surrounded by chickens, turkeys, ducks, nine grandkids, a sassy little calico named Jingles, and Finn, a brown border collie known to be the best dog in the world. Seriously.    

My critique group is such a hoot.

If you don’t have one, I suggest reaching out to three to five other authors and bending their will until they agree to help you create one. Two years ago, I summoned a bit of courage to do just that while sitting in an uncomfortable, metal chair in a room thick with warm bodies at an Island Writers Network meeting. I’ve been a proud - but mostly absent - member for ten years. The “mostly absent” part haunted me. Would my request be rebuffed? Booted to the curb for not maintaining an active participation in the group?

When the discussion circled to workshops, I leapt to my feet with my hand in the air and declared that I needed a critique group and if this interested anyone, see me after.

Forty people. Not a sound.

A serious cloud of insecurity enveloped me when I sat down. I felt my cheeks warming. The rest of the meeting agenda proceeded, and I bit my fingernail wondering if I’d get any response. I was desperate. Deadlines loomed, big, dark blots on the horizon; and I needed help. After the dismissal of the meeting, I rose from my chair, keeping my eyes on the floor.

Five people rushed toward me, eyes alight, smiles blazing.

My insecurity crept away in defeat. I had my group!

            We chatted, agreed on guidelines, and decided on “three and three.” We’d trade three chapters, have three weeks to read and comment on them, and the fourth week we’d send out our new chapters. Once a month, we’d meet in person. It’s been a rewarding experience for all of us.

            Here are a few tidbits I’d like to pass on regarding our ragtag crew of writers that we’ve dubbed “The Alphas.”
 
1)A critique group doesn’t have to be comprised of writers of the same fiction genre. It’s not the traditional approach, but it’s been an eye-opener, for sure. Our group has a sci-fi writer, two historical writers, a crime noir writer, and me – suspense. We all have different personalities and writing habits, but the foundational principles of writing fiction are universal. I’ve been blown away by the different perspectives of each person, and their input has made my books better.

2)Learn to adjust to different, sometimes abrasive, personalities. “Mr. Encyclopedia,” my pet name for one of our group, insists on correcting every detail of a product, animal, location, event or activity, even it it’s not crucial to the storyline. It’s become a joke, but his attention to detail lends authenticity to our stories. It may irritate us, it may get uncomfortable, but it’s brought growth. And, he’s almost never wrong! (Equally irritating.)

3)Multiple cultures are terrific in critique groups. Reading another race or culture’s creative approach, then critiquing the work and talking about it in person is mesmerizing. On the other side of the coin, their critique of my own work is like having a built-in sensitivity reader.

4)We’ve agreed to ALWAYS include encouraging comments along with the “critical” ones. We trade pages in Word docs and use comments instead of inline edits. Our focus is developmental, or character authenticity, but we throw in the occasional copyedit if it’s glaring. They all know I hate passive sentences, and now we laugh about my (often futile) attempts to get group members to avoid the overuse of “was.” No matter our differences in writing styles, we remain aware that positive comments must be sprinkled in with the more corrective ones.

5)Look forward to new friendships! It’s surprising how sharing our stories - often based on real-life situations that are personal and intimate - creates a deeper, more empathetic understanding of one another. We can ride out the most scathing critique with good-natured jibes and not even blink. A critique group is a powerful bonding tool and source of support.

6)Not that any of us flop around with big heads or overblown pride at our author events, but if we fall into that trap… critique partners provide balance with that big slice of humble pie they serve every week, liberally topped with the whipped cream of encouragement.
 
To those of you floating out there in author-land bemoaning the struggle and treading water emotionally like I was, get up and get going! Find your group! You can thank me later.


Kerry Peresta is the author of the Olivia Callahan Suspense series Level Best Books and Back Before Dawn, a standalone suspense, Level Best Books. Kerry is represented by Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary. 
 Kerry spent thirty years in advertising as an account manager, creative director, copywriter, and editor. She began writing full-time in 2009 as a humor columnist for a daily newspaper before she decided to take the plunge and begin writing novels. Kerry was chapter president of Maryland Writers Association when she lived in Maryland, and currently is a member of the Island Writers Network, the Sisters in Crime organization, South Carolina Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, and is a popular presenter and speaker for the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort, SC. Kerry and her husband are originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved to Hilton Head Island, SC, in 2015. She and her husband enjoy kayaking, road trips, their grandkids, their three cats, and the scenic vistas of the Lowcountry. Discover more at kerryperesta.com.

What comes to mind when you hear the word “occult”? Evil cults that worship the devil? Weird rituals where animals are sacrificed? Wizards with nefarious aims wielding power behind the scenes? If so, you probably got those impressions from Hollywood or from fear-based religious groups. Let’s pull back the dark curtain that shrouds the occult arts to discover how supernatural elements can contribute to a mystery novel’s plot.
 
What Does “Occult” Mean?
           
First of all, the word “occult” simply means hidden, as in hidden knowledge. For centuries, people who practiced the occult arts had to hide what they knew and practiced in order to avoid imprisonment, torture, and murder at the hands of misguided authorities. They formed secret societies sometimes known as Mystery Schools, passed down wisdom through symbols and oral tradition, and wrote in secret code.
 
Yet occult ideas and practices––witchcraft, divination, spellcasting, incantations, and magic potions––continue to fascinate us to this day. Perhaps the most famous scene in literature comes from Shakespeare’s MacBeth where three witches stir a mysterious brew while they prophesy “toil and trouble” for the Scottish king. The Bard’s plays MacBeth and Hamlet also feature ghosts, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream involves faery spells and shapeshifting. More recently, J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter stories have captured the imaginations of millions of young people worldwide and introduced them to some of the tenets of magic work––and its possibilities.
 
Using the Occult in Plotting a Story
 
Occult practices involve working with forces beyond the mundane, tapping into reservoirs of hidden power, and sometimes interacting with supernatural beings. Therefore, they let writers and readers step outside the ordinary limitations of a storyline. Ghosts and spirits can also expand readers’ knowledge into realms beyond the physical. In Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, for example, a murdered girl shares a perspective of the crime from her vantage point on the other side.
 
Oracles such as the tarot, astrology, or runes can give veiled glimpses into the future. Is someone destined to die when the Death card turns up in a tarot reading? In my mystery novels What the Walls Know, The Goddess of Shipwrecked Sailors, and Running in the Shadows a tarot card reader sees trouble lurking ahead for the protagonist Lizzie Crane, which adds to the stories’ suspense.
 
Authors can incorporate metaphysical ideas into their novels in various ways. For example:

• Is a character a seasoned witch or wizard, or a novice dabbling with forces she doesn’t understand, like the Sorcerer’s Apprentice?
• Does a character pursue a metaphysical path that leads him to a discovery or danger? How does he grow from this experience?
• If this is a historical novel, what local customs, religious beliefs, and laws affected occultists at that time? Are historical events, such as the Salem Witch Trials of the early 1690s, worthwhile additions to the book?
• Do nonphysical entities influence a character’s decisions, aid her in solving a problem, or guide her into a realm beyond the physical one?
• Does a character conjure a spell that works––or goes wrong––and takes the story in an intriguing direction?

 
Oh, and by the way, writing is a powerful form of magic. When casting a spell, you envision an outcome you want to create. Then you infuse it with color, action, emotion, intention, and passion. You experience it as if you’re living it right now. In your mind’s eye, you see the result as if it already exists––and you’re the Creator who makes it happen. Sounds like writing a novel, doesn’t it?
 
Author Bio:
skyealexander.com/Skye Alexander’s historical mystery novels What the Walls Know, The Goddess of Shipwrecked Sailors, and Running in the Shadows use tarot cards to provide clues. Skye is also a recognized authority in the field of metaphysics and the author of fifteen bestselling nonfiction books on the occult arts including The Modern Guide to Witchcraft, The Modern Witchcraft Book of Tarot, and Magickal Astrology.

​Dead-Handed is my third crime fiction novel in the Nut Cracker Investigations series. Before I began, I had a firm sense of the plot. I wrote an outline. Then characters appeared, startling things were said, and unplanned plot twists emerged. It felt like the steering wheel on a moving car had suddenly disengaged.
 
This happens for pantzers, but I tend to be a plotter, so why didn’t I panic?
 
Because I’ve researched the way our brain delivers its best creative effects. During this process, I found a lecture given to a group of psychologists in Paris in 1908. The lecturer was Jules Henri Poincaré, an engineer and mathematical savant. He proposed a way to work on complex problems by exploiting an impasse: Let go and let the unconscious have its say.
 
Poincaré was a mining inspector in northeastern France. While working on his dissertation on differential equations, he hit a brick wall, so he went on a trip. As he traveled, he relaxed. One morning, he went to the bus stop. The bus door opened and he lifted his foot to step inside. Out of nowhere, the elusive solution he was chasing before his trip arrived. “As I put my foot on the step, the idea came to me, without anything in my former thoughts seeming to have paved the way for it.” Upon his return, he verified the result.
 
Another such experience happened during a late-night coffee break. Poincaré had been striving for weeks to clarify a point in his research. Each day, he’d sat at his worktable, trying and trying, without result. Then one evening, he drank a cup of coffee. It kept him awake and “ideas rose in crowds; I felt them collide until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combination.” He believed that the stimulant had made him more present to unconscious material.
 
He also found it effective to take a walk. (I do this as well.) Once, as he strolled, the solution to a stubborn problem struck him. Upon returning, he got back to work. But one aspect of this problem remained stubbornly resistant. He worked on it, day after day, to no avail. Only when he pulled away for another outing did the solution pop.
 
Comparing unconscious ideas to atoms, Poincaré said, “During a period of apparent rest and unconscious work, certain of them come unhooked from the wall and put in motion...  Their mutual impacts may produce new combinations.” In other words, our unconscious brain absorbs the data we feed it from research and experience. Then, like a kid learning to bake, blends it into unique concoctions.
 
This sounds like support for pantsing, and it is, but wait. Plotting has its place.
 
In his lecture, Poincaré listed five key points about creative insight.
 
1)It begins with a period of conscious work, followed by unconscious work.
2)Then, you verify the unconscious work, i.e., put it on a “firm footing.”
3)Trust must be built in the “delicate intuition” of the unconscious, which “knows better how to divine than the conscious self, since it succeeds where that has failed.”
4)The conscious mind (plotting) decides on the worth of the unconscious product.
5)The unconscious product is only a “point of departure.” The rest can be worked out with the discipline of the more logical conscious mind. (Some might call this plotzing.)
 
Brain research today supports Poincaré’s ideas. The neural flash that explodes as sudden insight originates in the brain’s right hemisphere—the area attuned to metaphors, nuances, and emotions. Physiological measures show that just before an insight occurs, activity decreases in left-brain areas while high-frequency brainwaves increase in the right temporal lobe. About 1.5 seconds before insight, low frequency brainwaves increase. They vanish as the high-frequency waves spike. Researchers think this is a “gating effect” that acts to collect energy for the spurt.
 
In contrast, during solutions based solely on conscious calculation, there was no such flash or spurt.
 
What brings insight from the inaccessible mind to full mental awareness, as Poincaré describes, is the selective triggering of stimuli. That is, your research primes it. Then, once the brain has time to absorb and play with this diverse data, it delivers. You just need to give it some space.
 
I find Poincare’s steps to be effective: work on your book (write, research, plot, etc.) to the point of impasse. Then, relax and do no brainwork: take a walk, play a game, see a movie. Let another part of your brain go to work. Don’t guide it. Just be ready for things to emerge you hadn’t expected.

When I began writing Murder on the Med, book three of the Kat Lawson mysteries, I felt as though I was channeling a slightly different voice for my protagonist, Kat Lawson. In the previous two books, Kat was a level-headed, if not a headstrong, reporter determined to follow the story no matter what the risks. But as I opened a blank page on my computer and began to write, I realized Kat needed a vacation.

As writers, we all understand the difficulty in trying to get a character to do something on the page they don’t want to do. Try explaining this concept to a non-writer, and they will look at you like you’re crazy, but writers understand. Our characters either talk to us or they won’t, and when they don’t, it’s because we’ve taken them where they don’t want to go, and they simply disappear!

So I went with the idea that we all need a break, and voila! There on the page in front of me was Kat sitting onboard a luxury yacht having High Tea with two elderly British ladies who felt it was their duty to inform Kat of a drowning, or at least what they felt was a probable drowning. 

It was a nonsensical conversation, for sure. Kat was uncomfortable, aware the two spinster schoolteachers with whom she was having tea were either daffy or drunk. Either way, the scene was the perfect setup for Kat’s next adventure on the high seas, where she’s been rewarded with an all-expense paid cruise around the Amalfi Coast by her employer, Journey International. All she needs to do is write a feature article about Athena, a luxury cruise ship designed as a floating retirement community for seniors wishing to spend their waning years sailing blissfully into the sunset. This assignment her employer promised was just for fun. A bonus for her previous work as a feature writer while working as an undercover operative for the FBI. What could possibly go wrong? 

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me that I would choose a retirement center as the location for Kat’s next adventure. My mother had been ailing while writing this book, and I was spending a lot of time at her retirement complex. Mom was ninety-nine-and-a-half years old when she passed—she insisted I always include the half when referencing her age. She was very proud she had lived such a long and healthy life, and I felt fortunate that I was able to spend time with her at the end. My mother was bright, articulate, and well-read. Her favorite authors were Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. She loved mysteries, and she looked forward to my reading to her what I was working on every day. Without a doubt, she was my biggest fan.

My mother loved the idea that Kat’s next adventure would take place aboard a floating retirement center with a bunch of quirky senior citizens. The more I let Kat take charge, the more I began to accept the idea that the tone of this book would be a little different. My theme:  A group of rogue seniors trade their pensions for piracy as they sail into their sunset years. 
 
I’ll admit I held my breath while writing this book. Would my readers accept a slight change of tone, a blending of genre, in the series? I’m relieved to say early reviews for Murder on the Med have allied my fears, and I’ll share a few.
​

• This is my third Kat Lawson Mystery, and I’ll confirm that they keep getting better; some are more history, some more mystery, and this one has great rom-com vibes.
• Reading Murder on the Med was like watching Love Boat or Murder She Wrote...great Agatha Christie vibes.
• A great beach read!

I don’t know why characters and stories come to writers as they do. But I do know that as a writer, it’s important to trust our instincts. Sometimes, we just need to take that leap of faith and go with what shows up on the page. At the end of the day, I think it makes us better writers.

Nancy Cole Silverman spent nearly twenty-five years in news and talk radio before retiring to write fiction. Silverman’s award-winning short stories and crime-focused novels, the Carol Childs and Misty Dawn Mysteries (Henry Press), are based in Los Angeles, while her newest series, the Kat Lawson Mysteries (Level Best Books), takes a more international approach. Kat Lawson, a former investigative reporter has gone undercover for the FBI as a feature writer for a travel publication. Expect lots of international intrigue, vivid descriptions of small European villages, great food, lost archives, and non-stop action. Silverman lives in Los Angeles with her husband and thoroughly pampered standard poodle, Paris.

The writing process is filled with stress. I don’t believe it matters if it’s a hundred-thousand-word manuscript, a short story, or a blog. No matter how easily words flow from your mind through your fingers to the page, second guessing is inherent. Will the reader understand your plot, or the emotion? Will they care? Are you true to the story line?
In my mind, the easy part is writing the story. The difficult stage is editing. Beta readers asking why? Copy editors slicing and dicing. Got an agent? Well, they have an opinion. Publishers are waiting, red pen in hand. As soon as you blink, they’re on you. What comes next are re-writes, adjustments, updates. Your precious creation. Your baby is about to undergo a healthy dose of Botox.

My writing style is behind curtain #3. I am a plodder. I get started, put down everything regardless of order, and when I’m finished, I get busy. Each segment is its own small, stapled bit. I lay it out on the table, shuffle the cards to create order, and then look at the book. Do I like it? Yes. No. Why? Reshuffle, new read. Now, I’m talking to my pre-beta people. There’s a lot of nodding, a couple of what are you talking about, and then I’m ready for production.

Finally, I’m face-to-face with the finished piece, complete with cover, and a marketing plan. Pardon me if I giggle hysterically. Where was I? Oh, yes, marketing. When working with a publishing house, they have a plan, but be aware, a lot of it is still in the writer’s lap. Self-publishing? Developing a marketing plan is as stressful as writing the book. Is there another option? Why, yes, there is! I call it seat-of-my-pants.

Somewhere during the writing process, I’m already keyed up and telling people about the book. I’ve been told not to do this, but it happens. When I have the first copy in hand, the fun part begins. I’m telling everybody, anyway that I can think of. I love talking about the stories. It’s not so much bragging, as wanting people to read and enjoy. I’ve just never figured out that my joy might not be theirs. I love doing cold calls. I’ll talk to anybody, go to any group that will have me.

Case in point. Local church group wanted a woman entrepreneur. They might have been surprised I wasn’t writing Christian, but they were polite. During my spiel, I got invited to a neighborhood book club. Tiny, but engaging. Lovely home, husband walked in, we chatted, he laughed at my energy, asked me if I’d like to do a couple of minutes on local access TV. Wonderland, right? I showed up for the segment, found out it was going to be thirty minutes, not the ten I expected, and, are you ready? It was going to be me and the camera. Also, not expected. I explained I wasn’t good with that and was nervous. He pointed; I sat behind the desk. He sat off to the side and asked, ‘So, when you do a cold call, how does it go?’
​
Twenty-eight minutes later, the lights came on, the guy held up his hand, and said, “Okay, that’s a wrap!”

Bingo, we were done, and his part ended up on the floor, so to speak.

DonnaRae Menard began writing in junior high school and has been scribbling since. She is the author of the An It's Never Too Late Mystery series. A 1970's suspense featuring Katelyn Took and 17 cats. The Woman Warrior's series, historical fiction, The Waif and The Warlord, fantasy, Detective Carmine Mansuer series, set in Boston, Mass. Dropped from the Sky, It takes Guts, Willa the Wisp, and several short stories. She splits her time between Vermont and New Hampshire, has an affinity for odd jobs, and rescued cats. Check out her website donnaraemenardbooks.com. Find her on Facebook.


 

​Sarah: Somehow we both have written very similar characters, though different
plots, in our first procedural novel. Your book takes place in Laurel,
Maine. It's a small town on the coast of Maine that is a tourist area
(meaning summer residents), and a small steady population year round. LT
Nichols never planned to join the police, and in fact was a bartender
when it was suggested to him. My book takes place in Eden County,
Florida. A rural county with a tiny year-round population in North
Central Florida. Jim Sheppard didn't want to be a sheriff, and he was
getting his masters in education so he could teach history, when his
wife's death and having a baby son made him decide to drop out of
college and go home to Eden County and become a deputy under his father
who was Sheriff.

In the first book they are both faced with crimes that test their
ability to be law enforcement officers, and make both of them doubt
their ability to solve the crime. But they are both determined to find
out what happened and who did it and why, no matter what roadblocks get
thrown in their path.

How did you come to write about LT? And why do you think he became a
good police chief?

Albert: There are so many characters in crime fiction who have extraordinary capabilities, whether it’s incredible powers of deduction or a deep knowledge of psychology or ninja-like combat skills.  But none of the police officers that I know and have known are like that.  They’re real people who try to do their best in an extremely difficult job.  To me, that’s much more dramatic and compelling than the adventures of fanciful quasi-superheroes.  (Though I will admit to reading and loving all of Sherlock Holmes—over and over.)  LT is a good person with good intentions, like many of us.  The difference is that while he realizes his shortcomings, he will not let them get in the way of doing what’s right.  He’s not afraid to do the hard things, even if they appear to be beyond his capabilities.  The funny thing is that I don’t see The Ruins of Woodman’s Village as a police procedural (though I suppose that’s what it is).  I see it as character-driven fiction where the protagonist happens to be a police chief.  Maybe that approach is what keeps LT from being a cliché on the page.

One thing that Sheriff Jim Shephard has that LT does not is a high level of education and a certain thoughtfulness.  LT is a college dropout who was drifting before he joined Laurel’s police force.  Jim Shephard was purposely headed in a different direction and yet wound up in the family business:  being the Sheriff of Eden County.

How does Jim’s educational background and intelligence play into how he approaches his job?  Is it at odds with his family history?

Sarah: I never thought about LT’s education. That is a difference. Jim Sheppard had a Bachelors and was half-way through his Masters program when his wife died in a car wreck. He’s more educated than most of his deputies, except for Dee Jackson, who is completing her Masters in Criminal Justice. That might be a reason that Jim and Dee connect really well.
Jim’s father went to the University of Florida on a football scholarship, which is what he wanted his son to do. He also wanted him to major in Criminal Justice, and instead he majored in history.

I don’t think that Jim thinks of himself as better educated, but more that he loves history. I don’t think he considers what education level his deputies have, as long as they are good at their job. He hires a lot of veterans, because he sees them as having experience that prepares them for dealing with violence.

In BURNING EDEN, Jim does not feel qualified to solve a kidnapping or a possible serial killer. He is overwhelmed. He really relies on the experience of his deputies. He leans on Dee Jackson, with her Military Police experience, and his contacts in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who do all the forensic work for Eden County.

Jim’s education is at odds with everyone’s in his department, and with his family as well.
However, history does educate a person a great deal about human beings. His education has caused him to hire diversely. He has deputies who know the people – all the people – and don’t react according to the prejudices that you’d encounter in a mostly white Sheriff’s department in rural Florida.

Eden County is pretty rural. There are a few wealthy people, but the majority of the population is poor. In THE RUINS OF WOODMAN’S VILLAGE, because Laurel is a summer tourist community, there are HUGE differences in wealth that are visible. You continue to deal with this part of being the Police Chief in Laurel in FLOOD TIDE, the next book – where LT Nichols has to work with a very wealthy, politically connected family. LT definitely seems to have issues with the “summer” people who come into Laurel and change the atmosphere a great deal. Does that change how you approach the characters and the crime?

Albert: The changing summer demographics and the accompanying dynamics of being in a seasonal tourist town pose additional challenges for LT Nichols. They complicate what is already a difficult job. As the town transforms from a small fishing village into a fast-paced resort every summer, a heightened energy envelopes Laurel. In the simplest analysis, the more people who occupy a space, the greater the chance for interactions that can take a bad turn. In addition, backgrounds and expectations can clash. It’s a lot for LT to handle. At the same time, however, he comes to realize that people, no matter what their socioeconomic status, all want the same things (love, comfort, respect, etc..,) and face the same demons (greed, selfishness, unchecked desire, etc..,). When all these things collide, life gets tough for LT Nichols. Maybe that explains his fondness for a cold Budweiser at the end of the day.

Jim Shephard does not exactly have it easy in Eden County, Florida. In Burning Eden and Frozen Eden, the sequel, he faces a different set of challenges, and they come from environmental stressors. In the first book, it’s heat and wildfires. In the second, there are unheard-of wintry conditions and an ice storm. What choices did you make to place Jim and Eden County under these conditions? How do they work into the fabric of who Jim is and his role in the county?

Sarah: Florida weather is a bit like “Florida Man,” unpredictable and extreme. The wildfires written about in BURNING EDEN really happened in 1998. There used to be orange trees in South Florida, but the freeze I write about in FROZEN EDEN pretty much destroyed the industry here.
Yes, we have long periods of “typical” Florida weather. It includes daily afternoon rains, sunshine in the mornings, and clear skies at night. It’s hot in the mornings and early afternoons, then the rain cools it down for the evening.

We have hurricanes and tornadoes. Four Corners, an unincorporated community west of Walt Disney World, has more lightning strikes than any other community in the USA.
We rarely have freezes long enough or bad enough to ice roads. We have no salt, no sand, no way to distribute it on the roads if we had it. We still have homes that don’t have any heat!
For Jim these conditions change everything. They literally threaten the lives of everyone in the county. They bring out Jim’s best qualities. His empathy and his ability to know how and where to use the strengths of his deputies. He’s a smart man, and it’s enjoyable to bring that out in the open.

One of the things I really like about LT Nichols is there’s no artifice about him. He’s a local guy who ended up being the police chief. In both THE RUINS OF WOODMAN’S VILLAGE and FLOOD TIDE, LT has to deal with people who control their world and the people around them with finely developed public personas. From a big man who controls a community through fear to a man who controls his world through wealth and political power, LT never stops pushing for the truth. Even when everyone is telling him to let it go, he simply can’t. Why?

Albert: It’s who he is. He is constantly trying to prove something, not to anyone else, but to himself.  He’s always been small in stature and often underestimated. But he knows if he’s doing his best, he can live with himself. Although he was a good athlete, it wasn’t until he found wrestling in his youth that he fully applied himself to something. LT realizes that it was giving everything he had to wrestling that made him successful—a state champion. He knows that if he wants to do his job to the best of his abilities, he needs to apply that same single-mindedness to being the chief of police in Laurel, Maine. And while he is correct about that with regards to his work, his personal life can suffer collateral damage as a result. This is something that’s explored in THE RUINS OF WOODMAN’S VILLAGE and carries over into FLOOD TIDE. By being someone who refuses to let himself down professionally, LT steps out onto a tightrope of his own creation again and again.
   
While LT Nichols is a bachelor, Sheriff Jim Shephard is a single father—of a son who wants to follow him into law enforcement. While Jim reluctantly stepped into his father’s role of Sherriff of Eden County, Jim is determined to keep his son, Michael, out of the family business. But in the upcoming FROZEN EDEN, Michael edges closer to an active role in an investigation. This intertwined family and professional dynamic is at the heart of who these characters are and where they are going. How does this weigh on Jim? How does it affect the decisions that he makes, both professionally and as a father at home?

Sarah: I think Jim Sheppard feels that his son should have the choice he was denied in life. It’s not that working in the Eden County Sheriff’s Department is a bad choice, but it was a choice he feels he didn’t make. Michael Sheppard has grown up watching his father, and before that his grandfather, do a job that is about doing good in the community. He’s watched his father make changes – a more diverse group of deputies, better educated/trained deputies – and he admires it. While Jim sees being a deputy as limiting Michael’s life experiences, Michael sees it as challenging.

Many of Jim’s deputies have greater life experiences – such as serving overseas in the military. Others are better at routine and knowing the people and Eden County’s geography. The variety of experience makes his department stronger, more capable. He can use deputies in different ways, capitalizing on their abilities and experiences.

I think he fears that Michael would be “settling” for something familiar and never giving himself the opportunity to grow more as a man by being a part of the outside world. Jim did experience that by going to graduate school and his love of history. Being a father pulled him back into Eden County, which I don’t think he regrets, but that he does feel limited him in ways that he sees other people aren’t.


Sarah Bewley has been a private investigator, a freelance writer, and is an award-winning playwright. Her love of mysteries inspired her to write her first book BURNING EDEN. She lives in North Florida with Pat Payne, a visual artist. She rock climbs, takes boxing lessons, and loves reading and dogs.  
 

Albert Waitt is the author of Flood Tide, The Ruins of Woodman’s Village, and Summer to Fall.  Flood Tide, published by Level Best Books in March of 2024, is the second book of a series featuring Laurel, Maine, police chief, LT Nichols.  Waitt’s short fiction has appeared in The Literary Review, Third Coast, The Beloit Fiction Journal, Words and Images, Stymie: A Journal of Sport and Literature, and other publications.  Waitt is a graduate of Bates College and the Creative Writing Program at Boston University.  Experiences ranging from tending bar, teaching creative writing, playing guitar for the Syphlloids, and frying clams can be found bleeding through his work.

When it comes to your inner critic, my advice is to not take advice from someone who doesn’t like you. That’s like returning to the perpetrator for healing after you’ve been abused. —Patrick Califia, writer 

Do you hear voices in your head? Of course you do if you’re a writer. Creative people have one relentless voice, in particular, that lives in our heads and never rests—an inner critic that puts us under the microscope, bludgeons us with criticism, and tells us how worthless, selfish, dumb, or inept we are. That kick-butt voice pops up like burnt toast with such lightning speed we don’t even notice, eviscerating us with name-calling, discouragement, and putdowns. 

The critical voice tells you that you can’t; you should, ought to, have to, or must. It knows where you live and where to find you. And it does. When you’re working on an important deadline, it stalks you to your desk and whispers over your shoulder as you pen a manuscript. It could be scolding you right now. Listen closely. Do you hear it: “No, that’s not right! You don’t know what you’re doing! You might as well give up! Who do you think you are? You’re an imposter.” 

Burnt toast anyone? 

The critical voice in our head isn’t who we are. It’s a part of us, not all of us. It’s the lowercase “self.” Who are we, then? We are the captain of our ship—not a passenger, the coach of our team—not a player, the conductor of our symphony—not a musician, the CEO of our boardroom—not a stakeholder. We’re the true writer’s Self with a capital “S”—the writer who hears and sees the lowercase “self” or critic. There’s no use fighting, debating, or arguing with your inner critic. It always has a comeback and always wins, plus you can’t get rid of it. The key is to watch it and let it come and go without personalizing it. When we oppose or try to reason with the Critic, we give it credence and, instead of streaming on through, it takes up residence. 

Studies show when the critic comes down hard on ourselves after a mistake or failure, it reduces our creativity and chances of writing success. When you think about it, eviscerating ourselves after a letdown is like fighting the fire department when our house is on fire. It’s just as easy to affirm ourselves with positive messages as it is to tear ourselves down with negative ones. The best way to address the inner critic when it pops up is to observe it like you would inspect a blemish on your hand instead of reacting to it. Listen to it with a dispassionate ear as a part of you. Imagine someone scolding you over your cell phone and you hold the phone away from your ear. In the same way, you can listen to the Critic’s message from afar as a separate part from you, not all of you. In addition to hearing it as a part of you, not you, a dispassionate ear gives you distance from the Critic’s voice and keeps you from attacking yourself. Plus, it keeps you from believing the voice’s made-up story.

If you’re stuck with your writing, try replacing criticism with Self-compassion (from the capital Self) each step of the way. Self-compassion is a powerful resilient tool that stands up to harm and is more likely to lead to heights of literary success. So put down your gavel and amp up your kinder, compassionate side. In times of writing struggles, give yourself pep talks, positive affirmations, and talk yourself off the ledge instead of letting your Critic encourage you to jump. 

Vincent Van Gogh once said, “If you hear a voice within you say, ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” Bryan Robinson says, “If you hear a voice within you say, “You cannot write,” then by all means write, and that voice will be silenced.” 


Bryan E. Robinson is a licensed psychotherapist and author of 40 nonfiction books. He is also author of two murder mysteries—both soon to come from Level Best Books: Way DEAD Upon the Suwannee River and She’ll Be KILLING Round the Mountain. His tagline is, “I heal by day and kill by night.” He is also author of Daily Writing Resilience: 365 Meditations & Inspirations for Writers. His website is www.bryanrobinsonphd.com.