Laurel Richards's Blog - Posts Tagged "truth-vs-viction"

The Truth Behind the Absurd

Recently, I was talking to a friend, who let me know she had read my Cassie Wynn series. She said she enjoyed the light cozy mysteries and thought they were fun, but she found a few elements strange. When I asked her what she felt was odd, I discovered the aspects that threw her were those inspired by real life. Truth really is stranger than fiction, and she got a kick out of hearing the inspiration behind the books. I thought I’d share with readers the inspiration behind a few of the stranger elements:

1. Throughout the Cassie Wynn series, I have two nearly identical bait-and-tackle shops, owned by former friends on opposite sides of the street: the Hook-’n-Reel Plus and the Hook-’n-Reel Pro.

Back when I was working in website design, I had the owner of an online tackle business hire me to set up his website. Let’s call his business Super Angler Pro. I was at least a month into the approved design when his manager called me and told me he wanted me to copy the format of another website. That other site was owned by a guy he knew, who did business one town over from him. It was called Super Angler Pro Shop. There was only one word difference between the two—shop—both in the company names and in the URLs. Needless to say, I explained that I would not plagiarize another site’s web design, but I did incorporate a few elements that he liked. The Hook-’n-Reels in my humorous mystery series were born. As for the owners of the Hook-’n-Reels, they were inspired by two neighbors who practically lived in each other’s pockets. There was more than a little speculation about the pair of them.

2. In The Clam Festival Murders, I had Cassie describe the following: “Travis had a girlfriend at one time, although he dumped her after she was arrested for burglary. She had been working for the local pharmacy, but they fired her once they found out she was stealing prescriptions. I guess she was pretty steamed about it, because she came back the next night, broke the window with a brick, and tried to help herself to the cash. She might have gotten away with it, too, if she hadn’t tried to make off with the whole register…She electrocuted herself when she cut through the power cord with a pair of scissors.”

Well, news stories make up a lot of my inspiration. In 2005, an ex-employee broke into an appliance store, set off the alarm, cut herself on the broken glass, and then electrocuted herself trying to cut the cash register’s power cord with scissors. This caused her hood to fly back and framed her nicely for the security camera. Oh, and she was later picked up at the hospital when she went in for stitches for her cut.

3. There’s an ongoing feud between two politicians in my series, Bert Sterling and Craig Maxwell: “In July before the election, Bert Sterling called the police alleging that Craig Maxwell had threatened his wife, Brandy, with a nine iron after their Golden Retriever defecated on Maxwell’s lawn. Maxwell denied the charges and said it was a three-wood…Then Maxwell accused Sterling of committing battery…when the man slung a gin and tonic in his face during an altercation at the Yacht Club. This time, they actually went to court, where the judge ruled that this did not constitute battery. Sterling claimed he never did any such thing. It was a Tom Collins.”

These characters were based on two real-life politicians who lived directly behind one another and who made the small-town papers. I’ll call them Peterson and Roberts. In 2004, Roberts claimed Peterson committed battery by spitting wine in his face. Peterson claimed it was water and that he didn’t spit it in the man’s face. In 2006, Peterson called the police alleging Roberts threatened his wife with a broom. Peterson said it was a rake and that he never threatened anyone with it. Roberts claimed Peterson’s bulldog attacked and killed his Chow Chow. Peterson denied it, and no one could find an incident report. 2007 continued in this vein, with false police reports, etc. Politicians are always good sources of drama.

4. In The Fish Fry Fiasco, Cassie shares a fish story about a suspect named Gator Lee Ross: “On one of Gator’s fishing outings…he hauled up a seven-foot tiger shark. Unprepared for such a large catch, which was almost half the size of his boat, he was in serious trouble. The shark was thrashing angrily, threatening to bite Gator, whack him with its tail, or capsize the boat in the commotion. Gator…grabbed his half-empty bottle of Atocha Gold Rum and braved the shark’s gnashing teeth to pour booze down its throat and into its gills. I guess he thought he could stun it or mellow it out by getting it drunk. When that didn’t work, Gator then tried to beat the creature to death with the empty rum bottle, but he couldn’t even knock it unconscious. In the end, he fell back on his alligator wrestling skills. He grabbed the nearest beach towel and covered the shark’s head before wrapping it up and hightailing it back to the dock for reinforcements. With help, he was able to get the animal off his boat and into the water, at which point the shark swam off with nothing more than a slight buzz.”

In real life in 2009, a fisherman landed a six-foot shark, which began thrashing around in the boat. The guy dumped 100-proof Captain Morgan on the shark’s eyes and gills to stun it and then tried to beat the shark to death with the bottle. He finally wrestled a trash bag over its head.

5. Also in The Fish Fry Fiasco, Cassie picks up some security equipment for a good price. She says, the “high-end security store was robbed by a bunch of teenage kids right before I got there. Ironic, isn’t it? In all fairness, his equipment did its job. The thieves were caught on no less than twenty cameras with clear shots of their faces and the license plate of their getaway car.”

In 2007 in Texas, burglars hit a security equipment store and were caught on tape by seventeen cameras, which got good shots of their faces and their getaway car.

6. In The Sand Castle Calamity, Cassie mentions, “Ever since the South Americans pumped steroids into weasels and groomed them to pass as teacup poodles, anything is possible. They can be very convincing, too. One buyer didn’t even know he’d been duped until he took his weasel to the vet.”

In fact, I saw a news report in 2013 about an Argentinian who was breeding ferrets, pumping them with steroids, fluffing them with hair product, and then selling them as toy poodles. True story.

7. Perhaps the oddest element I put into The Sand Castle Calamity was the historical tour Mitch and Cassie take with her parents. In it, they visit a compound that used to belong to Zebediah Cross, a contemporary of Thomas Edison who was likewise fascinated by electricity. “During one of his experiments with high voltage, Zebediah accidentally electrocuted himself. He was knocked unconscious, at which time he was said to have been contacted by a nature spirit that told him he was the new messiah…Guided by divine inspiration, Zebediah Kross founded a new religious order called Krossianity and became a leader to those he later called his Krossbearers. He preached a life of hard work, communism, and celibacy. Zebediah also taught that the world as we know it exists like a pearl inside a giant clam shell—a clam shell that encompasses the entire galaxy…The Krossbearers built homes like this one and formed their community here in the 1890s…Hoping to expand his influence…Zebediah ran for the position of county commissioner…An argument with other officials turned into a terrible fight, and Zebediah was beaten with a gun…He died a few days later from his injuries, though before he passed, he promised his followers he would rise again. The Krossbearers stood vigil for weeks until the health inspector told them they had to bury the body. Then they built a tomb for him on the beach. Unfortunately, a severe storm struck shortly after that, and the tomb was torn open. Zebediah’s body was washed out to sea…They were able to recover the body a week later, and he was relocated to a cemetery farther inland. Zebediah’s son, Ted, was granted leadership, but he chose instead to pursue work as an artist.”

Believe it or not, most of this absurd history resembles the life and death of Cyrus Reed Teed, who was born in 1839. A contemporary of Edison, Cyrus was electrocuted during an experiment, and while unconscious, he claimed to have been visited by a divine spirit who informed him he was the new messiah. He changed his name to Koresh and founded Koreshanity. He believed that we all exist inside a sphere and are held in place by centrifugal force, not gravity. He preached alchemy, celibacy, and communism, among other things. Cyrus established a commune in Estero, Florida, and several members did run for county government positions. During an argument with some locals, Cyrus was pistol whipped and never fully recovered. He died two years later but promised to rise again. His followers kept watch over his body until it decomposed so much the health inspector demanded they bury it. They put the body in a tomb on the beach, and it was washed out to sea during a hurricane. Despite his preaching strict celibacy, he left behind a son, Douglas, who became an American Impressionist painter.

So you see, there is plenty of humor in real life, and some of the oddest parts of my writing are based on truth, not just my weird imagination. If you want to try my Cassie Wynn Mystery series, you can find the books at Kobo, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Amazon, Books-A-Million, and other stores. They’re available in e-book and trade paperback.