Sherry Harris's Blog, page 15

Please Welcome Author Brenda Buchanan

by Barb. Still mostly at home with the whole knee thing. But then, being stuck at home is good for the writing.

I first met Maine author Brenda Buchanan at Crime Bake, though I’d known who she was for awhile before that because she was on the board of the fabulous Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. In April, Brenda’s first Joe Gale Mystery, Quick Pivot was released. And just two weeks ago, Cover Story , the second in the series debuted. So we thought it was time to have Brenda around for a visit here at Wicked Cozys World HQ.

Here’s the skinny on Cover Story:

Maine newspaper reporter Joe Gale is at his best when covering the crime beat for the Portland Daily Chronicle. In the dead of winter he heads Downeast to cover the murder trial of fisherman Danny Boothby, charged with burying a filleting knife in the chest of politically well-connected social worker Frank O’Rourke.

O’Rourke held a thankless job in a hard place. Many locals found him arrogant, but say he didn’t deserve to die. Others whisper that O’Rourke got himself killed through his own rogue behavior.

After Joe’s hard-nosed reporting provokes someone to run him off an isolated road, he realizes his life depends on figuring out not only who committed the murder, but who’s stalking him—O’Rourke’s prominent brother, friends or enemies of the dead social worker or members of Boothby’s family. As he digs deeper, Joe uncovers enough secrets and lies to fill a cemetery. He’ll have to solve this one fast, or his next headline may be his own obituary

Barb: All the Wickeds write at least one series set in New England. I’m very interested in the idea of a New England voice. How do you think being a New Englander and writing a series set in Maine where you now live influences your writing?

Brenda: Being a New Englander has enormous influence on my work. I grew up in the central Massachusetts mill town of Fitchburg. I studied journalism at Northeastern University, and was fortunate to be able to spend my co-op terms learning about journalism in the newsroom at the Boston Globe. I’ve lived and worked in Maine for the past 35 years, twelve of them year-round on an island in Casco Bay. So the New England cadence comes through in my writing. That’s true both with my narrative voice, and the voices of my characters.

For example, in Cover Story, my newspaper reporter protagonist Joe Gale is covering a trial in Machias, 40 miles from the Canadian border. He shares the courtroom’s front bench with a pair of elderly spectators, twin sisters Arlette and Truelette Peabody. After a few days, they’ve become friendly enough for the Peabody sisters to invite Joe for after-court refreshments at their home:

I headed back toward the courthouse with the intention of finding a sheriff’s department clerk to dig the police report about the May 22 bait truck accident out of the files, but was intercepted by the Peabody sisters, who had tea on their mind. Tea with me.

 

“We understand you need to meet a deadline, but our house is right around the corner, and the judge did adjourn early today,” Trulette said.

 

“It will be a little civilized break,” Arlette added. “And I make a potent cup of Darjeeling.”

 

I was caffed out, but court had adjourned at three twenty, leaving plenty of time before my deadline, so we proceeded to the Peabody ancestral home. From the outside it murmured old New England. Center chimney. White clapboards. Black shutters flanking six-over-six windows.

 

As was local custom, we entered through the side door. After shucking our shoes onto a plastic boot tray, we shuffled in stocking feet into a large square kitchen with an antique stove radiating steady heat in the corner. While Trulette put the kettle on to boil, Arlette shoveled two scoops of pea coal into the stove’s top hatch, then bent and shook the accumulated ash into the bottom pan, moving with the easy rhythm of someone who’d fed a coal stove her whole life.

If you’re a New Englander, you know these women. Perhaps they’re your aunt, or maybe your high school English teacher. They are as Maine as a Moxie ice cream float, and an important part of the emotional architecture of Cover Story.

In Quick Pivot, the first in the Joe Gale series, every third chapter takes the reader back to 1968. Those chapters are written in the third-person voice of Paulie Finnegan, Joe Gale’s now-deceased mentor, who was a young reporter in the sixties. I had a great time writing the dialogue in those chapters, because I worked with reporters like Paulie when I was a journalist in Boston and Maine. Smart and savvy, working class, a bit of a wiseass, but sentimental beneath the surface. In this scene Paulie’s on a jaunt with a source named Jay Preble to Old Orchard Beach (a place I understand is near and dear to the Wickeds):

They drove south as far as Old Orchard, a beachfront town that oozed fryolator grease from its pores. The main drag was lined with tourist emporiums—places that sold sweatshirts, cotton candy and inflatable balls—many of which were open but doing little business. Not so the bars.

 

Preble steered them to a waterfront joint where they ate fried clams and drank beer for a couple of hours before moving to a bar where a rougher crowd was pounding down booze as though it were Saturday instead of Sunday. They switched from beer to whisky while Paulie worked his way up the list of guys waiting to take on the resident darts champ, a scrawny man named Bo with hard eyes and a cigarette dangling from his lip.

 

Neither Preble nor Bo knew that Paulie held the all-time darts title at the South Portland Coast Guard base, capable of throwing with either hand, dead drunk or Sunday school sober. But they found out. By the time Preble dumped Paulie at his doorstep in Riverside, it was after eleven and he still had thirty fresh bucks in his wallet. Their bar bill had eaten the rest of what he’d won.

Barb: Your protagonist, Joe Gale, is a reporter and you were once a journalist as well. I’ve always wondered, how are the skills journalists develop applicable to writing a novel, and how are they a hindrance that must be unlearned or overcome? What was the best, most important thing you learned as a journalist?

Brenda: Most important? Not to fear the blank page. When I settle in to write I’m kind of like a musician sitting down at the piano. I tap out a few words, riff around a little, and pretty soon I’m pounding out a tune. It’s not always good music, mind you, but I’m not one suffer blank page paralysis. For better or worse, my experience as a reporter taught me to jump right in.

It was important to break myself of the notion that I was writing to deadline. A journalist must submit to her editor the best story she can write in the time allowed. A novelist needs to take however much time is necessary to write a story worthy of submission. Big difference there.

One habit I had to resurrect was the daily writing routine. When you’re a reporter, that’s a given. It took me a little while to realize that writing fiction was going to demand the same daily commitment to the keyboard. When I decided eight or nine years ago to take a crack at writing a novel, my routine varied with my energy level. If I’d had a hectic day at work, I’d give myself a slide on writing that night. That meant I never got in the groove, and found myself endlessly fussing around with the first chapter. It was only when I committed myself to write two pages a night minimum, no matter what, that my first book began to take shape. That book, by the way, was Cover Story, the second book in the Joe Gale series. Like many first efforts, it needed a lot of cooking time.

Barb: In April, you crossed the line from unpublished to published author when, Quick Pivot, the first book in the Joe Gale series, was released. What is the most surprising thing that’s happened since then?

Brenda: I have been delighted by how much I enjoy going to libraries and book groups to talk about my books and crime writing in general. I thought that would be a nerve-wracking experience, but it’s turned out to be the opposite. A colleague offered some wise advice before my first appearance—folks who go out of their way to meet authors make for a dream audience. They’re dedicated readers, she said. They want to like you and your work. Those words were like magic. They set my mind at ease.

Because my publisher is digital-first, the many wonderful bookstores in Maine are not available venues for me at this time. But libraries and book groups are a great fit. If any readers of this blog would like me to visit their local library or come (in person or by Skype) to hang out with their book group, they can contact me through my website, http://brendabuchananwrites.com

Barb: What are you working on now?

Brenda: I’m in the middle of copyedits for Truth Beat, the third book in the Joe Gale Series. It’s about the suspicious death of a Catholic priest who was well-known as a tireless advocate for victims of clerical sexual abuse. Set in the imaginary town of Riverside with scenes in Portland, Bangor and Bethel, Truth Beat will be out in February, 2016.

Thanks for inviting me to chat with the Wickeds today, Barb. I hope we can keep the conversation going in the comments.

What do you think, readers? Is there a New England regional voice? Is there a particular voice in your corner of the country or the world?

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Brenda Buchanan, Cover Story, Joe Gale Mysteries, New England, Quick Pivot

Opening Lines

We continue with our time theme in honor of the debut of Just Killing Time by Julianne Holmes, by offering an exotic locale, Prague, an astronomical clock, and a crowd. Wickeds and readers, give us your best opening lines.

Liz: The clock chimed noon, and suddenly mayhem erupted, with people running everywhere. It took me a minute, within the mass of people, to realize a dead body had dropped from the top of the church balcony.

Sherry: I chased after the guy who’d snatched my backpack filled with money I’d just stolen. He strolled so casually through the crowd. But when I caught him I’d be doing more than just killing time.

Edith: That wisp of a thing in the black dress? Looks innocent, doesn’t she? Nope. One of the most elusive professional assassins in Europe. Two more clicks of the clock and we’ll have her in our net.

Jessie: Tourists felt safe milling around the plaza in the shadow of the clock tower by day. But by night, something warned them not to linger. Perhaps it was the fact that the iconic building served as a perfect perch for hungry vampires scouting for a meal.

Julie: “What time is it?” he asked. I shot him a look, and pointed here, there, everywhere. No wonder he didn’t notice my new jacket. He didn’t notice anything. Not even the guy with the knife, coming right toward him.

Barb: “Be under the clock at 5:00 pm,” the voice had whispered. “Bring the gems if you want to see your husband alive again.” So there she was, milling among the happy, carefree tourists, feeling the weight of the Blaze Diamond necklace in her tote bag.

Filed under: Opening Lines Tagged: astronomical clock, Julianne Holmes, Just Killing Time, Prague, Vampires

An Author is Born!

Well, it finally happened. I’m a published author. It’s been two whole days. After over twenty years of dreaming of this day.

I had a wonderful launch party at the New England Mobile Book Fair, and am in Raleigh at Bouchercon continuing to help Julianne Holmes arrival in the publishing world be a successful one. I’m still pinching myself. This has been a dream of mine for a very long time. But you know what’s interesting? Dreams coming true are actually a bag full of complicated emotions, and a lot of introspection. I’ve been thinking a lot about my path to publication, about how I got from there to here.

Writing is solitary, but getting published is a community effort. If I hadn’t joined Sisters in Crime, I never would have met my tribe. I wouldn’t have met the mentors in my life, including Hallie Ephron, Kate Flora, and Hank Phillippi Ryan. I wouldn’t have gotten the email from Sheila Connolly, opening up an opportunity to pitch a cozy series to an agent. I wouldn’t have sat next to him at Crime Bake because Edith Maxwell told me I was going to sit next to him and talk. My series proposals didn’t sell, but if he hadn’t met me, when Barb Ross suggested me for a project, he may have moved on to another writer. If I hadn’t gone to every Crime Bake but the first one, I wouldn’t have become friends with Barbara Ross. All of these moments, and dozens of others, forged my path.

I am lucky, when you define luck as preparation meeting opportunity. Luck is hard work, and it doesn’t always work out the way you expect it to. I realize that there are a lot of people who work hard, and never have this moment in their lives. I am truly, truly bless ed.

I’ve mentioned Barbara Ross and Edith Maxwell. Let me mention three more names. Liz Mugavero, who also has a crazy day job, but has shown me that writing a series can be done while maintaining a career. The wonderful Sherry Harris, who I met at Malice right before she moved to New England, and who joined Sisters in Crime once she moved here. Jessie Crockett, the powerhouse in New Hampshire who some how knows exactly the moment I need a “how’s it going, how can I help” email. We not only blog together, but we check in, support, and care about one another. These friendships, and this blog, are great gifts of this journey.

I have made a career working in the arts. I am grateful that I have my theater experiences to help me understand the fluidity of all of this. I have seen friends realize their dream of being on Broadway, and then the show closes, and they move on to the next gig. They are grateful for that moment, but they have to keep hustling to stay on the ride. Working in the arts is hard work. But it makes life Technicolor.

JUST KILLING TIME is book one of the clock shop series. I can’t wait for you to meet Ruth Clagan, the Reed family, Ben the handsome barber next door, Ruth’s step grandmother Caroline, and Chief Paisley. I also can’t wait for you to visit Orchard, where every store looks different, and crime lurks just around the corner. This paperback book represents a lot of work, and a lifetime of dreams finally coming true.

Thank you all, dear readers, for your support for me during this journey. What a great group you all are. Hopefully we can meet in person at some point. If not, you’re another reason I am so grateful for this blog.

Filed under: Julie's posts Tagged: Julianne Holmes, Just Killing Time, writing

Wicked Wednesday–Where Does the Time Go?

Today, we continue our celebration of Just Killing Time by Julianne Holmes by talking about…time. It seems like each of us has an individual relationship to it. I (Barb) often feel that a lot of the conflict in families has to do with everyone’s different sense of time. One person has an elaborate calendar and needs to know what she’s going to be doing six months from now, while another is completely spontaneous and isn’t willing to make commitments about tomorrow, much less six months from now.

What about you, Wickeds? Do you show up early, right on the dot, or fashionably late? What is your own peculiar relationship to time?

Barb: Can I say…it’s complicated? My husband and I have regular meetings where we sync our calendars and I have a pretty good idea, big picture, of what I’m doing and where I’ll be at least from now through the New Year. I have to-do lists and I love checking things off. However, it must be said, I feel like all those scaffolds are compensating for something. I need that frisson of panic to really focus on a task, particularly a writing task. It’s annoying and college-sophomorish, but given my age, I doubt it will change. This is why I always describe myself as an overachiever trapped in a procrastinator’s body.

Liz: I try to live by the Louise Hay affirmation that goes like this: There is plenty of time for everything I want to do today. Still, I find myself slipping into the panicked place of checking the clock every five minutes, convinced there will never be enough time to finish whatever book I’m working on, never mind all the other books I want to write. But since I do always manage to get everything done, I hope that it’s all just in my head.

Edith: I am chronically early for scheduled events. I hate arriving late, or even rushing to get there on time, so I usually allow way too much extra time and arrive early. But that’s fine, because I bring something to read or work on, or go for a walk, or find somewhere for a glass of wine. And I’m a scheduler. I really like knowing what’s going to happen way ahead of time, and I like planning for things. I keep lists and calendars and spreadsheets. That said, I’m happy to drop what I’m doing and go out for an impromptu dinner or walk on the beach, too. Call me!

Julie: Liz, I love that quote! I am wrestling with time a lot these days. I’ve come to realize that I can’t, in fact, do everything I need to do. I am also trying to schedule in “commute” “workout” etc. on the list. Like Barb, I also feel like a deadline is really helpful for me. Trying to break that habit as well, but it’s a hard one! Edith, I really need to get into the early habit. Hopefully owning my schedule a little more will help with that!

Sherry: I’m a contrast in styles when it comes to time. I hate being late to appointments, movies, or meetings. On the other hand I’m not much of a planner and tend to procrastinate. One of the questions authors are often asked is: Do you have a specific time you write? I don’t. Sometimes I write in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. I’d like to be more organized time wise but…

Jessie: In a day-to-day way I’m like Edith; I’m almost always early for scheduled events. I bring a notebook, novel or some knitting and squeeze in a few moments of fun whilst waiting. I do keep a calendar synced between my phone and my home computer and I fill in a Daily Docket on paper each morning so the usual life stuff gets done. But, I like to look at time with a long view as well. Every Sunday morning I take about a half hour to write in my gratitude journal and to examine my long range goals. I structure my year around 12 week goal plans and break each one down into manageable bites on a weekly basis. That’s the only way I know to ensure the important doesn’t get shouldered out of my life by the urgent.

Readers: What’s your relationship with time? Are you a planner or not? Like to be early or are a relaxed somewhat-late arriver?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Julianne Holmes, Just Killing Time, time management

Happy Book Birthday–Julianne Holmes!

The Wickeds are all a-twitter today as a member of our happy band hits a major milestone. Writing as Julianne Holmes, our own Julie Hennrikus is celebrating her novel debut with Just Killing Time. HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY, JULIE!!

Isn’t the cover great? Here’s the blurb.

Ruth Clagan may be an expert clockmaker, but she’s always had a tendency to lose track of time. And when trying to solve a murder, every minute counts…

Ruth’s beloved grandfather instilled in her a love of timepieces. Unfortunately after her grandmother died and he remarried, Ruth and Grandpa Thom became estranged. She’s wanted to reconnect after her recent divorce, but sadly they’ve run out of time. Her grandfather has been found dead after a break-in at his shop—and the police believe he was murdered.

Now Ruth has been named the heir to Grandpa Thom’s clock shop, the Cog & Sprocket, in the small Berkshire town of Orchard, Massachusetts. As soon as she moves into the small apartment above the shop and begins tackling the heaps of unfinished work, Ruth finds herself trying to stay on the good side of Grandpa’s bossy gray cat, Bezel, while avoiding the step-grandmother she never wanted. But as old secrets and grudges start to surface, Ruth will have to kick into high gear to solve the killer case before someone else winds up dead…

What say we, Wickeds?

Barb: I’m so excited about this release. I was lucky enough to score an advance copy, so I know what a treat the rest of you are in for. Congratulations, Julie!

Liz: Julie! I think I’ve been awaiting this as anxiously as you! So very happy for you, my friend. Congrats.

Edith: Julie may be the last of the Wickeds to get a book out, but she’s sure not the least. I also read an early copy and LOVED the story. Readers, run out and get your copy now. And if you’re in New England, come on out to the New England Mobile Book Fair (it’s not mobile, and it’s not a fair…) tonight (Oct 6) at 5:30 for Julie’s launch party!

Jessie: For those of you who may not know her personally, Julie is one of the world’s most generous cheerleaders. She goes above and beyond in supporting the people, organizations and causes she cares about and it is such a pleasure and a privilege to be able to do the same for her. Hip, hip, hooray Julianne Holmes! It couldn’t happen to someone more deserving.

Sherry: I’m bursting with excitement for Julie. As Jessie said Julie loves to help others. We met by chance in 2005 and that meeting has led to so many things — having Julie as a friend is at the top of the list. This book debut feels extra special to all of us. Just Killing Time is a great book and you will fall in love with Ruth and her clock shop.

Julie: Friends, I would not be on this path without you. And it sure wouldn’t be nearly this much fun. Love you all, and thank you!!

Filed under: Book Birthday Tagged: Julianne Holmes, julie hennrikus, Just Killing Time, New England Mobile Book Fair, Ruth Clagan

Shorthand:15

by Sheila Connolly

Readers (and some authors) may think we’re writing sparkling new original stories from our own imaginations, but in fact most of us writers borrow a lot from other people’s subconscious perceptions. That’s a good thing, because in a way it saves the writer time. Use a particular phrase or a setting, and it becomes a kind of shorthand for a lot more.

This shorthand plays a role when we decide where we want to set our books. Take Philadelphia: what do you see when I say “big city”? Noise and crowds and museums? Ireland is a very different case: rainbows and green hills and cottages. These cues let the reader “see” the stage before we start adding characters.

My fictional Granford, Massachusetts, the home of the Orchard Mysteries (including the latest book, A Gala Event, to be released tomorrow!), is a typical cozy small town. Now, don’t stop to think: what do you visualize when someone says “New England town?”

The quick answer is: a town green ringed with old maple trees, maybe blazing with fall colors, surrounded by a large white church with a steeple, a couple of stores, and the big old houses built a century or two earlier by the rich folk in town who wanted to show off. Drive through most New England states and you’ll see a lot of them. It’s imprinted in our collective memories.

That’s what Granford looks like. That’s also what the real town of Granby looks like—a place I know and have been visiting since before I started writing. Just about everything in the Orchard Mysteries is real—the library, the historical society, the church, the police station, the feed store, the high school, etc., etc. (Although the real town has opened both a new library and a more modern police station since I started the series—so I moved them in the books too.)

There was one other critical element, though: apples. I always knew I wanted to set the series in the town, in a colonial house built by an ancestor of mine (also real), but the publisher wanted a “hook.” I thought about it, and rejected some ideas such as organic farming (I’ll leave that to Edith, since I know nothing about organic farming!), but then I hit upon apples. Everybody knows and loves apples—so there’s an instant identification with the idea. I’m sure you all can call up a mental picture immediately when I say “apple orchard.” And then suddenly you’re plugged into Johnny Appleseed and the “apple a day keeps the doctor away” idea of healthy eating and wholesome gifts for first-grade teachers and “Mom and apple pie,” and so on.

See? I don’t have to put all this on the page, but I’ve connected with a lot of readers who already know about all this, consciously or unconsciously. Just mention “apple” and suddenly you’ve tapped into a whole backstory for your book.

What particular bit of shorthand on the cover or in a review makes you pick up a book in a bookstore (or click online) when you see it? Which ones one would make you avoid a book?

A Gala Event

And one small bit of promotion: A Gala Event, to be released tomorrow. Available everywhere in most formats you can think of. Yes, there really are alpacas in Granby, er, Granford.

Thanks, sister Wickeds, for featuring it last week!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: A Gala Event, apples, Ireland, Orchard Mysteries, Philadelphia, sheila connolly

Where are the Wickeds?

It’s time for our monthly post about our appearances this month.

Julie:

6 October 5:30-7 PM. Book launch party for JUST KILLING TIME. New England Mobile Book Fair, Newton Highlands, MA.

Edith:

9 October 1 PM. On “Crime in the Metropolis” panel, Bouchercon, Raleigh, NC.

27 October 8-10 AM. At SINC-NE table at New England Library Association meeting, Manchester, NH.

30 Oct – Nov 1. Magna Cum Murder conference, Indianapolis, IN.

Sherry:

8 October 8-10 AM. Author Speed Dating, Bouchercon, Raleigh, NC.

10 October 7 AM. New Authors Breakfast, Bouchercon, Raleigh, NC.

Barb:

24 October 2-3 pm. Sisters in Crime New England Booth at the Boston Book Festival.

26 October 12:30- 2:30 pm Sisters in Crime New England booth at the New England Library Association Annual Conference.

Jessie:

8 October 10 AM Meredith Public Library, Meredith, NH

20 October 7PM, Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick, ME

26 October 10:00-12:30 PM Sisters in Crime New England booth at the New England Library Association Annual Conference.

Filed under: Where Are the Wickeds? Tagged: Bouchercon 2015, Magna Cum Murder, NELA

A Gala Event Book Birthday

Today, due to an embarrassment of riches, we’re celebrating a Wicked Book Birthday a few days early. Congratulations to Wicked Cozy Accomplice Sheila Connolly whose ninth Orchard mystery, A Gala Event, releases on Tuesday! Can’t wait to read this installment. Here’s the blurb from her web site:

“The fall harvest may be just about over, but orchard owner Meg Corey is busier than ever planning her wedding to Seth Chapin. Who knew picking apples would be less work than picking out rings and a dress? And even though the happy couple has invited most of Granford, Massachusetts, to the ceremony, they might have to make room for one more guest…

Ex-con Aaron Eastman has unexpectedly reappeared in his hometown, searching for answers to the tragic fire in his family’s past that put him behind bars twenty-five years ago. Moved by his sincerity, Meg vows to do everything she can to help him solve the cold case. As she cobbles together the clues, it becomes increasingly clear that Aaron may have been considered the bad seed of the family, but someone else was one bad apple…”

Liz: Congrats, Sheila! Sounds fun as usual! Thanks for keeping my TBR pile large and looming…

Sherry: Wow! Ninth in the series! What an accomplishment and boy do I love weddings so I can’t wait to read this. I’m not sure how you do it — I just finished the fabulous Privy to the Dead — but keep them coming.

Barb: Ninth! How did this happen? I’ve fallen behind. Off to order A Gala Event right now. Congratulations, Sheila!

Julie: I hear it is going to be a bumper crop for apples this year. May the same be said for book sales about apple orchards! Congratulations Sheila!!

Edith: So exciting. And a wedding, to boot! I’ve loved this series since the start.

Jessie: I’ll bet this title is the pick of the crop, Sheila! Congratulations, once again!

Congratulations, Sheila! You inspire all of us.

Readers: Any questions for Sheila about apples, long-running series, or how it’s going to be having a married sleuth?

Filed under: Book Birthday, Sheila's Posts Tagged: A Gala Event, Book birthday, Orchard Mystery, sheila connolly

From Somewhere Further Down The Road — Guest Art Taylor

First and foremost, I want to thank Sherry Harris for inviting me to blog here at Wicked Cozy Authors—and by “foremost,” I mean that the various elements of this sentence are ultimately the only things I’m going to write about here.

“Art Taylor”

Sherry and I now live in the same small Northern Virginia town. It’s a suburb of Washington, DC, so part of a larger cosmopolitan community, but it’s an area that also has a small town feel. Sherry and I have run into each other at the grocery store parking lot, for example (I think that’s where she first asked me about the guest post here), and we’ve talked about trying to gather friends together more often for coffee or for trips to the park to ride the miniature train that my son so dearly loves. It’s a nice place to live in so many ways, and much of it has a hominess about it, and yet… and yet I couldn’t help but notice that the bio on Sherry’s own website notes that she and her husband “are living in northern Virginia until they figure out where they want to move to next,” and I know how often my wife Tara and I have mused about where we might like to live someday as well, as if our real homes are ultimately one of two places:  where we once grew up or, specifically in our case, where we’d like our son to grow up. Maybe here, but (who knows?) maybe not.

I started thinking about these notions of where we’re from and where we are and where we’re going because of the subheading on the Wicked Cozy Authors page: “Mysteries with a New England Accent”—a tagline that has me doubly appreciating Sherry’s invitation for me to guest post here (and appreciating again Edith Maxwell and Barbara Ross hosting the Agatha finalists earlier this year) because, as anyone who’s ever heard me speak knows, I do not have a New England accent—and, important to my point here, neither does my fiction.

All of us who identify as mystery writers must surely find our works informed by the various traditions and rules of crime fiction; that term provides a large umbrella for  various styles and approaches, of course, but suffice it to say that a person writing a traditional mystery must surely remain aware of the rules of a fair play mystery, of the weight of all the works in our genre that have preceded us. In a similar vein, it’s likely true that we may be defined by place—not only in terms of the settings we’ve chosen for our stories and novels but also by the places we’re from, the places we’ve lived, and maybe even (more on this in a minute) by previous literary works about those places.

Sherry’s Garage Sale Mysteries, for example, expressly draw on her years in Massachusetts as much as on her love of garage sales, and reading her work,  I’m struck by how often place finds itself not just a character of sorts but also a guiding force in her writing. Early in Tagged for Death, at the first mention of the term “garage sale,” Sherry stops to add a parenthetical clarification: “tag sale, for those in the Northeast.” And it’s not long before we’ve also gotten a quick discussion of “Roast Beef and Pizza places… a New England thing,” and a short lesson clarifying that the Sleepy Hollow of Washington Irving’s Ichabod Crane isn’t related to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery of Concord, Massachusetts, whose Authors Ridge has held the graves of Alcott, Hawthorne, Emerson and Thoreau (a spot which also plays a role in the closing pages of the book).

My own work is more likely to be grounded somehow in my native state of North Carolina. (My wife too is a writer, from Pennsylvania originally, and those PA roots often run deep in her own fiction.) The adventures in my recent book On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories take those title characters—a small-time crook and his lover—across the country: Del’s supposed “last” heist takes place in Taos, New Mexico, before he begins a legit job with his sister in Victorville, California, and from there this unpredictable pair travel to Napa Valley, to Las Vegas, and to Williston, North Dakota. But along the way, it’s Louise’s voice, grounded in her own North Carolina upbringing, that drives the story, and its those various memories of the past—of her mother, of North Carolina’s sweet muscadine wines, of sucking the nectar from honeysuckles, of small town Southern life—that punctuate the tales and that gradually draw them back to Louise’s home state for the final story.

These observations—how Sherry’s novels and my stories and my wife’s stories too are all informed by place—might simply prove how some details of a story are byproducts of the more central roles that character and setting play in any work of fiction. But I’m curious beyond that.

The Southern literary tradition is a real one—it’s been endlessly studied, even if there are disagreements still about exactly how narrowly to define it—and I’m certain that other regions of the country might be able to trace themes and elements that have dominated and defined the literature of their areas, the mappable landscapes of their literature. But when we writers put pen to paper, how conscious are we of those geographical literary traditions? To circle back to the subheading on the Wicked Cozy Authors page, what does it mean for a mystery to have a “New England Accent” or a Southern accent or whatever? (New York patter? Chicago twang? California surfer speak? …by which I’m not just talking about dialogue, of course.)

To answer that question, I’ve…

Whoops! Sherry just pointed out that I’ve hit my word count here! Oh, well.

Anyone else want to chime in with their own thoughts on this in the comments section? I’d love to chat more, clearly—whatever accent you’re bringing to the conversation.

A native of Richlands, NC, Art Taylor is the author of On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories, recently published by Henery Press, and the editor of Murder Under the Oaks, the 2015 Bouchercon Anthology. His short fiction has won two Agatha Awards, a Macavity Award, and three consecutive Derringer Awards. His story “The Odds Are Against Us” is currently a finalist for this year’s Anthony and Macavity Awards. Art teaches at George Mason University and writes frequently on crime fiction for both the Washington Post and Mystery Scene. www.arttaylorwriter.com.

Readers: What is the answer to Art’s question — “When we writers put pen to paper, how conscious are we of those geographical literary traditions?” Writers, how much do you put into this? Readers, are you drawn to books set in a particular region? Which region?

Filed under: Guest posts Tagged: Art Taylor, Las Vegas, Napa Valley, New England, New England Accent, North Carolina, Northern Virginia, On The Road With Del and Louise, Taos New Mexico, Victorville California, Washington DC, Williston North Dakota

Wicked Wednesday: Memories of an Elder

Wicked Wednesday once again, where we all contribute to the same topic. This has been a wicked kind of month – five Wednesdays! Continuing on our theme of memories, Wickeds, who is an elder you remember strongly? A grandparent, great-aunt, neighbor, teacher – tell us who she or he was and why you remember that person so well. Bonus points if the relationship had an effect on your career as an author.

Liz: My grandpa, hands down. He was a detective who loved to tell stories about his adventures, so I guess you can see the correlation with my career! He loved to tell this one story about a guy named Nick Maluff, who had this dog who allegedly bit everyone he met. It was like that game of telephone. Every time he told the story the dog was more vicious and had attacked more people, until you would’ve thought he was out terrorizing the city on a daily basis. Turns out, the dog was just a sweet little pup who had maybe nipped at one person. Most likely my Gramp, who probably poked him with his cane or something! I always wished I’d gotten to hear more stories from his police adventures before he died.

Barb: This is my great-grandfather, Walter P. Taylor, Sr. He lived until I was in seventh grade, so I knew him quite well. He lived with my dad’s family during the thirties, forties and fifties, so my dad grew up with him in the house and they were particularly close. But by the time I remember him, he lived in Myrtle Beach with my great aunt and uncle. Every year, on the last day of school in June, my grandmother would pick up my brother and me and take us, along with my great-grandfather (whom we called ManPop for reasons to complicated to explain here), out to her summer house in Water Mill, Long Island. We spent two weeks, a lovely time, of beaching, going out to lunch, and to the penny candy store. In this photo, he is doing the thing I remember best, painting beautiful tiles. With his help, my brother and I painted them, too and then we took them to be glazed. I still have many of his tiles at my house, as well as some with my brother’s and my own childish drawings.

Edith: I was always particularly fond of my San Francisco aunt Jo Reinhardt, and was close to her. She was my father’s baby sister, and ended up the tallest of the three siblings. I know she was grateful and surprised to live into her eighties, since both her parents, as well as her sister and brother, died in their sixties. Jo was a fabulous cook, a generous smart sweet woman, both elegant and practical, a mother of three boys (when I became mother of two sons, we had an extra link), and a memoirist in her later years. She loved having fun – our families had a reunion when she was in her seventies and she was dancing as much as any of us in the living room one night. She and my uncle Dick were very close and always seemed to model the perfect relationship to me. Her laugh was a rill of bells and her eyes always seemed to be smiling. Miss you, Jo!

Sherry: My Aunt Pat isn’t a blood relative but my mom’s sorority sister. She was beautiful, interesting, funny, and oh, so full of life. She married her college sweetheart — Uncle John — on radio show and won a honeymoon in Carmel, California! They lived in Arizona, very far from me in Iowa so each visit was extra special. Everyone should have an Aunt Pat in their lives. Aunt Pat always told the story of one of their visits when I was in high school. I was supposed to clear the table and do the dishes but told my mom that I needed to talk to Aunt Pat. The picture of us is the last time I saw her — she died unexpectedly six months later. But it’s a perfect example of how fun it was to be around her — the cigars are cookies.

Julie: My maternal grandparents were/are very special to me. Though I loved my grandfather fiercely, and still miss him. 35 years after his death, I think my grandmother had the most influence on me. She used to say that grandchildren were the applause of life, and she treated us accordingly. That said, she was very human to me, foibles and all, and I loved her very, very much. She taught me how to knit, the secret to a great apple pie, to love shows like Dallas and Dynasty, and that love could be complicated. Today, as I put on the red lipstick and put a couple of bobby pins in my hair to keep it from fluffing up beyond belief, I think of her, and smile.

Readers: Which older person do you miss the most, or learned the most from?

Filed under: Wicked Wednesday Tagged: Aunt Pat, Carmel, grandpa, great-grandfather, Phoenix