The Real-Life Murder That Inspired Under a Cloud of Rain
During my childhood in River Oaks, Texas, a member of my community was gruesomely murdered. It was a case that gained nationwide attention. At the time of the event and during the sensational murder trial that ensued, I was very young, but it all spurred my love affair with writing and using my imagination to create stories and characters. I knew from that time on that I would one day write a mystery novel inspired by that crime.
The murder struck a chord with me, and it eventually became the inspiration for Under a Cloud of Rain. The brutal murders, the luxe social settings, and the characters from opposite sides of the social spectrum featured in Under a Cloud of Rain are all inspired by the grisly murder that shook my community and left a lasting imprint on me and my family. I was able to play with characters who I dropped into the Houston scene—the birthplace of these rich socialites and their lavish lifestyles with a murder twist that marries the two social classes.
When news of the murder of millionaire Jacques Mossler was first reported in the mid-1960s, the story was that an unknown assailant broke into Mossler and his wife Candace’s Florida vacation property and bludgeoned and stabbed him. That story was soon thrown out as the investigation began to suspect Candace Mossler and her nephew/lover of murdering her husband in his luxury apartment.
I didn’t include any incestuous love affairs in the novel, but there are plenty of steamy sex scenes between characters in Under a Cloud of Rain: Nick Noelle and Pamela, George Brunswick and Pamela, and Richard Lowden and Marianna, to name a few. I couldn’t resist! They were some of my favorites scenes to write.
Mossler and her nephew were never convicted. She remarried in 1971 and lived with her new husband in her River Oaks mansion until they divorced four years later, and she died the following year.
The Houston Chronicle a wonderful job explaining the details of the Mossler trial in a story about the case they ran fifteen years ago (you can read the full story here).
Although the murder took place eleven hundred miles away in the Florida Keys, the Mosslers’ primary home was just around the corner from where I grew up in the Houston suburb. The incestuous affair between Candace and her nephew took place in this home.
Dialogue and character development are two of my strengths as a writer, so creating the two types of characters—wealthy oil titans and middle-class hopefuls—was my favorite part about developing my first novel. I created my characters using my memory of the Mossler case because it was captivating. Those details helped me build my spiciest characters! I really enjoyed writing the big hitters in my book because they embodied a life of the over-the-top lifestyle like the Mosslers, but they also lived very vile lives.
Reader Roundup: What big news story from your childhood will you never forget?
