My Legacy

My Legacy
Lots of other authors have writtenthat they get asked, "Where do you get your ideas?"  In my case, however, readers often add an expletive. Theymake queries such as, "Where the HELL do you get those ideas?" or "Why the F doyou write about stuff like that?" Sometimes they look at me, with my innocentround face, my middle-aged wrinkles, my guileless blue eyes—OK, maybe notinnocent or guileless, but I do resemble a mild-mannered older woman—and theyare aghast. They can't believe that I write aboutsordid crime, involving puppy mills and animal torture, murders by knife, gunand fire, neglect and abuse of children. They often think there must be somedeep dark secret, some childhood trauma of my own, that I am hiding. Somethingso horrible awful that I can only allow it into daylight through my writing.Perhaps I am a psychopath who's found a way to do my evil deeds withoutactually harming anyone, akin to a Dexter but without the knives.I do actually have a couple ofsecrets, but they're not really hidden. One: I am a retired school principal.I've seen, heard, and experienced the fall-out from pretty terrible crimes,most of them inflicted upon the innocent, human or not. The other secret isthat I read the newspaper as well as true crime books. There is nothing in mybooks that could possibly be worse than what actually happens in real life.The great part, though, is that Iget to punish the bad people in my novels. I send them to their maker ortorture them back or kill them outright or put them in prison. I exact revenge.In fact, I can claim that I am a social justice activist in my own weird way. Iright wrongs, ensure happy endings for most of the characters, and give theevildoers what they deserve. I am very much a product of the '50's whenSuperman or The Lone Ranger always stopped the destruction and mayhem.This all brings me to my currentebook, the third Emily Taylor Mystery, which is available starting April 1. It's a story of journeys. Severalvoices speak at once in the book, including Emily. The reader follows them allas they try to find answers to their personal dilemmas. And yes, it does havemy usual "dark" theme. The children in this book are victims, but they are alsoheroes, because in the end, goodness and hope do triumph. Each of the maincharacters experiences a dramatic transformation, an answer to their quest.Each of the villains is more than adequately punished. Justice, truth, andcommunity prevail. My Legacy.  Order Legacy Here