It's fun hearing from readers who know my place settings

I try to make the location settings and historical details in my novels as accurate as possible. Such facts not only increase the reality of a place in the readers' minds, but also help explain the feelings and motivations of the characters. Of course, some of the details are obscure because they refer to buildings, roads, people and events that are fading from people's memories and that were never part of the national consciousness.

Recent posts have included the 1960s-era highway signs in Im...