Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays

For those of you unfamiliar with Washington, D. C., Georgetown is a little colonial town-within-a-town on the Southwestern edge of the District. Shops line the main thoroughfares of Wisconsin Avenue and “M” Street, which runs parallel to the Potomac River a few blocks to the south. Pricey old town homes built of brick and plank edge the narrow streets. Georgetown University is located on the western perimeter uphill from the shopping areas. I gravitated to this area when in college during the 1970s as did many students. It felt like a safe harbor.

When the SinC Chesapeake Chapter announced the theme of homicidal holidays my thoughts took me to Georgetown during my college years. One morning after it snowed, I went to Georgetown. Having come from Pennsylvania, I had no fear of driving, my car clad in snow tires. I parked on upper Wisconsin Avenue and walked downhill toward the river. No cars traversed the street, and I realized that the snow was pristine. No tire tracks or pedestrian footmarks marred the snow. I stopped walking and gazed down the avenue at the vista below me. No sounds. No people. No exhaust. It seemed as if I were the only living being in the city. The quiet and beautiful scene awed me. I never forgot that instant in time.

Few places evoke Christmas like Georgetown dressed up in its holiday finery. My original idea was a

Christmas story set there. I wanted snow—lots of snow—and I got an idea for a mystery involving two roommates who went to my undergraduate school, American University. Because of my memories, the story became historical, set during the 1970s. I’d never written a historical story before and needed to do research. Historical stories must be accurate, don’t they? I became obsessed with research. I had to get everything historically correct.

But, during the 1970s I found, there was no snow on Christmas. Not even close. The snowy day I had found myself alone in Georgetown couldn’t have been in December, but I found a storm in 1979, after I’d graduated, on Presidents’ Day. What could be more Washingtonian than that? Since that storm was the only snow I found occurring on a holiday, I started to research that day and what the headlines focused on during that time. The night of Presidents’ Day during the snowstorm, George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers played at an infamous Georgetown Club, The Cellar Door.  I put the events together, created an antagonist, and the rest—was murder.

                            

Today is the official launch party for Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays, which will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at One More Page Bookstore in Arlington, VA. I'm out of town and am unable to attend, but I hope some of the authors will drop by and tell you about their stories in our "comments" section. If you can't buy the book at your favorite indie store, here's a link for Amazon. It is also available as an electronic publication. I hope you enjoy reading my story, “Compromised Circumstances” along with other wonderful stories in the anthology. Here’s a list of the stories:

GROUNDHOG DAY

THE SHADOW KNOWS, by Barb Goffman

VALENTINE’S DAY

SEEING RED, by Rosemary and Larry Mild

PRESIDENTS’ DAY

COMPROMISED CIRCUMSTANCES, by E. B. Davis

ST. PATRICK’S DAY

I WILL SURVIVE, by Shaun Taylor Bevins

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY

DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES, by Cathy Wiley

HALLOWEEN

PREMONITION, by Art Taylor

DISCO DONNA, by Shari Randall

MONSTER PARTY, by Meg Opperman

SHADOW BOXER, by Carla Coupe

LAST RITES, by Timothy Bentler-Jungr

CHRISTMAS

HOPPY HOLIDAYS, by Linda Lombardi

JASMINE, by Debbi Mack

SAUCE FOR THE GOOSE, by Clyde Linsley

A CHRISTMAS TRIFLE, by Donna Andrews