Adventures in Cabernet and Co-Writing

When Jim Jackson first approached me about co-writing a story together for the 50 Shades of Cabernet anthology (which you can find here), I was intrigued. And flattered. After all, I was a longtime fan of his Seamus McCree series, so I knew he was a fantastic writer. And having become acquainted with Jim himself through Sisters in Crime, I also knew that he was a fantastic person. I had no worries that he and I would work well together, but I will confess I was a little concerned about our respective sleuths.

Jim’s Seamus McCree is a financial crimes analyst who through the course of four books gets pulled into assassinations, double-crossings, multiple crime syndicate fallouts, and other assorted dirty dealings. He's discovered naked women in the snow and once had to solve a series of murders where botulism-laced potato salad was weaponized against thirty-eight senior citizens. He's intelligent, determined, likes to be in charge of things, and somehow manages to keep his tender heart disguised most of the time.

My sleuth Tai Randolph is the owner of a gun shop that caters to Civil War reenactors. In the five books chronicling her misadventures, Tai has faced down murderous poets, ravenous gators, a blizzard, and the Ku Klux Klan. She's discovered pythons and historical relics, and somehow managed to convince a rule-bound corporate security agent to join her in the madness. She's smart, quick, curses with the fluency of a well-educated sailor, and has a soft spot for people in trouble.

Another thing the characters share is a stubborn streak. Could two fiercely independent sleuths work together as co-protagonists during the space of a short story? Tai was game. So was I. Jim and Seamus agreed. And that was how the four of us (well, five if you count Trey, the corporate security guy) got together for "And Wine to Make Glad the Heart."

One of the first things Jim and I had to figure out was point of view. Both of our sleuths serve as narrators in our books. In order to keep true to their unique voices, we decided to use alternating first-person points of view, using subtitles within the story to signal a shift in character. This technique kept the plot moving while allowing Tai's Southern vernacular and Seamus' Northern diction to co-exist in the same work.

Our next challenge was figuring out how to include Cabernet in the story, a requirement of the anthology. Jim decided that Seamus could be the bearer of the alcoholic goodness (or mediocrity as it turned out—Seamus showed up with wine in a box, insisting that finer drink would be wasted on him, and since Tai prefers whiskey, she didn't argue).

Five thousand and some odd words later, we had a story. It was a nice mix of Civil War history, family legend, competitive darts, faux tarot, and yes, wine. Tai was pleased enough to volunteer for another adventure with Seamus, and she's picky about the company she keeps. I was also thoroughly satisfied. As Jim has himself pointed out at his own blog, I think the story we produced together was better than any we could have done individually, and I hope we can collaborate again.

So Jim, if you're reading, extend an invitation Seamus’ way, won't you? I hear the next anthology in the series will feature Chardonnay.