The Story Behind The Book

Thanks so much for having us on Writers Who Kill today. We are the Seven Sinister Sisters and each of us has a new release coming between January and April. Our group is comprised of Becky Clark, Sue Star, Shawn McGuire, Cathy Perkins, Leslie Karst, Edith Maxwell and Patricia Hale. Our blog tour runs from January 6^th to April 30^th and we’ll be answering different questions at each stop. Writers Who Kill is our first stop and our first question is…

What’s the story behind your book, why did you write it?

Patricia Hale will start us off… “I once read a true story of a mother who went into the underground world of sex-trafficking to search for her missing daughter. She never found her, but the mother was fearless and unstoppable, and she has stayed with me. Sex-trafficking is one of those topics we discuss in hushed voices, but it needs to come into the light. Using a fictional approach with Durable Goods, (April 15, 2018) I’ve illuminated the subject through the eyes of the young women held captive. I hope I have depicted them well, showing that though we correctly label them as victims, they are true survivors with strength beyond their years.”

Social issues continue to be addressed by our next author, Edith Maxwell. Writing as Maddie Day, in Biscuits and Slashed Browns, (January 30, 2018) she presents a running sub-theme of climate change… “One suspect in the murder of a purported tree scientist during the National Maple Syrup Festival in southern Indiana is a maple scientist related to an employee of my protagonist, chef Robbie Jordan. I'm not shy about sneaking my views about global warming into a book, but only if they serve the story. In this case, the victim had publicly pooh-poohed climate change, but more than one person associated with the festival or Robbie's country store restaurant had motive to get rid of the victim.”

 There are still a lot of old-fashioned ideas out there and not just about global warming and women’s rights. In Death al Fresco, (March 13, 2018) Leslie Karst takes on generational conflicts… “My books are set in Santa Cruz, California, a long sleepy beach community, home to Italian fishermen and retirees. Recently, however, along with the advent of techies and hipsters, the food revolution has descended full-force upon the surprised old-timers. One day while I was wandering down the town’s historic fisherman’s wharf, brainstorming ideas for a murder mystery, it hit me: What would happen if a local Santa Cruz gal found herself caught between the world of her family’s old-fashioned Italian seafood restaurant, and that of the newly-arrived, politically-correct foodies? Yes, I thought. The perfect backdrop for a culinary mystery!”

And Leslie isn’t the only one who sees a body of water as a great backdrop. In her case it’s the ocean, but a river works just as well, ask Cathy Perkins…. “My husband and I were hiking along the Snake River, in a game management area called Big Flats, which happens to feature in So About the Money (April 2017). We had to push through some tangled foliage at the shoreline. Being a mystery writer whose mind can go all kinds of strange places, I glanced over my shoulder and said, wouldn't this be a great place to find a body? That germ of an idea kept growing. Why would the heroine be out at Big Flats to stumble over the body? How did the body end up beside the river in the first place? And a story evolved.”

Setting is often the trigger that initiates an idea, but as Shawn McGuire explains, it can also be a combination of things…. “The Whispering Pines Series first came to life many years ago as a young adult fantasy novel. I stuck with it because it kept talking to me, but the only bits that carried through were the main character Jayne, Meeka, her West Highland White Terrier, and the fact that Jayne goes to her grandmother’s house in northern Wisconsin. Original Secrets (March 5, 2018) happened because a) I wanted to write a mystery, b) I heard about a place called Lily Dale, New York which is a community of psychics and that sounded cool, and c) I was intrigued by the Wiccan religion.”

A passion for something is a great motivator to put words on the page. In Murder by Moose, (February 15, 2018) Sue Star brings us back to nature (and more) with her preoccupation…. “My kids think I am obsessed with moose. They dare their friends to guess how many moose curios are in my collection (only a dozen, really).  The truth is, moose are majestic animals, and they are making a comeback to the mountains near my home.  Their strength, size, and speed make them a potentially dangerous force to unaware hikers.  I couldn’t resist that combination, so I sent my amateur sleuth, Nell Letterly, into the mountains with moose.  She is there to teach a self-defense class, but instead she finds a body—and a whole lot more.”

In the end it all comes back to writing what you know, as Becky Clark explains. “You know the old adage, write what you know? Well, I know all the secret doors and passageways of the writing world and I thought that might be a fun backstage place to show readers. My amateur sleuth in FICTION CAN BE MURDER (April 8, 2018) is Charlemagne Russo, a mid-list mystery author who finds herself in a situation that I, luckily, have not. Her literary agent was murdered in the same unique way Charlee wrote in her unpublished manuscript, which only a handful of people have read. (Luckily my real-life agent has a great sense of humor about it!) 

Thanks so much to Writers Who Kill and all their readers for kicking off our tour with us. We’re happy to address any comments or questions. And feel free to contact any of us through our websites. Our next stop will be January 18th with the Stiletto Gang. See you there!

http://www.patriciahale.org

http://www.edithmaxwell.com

http://www.lesliekarstauthor.com/

http://www.cperkinswrites.com

http://www.shawn-mcguire.com

http://www.rebeccawriter.blogspot.com

http://www.BeckyClarkBooks.com