By Margaret S. Hamilton
In June
2015, I found myself living in half a shotgun house behind Magazine Street in
New Orleans. A few weeks earlier, my daughter had graduated from college and
was recovering from major knee surgery. She spent her days sleeping or watching
Netflix in the large sunny room facing the street. I hunkered down at the
kitchen table in the rear of the cottage, focused on Stephen D. Rogers’ Sisters
in Crime’s Guppy chapter online short story class.
I had
written a 2000-word short story, “Double Crust Corpse”, for a contest and was eager
to expand and improve it. Rogers encouraged me to preface the murder scene with
earlier action. I added a lengthy scene set in a fictional Jericho, Ohio parish
hall, introducing my amateur sleuth, Lizzie Christopher, and her intrepid local
journalist friend, Colleen. Lizzie’s neighbor, Mary Sparrow, has a spat with
Rowena Wentworth about adding vodka to pie crust. Immediately afterwards, Sam
Cooper accosts Mary and demands that she sell him heirloom vegetable seeds for
his new greenhouse business. All the actors were on the stage.
I kept
the core of the original story: Lizzie and Colleen find Mary dead, a small
bottle of vodka on her kitchen table next to her freshly-baked apple pies.
Lizzie is determined to discover the cause of Mary’s death.
Colleen
is an active member of the town garden club. She tells Lizzie that Rowena, in
an effort to keep deer, rabbits, and rodents out of her garden, planted her
entire yard with toxic plants, including monkshood. Lizzie’s physician husband
notes that the symptoms of Mary’s death suggest monkshood poisoning, which is
undetectable in a standard blood test.
When we
lived in a charming historic town in northeastern Ohio bearing a striking
resemblance to Jericho, the annual Ice Cream Social was a major June event. As
I baked pies and cakes for the social, I often wondered what Miss Marple, or
even Tom Barnaby of Midsomer Murders,
would make of it. So many opportunities for poisoning, if not murder. Picture
the scene: picnic tables dotted the tree-shaded Town Green, topped with
red-checked table cloths and piled high with slices of luscious homemade cakes
and seasonal pies. Pie apples were out of season in June, but refrigerated
apples were available. Dixie cups of ice cream were served from a refrigerator
truck.
Rogers suggested
I open the Ice Cream Social scene from a distance and gradually tighten the
focus to Lizzie and Colleen. He showed me how to intersperse dialogue with
physical action. I added a heated exchange between Lizzie and the would-be
cooking school owner, Rowena. Nothing advances the plot like conflict.
On the
way home, Lizzie and Colleen witness Mary’s son, Roger, breaking into his
mother’s house and stealing her file box of heirloom vegetable seeds.
Instead
of Colleen briefing Lizzie about her recent interview with Sam at his
greenhouse, Rogers advised show, don’t tell. Lizzie and Colleen sneak through
the woods to spy on the greenhouse. They see Roger tending to flats of seedlings
before Rowena picks him up. Lizzie connects the dots: Roger works for both Sam and
Rowena, Roger probably planted the monkshood in Rowena’s garden and could have
supplied Sam with cuttings, Sam wants Mary’s seeds.
Lizzie
reports her findings to her police department contact, Officer Bethany Schmidt.
After the police obtain a search warrant for Sam’s greenhouse and thoroughly
search Mary’s trash, the county prosecutor has enough physical evidence to bring
charges against Sam and Roger.
I learn
best by revising under a teacher’s supervision. Stephen D. Rogers taught me how
to plot a short story, write dialogue, and effectively use a small cast of
characters. Four years after I wrote the first version, I noticed my
protagonist has more of a Southern voice than she currently does. A bit of New
Orleans had crept into my story.
My
daughter recovered from her surgery and started her post-college job. I
continued to write short stories and a novel about Lizzie’s escapades in
Jericho. I’m almost ready to query Curtains
for the Corpse, my debut traditional mystery featuring Lizzie Christopher
and Officer Bethany Schmidt, who are determined to solve a murder and find a
missing college student.
On a trip
to Ireland last fall, I was fascinated to find monkshood in bloom in the poison
garden at Blarney Castle. Beautiful…and deadly.
Mysterical-E
published “Double Crust Corpse” in December, 2016. Rhonda Gilliland contacted
me last fall for permission to publish a revised version of the story in her Cooked to Death v.4: Cold Cut Files
anthology, published last month.
Readers,
do you enjoy a “Midsomer Murders” type of story? Writers, do you think about
potential crimes during public gatherings?
WWK
blogger Debra Goldstein also has a story in the anthology.
What a fascinating look at your writing process. Thank you for sharing. Stephen is a wonderful teacher. I've taken his class, but hope to find it offered again for a refresher.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun! You combine food and gardens, two major specialties in cozy fiction. And it sounds like you have honed a writing process that works for you. Best of luck (although heaven knows it's mainly hard work and persistence) with your new project.
ReplyDeleteKait, I'm with you. I need a short story refresher class, particularly because I start with a visual image and start writing with no idea about the ending.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathleen, my debut novel is a traditional mystery. I discovered writers have to find their own writing process. I've made a loose outline of my next book, but still "pants" my short stories.
ReplyDeleteFascinating about the poison garden. Didn't know about that plant but love it as a murder weapon.
ReplyDeleteCarla, in Ireland and England, poison gardens are marked but not fenced off (except at Blarney Castle, American poison ivy and marijuana were covered by cast iron beehive cages). The Cincinnati Zoo Botanical Garden has a propagation program for monkshood, but it's not available to the public.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy all kinds of mysteries. I'm curious to know where in Northeast Ohio you lived because I
ReplyDeletelive in Northeast Ohio, too.
Hudson, which had a mid-June historic home tour, antiques show, and Friday night ice cream social on the town green.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the double publication of your story, Margaret. Expert editors can bring the best out in our works.
ReplyDeleteChiming in late to also congratulate you on the publications! And am so glad your daughter came through this, too.
ReplyDelete