Of Fairy Dust and Actual Planning by Susan Van Kirk

 

How do mystery writers plan a series so the stories fit together smoothly and make sense? This is a question I never thought about when I started writing my Endurance mysteries twelve years ago. I just began each with a new idea. But when Level Best Books asked me for paragraphs describing three books in my Art Center Mysteries, it made sense to think about how the three books would connect. Since the second book is coming out next Tuesday, I’ve had an opportunity to sit back and consider multiple connections to book three, Death in a Ghostly Hue. (Good timing since I’m plotting it now, and it will launch a year from now.) Themes, settings, objects, and characters bind the three books into a smooth narrative.

 

The overall theme of the first book, Death in a Pale Hue, is community. My main character, Jill

Madison, returns to her small town of Apple Grove feeling like a failure. Her family begins propping her up and helping her resolve her sadness over the deaths of their parents six years earlier. As her time in Apple Grove continues, she begins to find her place in this new family configuration. Her job as executive director of the Adele Marsden Center for the Arts also helps since a group of characters becomes her work family. In Death in a Bygone Hue, Book Two, the theme is second chances. Jill’s mentor, Judge Spivey, gave her a second chance when her job was in jeopardy, so now his help and loyalty sends her on a mission to find his killer. Death in a Ghostly Hue will follow with the theme of forgiveness. Each of these themes is surrounded by a consistent setting throughout the series.

 

That setting is Apple Grove, a small, midwestern town of 15,000. The Adele Marsden Center for the Arts, named for Jill’s sculptor mother, is the principal setting of every book. In fact, in Book One, Jill is overseeing a huge renovation project to make the building safe. Jill’s office with her six photographs of her family and home, her always-messy desk, and her equally messy love seat is the setting for multiple scenes in all three books. Jill’s currently living in the house where she grew up, and many scenes occur there. As time goes by, I’m adding other locations. The town has a variety of restaurants—Casa Mia, Tuscany Bistro, and Angela’s Ice Cream to name a few—that indicate the diversity of the population as opposed to Jill’s unique biracial family when she was growing up in a 99% white town. Angela’s is owned by a couple from Vietnam, Cam and Minh Trinh. Priscilla’s Pub, owned by Jill’s best friend Angie and her husband, will appear in every book. The second book spends a great deal of time at Judge Spivey’s home at 724 Winslow Avenue because of plot events. Many small shops and businesses are a part of Apple Grove as opposed to large corporations. It’s your typical small, blue-collar, town, but changes occur even as the series is in its initial stage. Each book adds more town locations, but the setting still has a consistent feeling.

 

In each of the Art Center Mysteries, art is front and center. A sculpture is stolen in the first book, and its value is high in price as well as nostalgia. Mother and Child won a huge prize, but it’s priceless to Jill because it’s her mother’s sculpture of a toddler Jill and her mother. The second book contains a painting called Death in a Bygone Hue. It has both symbolic value and it pushes forward the plot. In every book of the series, Jill describes what she sees in the context of the art world. She’s an oil painter, and instead of seeing red like we do, she might describe something as vermilion or scarlet. She narrates through an artist’s eyes.

 

Finally, series writers must make decisions about characters. Of course, main characters like Jill show

up in every book. But small characters could disappear or become more important. In Book One, Jordan Grant is a student intern at the art center. She plays an important supporting role, but in Book Two she’s gone. Sam Finch appears briefly in Book One, but he’s back in Book Two as a romantic interest for Jill. Judge Spivey has little page time in Book One, but he’s a murder victim in Book Two. Guess he won’t show up in Book Three unless he’s a ghost. Chad McKenna is a custodian hired in Book Two to work at night at the art center. (He’s named for someone I know who won a naming spot at an auction to support our local art center in my town.) He began as a small character, but as I authored Book Two, he became more important as both a sneaky suspect and a sounding board for Jill. Jill’s younger brother, Andy, and his partner, Lance, have played small parts in the first two books, but they’ll move front and center in Book Three. It makes sense that characters change over time, and some stay, others are murder victims, and some leave. Don’t cross me, or you’ll know which of these you’ll be.

 

Before I began writing, I was a voracious reader of mysteries. It never occurred to me that writers of mystery series might plan out multiple books in advance. Silly me. Was I thinking fairy dust played a role?

 

As readers, do you notice character arcs and connections between books that are part of a series?