Hello from Shari Randall!
One reason I set my Lobster Shack Mysteries in Mystic, Connecticut (called Mystic Bay in the books) is because the area has so much of that hard-to-define quality called charm. Its combination of historical interest and natural beauty makes it a place people yearn to visit. Over the years I've felt like an unofficial ambassador for not just this area of coastal Connecticut, but for New England, too. Nothing makes me happier than a reader who tells me they enjoyed their "visit" in the pages of one of my books.
Setting is such an important part of a story. In some books, the description of the setting is so vivid that we feel immersed in the place. That's one of the reasons we readers love books, isn't it? We can travel in books without leaving our cozy armchairs.
Where has your last read taken you?
Let me know in the comments.
Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mysteries and, as Meri Allen, the Ice Cream Shop Mysteries. The last place she visited in a book? Ireland.
The last book I read took me backstage into many theaters and sets. The book, The Third Gilmore Girl, is Kelly Bishop’s memoir. Each relationship or thing that happened to her, perhaps unconsciously, occurs within the constraints of her theater world - so, indirectly theater is always the setting even when she talks about an apartment or home.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds fascinating!
DeleteThe last book I read (an ARC of Liz Milliron's upcoming SHATTERED SIGHT) took me to Niagara Falls. I swear I could feel the spray on my face!
ReplyDeleteNot far from my old stomping grounds
DeleteI just started Deanna Raybourn's KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS. The opening chapters are set on the Queen Mary during a trans-Atlantic trip. Let the fun and games begin!
ReplyDeleteI've lately been rereading old favorites, and last visited ancient Ireland in Morgan Llywelyn's "Grania, She-King of the Irish Seas." (The title sounds to me like it would be a semi-pornographic third-rate movie, but it's really a marvelous novel.)
ReplyDeleteI've been reading the first two books of Charlaine Harris' Gunnie Rose series. It's an alternative history, set in the area where the United States had existed (it broke into pieces after President FDR was assassinated).
ReplyDeleteI haven't read much alternative history - intriguing!
DeleteI love Mystic, CT so reading your Lobster Shack series is especially fun for me.
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Chris Whitaker's WE BEGIN AT THE END, set in a fictional coastal California town. Scenes also take place in rural Montana. Both settings were so well written. Loved the book!
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Shari. I'm just back from Ludthorpe, England. I spent time in 1951 and 2018 while reading the dual timeline story One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley. It's a twisty mystery about Edie Greene, 15 in 1951 and 82 in 2018, trying to find out what happened to her friend Lucy in the summer of 1951. Her search is complicated by her faltering memory. It's on the cozy end of the mystery spectrum but completely gripping.
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