Spotlight on Crime in the Old Dominion
By Heather Weidner
I am delighted to feature some of the authors from the new Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia anthology, Crime in the Old Dominion, on the blog today. The anthology is edited by Josh Pachter and K. L. Murphy.
Overflowing with history and charm, Virginia may be for lovers but in this collection of stories, it's home to mayhem, mishap, and murder. From the city streets to small towns to the coast and everywhere in between, these short mysteries will take you on a criminally fun tour of the Old Dominion.
Contributors are Mary Dutta, May G. Kennedy, Kristin Kisska, Maggie King, Cindy Martin, Adam Meyer, K.L. Murphy, Josh Pachter, Kathryn Prater Bomey, Leah St. James, Heather Weidner, and Carol Willis.
How much research do you do for your stories, especially when they are set in a real place?
Josh: I usually do quite a bit of research when I set my stories in a real place, both by going there and also online. For this one, though, I didn't. Why not? See my answer to the next question.
Kristin: My story is set primarily in a fictional pop-up day spa, so I didn't need to research specific location/setting details for this story. However, I've set quite a few stories and novels in specific locations and have conducted extensive research for those, both online and visiting the location. On one particularly intensive day, I recorded the path my character would run while being chased through the stacks at one of the libraries at the University of Virginia, just to make sure I could capture the correct vibe.
Carol: I do some research, google search and google map searches for example, to make sure that my setting and plot line is believable. Part of my story takes place in the hospital ER and on the neuro ward. Since I am a physician, I drew entirely on my own experiences to write those scenes.
Leah: I normally do a lot of research for real settings, and this was no exception. I wanted to convey a real flavor of this popular annual event.
Kathyrn: Lots! In a previous life, I used to be a newspaper journalist, so my instinct is always to back everything up with research. In this story, I researched how a real estate agent’s lockbox works, how long a handheld garden hoe is, and the difference between blood spatter and blood stain. As a writer, the last thing you want is an incorrect detail to pull a reader out of your story.
Maggie: Most of my stories are set in contemporary Richmond, Charlottesville, or Fredericksburg. As I’m familiar with all three cities, extensive research isn’t necessary. But I will visit an area of a city to familiarize myself with building styles, landscaping, and traffic patterns.
Often I include a brief history of an area, especially if it’s historically significant, like Shockoe Slip, Richmond’s Northside, or Church Hill. As for public buildings, I often fictionalize them, especially if a crime takes place. But I base the buildings on actual ones, so I visit them to make sure details are accurate. And the season needs to match the environment—no rhododendrons blooming in October!
Heather: For a fiction writer, I do a lot of research. I want to make sure the story details and the setting are as accurate as possible.
Is there any part of your story that’s true?
Josh: “The Perfect Job” is about 99.9% true. The only thing that isn't true is the setting. The story actually happened, pretty much word for word, when I was teaching at the Grafton Correctional Center in Grafton, Ohio. When I was asked to co-edit Crime in the Old Dominion with Kellie Murphy and to write a story of my own for the book, I took that real-world Ohio incident and moved it to Virginia. So although the prison described in the story is called the Buckingham Correctional Center, the description actually corresponds to the Grafton CC.
Kristin: This particular story is entirely fictional except for one detail ~ St. Rita really is the patron saint of abuse victims.
Carol: Since I live in Charlottesville, I was familiar with the setting and many of the street names and several businesses exist in real life. However, I did take creative license and several are made up. Much of the setting is real, but that said, the story is made up and any resemblance to persons, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.
Leah: Other than the event/setting, no.
Kathryn: In “House Arrest,” my protagonist falls in love with a quaint colonial-style brick home and the ancient oak tree in its front yard. But she’s distressed by the fact that most of the colonials around hers have been razed to make way for massive, cookie-cutter houses that, in her mind, lack the personality and charm of the original homes. I was inspired to write this story after seeing that same transformation happening to neighborhoods in real-life places like Arlington, Virginia.
Maggie: Not a word!
Heather: Several years back, there was a body found floating in the canal downtown. That murder sparked the idea for my story, “Game Over.” I added the tuxedo and the wedding party.
What’s next for you?
Josh: I'm currently writing two short-story series. One is set in the small town of Hearne, Texas, in the present day and revolves around a seventy-year-old private eye named Helmut Erhard; he's got a German name because his father was a German officer during WWII, but Helmut was born and raised in Texas. The other series in set in Ghent, Belgium, in two timelines, flipping back and forth between 1917-18 and 1857-60; each story is a locked-room mystery solved by Dr. Joseph Guislain (who actually existed and was the founder of Belgium's first psychiatric hospital) and Amandine Caekebeke (his assistant, and a character I invented).
Kristin: I'm currently plotting a contemporary thriller novel set in Rome. I'm tempted to take a research trip to Italy to scout out my scene locations!
Carol: Currently, I am writing a crime noir set in Charlottesville, VA and Washington D.C. that is based on several characters from "The Golden Girl.” It is very, very dark and I am having a lot of fun writing!
Leah: I’m working on a four-book thriller series that will feature a different protagonist in each of the first three books, with the fourth as a wrap-up. So far only the first story is drafted, so I have a lot of work to do!
Kathryn: I just turned in edits on a private eye story that will appear in 2026 in the anthology The Dame was a Dick, edited by Michael Bracken, and I’m in the midst of querying literary agents with a traditional mystery novel that I hope to publish sometime soon.
Maggie: A short story titled “Dead Body Doesn’t Convey.” When a millennial couple moves into their new home, they find the previous owner hasn’t left—because he’s dead.
Heather: My new cozy mystery series, the Pearly Girls, launched in March, and I’m working on a new cozy series set in rural Virginia. And I’m wrapping up the edits for Murder Plays Second Fiddle.
Featured Authors:
Josh Pachter
“The Perfect Job” Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia
Josh Pachter is a writer, editor, and translator of crime fiction. His work has been shortlisted for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, Thriller, Macavity, Lefty, Derringer, and EQMM Reader Awards, and he was the 2020 recipient of the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement.
Kristin Kisska
“From Here to Serenity” Carytown, Richmond, Virginia
Kristin Kisska, a Virginia-based author, has contributed over a dozen short suspense stories to crime and mystery anthologies. Her debut novel, The Hint of Light, was an Agatha Award finalist for Best First Mystery Novel. She loves hearing from friends, readers, and book clubs at www.KristinKisska.com
Carol Willis
“Golden Girl” Charlottesville, Virginia
Carol Willis holds an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Many of her short stories have appeared in literary journals and several anthologies. She received a medical doctorate from Texas A&M University College of Medicine and an MBA in Healthcare from George Washington University. After practicing medicine for over twenty years in the Midwest, she now lives in Central Virginia with her husband. www.carolwillisauthor.com
Leah St. James
“A Slippery Slope” Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Leah St. James is an award-nominated author of romantic suspense, mystery, and women’s fiction. A member of Sisters in Crime and the Alliance of Independent Authors, Leah is a native of the Central Jersey Shore but now lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband.
www.leahstjames.com
Kathryn Prater Bomey
“House Arrest” Northern Virginia
Kathryn Prater Bomey’s short fiction has appeared in Black Cat Weekly, Shotgun Honey, Punk Noir Magazine, Three Strikes—You’re Dead!, and Crime in the Old Dominion, and is forthcoming in Hooked on Urban Legends—and Murder and The Dame was a Dick. She has served as president and secretary of Sisters in Crime’s Chesapeake Chapter, is a member of SinC’s Central Virginia Chapter and the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and, as a manager of a nonprofit communications team and a former journalist, has published nonfiction writing in magazines, blogs, and daily newspapers, including the Indianapolis Star, Grand Rapids Press, Lansing State Journal, and Saginaw News.
Maggie King
“Who Killed Mother Theresa” Richmond, Virginia
Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries and short stories set in Virginia. She has called New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California home, and currently lives in Richmond with her husband and cats.
Heather Weidner
“Game Over” the Canal Walk, Richmond, Virginia
Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.
Book Links:
Sounds like a great anthology with varied stories.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a fun project!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all.
ReplyDeleteA great addition to my "one short story at bedtime" collection.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a wonderful anthology, Heather! Looking forward to reading the stories.
ReplyDeleteA good short story is a jewel. Thanks for introducing me to these that I need to "collect."
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Sounds like a winner.
ReplyDeleteInteresting!
ReplyDeleteTerrific interview. Thank you, Paula and all our authors.
ReplyDeleteSorry. My mistake. Thank you, Heather for the terrific interviews.
Delete