The Story Behind the Story: "Ace of Hearts"

 

Margaret S. Hamilton

 

Links: podcast  Mysteries To Die For – For Mystery Listeners and Readers

Anthology: Anything But Murder: Larceny and Lies, ed. TJ Wolff

 

My New Orleans story “Ace of Hearts” was published last week in Tina Wolff’s Larceny and Lies Anthology. Debra Goldstein and Kathleen Rockwood also have stories in the collection.

 

Tina Wolff requested extensive edits from me and added a “deliberations” section to my story. After several re-writes, I completely changed the ending of my story to keep the action “in the family” without involving law enforcement until the very end.

 

In “Ace of Hearts,” it’s moving day for the Hebert family: the matriarch, Terpsichore, owner of the House of the Rising Sun custom formal gown business; Calliope, her oldest daughter, who works several jobs while finishing her undergraduate degree; and her three younger daughters, who are still in high school. Terpsichore and her sisters are named for the Greek muses, as are Calliope and her younger daughters.

 

After her husband, Ace, disappeared six months earlier, Terp bought and renovated a duplex in Mid-City New Orleans. John Reardon, a low-level mobster and Ace’s boss, is convinced that Ace left behind confidential documents pertaining to Reardon’s business interests. Terp denies any knowledge of the documents.

 

After repeated threats from members of the Reardon family, Callie, her sisters, and their aunts resolve the situation. Several clues lead Callie to suspect that her father, Ace, is still alive.

 

I stayed in a similar New Orleans duplex and incorporated many of the quirks in the building. Rats chewing the pantry door were an unfortunate reality. The local Shell station was on the corner of Canal Street, at the last line streetcar stop before the cemeteries. The front porch of each duplex unit faced a grade school playground full of active kids all day, followed by after-school drumline practice. During my daily walks to City Park, I met every pit bull mix in the area.

 

Writers, have you written a podcast story? Readers, do you enjoy podcast stories?

 

Margaret S. Hamilton’s debut amateur sleuth mystery, What the Artist Left Behind, is on submission.

 

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