An Interview with Susan Van Kirk by E. B. Davis

  

When Susan Van Kirk drove into little Monmouth, Illinois, in 1968—straight out of college, with her teaching degree in hand—she thought she was ready to teach English and speech to high school students. She didn't realize she would both teach and be taught by a town, a school, and the students who entered her life. A veteran of forty-four years of public high school and college teaching, Van Kirk will take you on a passionate and unforgettable journey through one teaching life. Meet her students and experience the events that molded a rookie teacher into a veteran. This montage of stories covers the years 1968 to 2008; they describe her early fears about classroom discipline, plots to overthrow "the rookie," handling drug overdoses, the devastating first student death, and a challenge to a major Kurt Vonnegut book in her classroom.

Mr. Vonnegut and Me (And Other Incredible Tales from a Teaching Life) is a second edition, and Van Kirk has added a new introduction plus updated material about where the students from the stories are now. These fifteen stories are incredible, inspiring, and filled with what makes us human.

Amazon.com

 

I’ve read all of Susan’s books, except Mr. Vonnegut And Me. Why? I guess I’m not much of a nonfiction reader, and that’s what surprised me. I started to read slowly and ended up being engrossed by her stories. For me, the times in which she taught were my history. Her first year of teaching was 1968, the year I entered 8^th grade, so when I got to high school, I might have had Mrs. Van Kirk as a teacher had I lived in Monmouth, IL.

Susan covers topics she dealt with while teaching: sexism, diversity, racism, classroom discipline, family backgrounds, pregnancy, politics, etc. We learn how much these affected her teaching and how they impacted her students.

 

This 2026 release allowed Susan to update her stories and follow her students after they left the high school, which I found very interesting, like seeing the before and after.

                                                                                                                                   E. B. Davis

 

Did retirement prompt you to reflect on your teaching, resulting in the book?  When was the book first published?

My memoir was first published as The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks) in 2010. It was the first book I ever wrote, and the thought that I could write a book came about through a college professor and a college student. I was getting my master’s degree at University of Illinois, and I took a class called “reflective teaching.” The purpose was to reflect on how my values and beliefs affected the way I taught. The professor wrote on one of my papers, “You have a wonderful voice, and this story is incredible. Have you ever considered writing a book?” No, I hadn’t. Then, one of my college students said the same thing, only he was referring to an inspiring story I’d told about why teaching was an amazing profession. He suggested I write it so people who wanted to teach could read it. I did. And a magazine picked it up immediately and published it. I thought to myself, “I’ve taught for four decades and I could write a memoir that might explain what it’s like to teach.” I chose fifteen stories that were funny, sad, poignant, and thought-provoking. That became this book.

 

Is Monmouth, IL, the prototype of Endurance, the town in your first series? Why is it called “The Maple City?”

 People do, indeed, see aspects of both Monmouth and my home town, Galesburg, in my Endurance series. History is ubiquitous here. The Underground Railroad, a Lincoln-Douglas debate, Beecher Chapel (named for the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe), the birthplace of Wyatt Earp, and the extradition hearing of the Mormon leader, Joseph Smith, were all parts of our area history. My Endurance series has a lot of Midwest history as part of the setting. Monmouth is called the Maple City because it was founded in 1831, and maple trees lined the streets of the town. Western Stoneware, our internationally-known pottery company, used a maple leaf in its logo.

 

Did your kids have trouble due to your teaching at their school? How about grading their papers?

 I taught my three children two years in a row. Fortunately, they were excellent students. We had a deal. If they had problems or concerns with other teachers, they solved those problems themselves. If they heard rumors or gossip, they didn’t tell me. They did their own homework, and I imagine they occasionally heard thoughts about me from other students in my classes. But overall, those were smooth years. It was more difficult having the children of my friends.

 

In deciding which stories to include in the book, you asked yourself which students changed your teaching and you. How do you think you changed your students, such as John Critser?

This is a long answer! John’s story, “War and Remembrance,” was the first one I wrote that was published by Teacher Magazine. It illustrates the theme of the book: the profession of teaching puts you in a position to change students’ lives, hopefully for the better. John and I had a conversation after school that I didn’t remember until twenty years later when he told me about it at a reunion. He was a junior in high school trying to decide what to do about enlisting during the Vietnam War years. He would have a number in the draft lottery, and he was having moral concerns about killing people. On the other hand, he felt he should do his duty to his country. He stopped in to see me after school on a day when I’d received a telegram that a close friend from college had been killed in that war. I was not the usual “Ms. Van Kirk” who stayed as neutral as possible in class discussions about current affairs. (I’d always encouraged my students to think for themselves and back up their beliefs with logical arguments and evidence.) But that day after school, I was a mess. I didn’t remember, years later, our conversation. But he did. And more than that, he remembered how that death affected me. The next year, he made a decision to go to college, hope not to have his number called, and if it were, to become a conscientious objector. As it turned out, his number was not called before the war ended, and he went on to become a world-renowned research scientist, and, unlike me, remembered that conversation with his weeping teacher. He told me at his twentieth reunion that but for our conversation he might have enlisted, died in that war and never married, had children, or done life-saving research. For many years, we met for coffee when he came back to visit his mother. From him I learned that sometimes you change your students’ lives by tears rather than by Shakespeare.

What quality drew the troubled girls to you? Did they see you as a strong single mother or as a teacher they could trust?

Both of these girls, names changed, came to my house to talk to me over Christmas break. They had some serious problems and felt they couldn’t talk with their parents about them. One had recently discovered she was pregnant, and the other stated she was being abused by a foster parent. At the time, I was going through a divorce, and they’d silently watched as I’d lost weight, been preoccupied, and seemed sad. I think they believed I’d understand their very serious problems. I imagine they saw me as trustworthy and someone juggling a lot in my life. Their stories illustrate yet another moral dilemma. As a teacher, I couldn’t tell them what to do. I was legally required by the abuse situation to turn it in to child protective services. I did. The other was a situation where it was up to the student and her parents to make a decision about her pregnancy. I convinced her to talk with her parents, and we used role-playing to decide how she’d do this. Their stories illustrate some of the moral dilemmas teachers face when dealing with teenagers.

 

Trying to maintain discipline in the classroom led to nightmares for you. Did this problem get better with time and experience?

Absolutely it did. When you see my photo on the book cover, I was twenty-two. It was my second year of teaching, and my students were 17 or 18. Maintaining discipline was a real learning curve. Eventually, I was able to balance a sense of humor with definite rules and outcomes. I was never a friend to my students. I respected them, and I would say they respected me. Over the years, I learned that balance. This is why people are a much better teachers as time goes by. Experience really makes a difference.

 

Was your personal life affected by the expectation of professional behavior and decorum outside of school? 

It definitely was in a small town, especially when I first started teaching. I couldn’t walk into a bar, and if I went out to a restaurant with friends and had a drink, it was all right. But if students were working there, they might see me, and it would be discussed with their friends. Because I was married, I didn’t have to worry about the dating game and students talking. But teachers back then were held to a higher standard. There was a moral turpitude clause in our contracts, and being picked up for a DUI would definitely end a career.

 

When one set of parents tried to censor the reading of Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, I wondered about their daughter. You didn’t influence her selection of the book. You allowed her to pick another book. You never knew how she felt about the book. Do you know what happened to her?

No, I don’t. Her parents still live in town, and I see them occasionally. Their daughter left town and has a life somewhere. I believe she got caught up in that situation and possibly lied, telling her parents she was required to read the book for my class. She wasn’t. I’m certainly not naïve enough to believe teenagers always tell the truth when they might get into trouble. It was a book she selected. But the parents really blew it all up and went to the principal, superintendent, the media, the school board, and didn’t talk to me. I would have given her a different book. But it was way-out crazy by the time it all ended after six weeks. And one of my children was in the class, so she was his friend. Now that was a difficult line to manage. It was a textbook case of a book challenge.

How did you connect to those featured students to find out how they led their lives?

I knew a student in town who knew “where all the bodies were.” I found many of them via social media, but if I couldn’t, she helped me find some of them. A few had kept in touch with me. One had passed away last year, and that was a blow. I knew the city where he lived and came upon his obituary. Mostly, the internet was very helpful. I don’t always say that! It was amazing to reconnect with them and hear how their lives had gone. They are doing incredible things, and they came from such a tiny town. Midwesterners from small towns are often known for their kindness. They sure showed me that continued to be true.

 

Why is it that some people determine their futures and others drift without direction? Is it family background, talent, or personality?

Good grief, Elaine. If I knew the answer to this question, I’d bottle it and make millions. It’s a combination of all of those things plus a bit of luck along the way. One of my children went to college not knowing what he wanted to do. He thought about teaching, but I knew that wasn’t for him. He drifted in that direction. But finally, through classes and reflection, he ended up in a job that was perfect for his personality. In his case, college exposed him to a lot of possibilities, and he was open to testing it all out. So, sure, it’s those items you listed. But never discount luck. I often enjoy going back to reunions of my former students because I enjoy hearing what happened to them after school.

 

Would you change anything in your career and/or student interactions if you could?

I was very fortunate. I could usually find positive qualities in most of the students I taught. Teaching was the perfect vocation for me. I wish I could have gone back to graduate school before I had a family. But in those days, the social pressure was to marry and have children. And once I became a single mother, going back to school was impossible. On the other hand, graduate school after all that experience made my understanding of education discussions richer. So, who knows? I wouldn’t exchange those years for anything.

An Interview with Susan Van Kirk by E. B. Davis

 

“’Too often I deal with people between a rock and a hard place, 

as my mother used to say.”’

  Susan Van Kirk, Fabric of Lies, Page 263, Detective TJ Sweeny

What happened to the Blackburns?

 

Grace Kimball and Jeff Maitlin are now married, and into their lives comes an unsolved mystery from 30-some years earlier. In 1981, Matt and Gemma Blackburn disappeared from the house next door to Grace and her then-husband, Roger Kimball. At that time, the Blackburn’s two-year-old, Anthony, was in the hospital recovering from pneumonia. Now, it’s 2014, and a thirty-five-year-old Anthony Blackburn returns to Endurance to find out what happened to his parents and solve a mystery deeply embedded in the history of the town.

 

Meanwhile, Jeff Maitlin, Editor-in-Chief of the Endurance Register, is threatened with a takeover of his local newspaper. The newspaper has been owned by the same family for four generations, and it would be a disaster for the tight-knit community to lose their local news and local ownership. But Jeff is fighting against a huge competitor—a corporate vulture hoping to steal everything of value and destroy the fabric of the town and Jeff’s beloved newspaper. Can he win? Can Grace help Anthony Blackburn solve the mystery of his parents’ disappearance?

                                                                                                               Susan Van Kirk

                                                                                                                  

Fabric of Lies is the sixth book in Susan Van Kirk’s Endurance mystery series. Knowing Susan, I can see parallels between Susan and Grace. Like Susan, Grace is a retired high school English teacher (although I think Susan also taught at the college level at some point in her career), they both wear scarves, and her children now live in Arizona. But I think Grace gets into more trouble than Susan, at least I hope so. *she definitely does (Susan)

 

When Anthony Blackburn appears looking for Grace, she can’t help but aid his quest to find out what happened to his parents. When their bodies turn up, obviously murdered, he wants to find the murderer, as does Grace. But for Anthony, everything is new because his mother recently confessed to him that he was adopted, which brought him to Endurance. Grace’s note that accompanied the two-year-old to his adopted parents resulted in Anthony focusing on Grace for information. 

 

Grace is an empathetic character, which gets her into trouble every time.                                                                                                                                                       E. B. Davis

 

 

When Grace sees former students around town, she remembers their high school stories. Does that mean it’s harder to overcome one’s youthful antics in small towns or, because people have the opportunity to see you grow over time, they remember less of the past?

It may be a little of both. Grace remembers really funny things about her former students (as do I), but she always gave them a pass when they were young and foolish. Often we both laugh at those memories. It’s harder in a small town where people know so much about each other, but Grace’s students do grow up, and her dealings with them as adults are generally positive. 

 

Why did Grace set her ring tone for her former sister-in-law, Lettie, to the theme from Jaws? Does Lettie bite?

Lettie is a very complicated person, usually well-meaning but often quite judgemental. She’s very opinionated, and her conspiracy theories are quite funny. She sometimes drives Grace nuts with her opinions and her actions, but, again, Grace tries to give Lettie a bit of grace. After all, when Grace’s husband (Lettie’s brother) died years earlier, Lettie was the one who came to Grace’s rescue and helped her raise three children as a single mother. The first notes of the “Jaws” theme generally signal danger nearby. Grace must be careful what she says in front of Lettie, who has quite a jungle telegraph all over town.

 

What is the Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters about? Why did it tie into Grace’s writing project?

Like Grace, I used to teach this book of poetry. Masters is from my area of the country and lived fifty miles south of me. His anthology is a series of poems by fictional people looking back on their lives after their deaths. The entire book gives the reader an understanding of what life was like in the early 1900s in rural towns. People were judgemental, angry, remorseful, victims of injustice, and all the other human failings that go along with living side-by-side in small towns. One of the characters in Masters’ book is based on a relative of mine who sold alcohol under the counter of his drugstore during prohibition. Anyway, Grace’s writing project is going to be a “cemetery walk” where people from the town go to the local, oldest cemetery and are guided from one grave to another where actors portray the founders of the town. Grace hopes to help teach the local teenagers about the history of their town, and she plans to partner with the historical society and the schools to do this. Each actor will have a script about his character and reveal his or her part in the founding of Endurance. Our local art center has done two cemetery walks now, and they’ve been highly attended and quite informative. 

 

While Jeff is still working full-time, why did he and Grace decide to open a bed and breakfast?

Jeff fell in love with a Victorian home built by Judge Charles Lockwood in the 1800s. The house has quite a history, and some terrible events happened there, as revealed in earlier books in the series. Now that Jeff has decided to settle down in Endurance and live the rest of his life there, he bought this house thinking it would make a wonderful bed-and-breakfast because it’s in the historical section of town. Jeff is interested in history, and he spent thousands of dollars renovating the house so it would look like it had in the 1800s. It even had a ballroom on the top floor.  He could partner with the college and provide a beautiful place for people to stay when they’re attending events at the college. His newspaper comes out three times a week. Eventually, he figures he will actually retire, and then he and Grace would have fun hosting people at their bed-and-breakfast since they’d both be retired. And bonus–Lettie is an amazing cook, and her husband, Del, is a carpenter. So they also have a place to live and meaningful work to do.

 

I was surprised to find that Jeff has an employer. I thought he owned the newspaper, the Endurance Register. What is his relationship like to Mr. Winslow, head of the Winslow Trust?

Jonathan Winslow’s family owns the newspaper, and he hired Jeff, a New York City editor, to run the newspaper. Jeff was looking for a small town to retire. When he first came to run the newspaper, Jeff had a lot to learn. He was used to working on newspapers in huge cities, and now he was in charge of a small newspaper that was failing. It was a challenge.  Mr. Winslow knew Jeff had “newspaper ink in his blood” and he let him have free rein with policies and the newspaper’s content. In fact, Winslow smiles when he remembers this “big city” editor trying to figure out how a small town works. Jeff has been highly successful in bringing in new readers and putting the newspaper in a profitable situation. They have a strong working relationship, and Winslow trusts Jeff to run the newspaper in a professional way. They respect each other.

Is the situation you describe of hedge funds buying up small-town papers and demolishing them for the physical assets and firing the staff a real situation?

Oh, my. This country is losing two local newspapers every single week. Between 2004 and 2023, 2,627 weekly publications have closed or merged. Forbes, in 2023, quoted the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University as saying by the end of 2024, a third of weekly newspapers will have disappeared (8,000.) Since 2005, 2/3rds of journalists have left the business. I feel very strongly about this because my hometown and my current town both lost their newspapers to Gatehouse, which sold the buildings, fired the journalists, and are producing newspapers out somewhere with only national news. The fabric of small towns are torn apart when people have no way to know what is going on in the area.The percentage of voters in elections goes down, and often corruption flourishes.  Local newspapers are archives of the area’s history, and they provide a common understanding of what’s happening locally. Without them, the culture of the towns take a huge hit. 

 

Grace and Jeff enjoy walking the trails around Lake Lancaster. Why did the college decide to dredge it? What is bathymetry? Endurance College has a gorgeous lake area that is used by both the college and the town. Everything is natural, and it’s a huge advertisement to attract students to the college. Bathymetric mapping uses GPS and depth-sensing technology to create a three-dimensional model of a body of water. It can detect the bottom contours and predict volume calculations. The results are used to manage water quality, algae, aquatic plants, and other parts of the ecosystem. This means the college can use that data to manage vegetation and algae, plan and budget for future sediment removal, and find the correct places to place aeration devices. 

Dredging gets rid of the muck, dead vegetation,and debris that harms the ecosystem. It improves the water quality and raises the oxygen level. I guess it’s like going to the doctor for a complete checkup so you can become healthier and function better. Jeff Maitlin knew nothing about this when he arrived, and, frankly, I didn’t either.

 

 

You stated 600,000 people go missing in the US per year. How can that be? That’s a larger population than most cities.

Actually, that figure is from the National Crime Information Center. A good share of those missing persons reports are teenagers (about 35%). But most of those missing persons are found, and only about 1% are open cases still pending. I thought that number was huge, too, but the fact that they find so many makes more sense.

 

Why doesn’t TJ, Endurance police detective and Grace’s former student, care if people talk about her?

TJ has been through a lot in her life. Being a biracial woman in a small town and fighting her way through the system to become the chief detective was horribly difficult. However, she has a strong sense of her own worth, her intelligence, and her attractive looks, and what people say about her doesn’t bother her at all. She’s probably the most confident character I’ve ever met or written.

 

“You believe too easily, Grace.” (TJ says on page 44) Does Grace follow a religion or have a belief in God?

That’s a great question, and one I’ve never considered. This is an area where Grace and I are very much alike (as you said above), but it’s more about human faith than religious faith. I probably taught between 5,000 and 6,000 students during my 44 teaching years. This is my own voice when Grace says: ‘How could I teach teenagers if I believed they were all taking advantage of me, cheating, lying, and doing dark deeds? It would have crushed my soul.” Call me naive–I certainly call Grace that–but that belief got me through forty-four years, and they were the best of my life. 

 

Why would a lake have seaweed? Wouldn’t it have grasses?

You are actually correct in the strict, scientific sense. However, “seaweed”is often used colloquially for aquatic vegetation in any body of water, including lakes. Lakes contain both algae and other aquatic plants that are similar to what people call "seaweed.” 

 

When Grace is discussing the case with Gino Ross, one of the men in the poker group that Anthony’s father was part of, he acknowledges that half the group died at an early age. Why does he say, “Fate has a way of catching up with us, doesn’t it?” (Page 237) 

He could mean that death (fate) comes to us all at different times, but it surely comes, and for many that fate comes early. In my own mind, I think he is acknowledging that he knows something he’s not divulging.

 

You have elements of fire in all of your stories and covers—why? I know Grace has a fire in her past, but do you?

There is no fire in my own past, but the fire that was part of Grace’s past in the very first book, Three May Keep a Secret, was based on a real fire that killed a friend of mine in college. It was actually the event that sparked my thoughts for writing that very first mystery. When I began researching that actual fire from way back in the late 1960s, I spoke with the fire chief at the time and with others that were there. I read the newspaper articles, and all the emotions I had about her death came tumbling back. I’ve never had a great memory, but often I discover the events I remember well are tied to emotions at the time. This experience began my understanding of Grace Kimball-Maitlin. 

 

What’s next for Grace and TJ?

That is an excellent question. I’m planning to take the month of January to edit and produce a second edition of my memoir about teaching called The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks.) It is now fifteen years old and out of print. But I believe it still has a lot to say about the life of a teacher.

 

However, Grace and TJ are never far away from my thoughts. They will definitely have another adventure. This book, Fabric of Lies, was rather a turning point. I had to decide how their relationship would change now that Jeff Maitlin married Grace. And what part would Jeff have in the series now that he and Grace were married? I think I’ve solved those questions with Fabric of Lies, so my brain can begin thinking about what comes next in the small town of Endurance.        

 

 

An Interview with Susan Van Kirk by E. B. Davis

 

“But sometimes things are stranger than fiction.

Sometimes our assumptions are totally wrong.”

Susan Van Kirk, Death in a Ghostly Hue, Page 131

The past never leaves us…

Jill Madison and her brothers have never forgiven Quinn Parsons for driving drunk and killing their parents. How could they? When Parsons returns to Apple Grove from his six years in prison, he’s looking for redemption. But his thoughtless actions, so long ago, hurt more residents than the Madisons, and murderous motives abound when it comes to Quinn Parsons. His lifeless body is soon found at the bottom of a staircase. And who threatened him in front of a large cross-section of the town? Jill’s brother, Andy Madison.

When Andy is arrested and charged with murder, Jill and her bestie, Angie Emerson, seek to prove his innocence without forgetting that if Andy is not the killer, someone else is—someone dangerous who may be watching.

Meanwhile, the Old Friends senior group at Jill’s art center is rehearsing a radio-play of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost,” a ghostly story of forgiveness. Strange happenings convince Jill there’s a real ghost at the art center. To prove to herself she’s not going crazy, she begins to investigate the center’s dark history.

She discovers the past is never far away.

Amazon.com

 Death in a Ghostly Hue is Susan Van Kirk’s third book in the Art Center Mystery series. She takes the series full circle when main character Jill discovers the truth of her parents’ deaths, which they thought was the result of drunk driving.

 Jill feels a bit crazy due to all the events happening in her life. Ivan Truelove, the nasty board director who is critical of her, starts needing her and acting human, which is weird. Then, items go missing in her office, indicating that the art center may be haunted. And her brother, Andy, is thrown in jail without bail for murder under the supervision of a bully named Jeeter, who now is the detective in charge of the case. During high school, he picked on Andy. Now, Jeeter is totally in charge of Andy.

 

 Susan has some strong themes running through this book. The radio-play, a ghost, and the sibling’s unforgiving attitude represent the old religious concept of reaping what you sow, redemption, and forgiveness. By the end of her investigation, Jill realizes that sometimes random things happen for which blame can’t be placed. And that there are very few villains and heroes. Humans are a fraught mix of good and bad.

 

 Please welcome Susan Van Kirk to the other side of WWK.                      E. B. Davis

 

Now that I’ve read all three of your books about Jill Madison and her family, I know you said you organized them from the beginning as a trilogy. Was that unlike your previous books?

Yes. My Endurance Mysteries continue as a series, but I plot and plan each one. When I signed a three-book contract with Level Best Books for a new series, it allowed me to decide what each book would be about so there was a natural arc to the series. I’ve really liked that. I planned the first book to be about family and community, the second book about second chances, and the third book about forgiveness. Of course, there are some minor themes too, but overall, the three books center around a terrible car accident that killed the parents of the Madison now-adult children. That event looms over all three books, but each time in a different way. Sometimes families go in a different direction when there is a death in the family. I know that happened with my family, and it affected all of us forever.

 

Quinn Parsons served a six-year prison term. Five years for reckless homicide and one year for driving under the influence. That seems like a light sentence for killing two innocent people outright in a head-on collision. Is that really the sentence in Illinois?

Yes. I checked with Illinois law and with a local judge who often gives me legal advice. I felt the same way, but it is the case. This is another reason people might have a grudge against this young man who wreaked so much havoc on the town.

 

 The seniors’ group Old Friends Talk Art (OFTA), put on a radio-play of “The Canterville Ghost” by Oscar Wilde. I was confused. At first, I thought they were putting on a podcast, then I thought it was a play. What distinguishes it as a radio-play? Why do they need costumes?

Our local art center put on a radio-play of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Because we had an actual audience like the audience in my book, we opted for costumes. But an old-time radio play means you are basing it on the old radio broadcasts without a live audience. The actors sit on the stage and approach one or two microphones as their time to speak arrives. This way, they don’t have to memorize lines. They still have rehearsals, and the sound effects are all done within sight of the audience, although some are recorded. As one of the characters in my book mentions, it’s easier to put on a radio-play because they don’t have to memorize all the lines. That might be difficult for a few of them.

 

Why was OFTA started?

In real life at the local art center, a group of local citizens thought it would be great to have a place for older residents to learn more about art and creativity. They organized their group, which anyone can join, to meet once a month and hear lectures from exhibit jurors, people in the region who do creative projects, and artists who have exhibits. They also take fieldtrips to other art centers and exhibits. It’s a wonderful opportunity, and we have a good-sized population of seniors and retirees.

 

In Jill’s OFTA group, her custodian, Chad McKenna, suggested they start a group because the volunteers at the art center, largely seniors, wanted an opportunity to get together and enjoy creative activities. Jill has been energized by this group, and when they came to her wanting to do a radio-play, she was all in. It grew from there with sound effects, costumes, etc.

 

 As a tie in to the radio-play, Jill decides to display ghost art. Are there artists who specialize in ghosts?

Not that I know of, and I checked with our local art center and got the same answer. It’s a great idea for Jill to add art to the radio-play.

Since it’s a “radio” show, where are they getting all the sound effects? Do they know how they did it in the “old” days?

 They researched online for how sound effects worked in radio shows. Chad, their custodian who plays Sir Simon de Canterville, oversees sound effects. He recruits two of his old army buddies to help. They use real chains to rattle for the ghost, bacon frying for rain, a can of various nails and other objects that they shake for thunder, etc. It’s fun to watch them do these things as the play rehearsals go on. I also wanted to combat ageism a bit with this group that has so many skills.

 

Although none of the siblings have forgiven Quinn Parsons for killing their parents, Tom and Jill seem less angry, blunting their raw feelings. In seven years, why hasn’t Andy?

This is an excellent question, Elaine. Everyone deals with grief differently, including my characters. I believe it lies in their personalities and life experiences. Tom is a police detective who’s seen what anger can do to people. It can corrode their souls. It can destroy them. Also, he’s well grounded with a wife he loves and two children he cherishes. Jill left Apple Grove and worked in the art scene in Chicago. She was away from the constant reminders, although it was hard for her, at first, to return to her hometown and the house she grew up in with her parents. But as time has passed through two books, she has found her place in the family and come to terms with the loss of her parents. This leaves Andy, the middle child. He’s in touch with his feelings and writes and plays his own music with his rock band. His job at the gift shop, owned with his partner Lance, is to be the welcoming face of the business. He knows everyone in town and listens to their stories. He commiserates with their losses. But he hasn’t confronted his own anger over that car accident. He’s stuffed it away where he doesn’t have to think about it…until Quinn Parsons returns.

 

After a series of things get lost in Jill’s office, she wonders if she has an actual ghost in the art center building. When she mentions the possibility to her boyfriend, Sam, the doctor, he treats her like a hysterical woman. On top of his crazy schedule that doesn’t allow them much time together and not taking her seriously, will Jill give Sam the deep six soon?

Sam does have a few rough edges that might be a deal-breaker. Jill and Sam are still in the early stage of their relationship, and if they decide to move in together, I think it will give her some time to consider if she can live with a man who doesn’t always share her opinions. But remember, she is a forgiving kind of person. Could be a bit stormy ahead, but relationships depend on communication and compromise.

 

There were irregularities about the accident. In the car that struck the parents, two of the three boys were in the back seat. Parsons, the driver, also claims he had no brakes. Wouldn’t the investigators have checked out these things at the time of the accident?

We never hear all the results of the earlier investigation. However, we are told that the front of the car was so smashed it wasn’t possible to check those front brake lines. On top of that, memories are vague on the part of the car’s occupants. They’d been drinking quite heavily. The two who survived have little recollection. It’s not until Quinn Parsons is hypnotized in prison that he remembers the brake failure. But he’s lied before…

 

Angie thinks because she works in a bar that her language skills are lacking. She is beefing up her vocabulary, but unfortunately, her speaking to suspects becomes entangled with words like “countenance,” and “perchance.” Will Jill ask her to stop, or will Angie get tired of it eventually?

While Angie is the best friend ever and would ride into hell for Jill, she is very unlike Jill in many ways. She has more common sense, less book-learning. That’s Jill’s territory. I think this is a phase Angie’s going through that will slide into the past.

 

Jill learns of Ivan’s tragic past in this book, which makes Jill try to cut him some slack. Will Ivan and Jill form a friendship? 

Highly doubtful. Ivan has driven her nuts, made her doubt herself, and been an all-around jerk. But their relationship needed some sort of resolution, so in the spirit of the overall book, I decided forgiveness might be the best choice for Jill. But it’s “forgive, but not forget.”

 

Jill characterizes her father when she says, “Patience was his middle name.” And yet, she is very impatient. Does she take after her mother?

Yes. Her father was the backbone of the family when it came to common sense, patience, kindness, and humor. Her mother, the sculptor, was more the organizer of the family. She was home more and had quite an influence on Jill, having her in her art studio from a very young age. But she didn’t have the patience and laid-back personality of her father.

Weirdly, Jill knows the origin of her next-door neighbor’s name, Tigger. What she doesn’t know is who he really is and what his job is. Will we find out more about Tigger?

I’m afraid he will go down in the history of the series as the mysterious next-door neighbor. If there were a fourth book, I think Jill would be beside herself with curiosity about him and his job. But right now, she’s a bit busy trying to figure out what to do to help Andy. Tigger has been a great ally in that situation, but his lips are sealed.

 

When a character from the nineteenth century speaks, you use language that was common during that time. Was it hard to find authentic language to use (i.e., anon and betimes)?

That came largely from my imagination, and a lot of reading of 19^th century literature. One thing you’ll never see is Daniel Lowry, the ghost, using contractions. The spoken language of educated people back then was much more formal. I simply tried to put myself in his position, but I also wanted him to be charming and funny. The language he spoke helped make that happen.

 

Like Jill, do you think the bad outweighs the good of social media?

Sadly, I think social media let the genie out of the bottle. We’ll never live without it again. But it’s only as good or evil as the motives and intelligence of the people who use it. In my mind, that might be the bigger question.

 

What’s next for Jill?

 Since this is the last book of the trilogy, I believe we must assume she and Angie will continue to get into minor trouble until she and Sam decide to make their relationship official. Then, my guess is they’ll grow up a bit, and like many of us, lose their sense of adventure as Jill and Sam start a family. Sad, but true, it will never be Neverland for Jill. So, I will wish her luck with Sam and a happy future. Angie will always be around as her BFF.

Some Simple Revision Suggestions by Susan Van Kirk

 Recently, I revised (over and over) my latest art center mystery, Death in a Ghostly Hue, and it reminded me of some easy fixes I use when revising my writing. Nothing technological. Pretty innovative twentieth century. When I write a rough draft, I use Novelize, and I edit with Microsoft Editor, so, yes, I do use my computer to move ever forward toward revision. But over the years, I’ve used the following simple revision ideas. Maybe they will give you some new thoughts.

I’m also optimistic because the before-and-after photos of my house remind me that I WILL get this manuscript ready for publication.

 

First, the road to revision begins with this:

This is my editor’s Christmas present reminding me that it’s only the first draft, and I shouldn’t cry.

Second, sometimes I write in my living room on the dining room table rather than in my office. When I do, these are the before-and-after photos—minus the empty wineglass—of my revision efforts:

These photos remind me that there will be an end to this revision. I will survive once again.

Third, I often print copies of the manuscript as I’m working on it. Then, I revise using paper copies. At my age, this helps my eyes considerably. And yes, I do recycle the paper. This is the latest pile from my novel revision over the past month.

Once the manuscript is done, I do my own first revisions with a red ink pen. (I just can’t stop being an English teacher.) I make the changes on my final edit copy of the manuscript, putting little sticky notes to remind me where I’ve changed things. This way, I don’t have to read completely back through every page. See the picture below:

As you can see, I ran through two entire pads of sticky notes. I have messy first drafts.

 Once I make these changes, I send the manuscript to four beta readers. Two of them are great at line edits, one is terrific when it comes to finding plot holes, and the fourth is the executive director of the local art center. Since this series is about an art center, she looks at the way I used artistic terminology so I won’t sound stupid. Hey, it works for me.

My beta readers like paper copies, and they use red pens and sticky notes too. As you can see, even after I’ve revised my first draft, they find lots of things to tell me.

 The next non-technological revision idea is a proofread using my daughter’s ruler from elementary school. Since she is now forty-seven, this ruler has been around for a while. Definitely not twenty-first century technology. However, I catch more errors when I look at my manuscript one line at a time, and this helps me focus exactly that way.

Finally, I do go back to technology and use the voice feedback on my computer to read the manuscript back to me. I find more errors this way since I use my hearing rather than my eyes to catch things. It also helps with dialogue. To find this Word voice that will read back your manuscript, go to the review tab at the top and click on it. Then, on the left side banner you’ll see “Read Aloud.” Click on “Read Aloud.” On the right upper part of the screen an arrow will come up to click on and start the reading of your manuscript. You can also pause it there.

 

So, once I’ve done these revision steps, I’m ready to send my manuscript off to my editor. Hope some of these will work for you. It may look like a lot of work, but I want to put out a quality product with as few errors as possible.