A Spa to Remember By Wendy Tyson

The year was 2002 and life was particularly crazy. I was a new corporate lawyer at a large Philadelphia law firm, working twelve-hour days to prove myself. After some success with short stories, I had begun writing a novel. My husband had been promoted to a Big Job at work, and we had an energetic seven-year-old at home. Oh, and we decided we wanted another child. They say there is no “good time” to have kids. In hindsight, some times may be more opportune than others.

I was under a lot of stress.

My best friend and I decided to take a spa trip to relax and unwind. She booked a weekend at a spa in the Catskill Mountains of New York. It looked nice from the website: lots of healthy food, exercise classes, beautiful buildings, and—most importantly—spa treatments. What could go wrong?

As it turned out, nothing. But the experience was definitely one to remember. The rooms, although expensive, were spartan. The food? A large, crunchy salad bar—all vegetarian, all low calorie—unless you were on the colonic program, and then your meals were served in a glass. You weren’t allowed to bring outside food or drink to the spa, and so we ate our contraband cookies and drank our contraband wine in a darkened guest room at night like teens sneaking around behind our parents’ backs.

The spa offered sessions with a medium, encouraged attendance in the sweat lodge, and the yoga and Pilates classes were hard. While other clients twisted effortlessly into pretzels or managed minutes-long headstands, my friend and I were lucky to master Downward Dog.

Guests were scheduled for outdoor time, which meant hiking along their many wooded paths or riding the spa’s horses. No television, no movies, no pool, no hot tub, no loud noise. Did I mention this was 2002 and we were two city girls? We thought we were signing on for a luxury spa in the mountains; we’d arrived at a health spa boot camp. (We later found out it’s a popular celebrity destination.)

At the end of the day—and by the end of the trip—we’d racked up a lot of memories and a few healthy habits. Admittedly, I returned home refreshed and relaxed (and, as it turned out, pregnant with twins). The spa adventure stayed with me through the years, not only as the subject of some inside jokes but also because of the contrast between our expectations and the reality of our experience.

And because of all the great places to hide a body.

At the time, I saw myself as a contemporary fiction author. I didn’t start writing crime fiction until a few years later, but as soon as I started writing mysteries I knew the spa would fit into one of my books someday. That day came last year when I wrote Rooted In Deceit. I had such a clear vision of the spa it would become, now set in Pennsylvania’s scenic Bucks County rather than the Catskill Mountains. I, of course, took artist’s license with the venue, making it posher and bigger than it was—and way more luxurious. The general landscape, with the horses and the pastures, and the miles of hiking trails, is the same. And, of course, I added a sinister atmosphere—and a murder.

People often ask me if I borrow from real life in my novels. I do, but not in the way they expect. I’ll see an abandoned building or an eerie subway tunnel or a man walking along the highway and I’ll know that it’s something I want to include in a book. If I can, I’ll take a photo to capture the image or the feeling. I once was hiking on a trail near our home in Vermont and came across an Adirondack chair in the middle of the trail. It was facing the view of the mountains in the distance; someone’s treasured retreat. I photographed that chair because it was unexpected. One doesn’t think they’ll see a chair positioned that way on a public hiking route. The chair was later moved to a trail that overlooked Megan’s home in Bitter Harvest; an ominous opening for a mystery.

At times, it’s an experience that inspires a scene or a setting or a concept for a book—like the spa trip—but always the experience is remade into something unrecognizable from the original. I think that’s what we do as authors. We take real life, the essence of an experience or thing or person, distill it down into some fundamental form, and use it to communicate, to share in a way we can all relate to.

If you read Rooted In Deceit, imagine two women in a cell-like guest room, furtively drinking wine and eating Oreos, shades drawn, lights dim, laughing at the irony. You won’t get that image from the book but know that it inspired a novel.

 

An Interview With Wendy Tyson

by Grace Topping

Wendy Tyson’s wealth of experience as a lawyer, therapist, and organic farmer brings a richness to her writing that is hard to match, especially in her Greenhouse Mysteries series. Wendy loves determined, gutsy women who aren’t afraid to speak up, laugh, or fight for the underdog, and Megan Sawyer, the main character of her Greenhouse Mysteries, is just that kind of woman. Read Wendy’s books, and you will find yourself rooting for her terrific main characters. The third book in her Greenhouse series, Seeds of Revenge, will be released in November and definitely won’t disappoint. It was a pleasure talking to Wendy about her upcoming release and her writing career.

Welcome to Writers Who Kill, Wendy.

With your background in law and therapy, what inspired you to write mysteries?

Wendy Tyson

Like good fiction of any genre, mysteries require complex characters, a compelling plot, and relatable themes. But there’s also a right brain puzzle component to mysteries. The pieces have to fit together, and characters’ motives must make sense. So often character and the mystery element of the plot are closely entwined. In fact, mysteries are often as much about the whydunit as the whodunit. Both occupations—law and psychology—require that type of thinking, and mystery writing has felt like a natural fit. Plus, I love reading mysteries. A former agent told me to write what I love to read. It turned out to be excellent advice.

In your Greenhouse Mysteries, big-city lawyer Megan Sawyer turns to small-town organic farming? Why the dramatic change? 

When we first meet Megan in A Muddied Murder, she’d agreed to return to her hometown of Winsome, PA, at the request of her father. He was leaving their farm and store—and Megan’s octogenarian grandmother, Bibi—for Italy to be with his newest flame. Megan had recently lost her husband, Mick, while he was serving in the Army, and although her law career was lucrative, she’d found it wasn’t as emotionally satisfying as she’d hoped. Her father’s request gave her the reason she needed to make a change. Ostensibly she returned to Winsome to help her grandmother, but it was really Megan who needed a fresh perspective and some familiar faces.

I always enjoy books where I learn something new. You nicely weave in information about running an organic farm and a café. What is it about organic farming that inspired you to write about it in your series? Is this slightly autobiographical?

It is! My husband and I are passionate organic gardeners. A few years ago, we started our own small vegetable farm with the intention of developing it into an organic CSA (community supported agriculture). Unfortunately, things fell through with the land we were leasing and the farm never made it past its first season. During a book signing in a small town in North Carolina about a year later, I was moved by the interactions I witnessed between the shop owners, their children, and the townspeople. It dawned on me that a version of our small farm could live on in a fictional small town. Thereafter Washington Acres Farm and the fictional town of Winsome, Pennsylvania were born.

The latest book in this series, Seeds of Revenge, you have a number of very plausible red herrings. I suspected everybody in the book, and you still managed to surprise me. Do you plot your books carefully, or do you just write by the seat of your pants?

I’m more of a pantser on the first draft, but I do go back and loosely outline after I have a finished (or mostly finished) initial version to make sure all the loose ends are accounted for and those puzzle pieces fit together. I also take notes while I’m writing. I put reminders and idea in brackets within the manuscript—things like “[remember to provide Megan with motive for this!]”—and when I’m ready, I do a bracket search and address those things. I tend to binge write, and when you write a lot in a shorter amount of time, it’s easier, I think, to keep it all straight in your head.

Family relationships and women helping women are common themes throughout your books. How does fiction help to address these issues?

Fiction provides a wonderful medium for exploring themes and ideas and social issues. A book is a large canvas, and a series an even larger one. Over the course of a book or a series, I can explore the theme of women helping women—something I see often in real life—in a way that’s not possible in a short fiction or even creative nonfiction. 

In your various works, your characters deal with multiple social issues such as addiction, emotional abuse, unfaithfulness, possible patricide, unethical medical practices, and human trafficking—to name just a few. How do you keep from getting depressed writing about the challenges your characters face?

I think ultimately my books are about justice, reinvention, and rebirth—and hope. While many of my novels do touch on some pretty tough topics, it’s my intention to show the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. I saw a lot during my days as a therapist, things that have haunted me, but I also saw great kindness and resiliency.

I recently wrote a short story called “Soap” for Betrayed, a fiction anthology that’s coming out this October. My story deals with domestic violence, but it’s really about the bonds that form between people, often seemingly unlikely bonds, and the lengths people will go to in order to help another person. Likewise, the characters in my novels—an image consultant who helps people create new lives and an organic farmer who nurtures life in the most basic sense—are champions of good. That keeps me going.

Shameless plug for Betrayed: The anthology is the brainchild of Authors on the Air’s Pam Stack and it’s about crime survivors. The contributors are many well-known crime writers, including Allison Brennan, who has written a bonus novella. Sales proceeds will benefit victims of domestic violence. The anthology is on NetGalley now. I hope your readers will check it out when it’s released this fall.

In addition to the Greenhouse mysteries, I understand that you’ve written the Allison Campbell series, a standalone thriller, and short stories. Please tell us about them. Do you find one category of writing pulling at you more than another?

The Allison Campbell Mystery Series features Allison Campbell, Philadelphia’s premier image consultant. A dissertation shy of a PhD in psychology, Allison spends her days helping others reinvent themselves, but her biggest transformation was her own. Allison had a troubled childhood. Determined to overcome an abusive family life, she decided to become a psychologist. While in graduate school, she grew close to a teenage patient who ran away and was presumed dead. Allison blamed herself. Eventually Allison moved to the Philadelphia Main Line and reinvented herself as an image consultant. She’s able to use her understanding of human nature and her own experiences as an outsider to assist others (and solve crimes).

I do write short fiction as well. I’ve had stories published in a number of literary journals, and as mentioned above, I have “Soap” coming out in Betrayed in October. I also have a short story coming out in another anthology, Night of the Flood, in 2018.

I love writing all forms of fiction. Novels are probably my favorite, but I get great satisfaction from writing short stories. They’re containable. You need a beginning, middle, and end, of course, but a short story is something I can write in one sitting and then edit and polish over time. I recommend short story writing to aspiring novelists. Writing short fiction sharpens your skills and forces you to be efficient with language.

One reviewer at Examiner.com said in 2014 that Killer Image, the first in your Allison Campbell series, was a best mystery that year for book clubs. What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned from reviews?

To read them with perspective! While congratulating me on a great review when Killer Image debuted, a wise reader once reminded me not to get too excited about the good reviews or too upset over the bad reviews. Indeed, not everyone will love my work and that’s okay. (At least I tell myself that’s okay—I’m still trying to internalize this.)

Now that you have several books in two series, what do you find is the greatest challenge of writing a series? Do you find it easier or harder to start the next book in a series?

I think the greatest challenge is keeping it fresh, but at the same time staying true to your characters and the vision for the entire series. How many murders can take place in Winsome? Do I set some of the crimes outside of Winsome—perhaps have Megan on vacation? How do I portray Megan’s growth over time in a way that’s believable to readers? What if she gets emotionally stuck, as real people often do? These are questions I ask myself. 

In some ways it’s easier to start the next book in the series. I know the characters well. I know the town well. I know my characters’ emotional arcs. On the flip side, I need to keep it fresh and entertaining, so there can be no complacency, and that takes diligence. 

Tell us about your journey to publication? What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?

I’ve been writing since I can remember. As a kid, I was always penning short stories or journals or family newsletters. In my teens and twenties I started writing literary short stories, and I had a number of stories published in literary journals. I wrote my first novel, a work of contemporary women’s fiction, in my thirties. It landed me an agent, but not a publishing deal. That agent suggested I write what I love to read. I switched to mysteries. Two novels later, I had a new agent and my first publishing contract.

I’ve learned many lessons along the way, but perhaps the most profound for me has been the degree of stick-to-itiveness that’s required in this field. You have to really want to be an author. And that means sacrifice (for me, television was the first thing to go) and a willingness to put in your time practicing craft without any immediate reward. You have to write because you love the act and art of writing. Financial success may or may not follow, but if you love writing, if you have something to say, the time you spend in front of that computer will never be wasted time.

I’m a big fan of recorded books. Any plans for your books to be distributed in audio format?

I’m grateful to say that the Greenhouse Series is out on audiobook through Dreamscape, and the Allison Campbell Series Mystery Series will soon be out in audio as well.

Who do you enjoy reading when you have time? Which writer has influenced you the most? 

My favorite books are (no surprise, perhaps) thrillers and mysteries. I love the works of Elizabeth George, Tess Gerrittsen, Jonathan Kellerman, Louise Penny, and so many other crime writers. I also read nonfiction, especially when I need a break while completing my own manuscript.

Many writers have influenced me. I grew up on James Herriot’s novels, and Dr. Denver Finn in the Greenhouse Series is my homage to the British veterinarian. I think Stephen King was probably the most influential writer for me. I consumed his novels. King is a master at creating suspense, but he’s also a master at characterization. I’ve read The Stand a dozen times, and every time I learn something new.

Writing is such an isolated activity. How do you stay connected to others?

With three kids and a full-time job, I don’t have a lot of dedicated writing time. I need to schedule writing time, and I often use vacation days to complete projects. As a consequence, I tend to have the opposite problem—how to stay disconnected long enough to finish my work. I really have to make a concerted effort to avoid social media, turn off my phone, and ignore the siren’s call of my email in order to get my words in.

Describe your favorite place to write. Not necessarily your most productive spot.

I love to write in ski lodges. My husband and boys enjoy skiing, and while they’re hitting the slopes, I take advantage of the bustle of a busy ski lodge combined with what are often amazing views. I use the time like a writing sprint: I nab a window seat and write as much as I can while the boys are skiing.

What’s next for Megan Sawyer and the characters in her world?

Rooted in Deceit, the fourth book in the Greenhouse series, is due out next September. 

Thank you, Wendy.

Seeds of Revenge Jacket Copy

It’s the holiday season, and the mood in Winsome is anything but jolly…Megan Sawyer is determined to farm year-round. She’s braving a December snowstorm after pitching her greenhouse greens to Philadelphia chefs when she sees a stranger stranded on the side of the road. It’s Merry Chance’s niece Becca, who’s headed to Winsome to sell her “love potions” at holiday events—or so she thinks.

Merry has an ulterior motive in inviting her niece to Winsome, but Merry’s plan to reunite Becca with her estranged father goes awry when Becca’s father turns up dead. Megan soon realizes that Becca was not the only person in Winsome who despised her father. When Megan’s aunt, the famous mystery author, is implicated through her novels, things become personal. Megan must follow the literary clues while sifting through the victim’s sordid past, but can she uncover the truth before someone else in Winsome is murdered?

Seeds of Revenge is available for pre-order. Follow Wendy Tyson on Facebook and at www.watyson.com. 

The Real Truth About Cats and Dogs by Wendy Tyson

I’ll admit it: I’m a dog person. That’s not to say I’m not fond of cats. I’ve lived with cats, will go out of my way to pet a cat, have fed and cared for stray cats—and let’s face it, there’s nothing more adorable than a kitten, except maybe a litter of kittens. But at the end of the day, the animal at the foot of my bed (or upside down in the middle of my bed, snoring) is a dog. Three dogs, to be exact.
 

Why my fascination with dogs? I don’t know, although I will say that I identify with them, from their eagerness to please to their loyalty to their need for companionship. My friend and I have long had a theory that people can be divided into two categories: cats and dogs. As our theory goes, cats are self-reliant, generally not people pleasers, aloof, more pragmatic. Dogs, on the other hand, are more social and people-pleasing, less content to be alone, optimists. No matter how outgoing a cat is, a cat has a self-contained quality that those of us who are dogs don’t quite get. And many dogs wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Of course, there are exceptions—and if you’re reading this, you’re no doubt coming up with one right now. That’s why our theory is flexible: there are dog-like cats (you know, the folks who are congenial and outgoing but prefer ultimately to do exactly what they want to do) and cat-like dogs (social, but more reserved).

Consider the people in your life. I bet if you think about it, you’ll be able to categorize nearly everyone you know. In my case, my mom is a dog, my dad was a cat. My husband is a true, could-survive-in-the-wilderness-with-only-one-eye cat; my boys are dogs’ dogs—some big, goofy breed that greets the world with a madly wagging tail and a slobbery tongue. Or play the game with television characters. Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island was a dog. The Professor was most definitely a cat. You get the drift.

In fact, if you really want to have fun with it, the “dogs” can be broken down into breeds—consider a Golden Retriever (friendly, good-natured, a little needy) versus a Bassett Hound (stubborn, loyal, and slow-moving) versus a Poodle (intelligent and dignified). Personality differences, certainly . . . but all still dogs. You can do the same with cats.

Of course, there’s a shadow side to dogs and cats.

For those of us who are dogs, the risk of wearing your heart on your sleeve is having it crushed, and

the risk of being an optimist can be difficulty accepting reality. For cats, perhaps the risk of being careful, of holding the world at bay with a pragmatic attitude and calculating demeanor, is that you may be too careful or close-minded—and miss out on some of the good stuff in the process.

I use these categories when I write. Despite my dog-like nature, most of my female protagonists are cats. I respect their independence. It makes them good heroines in thrillers and mysteries, and their shadow selves are ripe for development as a novel progresses. But dogs are needed as well, and it’s fun to pair the two on the page. As in the real world, a dog provides emotional openness and a nurturing nature that can help bring life to a novel and provide a good counterpoint to a cat.

Ultimately, neither is better—they’re just different. That’s why in fiction, as in life, there needs to be yin and yang, Mars and Venus . . . dog and cat.

Wendy Tyson is an author, lawyer and former therapist whose background has inspired her mysteries and thrillers. Wendy has written four published crime novels, including Dying Brand, the third novel in the Allison Campbell Mystery Series, which was released on May 5, 2015. The first in the Campbell series, Killer Image, was named a best mystery for book clubs in 2014 by Examiner.com. Wendy is also the author of the Greenhouse Mystery Series, the first of which, A Muddied Murder, is due to be released just in time for spring 2016. Wendy is a member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers and she is a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, International Thriller Writers’ online magazine. Wendy lives on a micro-farm just outside of Philadelphia with her husband, three sons and three dogs. Visit Wendy on Facebook or at: www.WATyson.com.

                                                                                                            

Murderous Intent: Why I Write About Killing People

by Wendy Tyson

What motivates you to write about killing people? Salad Bowl Saturdays is pleased to welcome Wendy Tyson to share her thoughts on the subject. Welcome, Wendy! — Paula

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Recently my mother, a very sweet former second grade teacher who can still make you sit up straighter with one pointed, sideways glance, asked me why I wanted to kill people. “Even if it’s just on paper, Wendy,” she said. “I’m only going to ask you once. Why?”

Why, indeed?

I cut my mystery teeth on Agatha Christie, Mary Higgins Clark, Elizabeth George, Harlan Coben, Donna Leon, Jonathan Kellerman.  Too many to name. Mysteries are, for me, like comfort food. When I pick up a novel by one of my favorite mystery writers, I know I’m getting something familiar yet satisfying. I know I’ll be taken away.

But as I looked at my mother across her small front porch, the What happens at Grandma’s house, stays at Grandma’s house stone staring at me from the flower garden circling our white wicker chairs, I considered why I love writing mysteries so much.

For that matter, why so many of us enjoy reading murder mysteries.

I’ve heard others’ theories. Some say the appeal of the murder mystery is the desire to create the perfect crime. I will admit that there’s a certain left brain quality to mystery writing that excites me. I’m a transactional lawyer by training, and mysteries offer the opportunity to not only create compelling characters, but to craft complex plots. In a mystery, the puzzle has to fit together at the end. There can’t be a single leftover piece, and nothing can feel jammed together. It all has to work. Plotting the mystery can be a challenge -- which is, of course, half the fun.

I recently heard a famous thriller author suggest that our collective love for the genre has to do with our need to experience danger in a safe environment. That, in effect, readers like to sympathize with the victim while knowing they won’t actually be hurt. Kind of the literary equivalent of a roller coaster. And we, as writers, receive the same thrill from creating these stories as readers get from writing them. I can see that, too.

But neither of these theories fully answered the question for me – or my mother. Why do I write about killing people? That day, I looked at my mother and said simply, “Justice.” I think she knew what I meant because, true to her word, she didn’t ask me again. But her question made me think long after I left her home. Was that the right answer?

Before law school, when I was in my formative twenties, I’d been a therapist in a variety of social service settings. I worked primarily with teenage girls who’d either been in trouble with the law or who’d been abused by their families – or both. I saw the worst humanity has to offer, but I’d also witnessed incredible spiritual resiliency and strength. During those years, one thing stuck with me: life isn’t always fair. Innocent people got hurt. Bad people got away with bad stuff. And isn’t that the case with true crime, too? Victims often go un-vindicated. Criminals go free. Real crime is gritty and sad and often infuriating.

But not in murder mysteries. In mysteries, no matter how awful the crime, the bad folks get their comeuppance (in one way or another). True, there’s the plot puzzle aspect, and the thrill of danger. But there’s also a certain fairness that I think appeals to many readers. For me, writing mysteries allows me to impose a sense of order on a crazy world. Do people die? Yes -- although I never take death lightly, even on paper. But in the end, justice prevails.

Why do you write and/or read murder mysteries?

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Wendy Tyson’s background in law and psychology has provided inspiration for her mysteries and thrillers. Originally from the Philadelphia area, Wendy has returned to her roots and lives there again with her husband, three kids and two muses, dogs Molly and Driggs. Wendy’s short fiction has appeared in literary journals, including KARAMU, Eclipse, A Literary Journal and Concho River Review. Wendy is the author of Killer Image, an Allison Campbell mystery (Henery Press), and The Seduction of Miriam Cross (E-Lit Books – under the pen name W. A. Tyson). Deadly Assets, the second novel in the Campbell series, will be released July 22, 2014. Find Wendy on Facebook or Twitter, or visit her at www.WATyson.com.