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Fall, 1996
Volume 1, No. 2 Welcome to the second issue of our newsletter. The Nuns, Mothers and Others title grew out of a series of book tours the four of us have done together. Lee Harris writes about an ex-nun, Valerie Wolzien and Jonnie Jacobs have sleuths who are mothers, and Lora Roberts' sleuth is a free-lance writer (our original other). Now Valerie has a second series featuring a woman contractor, and Jonnie's new sleuth is an attorney. In the first issue, we addressed the question "My sleuth, myself?" This time we're talking about location and setting. We'd love to hear from you with comments or suggestions. All of us have e-mail addresses listed elsewhere in the newsletter.
Jonnie Jacobs Both my series are set in fictional towns plopped down in the midst of real locales and geography. I enjoy creating my stories from the ground up. I wanted small communities where characters would know one another because what interests me most is people—their relationships, secrets and fears. My Kate Austen books are set in a well-to-do suburb of San Francisco. I'm fascinated, and often astounded, at the depth of intrigue and behind-the-doors passion that lurks beneath the seemingly placid surface of suburbia. And I like stories with a light touch. Like her namesake (the more famous Austen), Kate willingly shares her observations about the manners and morals of her neighbors, as well as the humor that abounds in everyday life. My other character, Kali O'Brien, is a San Francisco attorney who grew up in a small town in the sierras and has strived to distance herself from her past. Yet she returns home for her father's funeral and ends up staying (through two books, at any rate.) The notion of going home, both literally and figuratively, was a moving force in shaping these books. Kali is a down-home girl whose mother's suicide and father's emotional withdrawal have left their mark. She is also a strive-for-success lawyer, trained in logic and observation, now seasoned by big-city sophistication. I found these contrasts intriguing. The two Kate Austen books, Murder Among Neighbors and Murder Among Friends, are available in paperback. Shadow of Doubt (the first Kali O'Brien book) is a Kensington hardcover. Evidence of Guilt will be available in early 1997. Jonnie lives near San Francisco with her husband and sons.
Lee Harris In The Christening Day Murder, it was the location that prompted the story. A piece in the NY Times during a season of drought described a dried-up lake that revealed an old town that had been emptied and flooded decades ago. What a great place for a murder, I thought. Within days I chanced upon a special report on TV, substantially the same story, a reservoir in France that had once been a town. Every ten years the government drained the lake to clean it and when they did, everyone in the area came to have their new babies christened in the still standing church! The chill I experienced told me I knew where I would find the body. And two years ago, a drought dropped the level of a lake in Puerto Rico to expose the steeple of the church of what had once been a town. Art imitates life imitates art? The Passover Murder, which made the Mystery Scene Magazine Best Seller List, is the most recent Christine Bennett mystery. The Valentine's Day Murder will be out in February, 1997. Lee Harris spent much of July in London and later Germany where her first book to be published in German had just come out. Alte Liebe rostet nicht, which translates to Old Love Never Dies, a rather free rendering of The Christening Day Murder, was in good supply at a wonderful mystery bookstore in Frankfurt, Die Wendeltreppe (The Spiral Staircase), along with an enthusiastic group of readers who were surprised to find Lee could make out pretty well in their language, thanks to a Fulbright year of graduate study. Now back at her typewriter, she's working on The New Year's Eve Murder for the end of 1997.
Lora Roberts It's not exactly exotic. It's not even sophisticated, metropolitan, down-home, or any of those readily identifiable qualities that some place names evoke: London. Paris. Rome. Palo Alto. And yet Palo Alto has one overriding reason for being the setting of most of my Liz Sullivan mysteries. I live here. And that makes the research easy. I don't have to remember what street names I made up for which areas. I just use the ones that are there. I have even used the restaurants on occasion. Luckily for me, Liz is poor and doesn't eat out much. And Palo Alto, despite its upscale reputation as roosting place for the well-off intelligencia, has many advantages for a poor working writer like Liz. Great libraries, for one. Lots of secondhand stores full of gently-used clothes. A rich network of other writers --believe me, the woodwork is crawling with them. Community gardens for growing much-needed vegies. Bicycle-friendly streets and lots of used bookstores. I could have made up a place, and when I listen to Jonnie talk about it, I wish I had. But Liz likes Palo Alto. It's a surprisingly diverse place. Not everyone has money and a splendid house. Many are renting; lots are elderly. Real-life Palo Alto even has the occasional gang and a murder once in a while. There are lots of contrasts—buffed and polished yuppies going toe to toe with homeless people and those poor crazed street loonies that Mr. Reagan so kindly evicted into the world. It's even the kind of place where you could live quietly on the street in your VW bus and escape detection—for a while. Liz did that. But in my role as goddess of the fictional Palo Alto, I felt generous. I gave Liz some downtrodden Palo Alto real estate that she couldn't have afforded otherwise (neither could I; the little house I modeled hers on recently sold for half a million dollars!) and a hungry dog named Barker, and turned her loose on Palo Alto. It's never been the same since.
Valerie Wolzien One of the nicest things about being a writer is that you really do get to use what you know. (Okay, not algebra.) But when I love a place, I can write about it. I set a mystery in Yellowstone National Park for just that reason. And when I discovered the July 4th sunrise square dance in Acadia National Park, I couldn't resist putting it in a book. But Hancock, Connecticut and Josie's island exist only in my mind. Hancock is typical of most wealthy New York City suburbs. There are perfect lawns, brass gleaming on enameled doors—and secrets behind them. Josie Pigeon lives and works on an imaginary island—which just happens to be seven miles long like the one I vacationed on as a child. It was --and is—large enough to support several contracing companies, many businesses, and lots of people who just might want to kill each other. And then there's serendipity. In my next book, Elected For Death, the murder takes place in the Hancock Women's Club. I had just begun to write it when I was asked to speak at a local woman's club. I walked through the French doors right up to the massive fireplace that dominated the room. Glassed-in balconies lined room near the ceiling and hundreds of gilt chairs were set up before an empty podium. All this place needed was a dead body on the floor. How could I resist?
Lee Harris ~ Jonnie Jacobs ~ Lora Roberts ~ Valerie Wolzien ©2005-06 by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts and Valerie Wolzien. |
