Hello, Ladies ~

Well … my post is late again. I’d like to blame it on my old age; after all, I turned sixty-nine this month. But my lateness isn’t due to being a doddering old lady. On the contrary, I’ve had a wonderfully blessed birthday month celebrating another trip around the sun.

This weekend found me at Willamette Vineyards camping with a group of friends, listening to music and enjoying some very fine wine. On the downside, we were without power, and there was no internet. Of course it could always be worse … I could’ve been in a tent instead of my lovely RV!

We returned today, and I have to admit I’m pretty tired after catching up on my day job, unloading the RV, doing laundry, then cooking dinner.

I have one more celebration planned this week: attending a Jason Aldean concert in Ridgefield, Washington, with my oldest son, then spending a night at ilani Casino. Winning a big jackpot would certainly be the icing on the proverbial cake.

So, for me, this summer reminds me of these lyrics from Bryan Adams’ song “Summer of ’69” to a T.

                        “Oh, when I look back now,

                        That summer seemed to last forever.

                        And if I had the choice,

                        Yeah, I’d always wanna be there.

                        Those were the best days of my life.”

I have friends who seriously struggle with aging, one of whom asked me why I choose to write stories with younger characters. At first, it took me by surprise. Thinking about the question, I knew the answer was that I see the characters in my head and simply write what I see. After giving it more thought, though, I realized I want to start my stories with younger characters, especially in the Stoneybrook Mysteries Series, so I can grow old with them.

Yes, I said it … grow old.

Now, with each book I create an older character or two. Not because I feel like I need to capture the essence of old age, but because I feel these characters add depth to my stories. My first “older” character was Harley’s mom, Esther. I loved that I could give Esther some of my mom’s characteristics. Her judgmental assumption that her daughter could always do better than her choices. Her need to point out mistakes, no matter how small. Her eventual realization that the mistakes she’d made in her life and the lessons she learned could help Harley mend her relationship with Wyatt.

In my newest Stoneybrook novel, “Fatal Falls,” I have an old rancher, Jack Norman, who’s the last living friend of Wyatt, Blake, and Derrick’s dads. Jack is the target of a drug-fueled killer who’s looking for missing gold. The book also has a demented killer, and I used Jack’s character to create some comic relief to offset the darkness of my villains. It was fun bringing in memories from my childhood. With Jack, I was able to create a brotherhood, similar to the one my dad and uncles shared, between him, the Stone brothers, and another childhood friend. I also enjoyed having a flirtatious moment between Jack and Mercy Edwards, the owner of the Babbling Brook Café.

I’m guessing if younger readers read my books, they’d be quick to point out what I get wrong about thirty-somethings. But I knew when I created the small town of Stoneybrook that I’d want Harley and Busy, along with the rest of the cast, to live simpler lives than influencers and jet setters. I do make an effort to keep my younger characters from being me. After all, thirty-something was a long time ago. But I feel small town core values fit all age groups.

While I have no intention of slowing down at sixty-nine, I know that aging will continue to steal the days I have left. Which means time is wasting, and I can’t wait to publish my next two Stoneybrook books, “Fatal Falls” and “Jamboree Jealousy,” so I can work on my next project, “Midnight Sail.” A middle school book with a cast of characters that includes curious kids, struggling moms, a time-traveling Native American girl, and a wise-cracking parrot named Pirate.

Life is short, so live yours to the fullest, Ladies! Enjoy each trip around the sun that God gives to you!

Happy Writing ~ Kimila

The question of place has been in the air and on blogs lately, including here in a useful post by Donalee Moulton. I’ve been thinking about another perspective that came up in my reading lately—location as muse.

Few writers or artists stay in one locale but if they do so it’s because of a special affinity for that one place. Wendell Berry is well known for his series of novels and short stories about the fictional Port William, set in his beloved Kentucky, as well as for his nonfiction on the issues besieging farmers and farm communities. By focusing on one location, Berry creates an entire community of interrelated families, histories of growth and change, and effects of changes in the larger, surrounding world. His narrow focus on one place, one he knows well, has led to a prolific career in both fiction and nonfiction, including poetry. Reading even one book introduces the reader to an entire family, way of life (farming), and community (Port William).

Sally Mann, the photographer, has made the same choice by focusing on Lexington, Virginia, her home state. She’s known for her photographs of children and families as well as the area in Virginia.

I think of these two artists because their work stands out for its depth and breadth while not straying far from home. Each piece is linked to another, and each location is explored in several ways. I think of these two writers also because I understand their sense of rootedness and its importance. It’s a truism to say that our place shapes us, but it is less often observed that we are still most often limited in our understanding of what that location means, of how it shapes us, of what the consequences are.

When I began writing crime fiction I created a fictional town, Mellingham, which is really the town I grew up in. Several readers have asked if that town is really X or Y, usually referring to a small town in Essex County they’re familiar with. The only people who recognize the place are those who live there, and have for some time. (The key, which few seem to consider, is the layout of certain streets.)

There are seven books in the Mellingham series, and I have long considered these enough because these seven stories complete the trajectory of Chief Joe Silva’s adult life, his progression from a chronically reluctant bachelor to a devoted stepfather in a committed relationship. But there are more stories in Mellingham, and more corners of the town that have yet to be explored. I’ve been struggling with this question for some time—do I continue the Mellingham series, or let it go (as I have) and continue with the two other series that haven’t reached their finale. Anita Ray, in the Anita Ray series, isn’t getting any closer to finding a partner or changing her carefree life of sleuthing with and without a camera. Felicity O’Brien, in the Pioneer Valley series, is more likely to reach her fitting ending, which includes changes to her beloved farm. But I’m not sure I want to write that one either.

The commitment to a single place means we see more of it. We see what we don’t need as well as what we think we need for a particular story. For me, knowing the town’s history also means a cacophony of voices from the past calling to me to resolve the mystery of the unusual tools found in the shed of what was once a furniture workshop in the 1930s. Or the story of a small freestanding ballroom converted to a condo in the middle of a pasture where no flock of four-legged animals ever roamed. The loss of craftsmanship in modern industry circles around the first history and the changing world of New England social life is hidden in the second. 

For me, writing a crime novel isn’t a question of merely coming up with an idea and planting it in a preferred location. I struggle with setting as much as with character. The ideas I spelled out above are organic to the place, and understanding how that can be so defines the story. To tell the story of one particular small-scale furniture workshop I have to resuscitate the Mellingham series. Some stories are so insistent. They can be worse than some characters (alive and fictional).

I’ve had the Mellingham series on my mind because Worldwide Mystery is reprinting the last two books in the Mellingham series for its book club as well as general sales. Chief Joe Silva retired, but the town is still there, and its history unhidden. What to do, what to do.

By donalee Moulton

Where your characters live, work, and solve mysteries can be central to the story. Or not. I’ve discovered that location is not a requirement or an irrelevancy. It is a spectrum.

At one end of the spectrum, location is essential. As a result, you spend time bringing that location to life, making it real, and of real interest to readers. This requires knowing whereof you write or researching whereof you write. Or both. Conflagration!, a historical mystery, is based on the real-life story of Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman accused of burning the lower town of Montreal to the ground in 1734. Montreal as a place and as a community is intertwined with the plot and the characters, fictional and otherwise. As a result, I had to immerse myself in a time and place that no longer exist.

Move further along the location spectrum and you’ll arrive here: the location could be anywhere. The town, island, futuristic community where your characters go about their daily lives is woven into the story but not predetermined. It’s up to you. You may choose a place that is familiar, that fits within the theme of the book, or simply resonates with you.

My first mystery book Hung Out to Die introduces Riel Brava to readers. Riel is originally from Santa Barbara but now living in Nova Scotia, which is where I live. Fact is, Riel could have been uprooted to almost any location where cannabis production is legal. (Riel is CEO of the Canadian Cannabis Corporation. He’s also a psychopath (not the nasty kind), but we’ll save that for another blog.) I chose Nova Scotia because I know this location. Less research would be required, but I also have a deeper connection to this place because it is my place. Many readers have told me how the book feels so much like Nova Scotia. That was not intentional, but it reflects a knowledge of place that goes beyond street maps, tourist locations, and Yelp reviews.

Finally, we reach the other end of the spectrum: place is irrelevant. Indeed, a specific geographical location may not be necessary. I wrote a short story called “Moist,” that for the most part takes place in the main character’s home. Where that home is situated doesn’t matter.

After the story was published, there was a call for stories for an anthology Santa Cruz Ghost Stories. I reached out to the editor to explain that my story wasn’t really set anywhere so it could be set in Santa Cruz. She agreed. Minor changes were made (like changing Canadian spelling to American (“savour” became “savor”) and using the name of a dollar store Santa Cruz residents would easily recognize.

Ultimately, location is about character. The two go hand in hand.