Guest Blogger ~ DK Coutant

The lure of traditional mysteries…

I believe we are what we read, (not only what we eat). I write mysteries, but growing up I read mysteries…Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon, and don’t tell my younger brother, but I borrowed his Hardy Boys. Years later, I became a psychology professor and taught at a University. I found I scored high on Need for Cognition. That’s a psychological dimension which indicates a tendency to enjoy thinking. I like to solve problems, solve puzzles, and it probably also explains my addiction to Duolingo. My guess is that most people who enjoy mysteries also have a high need for cognition. They like to think. If you want to find out how you score I’ve put a self-test at the end with a scoring key.

That same need to think, lead me into geopolitical forecasting. I like to untangle and make sense of disparate information. I’m not an expert on most of the topics I’m asked to forecast. I have dive into each new subject matter and narrow down the information to the essentials of a specific question I’m asked to forecast. (Do you want to give forecasting a try? Links here)

https://www.gjopen.com/

https://www.infer-pub.com/frequently-asked-questions#whatisinfer

The process of writing mysteries also relies on my desire to ruminate over ideas. I’ve got to devise a murder that will have breadcrumbs leading to the killer, but also diverse, and intriguing red herrings that might distract my readers down alternative paths.

To narrow down to my sub-genre, traditional mysteries, I don’t write super-bloody, violent books. I know some people love them and they are very popular. But in my geopolitical forecasting I track bloody conflicts and death rates. When I write I want to leave that behind. Sure, there has to be a death in a murder mystery, but, while not strict cozies, my mysteries are on the lighter side. For the reader like me, who believes there is enough violence and darkness in their world and looks for something complex, but fun, and not too pollyannish. I use my craft, to find happy endings…  and a balance in life. I enjoy my rainy days as much as my sunny ones.

Items That Compose the Need for Cognition Scale–6 (NCS-6)

1. I would prefer complex to simple problems.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

2. I like to have the responsibility of handling a situation that requires a lot of thinking.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

3. Thinking is not my idea of fun. (R)

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

4. I would rather do something that requires little thought than something that is sure to challenge my thinking abilities. (R)

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

5. I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

6. I would prefer a task that is intellectual, difficult, and important to one that is somewhat important but does not require much thought.

1              2              3              4              5

1=Strongly Disagree                          5=Strongly Agree

To score yourself start with questions 3 and 4. They are reverse scored, so if you answered 1 change it to a 5, 2 changes to 4, 3 stays the same, 4 to 2 and 5 to 1.

After you have done that add up your score. A higher score demonstrates a high need for cognition, a lower score indicates an individual not as motivated to think and problem-solve.

(for more information on Need for Cognition:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7545655/

Paradise is shaken when the body of a young woman is dragged onto a university research vessel during a class outing in Hilo Bay. Cleo Cooper is shaken when she finds her favorite student is on the hook for the murder. Danger lurks on land and sea as Cleo and her friends are enticed to search for the true killer. Between paddling, swimming, and arguing with her boyfriend, Cleo discovers everything is not what it seems on the Big Island of Hawaii. But will she find the truth before she becomes the next victim?

Buy links:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88564113-evil-alice-and-the-borzoi

https://www.bookbub.com/books/evil-alice-and-the-borzoi-a-cleo-cooper-mystery-book-1-by-dk-coutant

https://bookshop.org/p/books/evil-alice-and-the-borzoi-dk-coutant/19649122

https://www.amazon.com/Evil-Alice-Borzoi-Cooper-Mystery/dp/150924591X

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/evil-alice-and-the-borzoi-dk-coutant/1142929587

DK Coutant graduated from Davidson College with a Psychology degree, and applied her behavioral training at Sea World, training dolphins and whales. Realizing that scrubbing fish buckets might get old, she went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in Psychology. Her academic career began at the University of Southern Maine before DK made the jump to the University of Hawaii at Hilo rising to Department Chair of the Psychology Department. After many happy years in Hawaii, DK made the move out of academics to become a professional geopolitical forecaster for GJP, Inc ( https://goodjudgment.com/Inc ) and INFER  ( https://www.infer-pub.com/). Evil Alice and the Borzoi is her first work of fiction published by The Wild Rose Press.

Social Media Links:

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