When The Time Has Come and Gone by Heather Haven

There was a song from 1960 called “Good Timin’” by Jimmy Jones. If you’re my age, you might remember it. Hit the link in either the title of the song or the album cover and sing along with Jimmy and me:

Oh, you need timin’
A-ticka, ticka, ticka, good timin’
A-tocka, tocka, tocka, tocka
Timin’ is the thing, It’s true
Good timin’ brought me to you
(Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo)

Ah! They don’t write them like that anymore. I think this rock and roll song speaketh the truth about one of Life’s important things. Timing is everything. Would I have poo-pooed the love of my life, a man I’ve been with for 44 years, at an earlier time because I wasn’t ready to meet him yet? Would he have poo-pooed me if he hadn’t met me at the right time? Oh stop, Heather. You’re being ridiculous. He would have adored you no matter when he met you. That’s what Mom said, and she was always right, even when she wasn’t.

Moving on, would I have stayed in the acting business and never written a word, if I’d gotten that last audition, the one I didn’t want in the first place, but at the time, it seemed an easier career path? Would I have had that nose job if I hadn’t decided to spend the money on a French Poodle that came my way instead? Fleur was a great dog, so right decision made that day.

When I started writing the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, I couldn’t find any other series about a successful, upper-crust Mexican American family of detectives. That was in 2005. People have often asked what inspired me to write the Alvarez Family Mysteries. The answer is I’m intrigued by the dynamics of familial relationships and America’s history of immigrants rising to heights often unattainable in their native countries.

That lofty statement made – and pahdon me while I play the grand piano – the truth is there’s something about a family who does their darnedest to be supportive and positive no matter what, that can be heartwarming and often hilarious. So, enter the Alvarez Family, owners of Discretionary Inquiries Inc., a Silicon Valley based detective agency.

The lineup includes Liana (Lee), protagonist and in-house detective; Lila, CEO, aristocrat, and never-had-a bad-hair-day mother; Richard, head of the IT department, a brilliant but goofy computer-nerd kid brother; Tío, uncle and retired executive chef who gives unconditional love while frying up the best tortillas in town; and, of course, Tugger, the foundling kitten. The family drifted apart after the unexpected death of Roberto Alvarez, much-loved patriarch two years previous. But never underestimate a cat. Tugger helps reunite the family in his passive yet feline way.

Regarding Lee Alvarez, I wanted the protagonist of the series to be an intelligent, quirky, and flawed woman, but not so much she can’t learn and grow. Mainly, Lee’s happy to be in the world. She loves life. She strives to be a B&BP (bigger and better person), even while she’s spilling coffee all over herself. I adore her and hope it shows. Also, and this is important to me, she’s of blended heritage, half Mexican immigrant (her father’s side) and half Palo Alto Blueblood (her mother’s side).

The Italian half of my family came to the States at the turn of the 20^th century, when it was difficult to be an Italian in the new world. Traditionally, the newest ones in are always the ones most challenged. But most immigrants work hard to integrate, to become useful and respected members of our society. No pity, just hard work, with love and good times thrown in. Olé! The Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries show a family managing to capture the American dream today while stumbling over dead bodies and solving crimes in one of the most technically savvy places in the nation, Silicon Valley. All with a few laughs.

The series has been under option at two large subscription-based streaming services for about eight years, first one then the other and back at the first one again. The option money has been lovely, the idea of the stories being turned into a television series has been lovely, but in my humble opinion, the time has come and gone for it to be offered to the television viewer.

I don’t think my assessment is based on the years gone by. After all, Fences, a 2016 film directed and co-produced by Denzel Washington, was based on August Wilson’s 1985 play. That’s thirty-one years! But that was a movie. Television tends to be more faddish, today.  Statistically, only one out of a thousand are going to make the transition from the written page to TV. I suspect I am one of the 999. Because timing is everything. A ticka, ticka.

But God bless the reader. The book reader, fortunately, is another kind of person, not so faddish and more loyal. I think this is due to the fact that reading a book is a highly personal thing. I hope if I continue to write a decent story with a laugh or two about a family that doesn’t always “get” one another but the love is always there, the readers will still be there.

But I do have a copy of the first option check on my bulletin board. It gives me a warm glow. Sort of like rum.

~

On another note, the holiday season is being celebrated starting November 15th by the Ladies of Mystery with our Ladies of Mystery Cavalcade of Books. Each of us is offering three books, some at special prices just for you! Please click on the image below to see what’s what, once again starting November 15th!