Kris Bock on Two Very Different Heroines in her Mystery Series
My two mystery series have first-person (past tense) narrators, so I’m writing from their close point of view and the reader gets their thoughts. A novel, being fiction, doesn’t merely copy people from real life, of course. Still, an author might use bits and pieces of several people to create some characters, and completely make up others. We might also use personal experience – a great way to develop characters who feel authentic!
In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. I wrote it as I was facing fifty, and Kate has some of the same concerns, such as perimenopause and aging parents. I drew on my experience with chronic back pain, which sometimes throws off my walking stride, in order to write about Kate’s bombing injury and use of a cane.
Those things bring Kate to life, but she’s not me. I’ve been a full-time freelance writer for nearly 30 years, but I’m definitely not a war correspondent. Kate is me if I’d gone into journalism instead of other forms of writing – and if I was much more outgoing and fearless.
My new mystery series, The Reluctantly Psychic Mysteries, star Petra, who can touch an object and sense the emotions people have left behind. To create her character, I tried to imagine what it would be like growing up with a “gift” like hers. She avoids friendships so she won’t have to explain her psychic power or feel like she’s spying on people. Because she’s such a loner, she has many pets. She went into geology because it typically doesn’t force her to handle objects that have emotional residue from prior handling.
In some ways, she’s less me. She’s younger than I am, at thirty. I have no psychic powers. But I drew on the more anxious, cautious parts of myself in creating her, and used plenty of imagination to explore what it might be like to grow up with a challenging psychic power.
Extrovert or Introvert
Because these two characters are so different, they investigate mysteries in very different ways. Professional journalist Kate is used to interviewing people. She’s had practice seeking out the truth. People ask for her help, and she craves the adventure.
Loner Petra has childhood trauma due to neglect, abandonment, and betrayal from both family and friends. She tries to understand people’s behavior so she can protect herself. Her caution and fear mean she overanalyzes everything, but that works pretty well for an amateur detective.
Readers seem to like both characters. People think Kate is fun. They enjoy her eccentric sidekicks, including her sister, her father, and a couple of her father’s wacky friends. Many people would like to be like Kate – or they identify with her attempts to start over in midlife. Readers have said:
“I so related to Kate and her struggles to get back to her regular life. Can’t wait for the next book in this series!”
“A fifty-year-old who is wondering what she wants to do when she grows up? That’s more like it! Bock’s story offers proof positive that no one outgrows the need for more maturity and self-discovery.”
“I loved her smart world traveler, foreign war correspondent heroine. I loved reading a story where the heroine is so fascinating, as fascinating to me as the mystery.”
Something Shady at Sunshine Haven (the Accidental Detective book 1) is FREE this month at all E-book retailers!
From Isolation to Friendship
Most people don’t want to be Petra, but they sympathize with her (and often identify with her caution and anxiety). Book reviews have said:
“What truly resonated with me was Petra’s emotional journey. Her anxiety about being discovered, her cautious approach to forming friendships, and her affection for her pets (the cats! the ferrets! my heart!) made her character incredibly relatable. I found myself laughing, gasping, and perhaps shedding a tear or two.”
“What wrecked me emotionally was Petra’s struggle with trust. She’s spent her life pushing people away to protect herself, but now she has to rely on others to solve this murder. That slow, painful opening-up? The tentative friendships? I felt every second of it… Petra’s journey is one I won’t forget.”
“Petra is such a compelling lead. Her psychometry isn’t just a plot device—it’s a curse that’s shaped her entire life… And her journey from isolation to finally letting people in? Perfection.”
I’m sure most readers don’t have psychic powers. (If you do, please tell me all about it!) So why do people respond so much to Petra’s isolation? Maybe because we can feel isolated for so many reasons: neurodiversity, gender nonconformity, being artist types in a corporate world, feeling out of tune with our community’s or country’s politics … Who among us feels “normal”?
Petra masks her true self most of the time, for her safety, but she craves connections with people who understand and accept her. Don’t we all feel that way some (or much, or all) of the time?
Maybe Kate and Petra represent reasons readers turn to books: We want to identify with characters and believe they would like us too, or we want to feel what it would be like to be entirely different – or sometimes a bit of both.
A Stone Cold Murder: The Reluctant Psychic Murder Mystery book 1: Petra Cloch has the gift, or curse, of psychometry – she can sense the emotions people had while wearing or using objects. Now she’s starting a new job at a quirky private museum in smalltown New Mexico. When she picks up a rock in her new office, she feels flashes of rage, fear and death. Everyone says her predecessor died in a car crash, but what if he was murdered? If he died because of the job, she could be next.
Purchase link: https://tulepublishing.com/series/reluctantly-psychic-murder-mystery/
Readers say:
“[A Stone Cold Murder] is both heartwarming and suspenseful. For those who appreciate mysteries that offer depth, a distinctive supernatural element, and a protagonist to cherish, A Stone Cold Murder is an essential read.”
“The murder mystery is fantastic. The idea that a museum curator was killed with a rock (how chillingly ironic) and that Petra is the only one who knows? Genius. And the small-town setting? So atmospheric. The Banditt Museum feels like a character itself, full of hidden corners and whispered history.”
Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with Southwestern landscapes. The Accidental Detective humorous mystery series starts with Something Shady at Sunshine Haven, which is FREE this month at all E-book retailers!
Sign up for the Kris Bock newsletter and get an Accidental Detective short story, a Reluctantly Psychic short story, and other freebies. Then every two weeks, you’ll get fun content about pets, announcements of new books, sales, and more.
Kris’s romantic suspense novels include stories of treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue. Readers have called these novels “Smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel.”
As for Kris’s romance, the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series features the employees and customers at a cat café. Watch as they fall in love with each other and shelter cats. Start the series for free at all e-book retailers!
In the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series, a Texas ranching family wins a fortune in the lottery. Who wouldn’t want to be a billionaire? Turns out winning the lottery causes as many problems as it solves.
Kris also writes a series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. The Felony Melanie series follows the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Find the books at all E-book retailers.
Find Kris:
Ladies of Mystery 
Just got Something Shady at Sunshine Haven. Can’t wait to read it. Thanks!
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It’s always fun to see how authors come up with plots and characters. Both series sound like great reads. Thank you for being on Ladies of Mystery.
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Thanks for the guest spot!
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