The importance of “setting” in a novel came to me as I was sitting at the News Café in South Beach. I was sipping a cappuccino when I noticed a beautiful young girl hurrying into a glamorous hotel. She was struggling with her shopping bags and handed them over to the doorman, flashing a dazzling smile before she disappeared inside. It was obvious she was a resident, not a guest, at the hotel.
She was as much a part of the South Beach ambiance as the pastel-colored hotels, the European style outdoor cafes, the tang of salt in the air and the swaying palm trees. Somehow, I knew I’d tie it all together in a book and I did, in a book called GOLDEN GIRL. The plot and the characters grew out of the setting.
Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef Mystery series could only take place in Washington, DC. Ms. Hyzy, author of HOME OF THE BRAISED has created an attractive heroine, Olivia (Ollie) Paras and offers a tantalizing peek at life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
As executive chef, Ollie's world is the White House kitchen, along with her crew of talented cooks and her devoted staff. Politics is an integral part of the plot. As the story opens, Ollie's wedding plans to marry Gav (Secret Service agent Leonard Gavin) are almost derailed by plans for a state dinner honoring the president of Durasi. Relations between the United States and Durasi are strained, and this dinner could foster a new accord between the two countries or could lead to disaster.
Ollie loves working in the White House and enjoys mentoring the president's son, Josh, but she chafes at the constant, intrusive presence of the Secret Service agents. The romance between Olivia and Gav blossoms in spite of the discovery of five dead bodies and the murder of the secretary of Defense.
Molly MacRae’s THERE’LL BE SHELL TO PAY has been described as “a great beachy cozy, perfect for summer reading.” As a former North Carolina resident, I was thrilled to see that Ms. MacRae had set the second book in the series, the A Haunted Shell Shop Mystery, on Okracoke Island.
Ms. MacRae created an appealing heroine, Maureen Nash, who has an oddly endearing sidekick, Emrys Lloyd, the ghost of an eighteenth-century Welsh pirate. Maureen is the only one who can see Emrys and he is ‘tied” to the shell shop. He listens carefully as Maureen keeps him up to date on her sleuthing and he offers his invaluable counsel.
With his tricorn hat, leggings and knee breeches, he’s an engaging character with a love of puns.
Ms. MacRae keeps the action moving with a pair of brother and sister octogenarians, Glady and Burt. Witty dialogue and intricate plotting take the reader on a whirlwind chase to find a killer.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks have always been described as an area full of “wild beauty and a touch of the supernatural.” The main character describes herself by saying, “I’m surrounded by shells all day long. Like a happy hermit crab.”
Island life is vividly portrayed by a host of details; the Spanish moss dripping from live oak, the softshell crab sandwiches, the centuries old stories and legends.
As Molly MacRae says, “Ocracoke is the perfect place for a story with a pirate ghost. The island was a pirate haven during the Golden Age of pirates and it’s full of ghost stories. It’s also a place my family loves. My husband and first visited in 1979 and we took our children there for many years.
I tend to write books set in places I lived and love—northeast Tennessee, Scotland, Ocracoke. It’s my way of getting back to places I don’t get back to often enough in real life.”
The setting is charming and authentic, perfect for this new series. You’ll feel the salty breeze on your cheek and your toes skipping in the sand as you enjoy Ms. MacRae’s latest mystery.
Mary Kennedy is a licensed psychologist and the author of the Talk Radio Mysteries and the Dream Club Mysteries. She’s written nearly fifty novels and has four million copies in print. Her first thirty-five books were young adult novels published by Scholastic nationwide and in several countries. She lives in the northeast with an eccentric cat. She’s tried unsuccessfully to psychoanalyze him but she remains optimistic.
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