People think Iโm crazy because I write three cozy mystery series. Yes, one book
per year for each series (for as long as my publisher lets me!). And there are
other books Iโve published through a small independent publisher. Can you guess
that I like to write?
The first question most people ask is, โHow do you keep them all straight?โ The
simplest answer is that they all are based in real places that I know well:
western Massachusetts, Philadelphia, and most recently West Cork in Ireland. I
donโt know how I could manage if I had to make up a town and keep all the
details consistent.
Of course the main characters are different people, although at least two of the
characters reflect a little bit of me. Or maybe more than a little bit. Write
what you know, right? Meg Corey in the
Orchard Mysteries has been
blindsided by losing her boyfriend, her home and her job all at once, but sheโs
got generations of New England ancestors (I borrow a lot of my family tree) to
pass on their backbone to her, so over the course of that series sheโs learned
how to manage an orchard and make a living at it. Sheโs also made friends, and
met someone who is more than a friend. And, since this is a mystery series, she
solves a few crimes along the way. But itโs important to me to give her a
personal reason for getting involved with each crime, and to make it clear that
she believes that finding justice is important.
In the
Museum Mysteries, Nell Pratt runs an historical museum/library
in a big city, not a typical cozy small town. But what many people donโt realize
is that there are always small communities within big cities, and Nell is part
of the cultural community, where everyone knows everyone elseโand who has the
money to donate to struggling museums. Since I was a fundraiser at an historical
museum/library in Philadelphia, I know how real that is. Sometimes it seems odd
that the cultural community can spawn so much crime, but it has been known to
happen! Nell can provide a wealth of inside information about the people
involved, which makes her a real asset to the FBI when theyโre involved in
solving cases.
Finally thereโs Maura Donovan, a young American woman from Boston who finds
herself running a pub in a small town in Ireland, much to her own surprise.
Sheโs the biggest stretch for me: Maura grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood,
has a limited education, and is wary of involvement with anyone. Thatโs not me
at all. But I had Irish grandparents and I love the country, particularly West
Cork, so Iโm letting Ireland work its magic slowly on Maura. Itโs fun for me to
watch her find herself as she settles in. The challenge of writing that series
is that the crime rate in Ireland, particularly for violent crime and homicide,
is very low, so introducing a crime to be solved isnโt easy.
I love doing the research for all of these. And itโs easy. I visit each place
one or more times a year, and I watch and listen. Iโm amazed at the ideas and
details that just fall into my lap that way (I think people are tickled by the
idea of being in a book, even if disguised), like the alpaca farm in
Massachusetts, or the deep pit in the basement of the museum (which is real and
will show up in the next book), or the revival of a lapsed musical tradition at
the pub in Ireland (also real). Iโm a believer in serendipity.
What is surprising to me is that people in these places know me. Actually, Iโve
had friends in Philadelphia for a while, but when I began writing about the
other locations I had to introduce myself to โGranfordโ and Leap in Ireland. Now
people recognize me (including the Irish fish seller, who Iโd met exactly once a
year ago, who greeted me this year with โoh, yer the author, right?โ).
I did have a plan for all this: I write about places I love, and I wanted to
give myself an excuse to return to them regularly. But thereโs more to it than
that. Cozies are also about people, who are connected in any number of ways, and
who help each other out. Iโve found places in the โrealโ world where thatโs
true, and itโs a pleasure to write about them.
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