Writers like to amuse themselves. Particularly mystery writers. That mean
grocery clerk? Victim number two in the next novel. Enjoy zip-lining? Write a
murder disguised as a zip-lining accident. Like cookies? Set your novel in a
bakery. Not every idea can be used, of course. For instance, I love chimpanzees
but havenβt figured out how to incorporate them into a murder mystery, yet.
Sometimes an idea strikes and it just wonβt let go, even if it seems impossible
to fit it into the fictional world you have created. In 2010 I had the great
fortune to spend several days in an Irish castle. It was beautiful. Idyllic.
Serene. However, my mystery writing brain turns almost any setting into a murder
scene. So, I sipped tea in the library while the original owner and his horse
glowered at me from the portrait over the fireplace, and happily contemplated a
murder mystery set in a secluded castle.
A few years later, I launched
The Family Fortune Mystery series. It was
set in Western Michigan, in a small town on the coast of Lake Michigan. There
were pets, and psychics, and pet psychics. There were quirky characters, a
romance or two, and murders. But there wasnβt a castle in sight.
And then I saw it. On the way to my favorite Michigan vacation spot I saw a
billboard advertising a castle hotel. In Michigan. Even though I was in the
middle of writing the second book in the series, Clyde Fortune and her family
immediately began packing.
I delved further into the idea of American castles. It turns out, there are
countless castles in the US. They might not be 800 years old, but many are
surrounded by myth and legend. And a lot of them are haunted. For anyone who has
read the first two books, you can imagine how excited Aunt Vi became at this
news. What could be better than a haunted castle?
As the writer of this operation, I had to take control. The Fortune family
couldnβt just pack up and go to a haunted castle and wait for a murder to occur.
There were things to consider, logistics to arrange. Plus, I also really like
knitting. If I was going to move everyone to a castle to indulge a whim, I might
as well have some knitting. And just to complicate matters, I threw in a blizzard.
In
A FRIGHT
TO THE DEATH, I stranded the gang in a haunted castle, in a blizzard, with
no electricity or phones. And I added some exuberant knitters, just because it
amused me. Not surprisingly, a murder occurred. Iβm not going to tell you
whether there were chimpanzees.
What is your favorite setting for a murder mystery? Do you ever imagine stories
while vacationing? Would you read a story about chimpanzees who knit? Iβd love
to read about it in the comments below.
About A FRIGHT TO THE DEATH
From the author of BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR, here is the newest Family
Fortune Mystery, starring former cop Clyde Fortune, whoβsnowbound with her kooky
family in a creepy castleβis climbing the walls and combing the halls, looking
for a cold-blooded killerβ¦
After their flight to Mexico is cancelled, Clyde and her detective boyfriend,
Mac, end up snowed in with their families at a supposedly haunted hotel. Clydeβs
tarot card reading mother, Rose, is making dire predictions for the weekend, and
self-proclaimed pet psychic Aunt Vi is enchanted by the legend of the hotelβs
ghostβuntil the power goes out and a body turns up.
With a hotel full of stranded suspects, Clyde will have to draw on all her
skillsβboth the police ones sheβd rather forget and the psychic ones sheβd
rather ignoreβto solve the bone-chilling mystery before someone else gets icedβ¦
© 2003-2026