Though many authors create imagined locations and history for their fiction
stories, early on I learned that real locations and real history were going to
be a foundation for my novels. The mystery in the first of my To Die For crime
series was based partly on American Indian history many centuries in the past.
That became story material simply because the presence of nomadic people in
Arkansas after the end of the last Ice Age fascinated me, as did prehistoric
drawings discovered in caves and bluff shelters in my area. After that, each
novel and short story has included history relevant to my chosen story setting.
The second series novel, MUSIC TO DIE FOR, takes
place at Ozark Folk Center State Park--an area devoted to preserving Ozarks
history and early music. A major secondary character in MUSIC is Mad Margaret
Culpeper, 100-year-old matriarch of a family that has maintained illegal
business activities in Ozark forests for several generations.
Next I visited Hot Springs National Park. Again, early American Indian presence
in the area was part of the story, but the novel's criminal activity and murder
is based on the shady history of Hot Springs. This was "Sin City" until the
1970's when state police sent in by a governor too wealthy to be bribed quieted
long-time illegal activities. No surprise, however, that, during the raid,
pillow cases and other hastily grabbed receptacles full of currency went
missing. Where did some of it go? What fun--I tell you what I think in my novel,
A TREASURE TO DIE FOR.
Not only that, you can see the hiding places I describe on a visit to Bath
House Row in Hot Springs.
What area in our country is not a historical gold mine--so to speak? I enjoy
finding and researching history not far from where I live in Arkansas. All my
chosen story places are loved by Arkansans and visited by thousands of tourists
each year. Not only that, this author gets to enjoy them in depth while
researching each story.
The presence of early nomads hunting in the area after the ice age also feeds
much of the story background in A RIVER TO DIE FOR, as do
abandoned (and dangerous) zinc mines and caves near the ghost town of Rush--a
once lively and active mining community on the banks of Arkansas's Buffalo
National River. Confession? I cheated a bit on the history in this story. I
invented some of the artifacts left by early visitors to be discovered by
Catherine King when she is imprisoned inside a crumbling mine shaft.
A novel telling about the building of early railroads? Check. Steamboats docked
at the Arkansas River town of Van Buren that were sunk by Confederate soldiers
during the Civil War? Check. And much, much more. (A seller of vintage books in
Van Buren sold me a Union Soldier's Diary from that era.)
Of course it's all in fun. My fun initially--readers fun potentially. And all
true--well, except for that prehistoric burial site in an Arkansas Cave that
Catherine finds when the mine ceiling falls. Poetic license! Hey--I enjoyed
creating my own historic event. And, really, couldn't it have happened? Even
now, might not someone searching caves along Buffalo National River find a
burial cave?
Something To Die For
For more than twenty years, Radine Trees Nehring's magazine features, essays,
newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have shared colorful stories about the
people, places, events, and natural world near her Arkansas home.
In 2002,
Radine's first mystery novel, A VALLEY TO DIE FOR, was published and, in 2003
became a Macavity Award Nominee. Since that time she has continued to earn
writing awards as she enthralls her original fans and attracts new ones with her
signature blend of down-home Arkansas sightseeing and cozy amateur sleuthing by
active retirees Henry King and Carrie McCrite King.
To Die For #8
Carrie discovers two versions of a supposedly original portrait in a loan
exhibition at Crystal Bridges of American Art, where she does volunteer work.
When the reporter who interviewed Carrie at the museum is abducted, Carrie must
choose between honoring her promise to stop crime-solving--or work to find the
woman who was her son's college friend.
Mystery [Oak Tree Books, On Sale: May 10, 2016, Paperback /
e-Book, ISBN: 2940158100239 / ]
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