Friday, May 10, 2019

Happy Anniversary, Faith Fairchild!

LUCY BURDETTE: Today we're delighted to invite back our old friend Katherine Hall Page. She's celebrating her new book--and a big anniversary, 25 years with her character Faith Fairchild. That's a big deal--welcome Katherine!

KATHERINE HALL PAGE: The birthday book in which I keep track of family and friends’ birthdays has a list of Wedding Anniversary Gifts in the front. They start out modest—first is “paper”—and work their way through “flowers,” “wood,” and “pottery” until you start getting to the good stuff. Twenty-fifth is “silver.” The Body in the Wake, number twenty-five in the Faith Fairchild series, is my silver anniversary book. Yet, this silver anniversary is a golden one for me. 

When the first book in the series, The Body in the Belfry, was published in February 1990, I was looking more toward a second anniversary—cotton—than a silver one, twenty-nine years later! Writing about Faith and her family has been a golden opportunity for me as a writer. I have been able to sustain one character across a number of significant life events: a prequel as a single woman set in her native Manhattan when she is just starting her catering—and sleuthing—career, continuing through marriage, child rearing (and no, one is never done) through good times and bad.

I’ve always thought of the books as a kind of theater. At the core, my ensemble troupe has an unchanging cast of characters. Side characters come and go, some making frequent appearances, others walking on stage only once. The sets also change. In order to keep the series fresh for readers, and for me, I alternate locales between Aleford, Massachusetts, the fictitious town I created west of Boston where Faith moves after marriage, with the “someplace else” books—those ranging across New England, elsewhere in the United States, and two set in Europe.

I started thinking about the twenty-fifth several books ago and there was no question that the milestone had to be a Sanpere novel. The Body in the Wake is the sixth Maine book and the third featuring the character Sophie Maxwell, who was introduced in The Body in the Birches. Right away, I liked writing about these two women, who are in very different stages of life but share the same values and especially a sense of humor. Married for almost three years in this book, Sophie is fretting about not getting pregnant. Faith, who has been married much longer, but would not describe herself as an “old married lady,” has two children in their late teens. Sophie and Faith’s close friendship was forged under unusual circumstances—most bonding does not come about because of murder!

 I decided an anniversary book needed a wedding, so The Body in The Wake ends with Samantha Miller and Zach Cohen’s nuptials on a perfect Maine afternoon in a meadow high above The Reach with the Camden Hills on the horizon. However, before getting to this point, Samantha, the daughter of Pix and Sam Miller—the Fairchilds’ closest friends in Massachusetts and Maine—has to wait out several plot twists, one involving her difficult future mother-in-law, the other Faith’s discovery of first one body with an unusual tattoo and then, a week later, another. 

I flat out loved writing this book. The temptation was getting carried away by the scenery and anecdotes about the place, but it’s a mystery, not a travel guide. I reined myself in and let go in other ways, such as describing the fiction writing course that Sophie takes at the former Laughing Gull Lodge, now the Sanpere Shores Conference center. Plus, it wouldn’t be a Faith Fairchild mystery without plenty of food. When the Shores’ chef falls ill, Faith takes his place, joining daughter Amy, who had been working there all summer as sous chef. As usual, there’s plenty of food throughout the book, including Faith’s famous lobster rolls and a Maine favorite: Blueberry Buckle.

Sanpere is not paradise, despite Faith’s and my deep feelings for it. It is this feeling that pushed me to write about the very real problem of substance abuse. Samantha’s matron of honor, a young mother who is an island native, becomes addicted to opiates after they were prescribed for a severe injury. It was important for me to show that addicts are not criminals, but people in our families and our friendship circles who have a disease. It is as essential for them to get treatment as it is for diabetics to get insulin, or any number of individuals with life-threatening health issues the care they need. I have nothing but deep-seated fury for the drug companies that aggressively marketed opioids knowing how addictive they were even as they marketed recovery drugs for the scourge they created. Win/win. Hell is too good a place for them.  At the opposite end of the spectrum, are those in Maine, and elsewhere, working to address the epidemic that was created.  These individuals are heroes and I am in awe of them.

Every book has a bit of all the books that came before it incorporated into it and this one most of all. In the Author’s Note I write that the Beatles’ song, “In My Life” kept running through my mind—“There are places I remember.” So it is with the books. As I’ve traveled through twenty-five of them with the Fairchilds and friends, as Lennon wrote, “I’ve loved them all.”

Katherine Hall Page is the author of twenty-four previous Faith Fairchild mysteries. The recipient of Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award, she has received Agathas for best first mystery (The Body in the Belfry), best novel (The Body in the Snowdrift), and best short story, (“The Would-Be Widower”). She has also been nominated for the Edgar, the Mary Higgins Clark, the Macavity, and the Maine Literary Award. She lives in Massachusetts and Maine with her husband.
 

27 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary and congratulations on your newest book, Katherine. Here's hoping there will be many, many more adventures with Faith and her friends . . . .

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  2. Congrats on #25 in the series! That is a milestone worth celebrating for sure.

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  3. I'm such a series lover and congratulations on the 25th in this one, Katherine! I remember reading about Faith way back in the beginning and I get so attached to characters and their lives. Long live mystery series!!

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  4. I'm standing and applauding, Katherine! What an achievement. Also - as I think I've said to you in person - you are one of the reasons I write traditional foodie mysteries. I was reading your books in the mid-nineties when I first started writing novels. I figured, yours was the kind of book I liked to read, I might as well try to write one myself! So, a thousand thanks for that.

    Now - will you continue Faith and her theater troupe?

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  5. Congratulations! I remember Body in the Belfry. Why does Faith hate Macintosh apples? I've enjoyed all your books and look forward to reading your latest.

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    1. Back in the day (Belfry came out in 1990), Macintosh apples were tasteless. Growers went for looks not flavor. happily this has changed plus we have all sorts of heirloom varieties back!

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  6. Oh, you are incredible! Absolutely incredible. I don’t know how you do it all… Writing these fabulous books, and being such a vital and active member of the community. Congratulations on being a role model for us all!

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  7. Congratulations on this milestone! I only discovered this series recently, so I have quite a few to enjoy before I'm ready for #25. But it is inspiring to know that they continue, and that the characters I am learning to love have long lives ahead for me to enjoy.

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  8. A new Faith Fairchild book is ALWAYS reason to celebrate! I'm a huge fan, and an armchair visit to Maine and great food? What's not to like? But really it's the character dynamics that make these books so much fun. Welcome, Katherine! Seriously, 25??? It's the equivalent of getting to "Y"!

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    1. OMG Hallie! Never thought of it this way. Thank you!

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  9. PS our daughter got married in Maine (on Peaks Island, a short ferry ride from Portland)... and everybody lived to tell about it.

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  10. Congratulations, Katherine! I have been with you since the very first book, enjoying them all! Especially like when they are set in Maine. That Beatles song was a fantastic one to have running through your head as you wrote!

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  11. Good morning, everyone! And many thanks for all these kind words. Hard to believe it is #25 (and counting!). Time has whizzed by.
    Always a joy to be on Jungle Red and mazeltov Hallie!

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  12. Wow, 25 books! That's amazing. Congratulations!

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  13. Congratulations, Katherine! I love this series and am looking forward to reading The Body in the Wake. One the things I admire about your characters is how they grow but their core personalities remain the same, fresh but familiar. I can only imagine how difficult to do it is to that for 25 books!

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  14. Katherine, I've been a fan since #1 and will be carving out some reading time for sure for this one! I love how the characters grow--Pix's daughter getting married?!

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  15. Congratulations! Happy Anniversary! I remember meeting you at Malice 28 and reading your Faith Fairchild books. I had been meaning to ask you about your books. I noticed that mental illness is a recurring theme in your novels.

    The issue of opiods (sp?) is serious. I am always careful about taking medicine. There are other ways to manage pain without resorting to prescription medicine. It takes time to research and find the necessary information.

    I remember that even when I take over the counter medication, there is a warning label about operating heavy machinery, including driving. If I had to take Tylenol for example, then I do not drive.

    Driving while on medication is similar to driving drunk. DO NOT DRIVE if you are drunk or if you use medication is my philosophy.

    These ads about Aleve being better than Tylenol is NOT true for me, LOL. I could take Tylenol that is supposed to last four hours and for me, it lasts all day! Aleve, for me, has no effect!

    Diana

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    1. Such good advice and I recall Luci Zachary, the Poison Lady, first alerting us at a malice to the dangers of Tylenol combined with alcohol. Years ago!

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    2. Good to know! Thank you.

      If I drink alcohol, I drink very little. My grandfather was only 39 when he died of alcoholism so I am extra careful about drinking alcohol. Whenever I go to a social event where alcohol is served, every time I take a sip of wine, I add water to the glass so the server will think my glass is full and not refill my wineglass. I remember an alcoholic tried to make an excuse, saying the server refilled the wineglass and could not help drinking too much wine. The silver lining in this was that gave me the idea to refill my glass with water so my wineglass always looks full!

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  16. Good morning, everyone! And many thanks for all these kind words. Hard to believe it is #25 (and counting!). Time has whizzed by.
    Always a joy to be on Jungle Red and mazeltov Hallie!

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  17. Congratulations, Katherine! 25 is such a milestone!! I love the way your characters have grown and developed through the series, and I can't wait to read the new one!

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  18. Congratulations on #25! That's quite an accomplishment!

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  19. I am so glad you are here to celebrate your 25th book with Faith. I too have been with you from the beginning, I almost feel like I know Maine from reading your books. Thank you for including a subplot about addiction in your current book. I truly wish more mystery writers would look at the alcohol consumption and or pill use of their characters. I just finished reviewing a 'comic' mystery where there was so much alcohol consumed, one wondered how they could stand up let alone solve a mystery. Back to Faith, always charming always honest, and always a good companion. thank you again for 25 years.

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  20. Katherine,

    Twenty-five! Wow! I’ve read all but #23 and must remedy that before moving along! I’m really glad you are continuing the series, as I feel invested in the characters, and I couldn’t stand it if I had to give them up!

    DebRo

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  21. These have all been such a delight to read on a gray, rainy (typical) New England spring day! Many thanks...

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  22. Congrats to you (& Faith) for 25 books!

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  23. Goodnight Keyboard
    Goodnight Chair
    Goodnight No one there
    Goodnight Unfilled coffee mug
    Goodnight Empty yogurt cup
    And Goodnight Jungle Reds still up

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