Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Nancy Cole Silverman asks: "To bee or not to bee?"


HALLIE EPHRON: One of my favorite questions is: Where did you get the idea for your book? Because the answer is never the same and it's almost always something you'd least expect. And when we get a new series from a beloved author, I'm even more fascinated to know where the ideas came from.

Today we're welcoming Nancy Cole Silverman, author of the radio reporter Carol Childs mysteries, with her second novel featuring  Misty Dawn, former psychic to the stars.

So where did the idea come from? To get there, she sought the answers to some very unusual questions, like: How do you milk a bee? 


NANCY COLE SILVERMAN: I never imagined when I began to think about a topic for my next book, THE HOUSE THAT VANITY BUILT, that a bee sting would inspire me. But it was the result of such an accident that led me to research bees and ultimately to the realization that nature had just handed me a most unsual modus operandi.

To start, however, I needed to do a little research. For instance, did you know that for bees to make one pound of honey, they must gather nectar from two million flowers? That’s a lot of flowers, and while the average honey bee can fly as fast as 15 miles per hour, SHE-- because it’s the female bee that does all the work—can only visit 50 to 100 flowers per trip. Male bees are just around for mating purposes until the Queen Bee is done with them and kicks them from the hive. The clincher, however, had less to do with honey and more to do with that nasty stinger in my swollen
finger. Bee venom is today’s new Botox!

Bingo!

The idea that bee venom is one of the go-to products used in cosmetics today grabbed me, and my writer’s mind suddenly lit up with ideas.

But first, I needed to know, how would someone—for lack of better term—milk a bee? I had to assume there was a safe way to extract a bee’s venom without killing the bee or getting stung. I’m an environmentalist and hated to think, despite my swollen finger, that some poor bee had to give up its life for the sake of a few wrinkles.

I needn’t have worried. There is a safe way for beekeepers to extract venom without harming the bees, and if I wanted, I could download a simple step-by-step guide that would show me how to build one. I took a pass on building the trap, but the idea of how easy it would be to make one got this writer’s overactive imagination to wander. If bee venom could be extracted for cosmetics, might it also be used as a lethal weapon?
Various studies indicate 5 percent of our population is allergic to bee venom and may be extremely sensitive to bee stings or life-threatening issues if stung. It didn’t take much to put together a scenario whereby someone with access to bees would target my victim. Before I knew it, my story was coming together, and I was plotting yet another murder for my aging, heroine psychic Misty Dawn and her sidekick shade Wilson Thorne.

Research can take writers down some unusual paths. When I first began the Misty Dawn series, I interviewed several psychics. I wasn’t looking for a reading—I remain very much on the fence when it comes to psychics— but because I wanted a better understanding of who they are and what types of people visited them, I asked a lot of questions. In return, I got a lot of surprising and unexpected answers about psychics and their clients, including some shady information about visitations from the other side of the veil!

How about you, Reds, has your research led you down a few rabbit holes you didn’t expect? And readers, have you ever wondered just how far some writers are willing to go to test a theory? Let’s dish. I’ve told you mine, tell me yours.


HALLIE: Such a fascinating thought process. Thanks for sharing, Nancy. 

My research has taken me... to a brain bank (did you know FedEx ships human brains?)  and an MRI lab (I needed to know how noisy IS IT inside one of those things) and a doll hospital and a meeting of professional organizers... 

What's the weirdest research you've done to answer your own pressing questions?? (And Nancy, I hope you'll also share where Misty came from... psychic to the stars?? I'm intrigued!)

57 comments:

  1. Well, I had absolutely no idea about milking bees for cosmetics [or weapons], but it’s good to know it doesn’t hurt them considering how few bees there seem to be these days. At any rate, I can’t claim any particularly weird research unless you count whether or not coffee grounds will help lilac bushes grow . . . .

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    1. And the answer is...?? Curious minds.
      (And was it a controlled experiment?)

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    2. Some gardeners say yes, some say no, some say only a bit mixed into the compost. [Nice to know that there’s no consensus from the supposedly-wise professionals.] At any rate, the lilacs don’t seem to care what I do; they just sort of sit there and after a while they’ll sprout a few green leaves . . . .

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    3. Coffee grounds? During my research I learned they make an excellent exfoliant. Who knew?

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  2. My sister was a beekeeper in Quebec for many years. Before I wrote mysteries I helped them tend the bees more than once, wearing full suit and veiled hat, but I don't think I ever found out how to extract venom.

    For my novels, I've lived the life of an 1880s New Englander for twenty-four hours, right down to the chamberpot. I've rented a bike on Cape Cod and picked the brains of the shop owner and the mechanic. I've eaten pie and breakfast at small diners and watched their workflow. None of those are particularly weird. I've researched mushroom toxicities, which chemical causes and mimics a naturally ruptured aneurysm, and the deadly effects of rosary peas and liquid nicotine. So much fun! I have yet to go caving in southern Indiana but I still want to so I can set a crime in one.

    Best of luck with the new book, Nancy.

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    1. Edith, now I'm dying to know what rosary peas are and how you used them in a book! Please tell us.

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    2. Edith, the mushroom toxicity causing an aneurysm sounds intriguing, as well as the lethal effects of rosary peas and liquid nicotine. I often wondered What other deadly topics could be found in a mystery author's browser search history.

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    3. They are tropical and highly toxic, Cathy. Read Mulch Ado About Murder to find out!

      Grace, two little vials of liquid nicotine can kill an adult male. It's widely available for vaping and it's tasteless. I used it in Murder Most Fowl. And true, our web searches are not for the faint hearted...

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    4. Dame Agatha was big on poisons... I'm guessing she did some interesting research to find what she needed for her plots.

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    5. I love your books and I’m fascinated by caving. The very thought of it congers up dark opportunities for mystery.

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    6. Thank you, Nancy! I've had a news article taped up near my laptop for a few years about a man trapped in an Indiana cave for 58 hours. The idea...

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  3. Bees are fascinating creatures, with a rigid social structure. And a matriarchal one, at that. I can't help but think we would be better off by emulating them in some ways.

    The psychics must have been interesting, Nancy. Personally, I'm not ready to write them all off as fakes. Most of them, probably, but I've had my own little brushes with, call it psychic insight, maybe, and there is no way to explain it. Controlling it, though, and making a living from it? Not happening.

    Curiosity about how to segue from selling insurance to using my sewing ability to make some income led me down a 20-year rabbit hole of researching, interviewing, writing, and teaching about many different ways to do that very thing. Theater curtains (require vast workspace), clown costumes, museum banners, dog food machine covers, fetishwear, and embroidered leather costumes for country singers (it was the early 90s). And later, specialized machines to do all these jobs, which was another eye-opener. Did you know there are machines that do nothing but stitch the sole on a shoe in seconds? Or that can make hundreds of identical buttonholes in an hour? Or how about ones that can embroider identical motifs on dozens of objects at the same time?


    My own research

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    1. A machine that only sews soles on shoes... sounds like an early version of a robot. What a fascinating past you've had, Karen!

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    2. Fetishwear, Karen? There must be a novel in that!

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  4. I want to hear more about the psychics too!

    I don't know about the weirdest research, but the most fun I've had was playing golf in a real pro-am tournament with two professional lady golfers...priceless!

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    1. I remember you talking about hanging out with professional lady golfers. So interesting!

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  5. Nancy, welcome to Jungle Reds. Your research on bees sounds fascinating. Like Joan and Karen, I am glad that no bees were harmed in the making of this research. Your books are going on the TRB list, which is getting longer by the day. More time to read, more authors to read.

    I don't think that I make my own rabbit holes, but I sure follow lots of authors into theirs. I consider myself lucky when I find a series with wonderful characters and great plots that already has several books on the shelf waiting for me. Then I jump in and, as the Reds here know, I hardly come up for air until I am all caught up.
    Speaking of rabbit holes, I saw a comic book offer from a Denver comic shop that I have to tell Jay about. I'll check in later to see if there is a way for me to get the info to him or if he already knows.

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    1. Thank you, Judy. I'm thrilled to be included in your TBR pile. You're right we have more time to read, and I'm always hungry for a good read.

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  6. Although I did work on numerous climate change research projects for over 20 years, I can't think of a real weird research topic that we worked on. Instead, I have gone down some weird rabbit holes in terms of tweaking or finding out more about the origin of a recipe.

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    1. Climate research sounds fascinating...We had a dear friend who was one of the first scientists to name global warming. He rang the clarion call early but no one was ready to listen.

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    2. Hallie, believe me there were plenty of groups and governments not ready to listen when we started publishing our findings in the mid-1980s or 1990s. Our UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports were often ignored, even when we won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Sadly, much of what we projected would happen in 2030 is already occurring now.

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  7. Weirdest research to answer a pressing question. Well, don't say you didn't ask. And I apologize in advance but this was weird and funny in a horrifying way. You'll see what I mean.

    Okay, this wasn't anything I'm writing about or anything but I was watching a show a few years back called @Midnight that used to air on Comedy Central. It had lots of raunchy humor and one night they mentioned the term "lemon party". Obviously it was a sex term but since I didn't know what it meant, the joke was slightly lost on me.

    Off to Google I went...and let me just say...DO NOT RESEARCH SEX TERMS ON GOOGLE! Especially when you are not prepared for the answer. This is why I now prefer to be ignorant on certain topics whenever I find I don't know something.

    And if you happen to be unable to resist looking this term up now that you've heard it: Don't say I didn't warn you. And don't look it up at work!

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    1. Okay, Jay, we are warned. You are hilarious. I am not even curious.

      BTW, my nephew posted on FB an offer from Mile High Comics in Denver to ship comics in bulk. I thought of you and Halloween right away. Take a look at their page if you haven't already.

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    2. I won't look it up, I won't look it up, I won't look it up. Google is watching.

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    3. Yikes! I'd hate for anyone to see what I've googled. Somethings just can't be unseen, so I'll pass on the lemony thing.

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    4. Judy, I'm well aware of Mile High Comics. I've even met the guy who started/owns the company at a convention years ago. I don't buy from them much though. I've been able to find stuff I want cheaper through other places and I don't typically buy stuff that would get me to a "bulk shipping" qualification. Thanks for the tip though, I will look it up to see if it might be worth checking out the sale. The stuff I get for Halloween was due to be released on Free Comic Book Day and I pay the store cost for that. I'll have to hope they schedule FCBD before Halloween if I want to get those new books though.

      Hallie and Nancy - I'm just saying, you've been forewarned so I wash my hands of any blame.

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  8. Hooray! Congratulations, Nancy! And you all are so right, search history’s are pretty amazing! For my upcoming book, you would have found: how long does it take to drown in the ocean, drowning in the ocean, how to sail, fertility drugs, pregnancy test, IVF. Well, now you know what the book is about. Or do you… ?
    I do have to say every time I research, I find a treasure of a valuable fact that I would never have known otherwise! or something that fits into the story so perfectly that I can’t believe it.
    When I was working on one of the later Jane books, I was looking up Nellie Bly. And found that her real name was Elizabeth Jane! Why is that interesting? Because my character’s real name is Jane Elizabeth. That’s how I knew, after writing several books about her , why she had started looking into being a reporter!

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    1. Nellie Bly! I love her, and as a reporter I suspect we all channel a bit of her.

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  9. Milking bees? Who'd have thunk?

    Congrats on the new book, Nancy!

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    1. I came away with such respect. What would we do without them?

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  10. Nancy, welcome to Jungle Reds! I am still reading your first Carol Childs novel. I am not sure if Misty Dawn is the same lady that appears in the Carol Childs novel?

    There have been many times when I went down the rabbit hole doing Google searches on different topics. Right now I cannot recall anything weird.

    Bee venom as the new Botox? Otherwise, I wonder if Botox is poison. I have been stung by a bee on my skin and I had a brown spot on my skin for about two years after the bee sting.

    Diana

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    1. Nancy, congratulations on the new book!

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    2. Yes, Misty Dawn was pulled from the pages of the Carol Childs Mysteries. When I sat down to write my next Carol Childs book, she appeared and demanded a series of her own. She just morphed onto the pages and became much more interesting than the minor character she played in the Carol Childs Mysteries. As for bee venom, cosmetics that contain it also include a warning to those who might be allergic. The reason it works is because it plumps the skin, but if you're allergic...not a good idea.

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    3. Thanks! I wondered if Misty Dawn was the same lady.

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  11. After interviewing a number of psychics I came away thinking we’re all a bit psychic, if not intuitive, and as writers I believe we pull from that side of brains. How else could we create such complex and diverse worlds? I’m sure your past experiences add a lot of realism to your work.

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  12. I am curious about Misty Dawn and her ghost sidekick! Can Wilson go anywhere or is he stuck in one location? Talking about rabbitholes I recently read a mystery involving poisonous honey. If bees confine their nectar collecting to rhododendrons the resulting honey is highly toxic to humans. I checked that out and it’s true!

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    1. Thanks for your query. Yes, Wilson is free to roam. As for rhododendron honey? I had no idea. Thank you for sharing!

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  13. Raising my paw as one who is allergic, but it seems only to certain bees. I was stung by a wasp last week and I only had local welts to show for it. Probably because I was sitting in my kitchen clutching my epipen. That venom knew I was prepared.

    Strangest think I did for research was done for someone else. A friend e-mailed me. Her protagonist was intended to escape from the back seat of a Chevy pickup by going through the rear sliding window. I had the truck, and was about the same size as her protag so I volunteered to test. About halfway through my hips snagged. I was stuck, couldn't go forward, couldn't go backward. We lived in Maine at the time and my husband worked downstate and was away until the weekend. This was Wednesday. I knew no one would look for me in my garage. Finally, I was able to pop through the window with no damage to the window or to me - except some bruises. Desperation was the key. And if the protag was escaping from a murderer - well, desperation is the key!

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    1. What a story, Kait! I have asked my tall partner to put me in a (gentle) chokehold to test the way I wanted my protag to get out of it. He's good natured that way. ;^)

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    2. Desperation and determination. I hope your friend appreciated your sacrifice! What a story in itself. I'm glad you keep an epipen at the ready. Much as i appreciate bees for those who are allergic things can get scary.

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  14. That is an ingenious murder method.

    And it also convinces me I don't want to go for any of the new cosmetic treatments. Bee venom? Really? No thank you! (Not that I was thinking about it in the first place.)

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    1. It’s actually being used medicinally as well, but only for those with allergies to bees.

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  15. Hi Nancy! Paw waves to Ali from Louie and Jazz. Bee venom sounds like a great medium for poison. I'm always on the lookout for killer plant material, like Giant Hogweed, or what I just pulled from my flower beds, Ohio Butterweed, toxic to horses and cattle...and maybe poodles? I dug it all up.

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    1. Greetings back to Louise and Jazz. I only just learned about Ohio Butterwood, we’ve friends with horses and they’re constantly on the lookout. Stay well.

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  16. Hi Nancy! Congrats on the book! Milking bees sounds so fascinating that I'll have to look it up--and read your book! Very interesting about the psychics, too. I'm sure there are a lot of charlatans, but we all have little flashes of unexplained insight, so perhaps they just have a stronger connection or a better way of channeling something similar.

    I've been down all sorts of fun research rabbit holes, from climbing Glastonbury Tor, to learning to drink Scotch, rowing with an Olympic gold medalist, and way too much time spent learning about professional kitchens! But there are also bombs and stabbings and poisonings and drownings in my search history, so hopefully no one will ever look at it!

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    1. I’m all up for learning how to drink scotch. Is there an advanced or graduate class in that? 😉

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  17. I love doing research! For THREAD AND DEAD, book 2 in Apron Shop Series, I researched seaweed! Yes, this is a growing industry in Maine with many uses for the slimy green stuff.

    Congrats on your new release!

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    1. Seaweed? Who knew. Hopefully it will help to cleanse the ocean.

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  18. This is brilliant. I had no idea that it took so many visits to flowers to produce a pound of honey. Fascinating. And what a tremendous plan for a murder...bwa ha ha. Looking forward to reading it. Congrats on the release!

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    1. I came away with a new appreciation for bees and all the types of honey they produce.

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  19. Fascinating to read all your research rabbit holes. I'll stay safely above ground, and I definitely won't be Googling any lemon-things that are not clearly pie related! Thanks for the warning, Jay :)

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  20. Happy Book Birthday, Nancy! Misty Dawn is a great character, and I have book #1, The House on Hallowed Ground, on my Kindle waiting for me. Actually, I just went and purchased The House That Vanity Built for my Kindle, too. The bee venom as a murder weapon is fascinating. Bees themselves are fascinating, as so many here have already stated. It has always amazed me how they may seem to just be flying around, worrying me about stinging me, but in reality their moves are purposeful and that purpose has nothing to do with me.

    Nancy, you said that "Research can take writers down some unusual paths," and I'd like to add that writers can take readers down some unusual paths. I love those unusual paths, and I so enjoy researching them further. In reading and in watching television, I want to explore the hidden gem and/or broader picture. I just finished watching "Unorthodox" on Netflix, which follows the journey of a young Hasidic Jew, who finds herself stifled by her life as a new bride and her procreating role. I wanted to know if Hasidic Jew and Orthodox Jew were the same thing. I fell down a rabbit hole that I'm still in, reading about the Jewish communities in Brooklyn (Williamsburg was the one featured in the movie), the shaving of a married woman's head and wearing of a wig (not the same in all communities), and the wearing of the long curls in a man's hair. As I said, it's a rabbit hole. In fact, I owe Triss Stein a thanks for Brooklyn being a rabbit hole in itself for me. Her Erica Donato series set in Brooklyn has had me in many different tunnels of the Brooklyn rabbit hole, including the last book, Brooklyn Legacies, and the history of the Jehovah's Witnesses there.

    So, thank all you wonderful authors for sending me down the many rabbit holes from your amazing stories.

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    1. Kathy, thank you so very much! :-) I came here to write a comment on the blog and found this from you.It means quite a lot these days! And...I can give you a very rough answer about Hasidic and Modern Orthodox, too. (Brooklyn connection again) I don't want to hijack here. I will write. Triss (smiling)

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    2. Triss, it is so true that you have made Brooklyn one of my favorite rabbit holes. I would love to hear from you about Hasidic and Modern Orthodox. My email is Kathy502@aol.com

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    3. Kathy,
      I’m about to start watching Unorthodox, it’s sounds fascinating and I’m looking forward to it.

      As for searching the unorthodox ways to murder someone Im inspired to find new and novel ways, and I was particularly fascinated when I landed on bee venom as an idea.

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  21. The bee story is so fascinating. It's certainly one of the most unusual research stories I've ever seen. Thank you, Nancy. Most of my research is done in a library, very tame, very old school. I write mysteries set against the modern and historical background of specific Brooklyn neighborhoods, so the Brooklyn Public Library local history collection is essential and always has some provocative surprises. And then I follow threads digitally to a ridiculous extent. It's so much fun. But I did have a live conversation with a forensic anthropologist in the NY Medical Examiners office. I was trying to find out if human bones found in old Brooklyn houses is true or just a renovator's urban legend. Turns out it's true. Not common but it has happened.And that is the beginning of my Brooklyn Bones.

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  22. Truss, I’m so glad you left a response. I suspect there are a lot of bodies buried where we might least imagine. I was talking to a contractor one day who was explaining to me how houses built on above foundations like a lot are here in California frequently have water issues, underground river beds, etc. he mentioned he had been called to one home, crawled under the house and discovered a body! Yep, that’s a book.

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