New Zealand, a Few Fun Facts and an Idea

LUCY BURDETTE: Kia Ora! As you’ve no doubt heard by now, I’m just back from a two-week trip to New Zealand. I’m certain you don’t want the full slideshow but I’ll share a few reactions from our whirlwind voyage.

1. New Zealanders are crazy in the sense of tackling physical challenges. Probably because the landscape lends itself to challenge? For example, we heard stories of men hunting deer from a helicopter with no doors. There is a road race along the length of the Milford track every year, 33 1/2 miles of mountainous terrain. It sells out in 22 seconds and has a long waiting list. We did a four hour hike at the end of the trail, which was plenty for me!

2. New Zealand is an island—the closest land point from another country about 1000 miles away. They are very protective of their land and creatures. The country has no natural mammals, other than two bats, which means no predators. That means many of the birds native to New Zealand evolved into land birds without the ability to fly. When people arrived on ships from other countries, they brought with them pests such as stoats, rats, and cats. Also, the Maori people hunted the larger land birds, often to extinction. All this means New Zealanders are very focused on conservation, sustainability, and increasing the population of native species, from birds to people.

3. New Zealand was the last major land mass to be settled. The Maori tribe arrived after 1300, and the British declared sovereignty in the 1840’s. Since the 1970’s, the Maori and other ethnic groups have pushed to take land and power back, which they consider stolen by the British. Maori is a second language for the country—our guide was pleased to tell us that former prime minister Jacinta Arden began her messages to parliament and the people in the Maori language. 

Circling back to the question discussed on Monday, I did not do a lot of work on vacation. But as a long-time mystery writer, it’s hard not to think about murder and mayhem in a new setting! The people in our travel group were game to point out poisonous plants and murder methods that I might enjoy using as we toured. If I was going to write a story, I thought I might have opened it in the dark sky night reserve. After a chance to view the southern hemisphere constellations, we herded into the changing areas and given white robes before heading to a warm pool. (Keep in mind that this all happened in darkness so our eyes could acclimate.) We floated in that pool on individual hammocks listening to a guide tell stories about the stars. I could imagine most of the guests exiting the pool, but leaving one behind—quite dead. It would have been too dark to see much of anything, a detecting challenge!

But then, on our last day hike on the Routeburn track, I began to chat with one of our guides, Olivia, who turned out to be a wonderful story brainstormer. She was fascinated with the idea of setting a mystery in New Zealand. She suggested either the Lake Marion or Gertrude Saddle routes, which are very popular  with Instagram influencers. Supposing there was a couple hiking together, each of them with an active account. Supposing their tracking device was lost or malfunctioned, and one or both disappeared on the trail. A professional guide, like Olivia, might have been one of the last people to have seen them on the trail. What might she have noticed? If someone did meet an unsavory end, was it a push and a fall? 

Or perhaps a dish prepared with New Zealand’s most poisonous plant, the tutu with its delicious looking berries? 

Or the stinging nettle, the ongoanga?

Who knows if I’ll use any of this, but what fun to think about it. Honestly, it helped pass the time when I was trudging up a steep and rocky path. Fortunately, there was an incredible view at the top. I’m sure that that’s a good metaphor for writing as well. (Here's one version of trouble I forgot--the Waiotapu hot springs and bubbling mud pools...)

Do you think about murder mysteries when you travel? What's the most exotic setting you've enjoyed in a mystery?

PS, If you'd like to hear more about the itinerary we took without the murderous commentary, here's John's version...

On Family History by Christine Falcone

 LUCY BURDETTE: Today’s guest has been one of my writers group friends for years (many!) I know you’ll enjoy the fourth book in her Melanie Bass mystery series, Ruff’d Up. Take it away Chris!

CHRISTINE FALCONE: Thank you Lucy and Reds for inviting me back.

Some writers do elaborate biographies for each of their characters where they know what kind of childhood they had, where they went to college, if they went to college, who their first boyfriend or girlfriend was, and what they eat for breakfast each morning. I am not one of those writers. This came into play in book four in the series when one of my long- time writing group partners (thank you Lucy!) asked “What about Melanie’s family? We don’t really know anything about them.” She was right. I had briefly mentioned a cousin in book two, but nothing about her nuclear family. I decided Melanie’s parents were no longer alive, but she has an older sister, Meridith who became a large part of Melanie’s story in RUFF’D UP.

Meridith is a bit overbearing at times, and the dynamic between her and Melanie shed light on parts of Melanie’s character I had never explored before. Those of us who have siblings know that they know exactly how to press our buttons (and we, theirs!) Your sibs know all about your childhood, your less perfect moments as well as your shining achievements. And they don’t let you forget them, especially the ones you would most like to. Meridith is the older sister; I was the eldest of eight, so I used that experience in developing some of the hurt and long-buried resentments both Melanie and Meridith felt toward each other. 

Another thing I thought about as I wrote the interactions between the sisters was how differently they remembered aspects of their childhood. I know in talking to my own siblings I sometimes wonder if we are talking about the same events and occurrences.

I found I really enjoyed writing the scenes between the sisters, and in spite of being the eldest in growing up I had feelings both sisters felt.

If you have siblings, do you find that you have different memories of childhood occurrences than they do? Do you agree with those birth order profiles that you find in magazines and online?

RUFF’D Up is the fourth book in Christine Falcone’s Melanie Bass Mystery series. Her short stories have appeared in the past in Imagine, Lancom Review, and Deadfall: Crime stories by New England Writers. Prior to her retirement she worked for nearly forty years as an RN in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She lives on the Connecticut Shoreline with her family and her dog Toby who is not nearly as well behaved as Bruno, the beloved canine in her mystery series.

About the book: As she looks forward to the return of warm summer days in her native Connecticut, visiting nurse Melanie Bass has more than difficult patients to contend with. She is haunted by guilt over a home invasion she feels she could have prevented, struggles to reconnect with her difficult -and until now distant- older sister, and faces complications in her personal life when an attractive new veterinarian seems to have designs on Melanie’s boyfriend. Just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, there is another brutal attack – this time on someone close to her. As the stakes mount Melanie struggles to deal with her complicated personal life and find and stop those threatening the ones she loves before she is the next victim.

Jessica Everett: Last Summer at Maine Chance

LUCY BURDETTE: You may know today's guest as Jessie Crockett or Jessica Ellicott and also as a former member of the Wicked Author blog. She's also a brilliant brainstormer and I can't wait to read this newest book!

 JESSICA EVERETT: I’ve adored reading mysteries ever since I cracked open The Bobbsey Twins at the Seaside when I was six. I’ve also loved writing them, nineteen so far. The architecture of crime novels, the requirement to simultaneously reveal and conceal information from readers, the examination of societal values all intrigue me as both a consumer and a creator. 

And although all of that is true, at some point in the last few years an idea for a novel that inexplicably did not include a dead body began to prod me. I simply could not get the thought of a story set during the summer at Elizabeth Arden’s Maine Chance resort out of my mind. Plot points suggested themselves while I walked my dog. Setting descriptions whispered me to sleep at night. Lines of dialogue slipped into my brain as I prepared dinner or ran errands. Before I knew it, the novel had gotten its way, and I threw myself headlong into the research portion of the project. 

I read every newspaper article at Newspapers.com covering Elizabeth Arden or the Maine Chance Farm in Mount Vernon from 1929 until 1970. I scoured the internet for images of the spa, of Maine in the 1950s, and of Red Door Salon advertisements from years gone by. I spent countless hours in Maine soaking up the atmosphere. In time, I had a draft written, and then another, and another. The words stacked up, the characters fleshed out, and the story came into its own. 

I was delighted to discover that although Last Summer at Maine Chance does not center around a crime to be solved, like all my others it revolves around friendships between women. It is as much about what society values and celebrates as all my previous novels. It is once again filled with characters I would like to know as well as those I definitely would not. It still explores finding one’s way in the world when traditional paths don’t lead to the right destination.  And, like my other works, and my own life, it is also about being open to trying new things. 

Readers, is there something new you have always wanted to try? Do you read novels that aren’t mysteries? Have you ever been to Maine? 

ABOUT Jessica Everett

Jessica is the author of twenty novels. Last Summer at Maine Chance is her historical fiction debut. She lives with her exuberant family and preposterously privileged poodle, Sam. She splits her time between a tiny New Hampshire village, and the coast of Maine, a place her family has called home for generations. When not dreaming up her next novel she can usually be found walking barefoot on her favorite Maine beach, even in the dead of winter. 

Jessica's website: https://jessicaeverett.com/