Something's very wrong in our country

Like all of you, we are sickened, horrified, saddened. We don't have answers, but we do have questions...

Why are the lives of children less important than owning guns?

Why does anyone need an assault weapon unless for killing people?

How many people have to die before the people we elected to lead us band together to do something about this?

We cannot let any more lights be extinguished...

Terry Shames on Minor Character Magic

RHYS BOWEN: It's amazing how attached we get to minor characters in our series, isn't it? I've had characters who were only intended to have a cameo role but would not go away--Sid and Gus in the Molly Murphy books and the Princess ZouZou in the Royal Spyness books who inserted herself into the story in a major way!

well, today on Jungle Reds we are hosting my good friend Terry Shames who has had interesting encounters with her background characters and is going to tell us about them today.

TERRY SHAMES:

Thank you so much to the “Reds” for hosting me on the occasion of the publication of my eighth book in the Samuel Craddock series.

Today I would like to have a conversation about background characters in our books.

I base my mystery plots on real life events or tales that I craft into stories complete with clues and red herrings. But to me what feels like magic is how background characters participate. When I start a new book, I feel like I walk into town and say, “What has everybody been up to?” And they tell me.  This has not always been the case. I’ve had to grow into it.

I like to read series, because I like to watch characters change over time, sometimes in surprising ways. But I had no idea when I started my first Craddock book whether it would become a series.  I barged into the first book without a thought of how an older protagonist would stretch and grow, much less how minor characters would change over time.

The first three books had a natural arc and they were centered around the protagonist, Samuel Craddock. I wanted  Samuel, an ex-chief of police, to become the chief again. In the third book, Dead Broke in Jarrett Creek, when the town went broke, it gave him the opportunity to step into the role of chief. Craddock didn’t need a salary, so when the town couldn’t afford to pay a police chief, it was natural for him to step in.

By the fourth book, when Samuel’s neighbor, Jenny,  became the focus,  I was beginning to see that the stories of supporting characters were important in their own way. I could keep the series fresh by having minor characters’ lives change—the way real people’s lives change. But I couldn’t depend on “magic.” I had to have a sense of direction.

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But what direction? Sometimes, characters seemed to take off on their own. One character had an affair—and his wife did not take it well. Another left town. One got a new hobby. In one case, I took direction from my readers. Fans asked if Samuel, a widower, was ever going to have a relationship with a new woman. So in book three, I introduced a new character, Ellen Forester, who moved to town to start an art gallery and workshop. She became Samuel’s love interest. They didn’t have much in common, and after the next few  books, I began to grow a little weary of her. Meanwhile, Dru Ann Love asked me to do a “Day in the Life” portrait of Ellen, and to my surprise, at the end of the “interview” Ellen revealed that she had a secret. I didn’t know what the secret was, or how it was going to play out, but I knew it would come out at some point. And did it ever!

By book five I felt the series needed a jolt. I was still okay with Ellen and Samuel’s relationship with his friend Jenny had been thoroughly explored, so what next? More tweaking of minor characters .I decided to give  Samuel a new sidekick, Maria Trevino. It turned to be the perfect foil: Samuel’s wisdom and experience played off against Maria’s idealism and fresh perspective.

Several people were interested to know how Samuel “became” the man we know as an older man. The prequel, An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock, was written to explore Samuel’s past—including his relationships with his destructive family and his wife.

My last book, A Reckoning in the Back Country, was a particularly hard book to write because it was about dog fighting. I had to make the back story really enjoyable and compelling to balance the horrendous main story.  I was tired of Ellen and I wanted Samuel to have a frisky new “main squeeze.” Wendy Gleason showed up at a Thanksgiving feast when Ellen was out of town, and they were off. But what to do about Ellen? Aha! I remembered that she had a secret. The way it played out was so perfect, that it seemed as if I must have known long before what was going to happen. That’s magic at work.

In the book that just came out, I wanted to feature long-time character Loretta Singletary, whom  I think of as a Greek chorus. She provides a lot of knowledge about Jarrett Creek’s citizens that Samuel uses in his investigations. I was also interested in doing a story about on-line dating. Again, here’s where magic seemed to be at work. In the end of the previous book, Loretta had showed up at Samuel’s house with a new hairdo and wearing stylish clothing. At the time, I had no idea why she was doing that. So when I started A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary, I realized that the reason she had been gussied up was to find a new beau. On a dating website!

 Mystery plots unfold against a background of “real life” for ongoing characters. The characters grow, and learn, and try new things, sometimes at their peril. If that didn’t happen, the stories themselves would be stale. For me, it seems to have an element of magic to it. Their growth is not something I plan. It’s something I take advantage of.

How do  other series writers come up with movement for their minor characters? Do you meander along letting characters act much the way real life seems to—without particular intent, letting magic happen? Or are you keenly aware of exactly the direction you want your characters to go?

RHYS:  Terry is on her way to Malice today. Do say hi to her! I wish I could join all of you.

Our dis-united states...

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Does anyone remember the "Six Californias" story from this summer? Billionaire Timothy Draper

(I'm picturing someone who looks a lot like Lex Luthor) proposed divvying up the Golden State into six new states that sounded a lot like the single-enterprise districts in THE HUNGER GAMES: the technology state, the agricultural state, the Hollywood state, the flat hot boring state, etc, etc. 

Well, that got shot down, but evidently he's back with a more equitable "Three Californias" idea that's ready to enter the signature-gathering phase. If he can get 365,880 registered voters to agree that Fresno ought to be somebody else's problem, it will go up for a public vote. (Interestingly, in both the first and second proposals, Draper's evil lair, or residence, would be in the most affluent state.)

This has got me thinking if some of the states I know and love might want to consider carving themselves up. Maine, for instance, is basically three states existing in rough belts running from the Atlantic to the Canadian border: the beautiful, very expensive coastal regions (Vacationland), the failed mill towns, small farms and gun shops of the interior (Stephen Kingdom) and the uninhabited, wood-covered wilderness to the north (Uninhabited Wood Covered Wilderness.)

New York, the state of my birth, could simply split into two parts: New York (the counties of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester) and the Adirondack State Park (everything north of Westchester.) The Park would support itself by charging everyone entering its borders $70 per car load ($30 for those on foot or bicycle.)

How about you, Reds? Can you see your states shifting boundaries? Or is it an idea best left for mustachio-twirling billionaires?

HALLIE EPHRON: VERY interesting politics in Maine right now. Just for example  that referendum on whether to overturn the Governor's decision not to take funding to offset insurance costs? And you've got Senator Susan Collins and Governor LePage: talk about a state of contrasts. 

Massachusetts?  We gave birth to Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren. For sure. East and west. Just look at how they vote politically. But maybe that's a reason to keep the halves together. Disagreeing isn't a reason to divide.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes, agreed about Massachusetts.  East and West are --well, wait. Not necessarily. But I wonder if the Cape and Islands would like to secede? It's bursting with tourists in the summer, and bleakly (and beautifully) empty in the winter. So there could be the State of Boston, and surrounded by the state of  Hightechistan, bordered on the West by Appleachia (Orchardia?) and the Cape and Islands could be Touristiana.   Still. I think we should stick together. Not that, ahem, it generally matters on national election days.   

RHYS BOWEN: Julia, there have long been proposals to divide California into North and South. I'd have no problem with that as long as Silicon Valley and San Francisco and Monterey were clearly in the North where I live! Actually a more thoughtful proposal these days, which I believe has been gathering signatures, is for California to leave the US and become its own country. I believe we are the 5th wealthiest country in the world on our own. Normally I'd chuckle at such a suggestion, but given the current political climate and white nationalist marches, it's beginning to sound more appealing!

JENN McKINLAY: I'm originally from CT. I don't think we can carve that sucker up much more or there won't be anything left. But now I live in AZ, where eighty percent of the population is in the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. There is vast desert that is uninhabited here, there are mammoth national parks, and twenty plus Native American tribes that are self-governed, mostly. The urban centers and the outlying areas definitely have differing political philosophies but I think, as was observed by Hallie, that we do better together than we would apart. The one thing about all the wide open space is that there's room for everyone. Truly.

INGRID THOFT: Washington State already feels like two states with the Cascade Mountains serving as the dividing line.  Seattle and Puget Sound lay west of the mountains, which accounts for our rainy, gray weather.  Once you traverse the mountain passes, which close frequently in the winter months, you find yourself in dry, sunny eastern Washington.  It’s not just the geography and weather that separate us—it’s the politics.  Seattle and its environs are blue state territory, but the rest of the state is red state.  

I agree that we need to stick together though; ideally, our differences make us stronger.  Another reason?  All the wonderful wineries are in eastern Washington.  Who wants to secede from that?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Texas is its own special case, as it is so big that we have everything. Well, almost everything, as our highest mountains are only half as high as Colorado. We have north Texas Prairie, where I live (really lovely once you get out of the cities, not that different from parts of southern England), the Cowboy Plains of west Texas, the Piney Woods of east Texas, the Swampy Gulf of the southeast, the Borderland south, and mountainous high plains of the southwest. I'm sure I've left out something... Oh, yeah, the Hill Country, west of Austin, which is absolutely gorgeous. Especially in the spring, with bluebonnets. 

Politically, we are just about as diverse, although you wouldn't know it from our senators and representatives. Every major metro area in Texas votes blue, so I'm not sure exactly how the silly secessionist  trolls would divide us up.  We are better together. 

LUCY BURDETTE: Florida is huge too, it takes us two days to drive down the length of the state! All I can say is that the Keys tried seceding from the rest of the state in response to a US Border Patrol blockade up in Florida City. The new entity was called the Conch Republic and the natives are still referred to as conchs. 

Florida is such a funny state–tons of retirees along the southern coast on both sides of the state, and probably a lot more native people along the center. We have a senator from each party, so we're mixed up in many ways! Probably better to simply leave things as they are…

SO WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF YOU? Are you in a state that could feels dis-united, and is that a good or a bad thing??

Terry Shames talks about the weather, Texan style, that is.

RHYS: When I first met Terry Shames at an MWA meeting she was a new writer, hoping to get published. Now I'm celebrating with her the publication of her fifth book in the best-selling Samuel Craddock series, set in a small Texan town. Terry is a Texan girl herself, although you wouldn't know it because she doesn't say y'all or howdy or anything of the things one expects Texans to say.

I spent three years in Texas when my kids were growing up and what I remember more than anything was the weather: actually an excess of dramatic weather--tornadoes and hurricanes and ice storms and sizzling heat. Texas does nothing by halves. So it made sense that Terry should choose weather for her topic.

Welcome Terry.

TERRY SHAMES:  I’m thrilled to be visiting Jungle Red Writers today talking about (wait for it) the weather! This year people on the east coast were baffled by a balmy Christmas while those on the west coast were shivering. The fact that both of them were having 50-60 degree weather shows that people are used to their own brand of weather—or it may mean that people in California are wimps. 

But if you want to talk crazy weather, try Texas. I was in Austin visiting my family for the holidays. The day before I arrived, it was 80 degrees. The day after I arrived, it was 30, with overcast skies and icy, bone-chilling wind. By the time I left two days later it was warm again. Texas epitomes the old saw, “Don’t like the weather? Stick around for a few minutes and it will change.”

My Samuel Craddock series is set in Texas, and I make liberal use of the variables as metaphors or portents. When things are heating up in the plot, things start to get hot weather-wise as well. When I describe storm clouds, look out, things are about to get turbulent. In The Last Death of Jack Harbin, Samuel Craddock says:

“Off to the west a few puffy clouds are piling up on the horizon, as if deciding whether to collect into something more serious.” In the next scene, the book takes a serious turn.

In the novel I’m working on now someone gives Samuel Craddock an unexplained cold shoulder. Samuel observes, ”To the north the sky has darkened. We’re going to get our first ‘norther’ of the season.” A half hour later, “in the past ten minutes the temperature has dropped thirty degrees. The ’norther’ is like a wall of cold air that moves forward, sweeping away the heat.”

I love to read novels in which the weather is presented as a character. Craig Johnson (The Cold Dish) and Martha Cooley (Ice Shear) both use bitter cold to great effect in their novels. They portray a world in which the cold is a metaphor for being frozen out of life. How much more determined a detective has to be if every step involves lots of clothing and the possibility of frostbite.

Heat is just as debilitating, rendering people unable to move without great effort. Combine it with rain, and as Tim Hallinan notes in The Hot countries, “After the air-conditioning in the Expat Bar…the rain feels like a hot shower.” And, hey! Texas has that, too.

For me, a book is enhanced by references to weather. I’ve been to Scotland and I know it’s cold all year round. I want to know how that affects people who live there. In the Caribbean, I want to feel the sun beating down, feel the cool ocean breeze and the hurricane winds. In Africa, I want to experience the drought or the refreshing rain that follows.

I’m curious to know if other writers use weather intentionally, or if it creeps in without your thinking about it. How does it affect your characters and your plots? In our everyday lives weather can be motivational. Is that true in novels as well?

RHYS: So what about you, Reds and readers? Is weather important in your books? When you are reading do you like to experience heat, cold, rain?

 Terry Shames writes the best-selling Samuel Craddock series, set in small-town Texas. A Killing at Cotton Hill won the Macavity for Best First Mystery, 2013. The Last Death of Jack Harbin was a Macavity finalist for Best Mystery, 2014. Mystery People named Shames one of the top five Texas mystery writers of 2015. Her fifth Craddock mystery, The Necessary Murder of Nonie Blake launches January 12, 2016. It is a Top Pick for January in RT Bookreviews.   www.terryshames.com. 

Terry will be giving away a copy of her brand new book to her favorite comment of the day.

A Day in the Life of Houston's Murder by the Book

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Last summer I had the honor of appearing at beloved mystery book shop, Murder by the Book, in Houston, Texas, to promote THE PRIME MINISTER'S SECRET AGENT and talk about historical mysteries. I appeared alongside fabulous New York Times-bestselling authors Lauren Willig and Beatriz Williams. The evening was facilitated by Murder by the Book's publicity manager John Kwiatkowsky and Sally Woods.

Readers, it was heaven. 

What was so wonderful? The books, of course (my credit card took a serious dent), meeting Lauren and Beatriz (I've been a huge fan of their novels for years and it was lovely to meet them in person), and most of all, the staff, who were knowledgeable and professional and fun and funny. Do you ever meet people and just know that you're going to be fast friends? Well, that's what happened to me when I met John and Sally.

We all read mysteries and thrillers, but I thought it would be fun to take a peek "backstage" at a particularly fantastic mystery bookshop — and what happens behind the scenes. John and Sally, take it away!

JOHN and SALLY: Working in a bookstore comes with all the usual challenges of working retail, and throws in challenges of its own. Those challenges can be trying to figure out which blue book a customer saw on the new release table at another bookstore, trying to remember the name of a long out print book, or explaining for the 5th time why you don’t know if a book is available for the Kindle.

It also comes with some pretty special rewards. We have a lot of customers that have moved away from Houston, but always include a trip to the store when they’re back for a visit. We get to meet authors that we love, hand-sell books that we’re excited about, and spend our days surrounded by books.

Each bookstore is different. Working at a Barnes and Noble is different from working at a specialized indie bookstore. (If you want to know what working at big box store like B&N or Borders is like, read Elaine Viets's Murder Between The Covers, she nails it!)

One of the comments we hear all the time is, "I'd love to work in a bookstore and spend all day reading." We laugh, but know that reading is the last thing we get to do when we’re at work. Here’s what a typical day behind the counter looks like...

9:30 a.m. - Get to the store. If last night's event ran long, start the day by putting the store back together. That includes putting away event chairs, picking up stray books that wandered off the shelf, and picking up empty wine glasses left on bookcases. (If it's Tuesday, put out this week's new releases).

9:45 a.m. - Sort books from last night's event and get them ready to mail out.

10:00 a.m. - Open the store.

10:15 p.m. - Answer email, and update the store’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. Add any newly scheduled events to the website, while still helping customers and answering the phone.

11:00 a.m. - Dave, our UPS driver, shows up with 45 boxes of new books. Each book has to be checked in, sorted, and shelved, while still helping customers and answering the phone. If there are any damaged or missing books, they have to be called into the publisher for credit or replacement.

11:45 a.m.: Answer the phone:

Employee: Hello, Murder By The Book!

Customer: Is this homicide?

Employee: No, we're a bookstore.

Customer: I need homicide.

Employee: I think you should hang up and dial 911.

11:52 a.m. - A customer comes in asking for Victoria Holt’s series about a midwife. You realize she’s looking for the series by Victoria Thompson and give her the first in the series.

12:30 p.m. Thirty minutes for lunch

1:15 p.m. - Patrick, our mailman, brings an advanced reading copy that that’s been eagerly awaited. A happy dance ensues.

2:05 p.m. - Check for online and email orders.

Tracy Carlson

3:00 p.m. - Archie, our FedEx driver, shows up with 3 boxes full of special orders. Each book has to be checked in, sorted, and customers need to be contacted to know their books have arrived.

4:00 p.m. - Meet a teenager in town for a lung transplant. His family is in Houston temporarily, and he loves mysteries. Show him some staff favorites, and recommend some great places to visit while in town.

4:45 p.m. - A customer from Shreveport stops by the store on one of her quarterly trips to Houston. After spending 45 minutes helping her pick out titles, she asks for a hug when you carry her bags out to the car for her. Your bookseller heart skips a beat.

5:00 p.m. - If there's an event that evening, put out chairs, set up the signing table, put out wine.

5:45 p.m. - Take Jack Reacher, the store dog, out for a potty break.

6:00 p.m. - Close for the day, unless there’s an event.

If there is an event:

6:10 p.m. - Author arrives. Take them to the back to sign presales (books ordered by people who couldn’t make it to the signing).

6:30 p.m. - Introduce the author to the crowd.  Double check for last minute orders for signed books while trying to pay attention to the author’s talk.

7:15 p.m. - Author talk is winding down, tell the crowd we have time for one more question. When the talk finishes, line customers up so they can get their books signed.

8:00 p.m. - Signing line is finished, take the author to the back to sign books for people that couldn’t make it, and the rest of the store stock. Once the stock is signed, thank the author for coming and put the store back together.

8:30 p.m. - Head home (11 hours after the day started). This is where we actually get our reading done.

As you’ll see, there wasn’t any time for reading. We might get a few minutes to read while we’re on our 30 minute lunch break, but any reading is done once we get home and finally put up our feet at the end of a long day. That book we just recommended? We read it while we were off the clock.

At the end of the day, we all love what we do. No one ever worked at a bookstore to become rich. We do it because we love books, and we love finding the right book for the right reader. And that’s the best perk of this job, having someone come back and tell you they have found a new favorite book or author.


SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Thank you John and Sally, for taking the time to drop by today and all that you do. (Also — Jack Reacher! He's adorable!) Reds and lovely readers, have you ever been to Murder by the Book? Have you ever worked in a bookstore or wanted to? What does your ideal bookstore have? (Mine has a few cats.... No offense, Jack Reacher.) 

John and Sally will be dropping by to answer all of your questions, even "what's the name of that book, you know — the blue one...."

John Kwiatkowski, Publicity Manager at Murder By The Book since 2010

In previous career incarnations, John has sold model and toy trains, and been a barista.  Prior to joining the Murder By The Book team he managed one of the local chain bookstores.  When his nose isn't in a book he loves going to concerts, seeing musicals, going to Las Vegas, and spending afternoons in Hermann Park.

John's favorite authors include: Arturo Perez-Reverte, Tasha Alexander, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Daphne Du Maurier, Wilkie Collins, Jacqueline Sussan, Victoria Laurie, and Louise Penny.

Sally Woods at Murder By The Book since 2011

Sally has been in the bookselling biz for almost 20 years.  She comes to MBTB via various Houston indie bookstores.  She did have a life prior to bookstores, but that seems long ago.  She is also somewhat new to the mystery genre and is learning about new authors all the time.

Some her favorite authors include: Stephen King, John Sandford, Dean Koontz, Sue Grafton, Kevin Brockmeier, Dan Chaon, Gillian Flynn, Joyce Carol Oates (especially the short stories), Margaret Atwood, and newly discovered Peter James.  

I Left My Heart in...

RHYS BOWEN: Like my Jungle Red sisters I moved away from home to go to college and never really went back. All the time I was growing up I had a fascination with Australia. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that one of my best friends at school had recently moved from Australia and seemed very exotic to me. Also my uncle Uncle lived there and he would send me a book every Christmas called "Wonderful Australia in Pictures" or a similar title. I'd pour over the color photographs of sunkissed beaches, red rocks, strange animals and dream of going there someday. After college I was working with the BBC in London and I got a chance to meet the head of Australian Broadcasting. I told him of my interest in Australia and he offered me a job, So I packed up and headed halfway across the world to Sydney.
I was entranced by the clear bright light, the strange birds and animals, the blue water of the harbor. It was truly like living in a Disney movie. Also the people were friendly and didn't take life to seriously. How can you not love a country where every business closes to watch the running of the Melbourne Cup horse race?

But I never had a chance to settle in properly because I met a man. An Englishman working for Qantas. And I married him, dear reader.  But he was on his way to California, so I found myself living in San Francisco instead. I've not regretted coming to the States, but each time I've returned to Australia (to visit my parents who moved there, and later my brother who still lives there) I've wondered whether my destiny was supposed to be there and I blew it.


I started writing this theme because I'm fascinated that there are some places in this world where we feel instantly as if we belong. I've never had much affinity for London. I lived there. I know my way around very well, but it doesn't call to me with a siren song. But Paris--that's another matter. The moment I arrive in Paris I feel as if I should never leave again. I could sit for hours at a sidewalk cafe, soaking up the atmosphere. Or stroll along the Seine, browsing at the bouquinistes stalls. Or the Impressionists at the Musee d"Orsay. I feel alive every minute I'm there. I could easily live in one of those top floor apartments with the balcony. Paris is much in my thoughts recently because I set my upcoming Molly Murphy book, CITY OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT, there and had a great excuse to wander all over the city, finding the perfect places for my plot to play out.

So what makes some places feel like home to us while we are untouched by others. Did I live in Paris in a previous life? And what drew me to Australia? Do you think there is really a "right' place for us to live, a destiny, if you will?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: When I was a--oh, I don't know, teenager, in Indianapolis,in the 1960's I always wanted to live in Boston. ALWAYS. I'd never been there, and I'm not even sure where this idea came from.  When I moved to Washington DC in the early 70's I adored it. Atlanta for five years--fine, gorgeous. Then at one point, I got job offers in Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC and Boston. I visited all four places--and whoa. I'd been right since 1963. I enjoy Boston every day.

But when I go to Paris? Yes, indeed. I could live there in a heartbeart.

HALLIE EPHRON: I grew up in southern California, Beverly Hills to be precise, and I confess whenever I go back there I feel old, fat, ad poor. Spent my college years and after in New York City. And yes, I feel completely at home when I'm there. I wouldn't want to live there, but I do so love to visit. Boston still feels like a place I'm visiting.

RHYS: This is funny, Hallie, because I still feel that I'm visiting in San Francisco or in Arizona. It's like a permanent vacation in the latter and the nagging worry about when do we go home?

LUCY BURDETTE: I would take a couple of months in Paris, New York, or Rome--anytime! I've lived a fair number of places--Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, Tennessee, Florida--and managed to feel like all of them were home eventually. But I have what my husband calls a deep "taproot." Meaning it's not that easy to transplant me. In a new place, I wilt for a while, feeling listless and down. Just like a plant. (Confession: I spent 5 months in France during my junior year and I did not take advantage of the possibilities...)

I had this conversation with a sister-in-law recently and mentioned how I get homesick when I travel very long. "Homesick for what?" she asked. "I don't get that at all."

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys, I feel about London the way you feel about Paris. Instantly at home, instantly "right." I've never had an explanation. Past lives is as good as any.  Paris would be my next choice. I can see myself living there.  And an odd third choice, considering the first two--I love LA. I don't know why. I know it's smoggy and the traffic is terrible and it's dreadfully expensive, but my heart just lifts every time I go there. Weird.

So why have I never left Texas permanently? I love Lucy's husband's description of a "tap root." I think Texas is my tap root. Even in London, I start to miss Texas if I am away too long.

RHYS: Past lives or just our personalities? Do you have a place you feel drawn to or destined to live? How important is a sense of place to you? Obviously very important to us, as you see from our writing.

Grandfather Knows Best

HANK: Was there a memorable moment in your life-when you knew it would change? Many of us were in the audience at the last Malice Domestic when the iconic Carolyn Hart was  interviewed..and the interviewer asked what great books she'd read recently.  Carolyn said: the best book she'd read in a while was Terry Shames  A KILLING AT COTTON HILL.

Talk about something that would make your day. Now of course you know Terry is a major-league friend of the Reds--and I'll never forget the look on her face when I told her about Carolyn! And, of course, I snagged her for a guest blog immediately

Today Terry lets us into her life a bit, and at the end, she has a question for you--maybe about your own grandparents? Are we giving away a copy of A KILLING AT COTTON HILL to one lucky commenter? Well, of COURSE. This is Jungle Red!

THE REAL SAMUEL CRADDOCK

  by Terry Shames

They say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. I grew up on the Gulf Coast in Texas, and until you’ve been to Texas in the summer, you don’t know heat. I loved my family and the great heart of Texas, but once I realized that not every part of the country sweltered nine months of the year, I couldn’t wait to get out. I tried the East Coast then Denver, and ended up in Berkeley, California. The first night we arrived, I said to my husband, “I feel like I’ve come home.” I’ve never considered moving back. It’s nice and cool here.

I’ve now lived in California longer than I ever lived in Texas, so how come I am writing a mystery series set in Texas? Because it isn’t the setting I chose, although that’s an integral part of the books; it’s the character. Samuel Craddock is loosely based on my grandfather, a man who loomed large in my life. A loud, brash, hard-working, hard-drinking man, he sometimes scared me when he yelled at me--he didn’t have much use for children being underfoot. But he fascinated me, which meant I was frequently underfoot.

He only finished the third grade, but he read constantly and he had a tremendous respect for education. My grandparents had a bookcase full of books. My mother told me that once when she was a child my grandfather told his kids to get in the car, that they were going to the courthouse. Why? Because the county was giving away used library books.

My grandfather could tell a funny story as well as the best comedian. I can still picture him laughing and slapping his leg as he described a prank someone in town played on a bunch of teenage kids who had been bugging him—a prank that resulted in someone fleeing the house through the front screen door—without opening the screen door!  Maybe that’s where I got my story-telling ability.

The former town mayor, years after he retired people still came to him to help solve community problems. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, but he also didn’t waste time judging people harshly. Having lived a hard life, he valued hard work and humor, which had seen him through.

When I went off to college, my grandfather was thrilled. I still have a letter he wrote me in his childish scrawl, telling me how proud he was. I’m so happy that he lived long enough to see me graduate. And what I wouldn’t give to have him read my book—the book that he inspired!

Before I wrote my first Samuel Craddock novel, I wrote several other mysteries that didn’t find a publisher. And then I attended a workshop in which the takeaway for me was to dig down deep and write a novel from the heart. Within a couple of weeks I sat down and started to imagine a man like my grandfather, a man sitting on his front porch in the early morning…a man who had lived in a small town in Texas his whole life and who had a visceral feel for the land. A man who kept his eye on the pulse of the town and, when things went wrong, had a drive to repair them.

These days when I go back to the small Texas town that I based Jarrett Creek on, I feel as if I could run into my grandfather at any moment. There’s a certain combination of smells--of damp vegetation, iron in the red dust, creosote from the railroad tie plant, and the smell of barbecue cooking that I know he would recognize. Birdsong, animal sounds, wind in the trees, and the whistle of a train invite his spirit to me. And I hear him in the accents and jargon of the people in small town Texas. And I tried to translate all this to the page in A KILLING AT COTTON HILL.

I’m curious to know if others had someone in their lives who inspired them? Someone you hold in your heart and who guides your writing hand?

HANK: My grandfather, one of them, we think sold cars..I hardly knew him. The other had a chain of department stores, and I used to love to go in and fold things. We called it "going to the store." (Thinking about that now, what else would we have called it? :-) But it seemed very special at the time.) Grampa Dave was a diligent hard worker, 24/7, and used to give us quarters. But it was his wife, Gramma Minnie, who taught me to type. SO--in a funny way-- she guides my hand every day!

How about you, Reds?  Who were your grandfathers? And did they change for lives?

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In A KILLING AT COTTON HILL the chief of police of Jarrett Creek, Texas, doubles as the town drunk. So when Dora Lee Parjeter is murdered, her old friend and former police chief Samuel Craddock steps in to investigate. He discovers that a lot of people may have wanted Dora Lee dead—the conniving rascals on a neighboring farm, her estranged daughter and her surly live-in grandson. And then there’s the stranger Dora Lee claimed was spying on her. During the course of the investigation the human foibles of the small-town residents—their pettiness and generosity, their secret vices and true virtues—are revealed.

Terry Shames grew up in Texas. She has abiding affection for the small town where here grandparents lived, the model for the fictional town of Jarrett Creek. A resident of Berkeley, California, Terry lives with her husband, two rowdy terriers and a semi-tolerant cat. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Her second Samuel Craddock novel, THE LAST DEATH OF JACK HARBIN will be out in January 2014. Find out more about Terry and her books at www.Terryshames.com.