Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Murder by Moose

Catching up (again!)...



Last year I joined the Seven Sinister Sisters' Blog Tour as Sue Star to celebrate the release of my book.  Here's what I wrote about it over at Mysteristas:  

Murder by Moose is the fourth book in the Nell Letterly series.  This book takes Nell up into the mountains for a self-defense retreat during leaf season (which is also hunting season).  Of course she finds a body!  Moose trampled?  Or something much worse...?  

When I wrote the first draft of my first Nell book some years ago, I wanted to tell the story of how Nell, a suburban, menopausal single mom of a teenage daughter, comes to teach karate in Boulder, Colorado. I never expected to do a series.  But at the end of that book, I found that there were still a lot of issues I hadn’t addressed--issues that tell the larger story surrounding Nell--and I suddenly found that I was writing a series.  

One of the first questions a series has to figure out is how much time should pass overall?  A mystery bookseller once gave me some advice that made me decide to keep this series short--maybe only 6 or 7 books.  I figured that two or three months between each book would be about right for what I wanted to do.  

The first book takes place in March, the second in May, and the third in August.  When I started to plan the fourth book, I already knew it was going to have to take place sometime in the fall.  In Colorado that means a high country setting with golden aspen leaves, hunters, and...moose!  

I had such a fun time writing this.  But now I have to figure out:  where should I take Nell next?  There will probably be a turkey dinner...and a body...and...?      


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