A Fatal Collection (A Keepsake Cove Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Maryland
Midnight Ink (November 8, 2017)
Paperback: 264 pages

Synopsis

Callie Reed makes a long overdue visit to her aunt Melodie, who lives in a fairy-tale cottage in quaint Keepsake Cove, home to a bevy of unique collectible shops on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Just as they’re beginning to reconnect, Callie discovers her aunt’s body on the floor of her music box shop. Grief-stricken, Callie finds she can’t accept Melodie’s death being called accidental. How could her strong and healthy aunt take such a fatal fall? And why was she there in the middle of the night?

As Callie searches for the truth, signs seem to come from her late aunt through a favorite music box, urging Callie on. Or are they warnings? If Callie isn’t careful, she could meet a similar deadly fate amid Melodie’s collection.

Guest Post

Creating Characters

Mary Ellen Hughes

“Am I in your book?” Friends ask me that, looking hopeful, worried, or a combination of the two. They’re assuming my characters must be people I know, that I’ve simply changed the names and maybe hair color. But no, I don’t do that.

That’s not to say they’re not in my books, but never all in one piece. That makes me sound like one of those killers who scatters body parts in various places. But what I mean is that I’ll mix and match traits from people I know or who I’ve run into. Maybe even a few actors, though probably not the glamorous ones who wouldn’t blend in with my small town characters all that well.

For example, in one of my earlier books, A Taste of Death, one of my minor characters was a bit of a town busybody. Not terribly likeable for many people, so I certainly wouldn’t want a friend to think she’d been portrayed as one. But I made her the size and shape of a woman I saw often, a checker at our local supermarket. But I darkened her hair and gave her shoe button eyes, which I’d noticed on another woman who seemed particularly alert—the kind of trait a busybody would have, right?

But my supermarket checker was very reserved, not the personality I needed. So I livened up my character and, remembering the greeting I often heard from a friend (a very nice lady), I had her sing out, “helloooo!” whenever she spotted someone whose brain she wanted to pick. This, unlike my reaction with my friend, caused other characters to cringe and want to run. I’m pretty sure my friend or the other two ladies never recognized the parts of themselves I scavenged from them, though I still think of them all when I reread those scenes.

Why not use the whole person? Some writers do, and it works for them. Many will auction off a character for a future book at a mystery convention and use the buyer’s name and characteristics. I admire those who can work with it, but I find it too limiting. Even with the permission of the person, if I thought a scene called for that character to say or do something not very bright or somewhat embarrassing, I’d probably hold back and end up with a nice, but not very interesting, character.

Do I ever put myself in my characters? My family members claim they see me there, sometimes, so I guess I do, though never consciously. My main characters have always been younger, prettier, smarter, etc. etc., so if I’m in them at all it’s as a kind of wishful thinking. And I wouldn’t want to find myself in some of the jams I’ve put them in.

Callie Reed, the protagonist in A Fatal Collection, gets herself in trouble when she closes in on her aunt’s murderer, but manages to keep a cool head through it all. More so than I probably would in the same situation. Callie’s also only twenty-nine, single, and has a cute, upturned nose, none of which describes me. I’m not entirely sure who I scavenged her from to make the whole Callie, but seeing her gradually take form, from just a name to a real (to me) person was exciting, as are all the characters I’ve written. An author, I’ve discovered, works a little bit like a sculptor, shaping and molding, sanding down or adding color until the “person” is just right. The advantage we have over the sculptor is that our creation then moves and talks, and sometimes runs in different directions than we originally planned. But that part is the fun of it all.

You think an author is totally in control of the characters she’s created or the stories she writes? Sometimes we’re just as surprised as you are.

About the Author

Mary Ellen Hughes is the bestselling author of the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries (Penguin), the Craft Corner Mysteries, and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries, along with several short stories. A Fatal Collection is her debut with Midnight Ink. A Wisconsin native, she has lived most of her adult life in Maryland, where she’s set many of her stories.

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