Graven Images: A Rock Creek Village Cozy Mystery (Callie Cassidy Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
6th in the Series
Setting – Colorado
Number of Pages: 280

Synopsis

A photo assignment at the cemetery leads Callie Cassidy to a corpse—this one above ground. Now, her search for the killer unearths some long-buried secrets…

Callie’s mother Maggie, a notorious hobby jumper, has embarked on a new pursuit—grave rubbing. When she recruits her daughter to photograph her first endeavor at the local cemetery, Callie brings golden retriever Woody and tabby cat Carl along for the outing. It’s a breathtaking autumn morning in Rock Creek Village, Colorado. Golden aspen leaves rustle in the cool breeze, and the air is filled with the scent of pine. What could go wrong on a day like this?

Then, a ghostly woman emerges from the trees, bleeding from a head wound and claiming to have no memory of how she arrived, or even who she is. Maggie quickly identifies her as a woman who disappeared from the village forty years ago—without a trace.

If that’s not enough intrigue, Woody disobeys her and sprints deeper into the cemetery. When Callie catches up to him, he is sitting sentinel at the tombstone of a recently deceased villager. And behind the stone, a man lies on the ground—with a pickaxe jutting from his neck.

Callie recognizes him as the low-level mobster who has been dating her best friend Tonya’s mother—and they’d been having problems. Did Tonya’s mother kill the man? Could it have been the mysterious woman? Or maybe someone with ties to his crime family?

Callie can’t resist investigating—and this time, Detective Raul Sanchez welcomes her assistance. Because if they can’t solve the crime soon, the town may be facing grave consequences…

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Guest Post

Let’s start with this — I love books. As a reader, I enjoy books in most genres (though I admit to being embarrassed by steamy romance). I like nail-biting thrillers, gut-wrenching horror stories, tear-jerking women’s lit, transportive sci-fi, and the entire spectrum of mysteries.

Since becoming an author, I’ve spent some time analyzing what it takes for a book to rise to a spot on my list of favorites. For me, it often boils down to characters. I’m drawn to flawed but likable protagonists who are constantly trying to be better human beings. They value self-growth, loyalty, and respect. Forgiveness is often one of their qualities, but they are also driven by a profound sense of justice.

Characters who stick in my memory possess a deep sense of humanity, as well as connectedness to other individuals and responsibility to them. Still, they often experience a feeling of separation and “otherness.” (Kinsey Millhone in Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series comes to mind.)

Humor is another big component. The main characters in books I love are often quite funny. In my favorite books, protagonists engage in clever banter with their friends. They can be sarcastic, but not in a hurtful way. The ability to be slightly self-deprecating increases their likability—they don’t take themselves too seriously.

Some of the best books employ an ensemble cast. There might be one person readers identify as the “main” character, but others take on major roles as well. (I’m thinking of The Thursday Murder Club books here.)

Equally important to me is a good antagonist—the villain, the bad guy or gal. However you label them, I want them to be three-dimensional. As MLK Jr. said, “There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.” That’s what I want to see in antagonists. They perpetrate evil acts, but do they carry any redeeming qualities? Do they love their mothers—or their dogs? Do they do the wrong thing for the right reasons? (Think Thanos of Avenger movie fame, as well as Killmonger from Black Panther.) Are the villains tortured by guilt, remorse, or grief? When I read a book with a cardboard villain, it rarely leaves an impact on me. I want real human beings, people who have reasons for their acts, defective as those reasons may be.

As a writer of cozy mysteries, I try to focus on creating characters with depth. Callie Cassidy isn’t perfect—how boring would that be? But she strives to be a good person. She searches for insight into her thoughts and behaviors and sets goals for herself as a friend, daughter, and girlfriend. Sometimes she falls short, but she doesn’t stop trying.

Occasionally, the antagonists in my books are just plain yucky people, but more often, the yucky people end up as the victims. The killers, on the other hand, usually have vivid and psychologically understandable motivations for their bad acts. That doesn’t excuse what they’ve done, of course, and justice must always be procured. But I hope my readers will grasp the antagonists’ motives and sometimes even perhaps experience a smidgen of empathy for them—along with a bit of self-reflection and discomfort. In similar circumstances, could I succumb to those baser instincts?

These are the kinds of characters who touch my emotional core. What about you? What characters have captured your interest and imagination? Leave your responses in the comments.

About the Author

Silver Falchion and CIBA Murder & Mayhem award-winning author Lori Roberts Herbst writes the Callie Cassidy Mystery series. A former journalism teacher and counselor, Lori serves as Board Secretary for Sisters in Crime. She is a member of the SinC Colorado chapter, the SinC North Dallas chapter, and the Guppy chapter, where she moderates the Cozy Gup group. Lori spent most of her life in Dallas, TX, and now lives in Colorado Springs.

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