Anyplace I Hang My Hat by Evelyn David

Anyplace I Hang My Hat
By Evelyn David

Julia Spencer-Fleming, the award-winning mystery author of the Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series, said, "Ultimately what's important about the books I write and the books I read are that they create a recognizable, believable world with characters I want to spend time with." We've found that choosing the right locale, be it fictional or real, is the first step to creating the wonderful world of murder and mayhem.


For us, the collective Evelyn David, sometimes the setting is a real place, like Washington, D.C., where MURDER OFF THE BOOKS and MURDER TAKES THE CAKE unfold. While we take some liberties, for example, creating the college where not one, but two murders take place, we also squarely place the action in the reality of our nation's Capitol. It's no surprise, for example, that one character bemoans driving in the city, especially Dupont Circle, "the physical embodiment of one of Dante's circles of hell." Anyone who's been to D.C. will be nodding their head in recognition of the nightmare of traffic circles in midtown Washington. Of course, choosing to place a mystery in a real city also means that we need to make sure that we don't make mistakes that are easily checked. We carefully crafted a chase scene on streets that would handle the traffic and made sure that the road accurately led to the Washington beltway.
  

Sometimes we've created a place out of whole cloth, like Lottawatah, Oklahoma, the small town where Brianna Sullivan, psychic and amateur sleuth, solves both mysteries and ghostly disturbances. Lottawatah is actually the name of a road, whose exit marker can be found on I-44 near the real Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma. But there is no town. We've built it from our imaginations, but this fictional locale must be as real as Washington, DC. Readers need to be able to imagine the peeling paint on the storefronts that line the shabby Main Street. We paint pictures with words – for instance the eatery where Brianna first stops in Lottawatah: The diner hadn't had any glory days, even in its glory days.  The linoleum was butt ugly when it was first installed, maybe 30 years earlier.  Flecks of brown on a tan background.  Maybe the idea was to hide the dirt…it wasn't working.  I slid onto the cracked red vinyl stool at the Formica counter and looked expectantly at the guy with a stained t-shirt, standing behind the counter. We bet most readers can recognize such a dive, probably been there and had the heartburn to show for it.


With the publication of ZONED FOR MURDER, our brand spanking new mystery, we've created Milford, NY, a meld of reality and fiction. Set in a suburb of the Big Apple, former Newsweek reporter Maggie Brooks has two kids, a dead husband, a mortgage to pay, and a lot of competition when she tries to get back into the shrinking newspaper business. Landing a job with a local paper, she's bored to tears covering bake sales and Little League games. But when a developer tries to build an outlet mall in a neighboring town, what starts out as potentially a great clip for her resume, suddenly turns dangerous and ugly. Someone will do anything to block the mall's construction. Dirty money, nasty politics, and shady land deals abound as Maggie pursues the scoop that might jumpstart her career. When murder is added to the mix, she realizes that meeting her deadline might be the last thing she ever does. From Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to the Little League fields of Milford, we hope that we've created a fictional world that invites readers to settle in for a killer story with characters you'll love.

Enjoy!!

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Win a Free Copy - Leave a comment on this blog for a chance to win a free download of Zoned for Murder from Smashwords (all e-book formats are available there). One winner will be picked at random. Be sure to leave a contact email in your comment or drop us an email at evelyn@evelyndavid.com so we know how to send you the 100% off coupon code for the download.
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The author of Murder Off the Books, Murder Takes the Cake, Riley Come Home, Moonlighting at the Mall and The Brianna Sullivan Mysteries e-book series, Evelyn David is the pseudonym for Marian Edelman Borden and Rhonda Dossett.


I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries  

Murder Off the Books

Zoned for Murder

Thanks for visiting today, Evelyn. The new book sounds great!

Comments

Evelyn David said…
Thanks so much for hosting us today, Marilyn!
getessay review said…
I really enjoyed this article. It is always nice when you read some thing that is not only informative but entertaining.
Mare said…
I can't believe that you've another series. LOL. I will happily follow you along and I'm looking forward to meeting the new characters.

mary-fairchild@sbcglobal.net
Evelyn David said…
Hi Mare,

Zoned for Murder was a book we've been writing off and on for several years - we intend to continue our other two series. I heard a successful mystery author once at a conference advise other authors not to put all their eggs (books) in one basket if they wanted to make a living writing. We'd love to get to that point. Thanks for following us. Grin.

Rhonda and Marian
Jake said…
Marilyn: Thanks for pointing us to another interesting author. Looking forward to reading another of your great recommendations.Jake
Evelyn David said…
Thanks Jake for stopping by.
Janet Kerr said…
This is an interesting post on the importance of setting.
This sounds like an interesting author Marilyn.
And congratulations Evelyn, your "Zoned for Murder" sounds like a good read.
Jan

janet_kerr(at)msn(dot)com
Jody said…
Sounds like an intriguing book.

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