Our Search for Plots and Settings by Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton
The High Country
Mystery Series: Our Search for Plots and Settings
Inspiration can
strike unexpectedly, sparked by some account in a museum or news article or by
stories related to us by local people. As
authors of the High Country Mystery Series, we are always on the lookout for
new plots and settings for our books set in the fictional town of Durmont , Wyoming . This series features Jeff McQuede, a modern-day
sheriff with old time values derived from his Old West namesake.
We have explored
Wyoming in
depth in our search for plot ideas. We have found it strange how some perfectly
good events or plot ideas never develop while others almost instantly take
hold.
The second book in the series, Whispers of the Stones, was inspired by
tales and newspaper clippings about a tiny mummy discovered in the 1930s by
miners working in the Shirley Basin. The
little man, sitting cross-legged in a cave, became an object of curiosity and
scientific speculation until his disappearance in the 1950s. Later on we found that a wealthy collector
had offered a large huge for any information about the mummy’s
whereabouts. After reading these
accounts, questions filled our minds.
What happened to the mummy? Does
he still exist? Would his appearance prove or disprove once
and for all the Native American tales of the “Little People?” What would happen should it resurface—would a
scientist or private collector kill to own such a rare piece of history?
An Icy Death was inspired by nature.
In Wyoming
the snow can become a formidable enemy.
Every year, many reports our made of people stranded on back roads or
hunters of who have died from hypothermia.
In this novel we used this idea and made the weather a possible cover-up
for murder.
Our latest Jeff
McQuede mystery, Crying Woman Bridge ,
began with a legend. The Southwestern
tale of La Llorona has always intrigued us, the numerous accounts about a woman
who sacrifices her child or children by drowning them. She commits this horrible act for the sake of
her lover and ends up crazed with regret.
Throughout the United States this story
surfaces in many forms, all concerning bridges haunted either by weeping women
or crying babies. We used a fictional variation
on this legend and blended it with a modern tale.
We are planning
another trip to Wyoming this summer…and hope
to come across material for another Jeff McQuede mystery.
Blog link mummy
Blog link bridge
AUTHOR
BIOGRAPHY
Loretta
Jackson and Vickie Britton, sisters and co-authors, are drawn to out-of-the-way
places, old mining towns, and vast rangelands where the legends and history of
the past live on. Inspired by the rugged
mountains of Wyoming and Colorado , they find the lonely, high country
region a perfect setting for their novels.
They are
authors of the High Country Mystery Series:
Murder in Black and White, Whispers of the Stones, Stealer
of Horses, The Executioner’s Hood,
An Icy Death, and also of A Deal on
a Handshake, an anthology that also features Wyoming sheriff, Jeff McQuede.
They have
written fifty novels, including the eight-book Ardis Cole Mystery Series and
the Luck of the Draw Western Series: The
Devil’s Game, The Fifth Ace, and The Wild Card. Listed among their
work are the The Vanished Lady, Death Comes in Pairs, and The Lost City of the Condor,
Both sisters
live in Kansas, Loretta in Junction City, Vickie in Hutchinson.
They
invite you to visit their blogs:
Vickie
Britton and Loretta Jackson’s Writing Tips and Fiction: http://vbritton.blogspot.com/
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