Sandra de Helen Gives Insights into Her Mystery Series
My mystery series featuring Shirley Combs and Dr. Mary
Watson is set in modern day Portland, Oregon. Shirley and Mary met at an
EST-like Forum in Seattle and became fast friends when Shirley declared her
dream of becoming the world's best detective, and Mary introduced herself.
Several years have passed, and they are now working together in a downtown
office with a receptionist named Lix. When they go to the Portland Police
Bureau to consult -- or to gain information -- they frequently bring along a
pink box of Voodoo Donuts.
Readers are treated to the Pacific Northwest scenery,
culture, and politics as they follow Shirley and Mary on yet another case. The
first case to result in a novel (The Hounding)
involved the timber industry and the loss of old-growth forests. A rich heiress
had declared she would use her money to save old growth, and she died a
mysterious death. In the second book of the series (The Illustrious Client) the
women are handed a case of a wealthy international pop star whose parents fear
an older nouveau rich lesbian is taking advantage of her. Mary hopes for
exciting international travel, but their trip to France is a brief one,
followed by a complicated case of murder on the home front.
I'm currently writing A Valley of Fear, in which Shirley
Combs meets Dr. Moriarty. But first, she falls down a well in a ghost town,
where Mary has to rescue her.
Throughout their journey, Shirley Combs remains asexual,
acerbic, and analytical. Their friendship evolves, as does Mary. Mary discovers
to her surprise that she is a lesbian when she falls in love with her realtor
in The Illustrious Client. They are engaged at the opening of A Valley of Fear.
I hope my readers enjoy the mystery as much as they do the
references to the original Sherlock canon. Each book I write is descended from
the original stories but is a story of its own.
Please leave your email address in the comments if you'd
like a free copy of The Illustrious
Client, and I'll send you a link to Book Funnel where you can pick it up.
More about The
Illustrious Client:
Book Two of
the Shirley Combs and Dr. Mary Watson series, The Illustrious
Client, shows us the private investigator and her sidekick sharing an office, and
introduces
their receptionist, Lix. They are hired to influence a young international pop
star, Oceane Charles, to pry her away from her older, richer, player of a
girlfriend. The cast is made up of people with various ethnicities and
backgrounds, and of course the job soon includes solving a murder mystery.
Along the way, Mary discovers her latent lesbianism. Set in Portland, Oregon on
a super yacht, in a hospital VIP room, at Rose Festival, and other fun places.
Sandra de Helen, author of the Shirley Combs/Dr. Mary Watson
series and the lesbian thriller Till
Darknes Comes is a produced playwright, as well as a poet. Her full-length
play A Missouri Cycle garnered her a
residency for fall of 2017 at Firefly Farms; her play A Grave Situation was produced in 2017 by Athena Cats as part of
their theatre festival in Santa Monica. Something's
Got to Give was produced in Oregon in 2015 as part of the 365 Women A Year
Playwriting Project. Singer Clashes with
Cougar was produced in New York in July, 2014 by{Your Name Here} A Queer
Theatre Company. Her poetry chapbook All
This Remains to be Discovered is available at Another Read Through
Bookstore in Portland, Oregon or online. Samples of her work are available at
her website, SandradeHelen.com
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