Marilyn's Musings

By Leeann Betts Readers—and writers, too, for that matter—often ask me where I get the ideas for my stories. Well, in this case, I wanted to set my story in Colorado so I could enter several state-based writing contests that require a Colorado setting. As I do with just about every book in this series, I made up a fictional town based on a part of the state I’d recently visited and which I thought readers might like to learn more about. The Grand Mesa/Mesa Verde National Park area on the western slopes of Colorado is a world unto itself. The scenery is spectacular, the weather is iffy, but the people are warm-hearted and compassionate. Well, most of the people. Not the villain in my tale, of course. He—or she—is anything but warm and compassionate. Think the Grinch when his heart was three sizes too small. Yet, like every villain, this one has some good qualities. He or she knows how to show love. He or she is ferocious about what they believe in. And he or she isn’t...

By Leeann Betts A series is a completely different animal to write than a stand-alone. In a stand-alone novel, you write about characters and events that you hope resonate with your readers, perhaps including an issue or topic that’s close to your heart, such as sex trafficking or the breakdown of the family. And then you’re done, and you can move on to the next collection of characters, settings, maybe a new issue or even the same one told from a slightly different context. A series, however, involves the same or at least some recurring characters, perhaps recurring locations, but different events. So how to make every story in a series new and fresh, without confusing new readers starting in the middle, or losing existing readers who want some continuity without boredom? In the case of A Deadly Dissolution , I took a recent event that thrilled me: I had the opportunity to go to Guernsey, Wyoming in October 2017 to see the total solar eclipse. The area was busy bu...

By Leeann Betts Folks who know about these things would say that we need to start a series with a bang—and that’s how I approached writing No Accounting for Murder, the first in the By the Numbers series featuring Carly Turnquist, forensic accountant. First, I came up with a compelling character—a nosy introvert with a head for numbers and for mysteries. Carly is specially trained to hunt down hidden assets, to ferret out missing money, and to ask the questions that get the answers. Forensic accountants often work for the IRS, for divorce attorneys, for private investigators, or, like Carly, for themselves, where they hire out to businesses and individuals who need her special expertise. Maybe Carly became a forensic accountant because she was naturally inquisitive, or maybe that skill developed as a result of her coursework and experience. Either way, she can’t let a question go unanswered. Think of her as a cross between Columbo and Miss Marple about thirty yea...

About In Search of Christmas Past: Grace Bellows, a senior in college, receives a Christmas card one month after her grandmother’s death, where her beloved Grammie challenges her to an old-fashioned scavenger hunt. Raised by her grandmother after her parents’ death in a car accident when she was eight, Grace has lived a jetsetter lifestyle with her wealthy grandmother. Now all she wants is to settle down and have a normal life. Luke Fisher manages his family’s Christmas tree farm out of a sense of loyalty to his deceased mother because she gave up her dreams of being an attorney. He doesn’t want to live with any regrets, and longs to escape the confines of loyalty to live a life of adventure in the real world. Can Grace and Luke solve the clues in her grandmother’s scavenger hunt and uncover the truth about their real feelings, or will the tension and their differences in goals and faith drive them apart? Excerpt: Grace Bellows jammed the single sheet of pape...