MISSING DEPOSITS -- The Story Behind the Story --with Giveaway.
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...