Anywhere you want to go

Whenever I travel to a new (to me) place, I search for a local bookstore where I scan the shelves, looking for mystery novels by local authors. I do this for two reasons. First, I think it's important to support writers everywhere and second, because when I come home and return to my daily life, I can open the pages and escape to the place I've just visited. It's a way to hang on to the "vacation" mode.

One year, I visited Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, my favorite of the three. I found a bookstore there and purchased Murder on Martha's Vineyard by David Osborn, a local writer. Back at home, I read the book and enjoyed it so much that I looked up the author on Amazon and was pleasantly surprised to see that he'd written more books in the series. I read all of his books and was able to "stay" on Martha's Vineyard a lot longer than my vacation time allowed.

Another year, I went to Wilmington, North Carolina and I loved exploring the city. So much history! The old Cotton Exchange, which now houses several delightful shops, including a bookstore, intrigued me as did the horse drawn carriages and the theater where John Wilkes Booth once performed. I bought two mystery novels by Wanda Canada, Island Murders and Cape Fear Murders. When I got home, I read both books and felt as if I were still sitting on a pier, gazing out at the Cape Fear River, watching the boats go by. And, trying to solve a murder.

But I haven't always been able to find a book by a local author while on vacation. When that happens, I try to find one by someone who isn't local but who is very familiar with the area. For example, I purchased Folly by Bill Noel, a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, a couple of months after I got back from Folly Beach, South Carolina and, because the author had spent many summers in the area, it felt like a "local" had written the book.

I could give you many more examples but, in the interest of keeping this post shorter than one of my novels, I won't. Anyway, you get the idea.

Even if you don't travel or can't get away this year, you can still take a vacation in your mind. Although I've never been to Peru, I went on an archaeological expedition there when I read William Doonan's American Caliphate. I explored an old ghost town in Arizona with Old Murders Never Die by Marja McGraw. And, I journeyed to the New England coast with J.R. Lindermuth's The Limping Dog.

I've also visited Bariloche, Argentina with author Evelyn Cullet, seen the heather-covered moors of the Scottish Highlands thanks to Amy Reade and traveled Route 66 through the Mojave Desert with M.M. Gornell's novels. I could list hundreds more.

Books can take you anywhere you want to go at any time of the year and you don't even have to go through airport security or fill your gas tank.

July News

Ah. The good ole summertime! Freedom! No coats, hats, boots, gloves, slippery roads. . . . Well, you get the idea.

Summer is the time when most people take their annual vacation. In my opinion, getting away from it all is crucial to a person’s mental health. Every day through the year each of us deals with a multitude of “challenges” and we need a break from all of that sometimes. Whether you prefer the mountains, the desert, the beach or another location, a change of scenery and daily routine is healthy.

For many years, I've looked forward to a vacation and, most years, my traveling companion and good friend, Jan, and I have gone to the ocean. Jan’s husband goes on golf trips with his buddies and Jan and I normally plan a “girls’ getaway.” But, this year for several reasons, it doesn't look like that will happen. We may manage a mini-vacation late in the summer but that's still up in the air.

So, what’s the next best thing to physically getting away? Escape into a book!  Let it take you places you’ve never been and, as you get involved in the lives of the characters, your own problems will disappear – at least until you reach the last page. Then, all you have to do is start reading another book and your "vacation" will be extended!

Imagine this: It's the Fourth of July and you're sitting on the beach watching the fireworks over the ocean. The crowd "Oohs" and "Aahs" as beautiful colors explode in the night sky. It's breathtaking!

Early the next morning, you go for a walk on that same beach and discover the body of a young woman in the sand. Once again, it takes your breath away.

Ann feels like she’s in Paradise as she digs her toes into the soft, white sand and gazes out at the ocean. She’s looked forward to this trip to South Carolina for a long time and all she wants to do is bask in the sun, resting and relaxing.

She and her two young children are enjoying their time on Fripp Island with Ann’s sister, Marnie, and Marnie’s elderly friend and former neighbor, Clara Brunner, a longtime resident with a vast knowledge of the island and the people who live there. At the Fourth of July fireworks, Clara introduces them to newlyweds Jenny and Mark Hall and their families.

But Ann’s plans for a peaceful vacation are shattered the next morning. When she goes for a solitary walk on the beach, she discovers the body of a young woman with the chain of a gold locket twisted around her neck and she immediately recognizes the locket as the one Jenny Hall was wearing the night before.

But things aren’t always what they appear to be.

Shocked and saddened, Ann is determined to try to find the killer and to see them brought to justice. She convinces Marnie and Clara to join her in conducting an investigation but, in the process, she places her own life in jeopardy.

http://tinyurl.com/j7m9b3k

Happy Fourth of July!