When I finished writing my fifth Malone mystery, Marnie Malone, I wasn’t sure what my next book would be. I’d spent so many years on the series and had become so involved in the lives of the characters. I knew I’d miss the Malones but I also realized it was time to end the series and to do something totally different.
My Malone mysteries are all written in the third person and they are set in real locations, places that really exist. An old Victorian in my neighborhood was the inspiration for the series.
For a long time, I’d wanted to write a cozy mystery in the first person and set it in a fictional small town. Now I had my chance. My Small Town mystery series is completely separate from and different than my Malone mysteries but the books have one thing in common: an old house inspired me.
As it turned out, I didn’t use the house (below) as the main setting in Secrets in Storyville, the first book in the series, but it is where Murder at Maple Ridge, the second book, takes place.
The third book, Out of the Woods, is set in Storyville.
I'm currently working on the fourth, The Legend, which takes place, for the most part, at the Storyville Inn on the outskirts of town. Here's a sneak preview of the house that inspired me to write the book, which I hope to publish in June 2021.
I hope you enjoy reading my Small Town mystery series as much as I'm enjoying writing it.
