The owner of the Novel Idea Literary Agency is thrilled when former local boy and popular television show host Damian York returns to Inspiration Valley, North Carolina, to launch his new gardening book. But Lila is less than excited about the hubbub when she sees her mounting to-do list. Between planning York’s gala and sprucing up her yard for another event, she’s spread too thin—especially after she finds a skull buried in her flowerbeds.
As Lila’s macabre discovery leads to other secrets hidden in Inspiration Valley’s past, a member of the local garden club is found slumped over her prize roses—murdered. Now it’s up to Lila to dig through old mysteries and new clues to unearth a murderer before someone else is found pushing up daisies.
For example, the
lady who lives down the road and wakes at the crack of dawn every spring day to
painstakingly clip the yellow heads off dandelions in her yard—all million
gazillion of them—well, I find her fascinating. What motivates her behavior?
(Besides the fact that she doesn’t like dandelions.)
What type of person has
the tenacity, or perhaps the compulsiveness, to do such a thing? What other
compulsions might she have? And how does she feel about the guy who lives next
door to her with the field of weeds, all turning to seed, and blowing into her
yard? Man, I bet he drives her crazy. How crazy, I wonder. Enough to push her
over the edge? Voila, there’s a story, and all as a result of a single
interesting character trait pushed to the max! Even so, I would never put my
actual neighbor in a book. Especially not that one--she might recognize herself
and try to deadhead me!
However, all my
characters are derived, in one way or another, from real people. Because in
order to give my fictional people realistic behaviors, I need to collect
mannerisms, idiosyncrasies and, yes, even odd quirks from the people around me.
Am I worried that someone might recognize themselves in my writing? Nope. The
good thing is, fictional characters always morph into something bigger than
reality. They’re better looking and in better shape than real people—his T-shirt stretched tautly over his
well-defined, muscular torso. They’re braver than real people—without reservation, she entered the dark,
snake-infested basement in search of the escaped convict. And they’re
always twice as sensual as anyone I know in real life—you don’t need an example
to know what I mean here. The characters become the people we want to be like,
or the heroes we’d love to meet, or the villians we would willingly kill off
ourselves! Through careful observation and creative packaging, I take traits
from those around me and spin them into realistic characters, albeit a bit
bigger-than-life, who hopefully will both resonate with readers as real and yet
be complex and interesting enough to be worth following.
For instance, consider Lila Wilkins, a literary agent who finds herself not only engrossed in the mystery books she vets for her agency, but also in the lives—and murderous traumas—surrounding both her would-be writers and bestsellers authors. Each character is complex and quirky, from her tarot card reading mother, known as The Amazing Althea, to her New York transplant of a boss, Bentley Burlington–Duke, founder and president of Novel Idea Literary Agency. If you’d like to meet Lila and learn more about my latest characters, check out Played by the Book, the fourth novel in the Novel Idea Mystery series. In it, when a popular TV garden show host comes to town to promote his upcoming book for Lila’s agency, the garden club women are swooning—but one ends up also clobbered with a garden spade! The book is chock-full of all-too-real characters, bucolic garden themes and, unfortunately, an evasive murderer. What you won’t find, however, is a crazy dandelion lady. I promise.
*The New Author
It's a very little known fact that Lucy Arlington is a combination of authors. It was originally started with two very well known cozy authors who gave this series a great first three books! Then, they passed the buck on to Susan Furlong. When I was getting ready to start this book, I was nervous. Not because I don't trust that they've left the series in more than capable hands, but because every author is different in their writing style. It's just the way it is. But once I opened the cover, I was assured that this series would continue to flourish a great deal.
*The Suspense!
There is nothing like a mystery with twists and turns. They keep you guessing and thoroughly engaged. The suspense in this one was absolutely superb. The story picks up right off the bat, and kind of reminds me of a great Hitchcock film in it's ability to add tension. It's just wonderful!
*The Characters
Lila has always been a spitfire, and this story was no different. Her persona is captured beautifully by Ms. Furlong and I couldn't be more thrilled! The rest of the characters are just as awesome and their personalities are pretty spot on.
What I Didn't Like:
There wasn't anything in particular that I didn't like. :)
Overall:
This book was well written with a great plot and wonderful characters. I am so glad that I gave the 4th book of the series a chance. It makes me excited for the 5th!
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All conclusions reached are my own.
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment