We’re
delighted to welcome three guests this week. Mystery novelists Diane Vallere
(http://www.dianevallere.com/), Kendel Lynn (http://kendellynn.com/), and Gigi
Pandian (http://gigipandian.com/)are the three authors of OTHER PEOPLE’S
BAGGAGE (http://henerypress.com/books/other-peoples-baggage/), a new collection
of three interconnected mystery novellas (Henery Press, December 2012).
Diane
is the author of PILLOW STALK: A Mad for Mod Mystery, which Library Journal
called “a tremendously fun homage.” Kendel is the author of BOARD STIFF, an
Elliott Lisbon mystery, which won the Zola Award for Mystery/Suspense, coming
April 2013. Gigi is the author of ARTIFACT: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery,
named one of the Best Books of 2012 by Suspense Magazine.
Thanks
for having us! It’s very fun to be here at Novel Adventurers, because the thing
that connects our mystery novellas is travel. The three main characters of our
mystery series are on their way out of town when a storm and resulting computer
glitch swaps their luggage. We thought we’d each share an interesting tidbit
about the settings in our travel-themed collection that planted the seed for
our individual stories.
DIANE:
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Because
my Mad for Mod series features a character who has modeled her life, style, and
business after Doris Day movies, when it came time to send her out of town, it
was natural to send her to Carmel-by-the-Sea, the town where Doris Day resides.
(Sorry the photo isn’t from the interior of her hotel; I was too afraid of
looking like a tourist had she popped around a corner!) I’ve always thought a
tourist town would make a good backdrop for a mystery, because it would be easy
for criminals to go unnoticed. Once I decided to make this a prequel, I knew I
could play around with the breakup that’s hinted at in Pillow Stalk, and lay
the groundwork for the life Madison is about to begin in Dallas, Texas.
KENDEL:
Little Oak, Texas
As
a recent Texas transplant, the volume of shopping and restaurants in Dallas
truly astounded me. It’s a dazzling mecca of glitzy shops, posh boutiques, and
mega gallerias, plus a zillion eateries, from saucy BBQ joints and smoky
steakhouses to buttery bistros and creamy guacamole on every patio. I’ve never
seen anything like it, and I’m from LA, so that’s saying something. But drive
just outside the metro area, in any direction, and flat lands stretch out for
miles. Ranch fencing follows the landscape and round hay bales line up in rows.
Always in the distance, a cluster of small houses sits tucked behind a copse of
lonely trees. It’s calm and glorious and I always wondered what life might be
like for those folks, living in the big state of Texas, yet in a land all their
own. And naturally, I just assumed someone would end up dead.
GIGI:
Edinburgh, Scotland
I
spent some time in Scotland as a kid, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival made a
big impression on me. The event is the largest performing arts festival in the
world, because everyone is welcome to perform (as long as you can afford the
venue and registration fees). Most of the shows are theater and comedy acts,
but other performing arts are featured as well. Because the shows don’t go
through a selection committee, the quality may vary; but lots of them are
fantastic, and many famous actors have performed there in the past, including
Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and members of Monty Python. Edinburgh
is such a mysterious city to begin with—it has an old castle looming above the
center of the city and small medieval alleyways branching off the most modern
of streets. With all the added crowds and commotion during the festival, I
thought it would be a great backdrop for a locked-room mystery.
We
came up with the idea for this collection of novellas after we’d been critique
partners, reading each other’s draft mystery novels and learning that we liked
each other’s work. It occurred to us that our characters would get along, and
also that if a reader liked one of our mysteries, they’d probably like the
other two. But since our characters are based in different cities, how could their
lives intersect? When we realized they all had good reasons to have the same
vintage suitcase, the rest fell into place. It was a lot of fun to weave the
contents of their mixed-up suitcases into each of our stories.
