The Mystery Starts Here

I know, I know – I’m reviewing a lot of novels lately. Well, it’s summer, there’s nothing to watch on television. I keep checking the new movies out and….nothing appeals! Libraries on the other hand are just chocked full of wonderful, interesting FREE books and I love to read.

Okay, down to business. I read the blurb on “South of Hell,” snatched it off the shelf and brought it home because it was different. Louis Kincaid, a P.I. in Florida receives a call from Jake Shockley, a police detective working cold cases in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Kincaid grew up and was a cop at one time. Shockley asks Kincaid to fly back to Michigan and help him with a cold case and tells him the police will pay his expenses. Kincaid jumps at the chance because his girlfriend lives in Michigan. Now, this is a series character and I this book is in the middle but…I didn’t get lost and the author didn’t put in a lot of boring back story about previous cases.

When Kincaid arrives in Ann Arbor, he finds out that Shockley wants him to help manufacturer evidence on the cold case so he can obtain a search warrant. Of course Kincaid refuses. I don’t want to go into too much detail but we find out with Kincaid that Shockley was having an affair with the missing woman, is still in love with her and is going crazy trying to find her …. or her body.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this story. Missing bodies, past life regression, the old slave underground railroad – enough to keep you turning pages long into the night. Two things bothered me a bit about the book. We find out fairly early that Louis Kincaid is black and his girlfriend, Joe is white. No biggie but I never believed Kincaid was black and I really cannot tell you why. It just didn’t track to the point that I looked up the author and went to the website. Turns out Parrish is really two white sisters. Now, I’ve written black characters into my books but I’d never have the audacity to make a main character black. I don’t know why the sisters decided this for his ethnicity but perhaps it’s explained in earlier books. I’ll try to go to the beginning and read more because I did enjoy this book, but never bought that Louis was black. I didn’t believe it for a minute. The second thing that bothered me was Kincaid’s girlfriend’s name – JOE! Huh? I’ve never seen a female character named Joe! It’s usually Jo! Joe is male – always. Maybe be a quirk of mine (Yeah, I know, I have a lot) but every time JOE was mentioned, it’s stopped me reading. As a writer, you never want to do that – never.

At the end of “South of Hell,” all the loose ends are tied up, there are many parallel surprises and I have to say I really enjoyed the book. Yup, these characters are worth reading about. What do you think? 

If you’re a writer, not only of mysteries, but any form of fiction, "The Timetables of History" by Bernard Grum, would be a fabulous addition to the reference section of your library. This fat tome has snippets of life starting at -5000 and up to the 1900 that are fascinating. I have the Third Revised Edition, so I’m sure the book has been updated and revised since then. The book is divided into six sections: history/politics, literature/theater, religion/philosophy/learning, visual arts, music, science/technology/growth, and daily life.

I’m currently noodling a book set in the 1980’s in Florida. I looked up 1985 and found out that was the first time the Titanic was photographed by a remote controlled camera, divers found the wreck of the Atocha a Spanish galleon that sank off the coast of Florida in 1622 with 400 billion dollars worth of treasure and that there was an earthquake in Mexico city that killed 7000. Now, I may not use any of that information, but I might. In any event, it was fun reading.

Say you’re writing a historical mystery set in 1920. You might want to work into the plot that F. Scott Fitzgerald published "This Side of Paradise" that year. Or, perhaps that Babe Ruth was sold by the Red Socks to the Yankee for $125,000. Neat, huh? Sprinkling your novel with a few concrete facts makes your work not only interesting but richer and more authentic. You’re readers will know you took the time to research the time period you’re writing about. I love to learn facts while reading fiction and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

You might be writing a romance set in 1191 Japan. You’ll definitely want to know that tea arrived from China in that year. Or how about this; U.S. copyright laws were amended in 1831: 28 years, renewable for 14 years. Of course you don’t want to simply plop facts into your text. By looking up what happened in the year or years you’re writing about can be a jumping off point, a place to start doing more defined research. And these facts might spark plot ideas or personality traits for characters.

The Timetables of History isn’t a book you’ll sit down and read and you may not use it often, but believe me it will be an invaluable addition to your reference library.