I’m in the process of
creating a protagonist for a new humorous mystery series, called
Persephone
Cole And Halloween: Colder Than A Witch’s Mitt.
Getting to know a person — even a fictitious one — takes time,
thought, energy, trial and error. Sometimes they get pissed off and
you don’t know why. Sometimes they laugh when you think they should
cry. You thought they’d like bagels in the morning but they don’t.
A living, breathing character, even one on paper, has a will of his
or her own. It’s maddening.
It brings to mind the latest of
the Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, Death Runs in the Family, which
came out last week. One of the central characters takes off for Rio
de Janeiro, just like that, out of the blue. I mean, excuse me? I
don’t know anything about Rio de Janeiro. I’ve never been to Rio
de Janeiro. I’m sure it’s a terrific place, but come on; I’ve
got a novel to write. Then this character has the effrontery to park
herself in Ipanema, a fancy schmancy beachside community, and at a
pretty posh place. What now? So I did scads of research, which took
me weeks and weeks, cursing the day this character was born, even
though I birthed her. Some kids are really ungrateful.
Thank Gawd, Lee Alvarez, the protagonist for
the Alvarez Family series, has never betrayed me like this…yet. I’m
waiting. I need to be careful. Every now and then Lee does something
I’m not expecting her to do. She isn’t your typical protagonist
and it’s starting to worry me. She’s funny, impulsive, smart,
talented, loves dancing, handbags and a good joke. She knows her own
worth, but has moments of self-doubt. She also has a mind of her own.
These are all recipes for danger for the wretched author.
Agatha Christie hated Hercule Poirot. She
wanted to dump him like crazy, unwrite him, banish him. She was sick
and tired of him going his way when she wanted him to go hers. Like
Arthur Conan Doyle, she even killed him off. But Holmes came back
four years later and I suspect Poirot is wandering around London
searching for an unsuspecting author to give him voice. I say, be
careful England’s writers. Avoid any egg-shaped little guy with a
mustache.
But back to me and my characters. I keep
creating these strong women with minds of their own who breathe
disdain for anyone who tells them what to do. Pity this poor
novelist. I’m in for it, I can tell.
Death Runs in the Family Blurb
Lee Alvarez’ ex-husband, Nick -- a
man she divorced with joy in her heart and a gun in her hand –
sprints back in her life only to disappear again. She’d love to
leave it at that, but could he be responsible for the recent death of
her cousin, who keeled over at the finish line of a half-marathon in
front of hundreds of spectators? As PI for the family run business,
Discretionary Inquiries, Lee follows the clues to Vegas, where she
joins forces with Shoshone PI, Flint Tall Trees. Together they
uncover a multi-million dollar betting syndicate, a tacky lounge
lizard act, and a list of past but very dead runners, plus future
ones to off. At the top of the ‘future’ list is the love of her
life, Gurn Hanson. Hoping to force the culprits out in the open, Gurn
and Lee’s brother, Richard, vow to run San Francisco’s famous
Palace to Palace footrace in only a few days. Can Lee keep the two
men she loves from hitting the finish line as dead as her cousin?
With more at stake than she ever dreamed possible, Lee is in a battle
against time to stop the Alvarez Family’s 12K race with death.
Buy page for Death Runs in the Family:
http://tinyurl.com/87fbjn3
Heather's
blog at: http://tinyurl.com/4nensnp
Twitter@HeatherHaven
Twitter@PILeeAlvarez
