The Midas Murders - How the story emerged

As usual, one autographed copy of The Midas Murders will be given away. The winner will be announced on Monday especially it they leave me a way to reach them.

A number of years ago I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico with my husband and fell in love with the town. I spent hours wandering around the area near the motel. The conference was geared to learning and to visiting places of interest since all the lectures were in the morning and the afternoons left us free to explore. I gathered material from every source I could find and made a few purchases of odd and interesting things. I always thought I'd like to put the town in a book, but at the time nothing came to mind. I was working on other stories so all the material I'd collected remained in a folder.

Time came for another Katherine Miller mystery and I looked over the first two books and discovered her friend Lars lived part-time in Santa Fe. I'd sent him there before I made my visit. Had one of those aha moments and then began to think of how I could send Katherine ot Santa Fe. Lars came to the rescue by inviting her for New Year's Eve. She was feeling guilty bout the murders at St. Stephen's and wanted to get away. She accepted his invitation and took along a Maine Coon kitten for Lars' only granddaughter, a child who had lost her mother in an automobile accident not long before. To my surprise Katherine arrived in Santa Fe to find Lars missing. When he emerges the mystery began.

So how was Santa Fe woven into the mystery. Kars took her on a sight seeing expedition to visit some of the places I'd enjoyed and to stay at the hotel wher my husband and I stayed. As the mystery thickened Katherine must face Lars' only daughter who is possessive of her father. I was able to put in many of the places I'd seen and loved, houses I'd visited and several I'd made up. I was also able to move the relationship between Katherine and Lars toward a future marriage. Writing about Katherine is always fun and never knowing what murders she might encounter is always fun.

One thing I learned here is when visiting a new setting to gather material because you will never know when a story falls into that location.