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by Saralyn Richard

 

The five books I’ve written have three distinct settings, all different, all places that I know and love. The two books in the Detective Parrott mystery series take place in Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania. I have family members who live there, and I’ve been privileged to visit many times. A paradise for equestrians, artists, and nature-lovers, this is a landscape filled with wide, beautiful, and peaceful vistas. Country mansions, old-fashioned bank barns, horse stables, and wildlife abound, and many of the people who live and work there are healthy, wealthy, resilient, and independent. Brandywine is the last place you’d expect a crime to take place, so when outsider, Detective Oliver Parrott, shows up to investigate deaths or thefts or other crimes, he has an uphill battle.

            Along the way, the books take readers to many of the unique attractions of Brandywine Valley, including Longwood Gardens, The Brandywine River Museum of Fine Arts, Kennett Square, incomparable horse trails, and outstanding restaurants. Many readers have enjoyed these glimpses so much that they have traveled to the area to experience it for themselves.

            By contrast, the stand-alone mystery, A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL, is set in a far different universe—the urban high school. Aside from the differences of outdoor-indoor, wealthy-disadvantaged milieus, the worlds depicted in these novels contain similar types of tension and drama. The urban high school is a familiar and much beloved setting for me, since I spent many years as a teacher, administrator, and school improvement consultant there. In this book, readers are treated to an administrator’s view of the principal’s office, the teacher’s lounge, the cafeteria, the football field, and the auditorium—a million stories beyond the flagpole.

            A third beloved setting is a coastal island, where the closeness of the community and the intensity of the summer temperature can be sometimes comforting and sometimes oppressive. My children’s book, NAUGHTY NANA, and my newest adult mystery novel, BAD BLOOD SISTERS, are situated there. Having been born and raised on such an island, I’ve enjoyed sharing the various sights, sounds, and smells of this setting, and placing my protagonists there.

            Much has been written about the importance of setting in a work of fiction. Sometimes the setting is mere wallpaper, and other times setting is as important as a character in telling the story. When I read novels, I learn from and enjoy the settings. It’s hard to imagine GONE WITH THE WIND apart from the South during the Civil War, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE without the African Congo, or TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in any other location besides the fictional Maycomb, Alabama.

            As I write, I cannot separate the setting from the plot or characters, and I hope my readers sense how integral the setting is to the story.

            How about you? When you read a wonderful book, how important is the setting?

 

Saralyn Richard’s award-winning humor- and romance-tinged mysteries and children's book pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools. Saralyn’s most recent release is Bad Blood Sisters. A member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative writing and literature at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and continues to write mysteries. Her favorite thing about being an author is interacting with readers like you. Visit Saralyn here, on her Amazon page here, or on Facebook here.

 

           

 

’Tis the Season for Food, Food, Food

by Saralyn Richard

Holidays and food have a symbiotic relationship. You can’t have one without the other. The same can be said for mysteries and food, at least in the two Detective Parrott mysteries, Murder in the One Percent and A Palette for Love and Murder.

 

The former begins with a December birthday weekend retreat at a country mansion in the lush Brandywine Valley. The guests indulge in a gourmet dinner consisting of nine courses and wine pairings. The menu for this elegant party is stunning. It’s one of the elements readers remember most about the book, and several book clubs have replicated the menu to add authenticity to their book discussions.

A Palette for Love and Murder is set on and around Thanksgiving. Local favorites are included on the menu, and throughout the book. All of the characters, whether they are part of the wealthiest one percent or the people who serve them, consume interesting and delicious meals. To give you a hint, do mushroom-barley soup or pumpple cake from the Flying Monkey Bakery tickle your fancy?

 

If you’re watching your diet, don’t worry. Reading mysteries burns calories. Sitting on the edge of your seat and reading those heart-thumping scenes will take care of whatever snacking you might do while reading. And turning pages into the night helps, too.

 

The Detective Parrott mysteries are temporarily unavailable on Amazon, but can be purchased online at http://murderintheonepercent.com on the bookstore page.

Saralyn Richard is the author of the Detective Parrott Mystery Series, as well as A Murder of Principal and the upcoming release, Bad Blood Sisters. A member of the Author Talk Network, Saralyn enjoys meeting with readers through book clubs, organization meetings, and other speaking engagements. Join her next Tuesday at 5 pm Central for the Facebook Live event, Cooking with Blackbirds. And if cooking is your thing, grab the pdf booklet, Epicurean Feasts, featuring the dishes from the gourmet dinner party in Murder in the One Percent. All you need to do is sign up for Saralyn’s monthly newsletter to receive this and other special offers. Subscribe at http://saralynrichard.com.