A
Different Point of View
By
Cathy Perkins
When
I was young, if you’d asked me for the last place I’d expect—or
want—to live, my answer would’ve been, “In a small town.”
Small towns seemed to be cultural wastelands, populated by gossiping
neighbors who were all related to each other. And out west? That
option never entered my Southern soul.
Fast
forward a few years and dangle the right job opportunity at the right
time and—you got it in one—we moved to a small town in eastern
Washington state. We quickly discovered most of those myths about
small towns were simply…myths.
As
we settled into our new hometown, I debated whether my novels should
make a similar cross-country leap. My South Carolina based mysteries
featured a law enforcement protagonist. To get appropriate
operational procedures, along with cop attitudes and humor, I drew
from a circle of friends at various levels of local, state and
federal law enforcement. Curious about procedures in our new town, I
participated in the Citizen’s Police Academy and discovered most of
the same policies and philosophies I’d encountered back east. (I
also learned more than I ever wanted to know about making meth. Nasty
nasty
stuff.)
Volunteering
for the Sexual Assault Center as a hospital victim’s advocate
provided an intimate view of law enforcement. Other than one cocky,
testosterone-laden patrol officer and another older guy I wanted to
strangle (except that would be assault and I really had no interest
in going to jail), I found the officers professional, well educated
and well trained. Nobody’s perfect, but I appreciated what these
men and women did on a daily basis.
And
those inevitable slow days in a small town? Well, let’s just say
the day my in-law’s moving van got stuck at the entrance to the
retirement village (blocking traffic on the main road—another
relative term), all four patrol cars PLUS the sergeant showed up.
Once they finished laughing, they helped a retired mechanic (who was
in heaven being the expert, by the way) do something to a suspension
part and un-stuck it. For some strange reason, the chief of police
was not amused when I relayed this story at a party… So far, I’ve
refrained from using this tidbit in a book.
With
only five patrol officers on duty during a shift (and fewer than this
in the even smaller nearby towns) reciprocal agreements were a must.
Neighboring cities, counties, even Washington State Patrol was a
welcome addition when suspects took to the highways to escape. I made
use of this mutual support during Holly Price’s carjacking in So
About the Money (Book
1 in the series). In addition to the local officers, county deputies
and state patrol officers joined the chase to catch the villains in
that scene. On a broader scale, I’ve used the involvement of
outside agencies—the DEA, for example, in In
It For The Money—to
work with—and against—the local law enforcement agencies.
I’d
better back up a second. For this series, along with changing
locations from South Carolina’s cities to a small town in eastern
Washington, I switched from a multiple (hero, heroine, villain) point
of view approach and a law enforcement main character, to a single,
civilian character. Whew! Talk about stretching and growing as an
author. Everything that happened in the story had to come through
that one character’s experiences and reactions. (And no cheating
with, “Well, Laurie, as you know, this thing you should already
know about happened, but let me give you the complete backstory.”)
Action and body language became as important as dialogue for
revealing character—but that’s a different discussion.
Rather
than having my new protagonist act as a private investigator or a
journalist working the crime beat, I made my heroine an accountant.
Curious, bright and loyal to friends and family (hmm, she’s much
better at crime solving than my dog) she made a terrific character to
“follow the money.” Of course, when you poke at villains, they
have a tendency to poke back, harder. It was fun to write the scenes
where Holly bumped up against law enforcement and filter the scene
through her impressions—her point of view—rather than another
cop’s.
My
new law enforcement friends did insist I get the details right. Even
if they produced giant eye-rolls from my heroine.
So
About the Money romps
through eastern Washington with its rivers, wineries, Native American
casinos, and assorted farm animals. Add in some wicked fun chemistry
between the CPA amateur sleuth and a local detective and Holly Price
better solve the case before the next dead body found beside the
river is hers.
In
It For The Money
continues Holly’s adventures:
Holly Price traded
professional goals for personal plans when she agreed to leave her
high-flying position with the Seattle Mergers and Acquisition team
and take over the family accounting practice. Reunited with JC
Dimitrak, her former fiancé, she’s already questioning whether
she’s ready to flip her condo for marriage and a house in the
‘burbs.
When her cousin Tate
needs investors for his innovative car suspension, Holly works her
business matchmaking skills and connects him with a client. The
Rockcrawler showcasing the new part crashes at its debut event,
however, and the driver dies. Framed for the sabotage, Tate turns to
Holly when the local cops—including JC—are ready to haul him to
jail. Holly soon finds her cousin and client embroiled in multiple
criminal schemes. She’s drawn into the investigation, a position
that threatens her life, her family and her increasingly shaky
relationship with JC.
Links
Amazon:
http://bit.ly/In_It_ForTheMoney
Thanks
for letting me visit today, PJ! I invite your readers to head over to
my blog and read your #mysteryexchange post about the story behind
The Marquesa's
Necklace, The Oak
Grove Mysteries, Book 1.
https://cperkinswrites.com/2018/07/paranormal-transformation/
Author
Bio
An
award-winning author of financial mysteries, Cathy Perkins writes
twisting dark suspense and light amateur sleuth stories. When
not writing, she battles with the beavers over the pond height or
heads out on another travel adventure. She lives in Washington with
her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd. Learn
more at her website, http://cperkinswrites.com.
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