I am always pushing myself to get better at my writing. One day I came across the term ‘cozy mystery’. I had never heard this before. It means basically a rated PG mystery, where if there is a murder, it happens off the page and there are no gory details. The main character is usually an amateur sleuth and solves the mystery with little to no help from law enforcement. Many cozy mysteries take place in small towns and have a theme, like a quilting club, or a bookstore, or a coffee shop, as the main character’s business.
Some of my favorite cozy mystery authors are Diane Mott Davidson, who’s main character Goldy Schultz is a caterer, and Nancy Atherton’s series about a small village in the Cotswold area of England. I also enjoy the Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun.
So, I decided to try my hand at writing a cozy mystery. The result was Family Collateral, about a college student who solves a 100-year-old mystery involving the death of a young boy. In my mind, it bridges both mystery and historical fiction. I based it on the county where I lived and included many places that actually exist. Which brings me to the research I had to do in order to write this book. Here are eight things I had to learn about in order to write Family Collateral.
- Linn Grove Cemetery – this historic place is huge. I took a field trip out there and wandered around for a whole afternoon. I love cemeteries (weird, I know). The organization of the sections and the digital ‘find a grave’ system were new to me. I studied headstones and obelisks to find ones that would work for the people in my story. I found strange symbols on some and found out they belonged to different organizations. One had an airplane engraved on it, inspiring the stethoscope I put on Dr. Greer’s headstone. For little Charlie, I saw one that was very worn, but the outline and bumps of a lamb could still be seen.
- Museum archives – since Alfie spends a lot of time helping Shannon Allen organize collections, I had to learn how they look, what they do, and their systems for cataloging the items. As a history buff, I would love the opportunity to do this!
- Cold case files – I was able to use the internet to see what case files from the 1930s looked like. The ones I used in my book are based on the ones for Bonnie and Clyde.
- Baseball cards – It is amazing the variety of baseball cards that are out there from the 1920s. The card in the book actually exists and really is worth over $100,000! It is amazing how something so small and simple from a pack of bubble gum could become so collectable. Originally, I was going to use either dog tags or sports medals for the memorabilia.
- Criminals of Weld County – I needed an exhibit at the museum that would allow me to put the victim where Alfie would encounter him, so I thought that a ‘Bad Boys of Weld County’ exhibit would work. The centerpiece of the exhibit is a hanging tree. There was only one hanging in Greeley – W.D. French. He was a bully who pushed the citizens to the breaking point and when a shop owner was killed, everyone knew he had done it. A piece of the rope used by the vigilantes is in the museum!
- Court system – My sister is a lawyer and she helped me with court proceedings and some behind the court happenings for Alfie’s internship. I learned that there is a ‘style book’ for writing briefs to keep things uniform.
- Antique furniture – This one was so much fun. The craftsmanship is amazing! My father was an exceptional woodworker, too, and used a lot of old techniques, like using wooden pins instead of nails and screws.
- Shady characters – When I began this project, I had wanted it to be about the stage road that went across northern Colorado and maybe a robbery. I learned about people like Lord Ogilvy from Scotland who was a wealthy land owner and sheep farmer. One that really stands out is Jack Slade. He was the station master at Virginia Dale (named after his buxom wife), north of Ft. Collins. He was a mean drunk and extremely vengeful. Maybe he’ll make an appearance in a future story.
I could keep going! In fact, I am currently writing the second book in the Alfie Pine series. I am centering this one around the African-American colony of Dearfield. Maybe I’ll do a top 8 post about that one.