(Sherlock and Me series)
Cozy mystery
Date Published: March 2019
Super sleuth Lucy James is hired to find the Colt pistol that may have belonged to Billy the Kid. Hampered by dishonest weapon experts, a pawnshop murder and unusual architecture at a downtown casino, her investigation is rocky at best. A massive snowstorm has blanketed Reno leaving Lucy to slog her way to interviews with uncooperative witnesses. Her father’s abrupt firing from his job as the host of a local children’s television show and the impending marriage between her best friend Cindy Floyd and her detective fiancé Skip Callahan grab chunks of Lucy’s fleeting attention. But she is determined to find the missing gun before the next snowstorm even though she on and off relationship with handsome professor Eric Schultz is off again. With sheer tenacity and a pair of thick snow boots, Lucy muscles through to the mystery’s resolution. It isn’t easy but the mystery and murder never are.
Interview
If You had the chance to cast your main character from Hollywood today, who would you pick and why?
If
I had the chance to cast my main character from actresses in Hollywood today, I
would choose Shailene Woodley. The first time I saw her was in The Descendants playing George Clooney’s
rebellious daughter. She was also memorable in Big Little Lies opposite a host of other talented actresses. She
has the ability to play different kinds of characters.
My
protagonist in The Case of Billy’s
Missing Gun is Lucy James in her fourth performance as a private
investigator working against the odds to solve another case. This time her
challenges include the weather, her father’s abrupt firing as the host of a
local children’s television show and her best friend Cindy’s Christmas Eve
wedding, to say nothing of trying to find a gun that may have belonged to Billy
the Kid, a famous outlaw from the Wild West.
I
can visualize Shailene as Lucy slogging through snowy streets in winter boots
that are falling apart. I can see her dismay when trying to help a father who
means more than mere comic relief. Shailene’s Lucy would have sad moments
thinking she’s about to lose her best friend and she would be a tenacious
fighter when stuck in an underground tunnel collapsing all around her.
It
might be fun to have Lily Collins playing Cindy, Lucy’s roommate. There have
been times when the antics of Lucy and Cindy resembled Lucy and Ethel from the
old television show, I Love Lucy. With
Lucy’s spider phobia and Cindy’s fear of crowds, many episodes would indeed
leave us laughing.
Where
do you get your ideas for your books?
I
wish I knew.
How’s
that for an honest answer?
People
have been asking me where I get my ideas for as long as I have been
writing—probably a decade or more by now—and I’m stumped every time the subject
comes up. It’s not like I twirl my mustache and a villain comes to mind when
the sweet damsel in distress in my budding story is a mere fleeting thought.
The
author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) had a shed out in his back yard as a
place for writing and where he allowed no communication or distraction of any
kind. Maybe his ideas came from counting the shed’s planks.
I
read that Agatha Christie was a gardener all her life. Her home had acres of
gardens with unique plants of many varieties. Interestingly, many of her plots
included plant-based poisons such as cyanide and hemlock.
Since
Crichton was a doctor and Christie was a gardener, it made sense that many of
their ideas came from their professions.
Not
so with me. My profession as an English teacher lent itself to using the skills
I taught, but I can’t say teaching high school kids gave me lots of great plot lines.
As I look back at my catalog of titles, I might venture a guess about where I
got these ideas. I am an unabashed romantic and have loved romance novels for
as long as I can remember. Thoughts of sadness and happiness, redemption and second
chances are woven into my western romances while focusing on the relationships
of men and women I’ve met during my lifetime.
I
also enjoy writing mysteries. Having been an avid reader of Sue Grafton’s
gritty dramas, I’ve tried my hand but with a softer touch since cozies are more
my speed. The stories of Lucy James are spiced with a few of my life events but
are not autobiographical. Not too much anyway.
The
two historical fiction novels I’ve written were inspired by the wartime
experiences of my cousin, one of the first women in the CIA. The origin of
these books came when talking to my family at a reunion and hearing stories of
some of her exploits.
So
it occurred to me while writing an answer to this interview question that ideas
for stories can come out of anywhere—a garden, a shed, a closet, a reunion,
walking down the street minding my own business or becoming involved in the
personal life of a friend. Stories are in the air floating above me just
waiting to be grabbed and explored.
Gotta
go. Here comes another and it’s too juicy to pass up.
About the Author
SJ SLAGLE started her writing career as a language arts teacher. Her initial interest was children’s stories, but she moved on to western romance, mysteries, and historical fiction. She has published 24 novels, both independent and contract. SJ contributes regularly to guest blogs and has her own blog called anauthorsworld.com in which she discusses the research involved in the books she writes. SJ has established Twitter and Facebook fan bases, a quarterly author newsletter and a website under her pseudonym: JEANNE HARRELL at jeanneharrell.com.
Her first historical fiction novel, LONDON SPIES, was awarded a B.R.A.G. Medallion in 2018 and Slagle was a finalist in the 2017 UK Independent Book Awards. She was given the Silver Award with the International Independent Film Awards for her screenplay called REDEMPTION. SJ conducts writing/publishing symposiums in her local area. OSLO SPIES, her second historical fiction novel will be published in September. She lives and works in Reno, Nevada.
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thanks for hosting
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