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Featured Author -
April 2006
Sue Henry |
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Featured Author -
April 2006
Sue Henry |
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When I started my first mystery my mental image of a writer was pretty much a solitary person who spent hours at a computer putting word after word onto page after page.
After that came TERMINATION DUST, based not only in Klondike gold rush territory, but also back in time to 1898, which required much historical digging and a couple of 3,000 mile trips in a pickup with a small camper on its back to reach and follow the route from Skagway to the gold fields of Dawson City.
Soon, for each book, I was spending almost as much time in archives and on the road as I was at the computer. A friend with a small plane helped me scout out the location for SLEEPING LADY. I was invited along on the commemorative Ton of Gold run from Skagway to Seattle on the Spirit of ’98, the trip on the ship I used in DEATH TAKES PASSAGE. Several days were spent alone on an island in Kachemak Bay for DEADFALL. It was back to the Klondike and 150 miles east of Fairbanks for MURDER ON THE YUKON QUEST, where I stood on the banks of the frozen Yukon River to watch sled dog racers come off the ice at 2 a.m. at 40 below zero.
And so it went.
When I decided to write a mystery based along the Alaska Highway, and bought a Winnebago motor home in which to do the research, I didn’t realize that the four 3,000 mile trips I made between Anchorage and the Lower Forty-eight would be life changing experiences. Nor, when I wrote them into DEAD NORTH with Jessie Arnold, did I anticipate the popularity of senior citizen, Maxie McNabb, and her mini-dachshund, Stretch, who also traveled in a motor home.
Thus a spin-off series was born. In between books that continue the original series with Alex and Jessie (COLD COMPANY, DEATH TRAP, and MURDER AT FIVE FINGER LIGHT, I have completed two Maxie and Stretch books, THE SERPENTS TRAIL and THE TOOTH OF TIME (forthcoming this month), based respectively in Grand Junction, Colorado, and Taos, New Mexico.
This new series has (to the delight of my publisher) garnered mentions and reviews in Motor Home Magazine, online Rving newsletters, and television shows, and come to the attention of those who travel in motor homes.
After Malice Domestic last year, in a Minnie Winnie built for the trip by Winnebago and sponsored by RVIA (the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association), I spent most of May and June driving myself from Washington D.C. to Colorado, promoting RVing and my books in nine states through interviews for television and print.
I am currently writing a third Maxie and Stretch mystery, THE REFUGE. Who knew you could rent motor homes in Hawaii?
So you never know where writing mysteries will take you. And over the years I have learned that writing is not necessarily the solitary occupation I originally envisioned.
And the best part?
I get to go and do the research--wherever Maxie and I (or Alex and Jessie) choose to visit.
Learn more about Sue and her books at http://www.mysterynet.com/suehenry/author.shtml
Mugshot Archives
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That changed when I realized how much research would be necessary in order to write MURDER ON THE IDITAROD TRAIL. So I dressed in my cold weather gear and followed the famous sled dog race to Nome (in planes, not behind a team of dogs), before going home to incorporate the first hand material into my book as I created racer Jessie Arnold with her lead dog, Tank, and Alex Jensen, Alaska State Trooper.