Foster Park |
Sheila Webster Boneham writes
fiction and non-fiction, much of it focused on animals, nature, and
travel. Drop Dead on Recall won the 2013 Maxwell Award for Best Fiction Book from the Dog Writers
Association of American and was named a Top
Ten Dog Book of 2012 by NBC Petside. Sheila’s non-fiction books have
been named best in their categories in the Dog Writers Association of America
(DWAA) and the Cat Writers Association (CWA) annual competitions, and her
book Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome
Companion Animals has been called a "must read" for anyone
involved with animal rescue. Learn more about Sheila and her books at her blog
and website.
Fort Wayne and Northern Indiana
Setting is
an essential part of many works of fiction. Some settings are important enough
to be regarded as "characters" of a sort – Tony Hillerman’s Four
Corners area, John Connolly’s Maine, J.A. Jance’s Arizona and Seattle, Carl
Hiassen’s Florida –I could go on for pages!
In my own
Animals in Focus mystery series, animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her
Australian Shepherd Jay, and her orange tabby Leo, spend their time in and
around Fort Wayne and other parts of northern Indiana. I chose the area partly
because I grew up there and know it well, and partly because it is a beautiful
part of the country that often gets short shrift from outsiders who think all
of Indiana is the fairly flat stretch of farmland from just west of Toledo to
just east of Chicago.
Maumee River |
To dispel
the "nothing but corn, beans, and steel mills" stereotype, I send
Janet to the lakes, rivers, forests, and ravines of the state as well as the
cities, small towns, and occasional quirky attractions. (Seriously, have you
ever been to a pickle festival? There’s one every summer just up the road in
the little town of St. Joe.) Lake Michigan is a couple of hours to the
northwest of Fort Wayne, and smaller lakes are scattered all across the
northern part of the state. It is true that much of Indiana is flat to rolling
farmland, but there are also deep ravines to hike and slow, brown rivers to
row.
Janet and
her friends also get around her hometown a lot, and for a medium size city,
Fort Wayne has a lot to offer. One of Janet’s (and my!) favorite places is the
River Greenway, a terrific walking and biking trail that runs for twenty-five
miles through the heart of the city and beyond, following the St. Josesph’s,
St. Mary’s, and Maumee Rivers. The Three Rivers Festival and Johnny Appleseed
Festival are just two of the many annual events that liven up life in Fort
Wayne when there’s no murder to solve, and when she needs a break, Janet heads
for one of the city parks or a local small business like The Firefly Coffee
House and The Cookie Cottage (real places and worth a visit!)
Janet would
love to show you around next time you’re in northern Indiana!
Catwalk
Animal photographer Janet
MacPhail is training for her cat Leo’s first feline agility trial when she gets
a frantic call about a “cat-napping.” When Janet and her Australian Shepherd
Jay set out to track down the missing kitty, they quickly find themselves drawn
into the volatile politics of feral cat colonies, endangered wetlands, and a
belligerent big-shot land developer. Janet is crazy busy trying to keep up with
her mom’s nursing-home romance, her own relationship with Tom and his Labrador
Retriever Drake, and upcoming agility trials with Jay and Leo. But when a body
is discovered on the canine competition course, it stops the participants dead
in their tracks—and sets Janet on the trail of a killer.
Buy Links
ebook
3 comments:
Thanks for having me today, Lois. Always nice to visit with you and Anastasia!
Indiana looks amazing. I haven't seen much of the US but this is obviously the place to go.
Nina Milton
Hi Sheila, I lived in Ft. Wayne for five years back in the late '80s-early '90s. I'm sure it's all different now. I remember the Dusenberg Festival in next door Auburn. No. Ind. is also Amish county and on the back roads I occasionally saw a horse-and-buggy. But the winters can be brutal!
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