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Today we're joined by Barbara Cantwell, one half of the husband/wife writing team of B.B.
Cantwell, to talk about the inspiration behind their Portland Bookmobile Mystery Series. Barbara worked in
libraries most of her life (including the Portland bookmobile) and Brian was a
newspaper journalist, concluding his career as an editor at The Seattle Times.
They retired in 2018 to a remote outpost of Washington's San Juan Islands, where they share a cabin with their two cats and
continue to write. Learn more about them and their books at their website
and blog.
Murdermobile, my story of murder and mayhem aboard the Portland,
Oregon bookmobile, grew out of my real-life service as that city’s bookmobile
librarian. The murder itself is fictional, but I had some personal motive. Let
me explain!
When I had just moved to
Portland, Multnomah County Library’s bookmobile job was my second job interview.
I had trouble finding the bookmobile’s base, hidden away in a Portland
neighborhood. The large, unprepossessing barn of a building did not look like a
library. But hidden inside were two very large, chartreuse-colored bookmobiles,
a small office, and many book stacks. It seemed like a good setting for secrets
and intrigue.
I interviewed and was hired
for the best job I'd ever had (or would have again). Working on the bookmobile
was a delight. I customized the collection of books we carried on each day’s
run to suit the familiar patrons I knew would be waiting, and I also ensured we
had an eclectic mix of books for any newcomers. I enjoyed every day of that
job, for more than two years on runs that extended as far as the Columbia River
Gorge National Scenic Area.
Then, the director of the
library ended the bookmobile service, saying it was too old-fashioned.
I decided she had to go. So
I killed her… or rather, I killed the cantankerous former head librarian of the
fictional Portland City Library in my murder mystery.
In Murdermobile (spoiler
alert), librarian Hester McGarrigle discovers the woman’s bludgeoned body in
the bookmobile’s back cupboard. I include a number of insider library details.
For example, the bookmobile’s Instie Circ machine, which plays a key role in
the story, was my name for the terrible first-generation laptop we used to
process checkouts and returns. (As in the book, it did regularly “eat” our
day's data.) I changed the color of the bookmobile from chartreuse to magenta
and invented eccentric library patrons. The story’s dramatic finish takes place
on a storm-wracked promontory high above the scenic Columbia River.
I got a bit stuck in trying
to finish the book while working fulltime and having a family, so my journalist
husband, Brian, lent a hand. He enjoyed the story as I wrote it and offered up
great bits to add. He also helped immensely in making police detective Nate
Darrow seem more authentic. And his editing skills came in handy. In the end,
our collaboration made it an easy decision to publish under the pen name of
B.B. Cantwell – “B.B.” for Barbara and Brian.
We published through Amazon,
and the book did quite well for a first effort. With our second book, Murdermobile
2: Corpse of Discovery, Brian was in from the start as we crafted a
storyline weaving murder, outdoor adventure and quirky Northwest history. We’re
now collaborating on the third book in our Portland Bookmobile Mystery Series.
Murdermobile
A Portland Bookmobile Mystery, Book 1
It’s pre-“Portlandia” Portland,
when bookmobiles still roamed the Earth. When the retired head librarian is
found dead in the City Library’s bookmobile, it’s no longer business as usual
for fiery-haired librarian-on-wheels Hester Freelove McGarrigle. Does the
murder have something to do with the wacko book-banning group with which the
old woman was entangled? It’s up to Hester and her dishy, trail-running, pizza-obsessed
neighbor Detective Nate Darrow to chase clues all over Oregon’s quirky Rose
City. Their mutual connection with Nathaniel Hawthorne, along with Hester’s
upchucking Maine Coon cat, build the romantic fizz in this cozy mystery spiked
with humor and an authentic Northwest sense of place. Fasten your seatbelt --
and hold tight to your armload of books -- for the flash-bang ending high atop
Crown Point in the spectacular Columbia River Gorge.
Buy Links
2 comments:
You story sounds like a gem--I can't wait to get hold of it. Our library still has a Bookmobile and I see it driving around town every now and then. You've set your story in an area I love--the Columbia River, which I visited with friends who live in Seattle. I look forward to more of your public-service oriented librarian.
Our library does not have a bookmobile, which is a service that sounds great, but it sponsors those little free libraries around town.
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