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| Ten Commandments, Iowa, where nothing is as it first seems |
Today we’re
continuing with our series on where authors get their inspiration with our very
own Lois Winston (she who writes about me) discussing the origins of a sequel
she wrote to her first published novel.
The
Inspiration Behind Elementary, My Dear Gertie
Years ago, back when chick lit hadn’t yet become the
kiss of death in the publishing world, I was invited to take part in an
anthology of chick lit novellas. By then I had already segued from writing
romance and chick lit to spending my time wreaking havoc in Anastasia’s life,
but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to take part in this project.
The one thing my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery
series has in common with my previously published chick lit (now known as
humorous women’s fiction) is voice. I had started out writing dark romantic
suspense, but when I switched to writing chick lit, I developed a humorous and sometimes
snarky voice, especially for Gertie. Anastasia owes quite a bit of her
existence to the characters I created in Talk
Gertie To Me.
From the time Talk
Gertie To Me was published, readers had been asking for a sequel to the
novel, wanting to know whether Nori and Mac eventually married. It occurred to
me that the anthology project was ideal for this purpose. Sort of. Given the
characters I had created, I couldn’t simply write them a traditional
happily-ever-after romance ending to their story. That just wouldn’t have been
in keeping with who they were and would seem at odds with the story I had
created in Talk Gertie To Me.
So I decided the novella would be the perfect vehicle
for bridging the genre I had written in the past with the one I was writing in
the present. How to do this, though? Inspiration struck! I got them involved in
murder in Ten Commandments, Iowa, the town where nothing is like what its name
implies. Hence the title of the novella: Elementary,
My Dear Gertie.
Unfortunately, the anthology never materialized due
to contract negotiations that fell apart. However, by this point I had finished
Elementary, My Dear Gertie. So it was
published as a stand-alone novella, rather than as part of an anthology.
Elementary,
My Dear Gertie
In this novella
sequel to the award-winning Talk Gertie
To Me, two years have passed since the happily-ever-after that isn’t doing
so well. Nori Stedworth has moved in with the love of her life, Mackenzie
Randolph, much to her parents’ displeasure. They’re coping as best as parents
from Ten Commandments, Iowa can. They want Mac to make an honest woman of their
daughter, and that means nothing short of marriage. Mac is all for exchanging I
do’s. He’s even bought the ring, but before he can pop the question, an
explosion hurls him and Nori right into the middle of a murder investigation.
Gertie, Nori's
alter-ego, can't help but lend her acerbic wit to the twists and turns as the
town is turned upside down in the search for a murderer and arsonist, and yet another
scandal envelopes the not-so-pious residents of Ten Commandments.
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