I grew up on a ranch in north Idaho where we had cattle, horses, chickens, and dogs. Both my parents were expert horseback riders—with my dad a champion bareback bronc rider from his college days. I wanted to incorporate the horse element into my next mystery/suspense/thriller, Woman in Shadow.
Originally the setting was the Stanley Basin of central Idaho, just a mountain pass away from Sun Valley. Overlooking the spectacular Sawtooth Mountain Ranges, Stanley has a population of around sixty-three in the winter but hosts several million visitors in the summer. I honeymooned there alongside the Salmon River in a rustic cabin.
Instead, I invented the town of Targhee Falls, in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park. I wanted to write the Idaho version of the classic who-done-it Agatha Christie story—a group of people cut off from the outside with a killer running amok. The Mule Shoe Ranch is a “primitive facility” charging a fortune for very rich people to enjoy the great outdoors—while dining in a five-star restaurant and being pampered by the staff.
As in all my books, dogs are featured and in this case were actual characters. Maverick, an Anatolian Shepherd, and Holly, a lab mix. Holly is based on my editor’s dog and named in his honor.
One of Carrie's paintings
Another common feature of my books is introducing some type of forensic angle. Darby Graham, the protagonist, is a forensic linguist. I’m a forensic artist and use the deception angle of forensic language—statement analysis—to assess the statements of victims or witnesses of crime.
Woman in Shadow
A woman off the grid.
Darby Graham thinks she’s on a much-needed vacation in remote Idaho to relax. But before she even arrives at the ranch, an earthquake strikes. Then a barn on the edge of town is engulfed in flames and strange problems at the ranch begin to escalate, and Darby finds herself immersed in a chilling mystery.
A town on fire.
More fires erupt around town, and a serial arsonist sends taunting letters to the press after each. As a forensic linguist, this is Darby’s area of expertise . . . but the scars her work has caused her are also the reason she’s trying to escape her life.
A growing darkness.
As the shadows continue moving in, pieces of the town around her come into sharper focus. To make it out alive, Darby must decide if she can trust the one man who sees her clearly.
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2 comments:
Thank you so very much!
-Carrie
A pleasure to have you visit, Carrie!
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