By Linda Lovely
While I’m not a native
Southerner, I’ve called South Carolina home for 26 years, living in the low country for 13 years and the Upstate for 13 years. It’s no surprise that
I’ve capitalized on these atmosphere-rich regions as settings for two of my
novels. Two of my works in progress also feature these appealing locales.
But don’t bother
consulting a map to pinpoint where my heroines and heroes hang their hats.
There is no Dear Island—the private barrier island terrorized by a pun-loving
murderer in Dear Killer. Nor is there a town of Shelby, home to
fictional Blue Ridge University, the troubled campus threatened by homegrown
terrorists in Dead Hunt. The private island and the college town
are inventions. Here’s why.
I write mysteries,
suspense and thrillers. Ergo, bad things happen. People die. Killers elude
authorities. Developers are sometimes greedy. Public officials may lie or
cheat. Deputies are occasionally crooked. University administrators may be
clueless. Suffice it to say, that unsavory, if not downright despicable,
antagonists flourish in my novels.
I need a cast of smart,
unscrupulous characters to weave my mysteries and challenge my heroines and
heroes. What I don’t need is a lawsuit. Also, I don’t want to irk residents of
a real island community. I’m loath to suggest there might be bad apples among
the law enforcement officers in an actual county. And I’m not about to poke fun
at administrators serving an accredited university. That’s why I’ve given
make-believe names to the institutions, companies, towns and counties populated
with such characters.
Yet I still try to
faithfully capture each region’s beauty and majesty as well as what can become
frightening elements if my protagonists are alone, lost, or being pursued by
ruthless villains. I hope this balance works.
Using fictional
locations with the local region’s flavor also gives me handy latitude. Since my
fictional Dear Island is a composite of several barrier islands, I could play
with the geographic puzzle pieces—golf courses, canals, marinas, marshland, and
beaches—and anchor them anywhere I wished within the island’s confines. That
means they’re ideally situated to serve my plot. I did take care, however, to
offer readers a variety of touchstones—references to neighboring Beaufort,
Hilton Head and Parris Island—to ground them within the Lowcountry.
In Dead Hunt, my
imaginary university’s students reside in Leeds County, another invention. Yet
I made certain the campus was a comfortable drive from Greenville, Clemson
University, and the Jocassee Gorges mountain wilderness, which serves as an
enchanting and scary backdrop for my heroine and hero when terrorists are
gunning for them in the dead of night.
I love to set my books
in places where I can close my eyes and recall exact moments in time. Paddling
a kayak in the calm of an ocean inlet, hearing the cries of seagulls, and
smelling the acrid aroma of the marsh. Hiking a mountain trail and listening to
the gurgle of a rushing stream and inhaling the scent of crushed pine needles
in the shadowy twilight of the dense forest.
While my places names
may be make believe, my South Carolina settings are as real as my most vivid
memories allow.
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Author Linda Lovely
writes two series. Her Marley Clark mysteries feature a 52-year-old retired
military intelligence officer who lives in the Lowcountry and works part-time
as a security officer on private Dear Island. Lovely’s Smart Women, Dumb Luck
romantic thrillers shift the focus among three heroines brought together by
“dumb luck” at Upstate South Carolina’s fictional Blue Ridge University, the
setting for Dead Hunt. The author is a member of Sisters in Crime, Romance
Writers of America, International Thriller Writers and the South Carolina
Writers Workshop. For more information, visit her website: www.lindalovely.com.
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