Wandering Wednesday - Digging Up Secrets

Hi everyone, Sandra Orchard here. 

Who wouldn’t want to visit the gorgeous Orcas island to research their book?

It is, after all, one of the loveliest of the 172 named San Juan Islands, which dot the sparkling waters of Puget Sound off the Washington State coast. It’s home to an assortment of plant life and wildlife. The quaint villages offer unique shops, fine food and numerous outdoor activities, including whale-watching, sea-kayaking, hiking, cycling, and sailing. And to top off the breathtaking ocean views, there are scenic farmlands and vineyards, and deep emerald forests, dotted with lakes.

When I was invited to write Digging Up Secrets, the fifth book in the multi-author Victorian Mansion Flower Shop Mysteries, set on Orcas Island, I was certainly game.

But alas . . . our circumstances don’t always allow for such fact-finding expeditions.

Yet sometimes life conspires in other ways to equip an author to write a story.

I was in the midst of a summer-long hospital stay with my grandson at the time my editor invited me to write DiggingUp Secrets, but I knew instantly that I’d have no trouble finding fodder for it.

Sometimes the culmination of research from previous projects combined with the ridiculous calamities of our personal lives swirl together to create the perfect storm, or in this case, story idea.

First of all, the series’ heroine, Kaylee Bleu, has just taken over her grandmother’s flower shop housed in an old Victorian Mansion and I live in a similar old house—very old. In fact, two days before my editor emailed I’d been home for the weekend and our well’s foot pump went kaput. Before it could be fixed and we could have water again, we had to dig down to the wellhead.

Trouble was . . . we didn’t know where it was!

Based on where the pipes entered the basement, we began digging. And by the time we unearthed the wellhead, we had a grave-size hole, five feet deep beside our house. So . . .

Of course, I knew the same trouble needed to befall Kaylee. After all being without water for several days is pretty troublesome for a flower shop with countless thirsty flowers inside. But was it troublesome enough?

How much better would it be to find unknown human remains in the hole?

I mean the police will be slow to release the crime scene and allow the plumber to get her well back in operation, which not only puts her plants’ health in jeopardy, but her entire business.

Thankfully, the dead body part came from my imagination, not personal experience!

Then again . . . when my kids were younger, they did set up an “archaeological dig” next to our house and came across some bones.

But I’m pretty sure they were old beef bones a dog had buried.

I hope.

As if we didn’t have enough crazy things to deal with that summer, once we had the new pump installed, the awesome improved water pressure blew our hot water tank and flooded the basement. So . . .

I did what every intelligent author does when something bugs her . . .  I wrote it into the story.

As I alluded to earlier, it also helped that I had tons of “plant research” under my belt from my Port Aster Secrets Mysteries.

You see, Kaylee has a PhD in plant taxonomy, and had been a university professor who also did forensic botany consulting for law enforcement, before her position was suddenly eliminated.  

She also tends to refer to plants by their taxonomical name, rather than their common name, a phenomenon I also have ample experience with, since my eldest daughter studied horticulture for three years.

To top it off, while I didn’t get to visit the picturesque Orcas Island, I previously gained a helpful perspective on “island life” while researching Martha’s Vineyard for Over Maya Dead Body. So the extent of my “wandering” in researching this book extended to interviewing a few florists for anecdotal details.

And yes, when you get to the <shudder> creature Kaylee finds in her flowerpot, that is true-to-life too. But thankfully not mine!

About Digging Up Secrets:

Nothing is coming up roses for Kaylee Bleu. Not only are all of the plants in her flower shop going thirsty because of a busted well pump, but a competing florist on Orcas Island is stealing customers from The Flower Patch. As if that wasn’t enough to turn her into Florist Grump, a new client who could be Kaylee’s golden ticket to the lucrative country club set is also her most persnickety yet—and continuously threatens to take her business elsewhere.

But all of that seems like no big deal when Kaylee’s plumber discovers a fractured skull in her shop’s yard. The remains belong to Danny Lane, a troubled teen accused of killing a high school girl in a boating accident thirty-five years ago. The consensus around Turtle Cove was that the boy fled town shortly after the accident, but Kaylee thinks the holes in that story are as big as the grave-size pit dug up around her well head.

Unfortunately, somebody on Orcas Island wants Kaylee to leave the past buried.

Your Turn:

If you could go anywhere to research a book, or explore the location of a favourite book you've read, where would you go? 

Orcas Island Photo By Patrick_McNally, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54371764

Sandra Orchard—winner of several Canadian Christian writing awards, the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, and the National Readers’ Choice Award, among others—leaps off the garden trails of her herbal-medicine-researcher-turned-amateur-sleuth (Port Aster Secrets) series, to the museum corridors of her plucky FBI art crime agent Serena Jones, in A Fool and His Monet, Another Day Another Dali and Over Maya Dead Body. When not plotting crimes, Sandra plays make-believe with her young grandchildren or hikes with her hubby and husky near their home in Ontario, Canada. 

Subscribe to Sandra’s newsletter to receive a subscriber-exclusive mini-novella. 

Learn more about Sandra’s books and bonus features, as well as writer helps, at www.SandraOrchard.com

or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard

Surviving a Series - Desperate Measures

Port Aster Secrets was the first series I've written that has the same hero and heroine throughout and carries on significant story lines from one book to the next. It was a lot of fun to write, when...

it wasn't a nightmare!

You see, halfway through the series, while writing a completely unrelated book for Love Inspired Suspense, I discovered that it's kind of fun to let your characters take over your story and surprise you each day with what happens next. So...

I decided to let Kate Adams and Tom Parker and the many bad guys throughout their stories weigh in on the story lines in Blind Trust.

It made for a great book. At least most of the letters I received from readers said they liked it even better than the first.

Of course, I had to ignore the subtle "I want to choke book 3 out of you now" mime I envisioned between the lines of the inevitable final salutation: "Just finished book 1 and 2. When and where can I find book 3? Please, don't tell me I have to wait until June!"

But I digress...where was I? Oh, yes, letting characters have their way.

Not always smart.

By the time I got a few chapters into writing Desperate Measures, I realized I'd been completely blind to trust my characters.

They'd opened up so many twists and turns in Blind Trust, that I wound up with more plot for book 3 than I had available word count.

So...I had no choice.

I had to resort to desperate measures.

(Yes, my book titles pretty much mirror how the writing progressed <wink>)

I'm sure you're familiar with the tried-and-true rule for mystery writers: if you're stuck, kill somebody.

So I did. Yup, I killed the heroine.

It was incredibly satisfying to turn off her voice in my head. And wow, the pundits are right. Killing someone off really works!

Now, don't start balking about how on earth could I kill off my heroine.

Readers had to see it coming. After all, Blind Trust ended with:

                               She was next.

Now, of course, I write mysteries, so things are never what they seem. That's the whole point of the series.

Twenty years ago, as the heroine's father was being shoved into a police car, he told her: "Remember I love you, Kate. I will always love you."

How many times do you need to remind yourself of that truth about your heavenly Father?

No matter how things look. No matter what it seems to you is going on...

 He Loves You. 

Yes, my heroine wasn't too happy with me messing around with her life.

But, as they say, all's well that ends well. And whew, I'm glad all of you finally get to read the ending!

The really great news is that if you haven't tried the series, you can download book 1, Deadly Devotion, for FREE from all the major online retailers. And if you get hooked, as I hope you will (hee, hee, hee, it is my secret plan after all) the Ebook prices of the remaining books are super low right now, especially on Amazon

Your Turn: Do you like to read series as each book releases? Or do you prefer to wait until they are all available?

Sandra Orchard is the award-winning author of the Port Aster Secrets mystery series, set in the picturesque surroundings of Niagara, Canada, which she and her husband call home. She also has numerous Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense titles, including a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award winner and an RT Book Reviews Top Pick. 

Learn more about Sandra’s books and check out the special bonus features, such as deleted scenes and location pics, at www.sandraorchard.com.

Connect at: http://www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard

Kate won’t be safe until all of Port Aster’s secrets are revealed

Researcher Kate Adams has finally pinpointed the supposed “miracle plant” that tore her family apart years ago. She’s certain that discovering its secrets is her only hope of solving the mystery surrounding her father’s disappearance. She’s willing to risk anything to find the truth, including her relationship with Detective Tom Parker. But with so many people in pursuit of the plant, going it alone might be a fatal mistake.


(5 Ws Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) 

How Do You Spell Procrastination?

Sandra Orchard here. I’ve never thought of myself as a procrastinator until I became a contracted writer with deadlines and got stuck in the middle of a story that...

I had to finish. 

If you’re in the same boat, here are proven ways to do it right.

P  –  Plan your day in minute detail to give you lots of items to cross off your to-do list.

R  –  Reread what you wrote the day before.

O  –  Optimize your work area for maximum productivity. Translation: tidy your desk.

C  –  Critique a friend’s latest scene, because after all, it might help you see how you got off track in your own story.

R  -  Revise everything you’ve written so far. 

A  -  Ask 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 friends what they think should happen next. 

S  -   Storyboard. It’s amazing the holes you discover in your story when you lay it all out on a big, bare wall. And even if you don’t, you can pass copious amounts of time, cutting out pretty colors of paper or jotting notes on multi-colored post-it notes.

T  -  Take a walk. If nothing else, you’ll get some much-needed exercise and rest your eyes from staring at a blank screen. 

I  -  Internet – a guaranteed time-sucker that will make you feel productive at the same time. After all, you’ll be doing “research”, “marketing”, “networking”, and I’m sure you can think of a bunch more writing-related reasons to hang out there. 

N  -  Nap. When you push too hard to be creative, the right side of your brain, muse or whatever you want to call it, shuts down. Coax it to come out to play by shutting down the analytical/critical side of your brain. 

A  -  Annoy telemarketers. C’mon, they always seem to call right when you’re in the middle of madly typing out a great idea, right? So it’s only fair that when you have no ideas you keep them talking and talking and talking until an idea shows up. 

T  -  Take a shower. Ideas always come in the shower.

I  -  Invest in a new How To Write Blah, Blah, Blah book. It doesn’t matter that you’ve already written and published half a dozen books. You’re bound to learn something. And if you’re learning something, you won’t be feeling guilty about not writing…right?

O  -  Outline. And for the seat-of-the-pantsers here who get hives just reading the word, use chalk and outline the dead fly bodies on your window sill. If you’re a suspense writer, it’s bound to kick start an idea. 

If there are no dead fly bodies on your window sill, then you’ve obviously been procrastinating your writing by cleaning the house. But cleaning the house can hardly be classified as doing something writing-related and therefore justified as a valid mode of procrastination. But hey, if you’d like to come over to my house and procrastinate a little more, I have dust bunnies the size of Harvey.  

N  -  Nourish the mind, body and soul. Dark chocolate and praise music work well.

I hope I’ve helped make your procrastinating time more enjoyable. If you’d like to procrastinate some more, check out Blind Trust, the newest book in my Port Aster Secrets series, which also happens to be on sale for a real steal at all E-retailers for one more week! 

Here’s what Booklist had to say about Blind Trust in their May issue:

Blind Trust finds Kate Adams still reeling from her friend’s murder as she attempts to get her life back in order. However, what begins as a seemingly small-time counterfeit operation soon spirals into something much bigger, with Kate at the center. Detective Tom Parker has his eye on Kate, and not because she’s a suspect. His feelings for her continue to grow, as does his desire to protect her, but Kate’s determination to get to the truth on her own means that Tom is often getting her out of trouble, rather than keeping her from it. When the action shifts from mere counterfeiting to poisoning, theft, and decades-old secrets, Kate insists on researching her way to the facts. Orchard infuses romance with suspense and keeps the excitement coming page after page. Readers will love the ever-deepening mystery as Kate extends her investigation and finds herself and her long-dead father tangled up in an international corporate conspiracy.

Sandra Orchard is a multi-award-winning Canadian author of inspirational romanticsuspense/mysteries with Love Inspired Suspense and Revell. An active member in ACFW, The Word Guild, and RWA, she enjoys helping writers hone their skills. To find out more about her novels, and to read interesting bonus features, please visit www.sandraorchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard 

Your Turn: What's your favorite way to procrastinate?

 

Deadline Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

On Making Money & More

Have you ever seen a counterfeit bill? Do you think you could tell the difference? 

In a few weeks, Blind Trust, the second book in my Port Aster Secrets mystery series releases, and it opens with the heroine caught passing counterfeit bills. Bills she received from her dear sweet neighbor lady to buy groceries—a woman who couldn’t possibly be printing counterfeit money in her basement. Could she?! 

See end of post for chance to win

This is the first of several mysteries in the story, and one I had a lot of fun researching. Once I managed to convince my local banker that I wasn’t contemplating anything illegal, she was happy to sit down with me and demonstrate all the things they look for to discern counterfeit money from the real thing.

The story is set in Canada, where, like in New Zealand and Australia, our bills are now all plastic and much more difficult to counterfeit then the old paper bills. 

However, at the time I was writing the novel, the new five and ten-dollar bills hadn’t released yet, so I decided that those would be what my bad guy counterfeited, since even now many paper twenties, tens and fives are still in circulation. 

former paper currency

My American editor, unaware of the marked differences between Canadian and American bills was skeptical that anyone would risk counterfeiting such small denominations. 

However, my neighbor had received fake five-dollar bills in the Ladies Missionary Circle offering at her church on two separate occasions (an event I include in the story), so I knew it wasn’t too far-fetched. 

But for fun when the security guard presents my Detective hero with the evidence and the detective raises his eyebrow to the heroine, she responds:

“You can’t think that I . . . ?” At the amused twinkle in his eyes, she let out a humph. “What kind of moron counterfeits ten-dollar bills? If I wanted to defraud someone, I’d at least go for twenties. More likely fifties or hundreds!”

The amusement in Tom’s bright blue eyes intensified, but he held his mouth in a firm line. “You’re not helping your case,” he murmured.

She rolled her eyes. He knew she was joking. Then again—she slanted a glance at the guard—maybe this guy didn’t.

In the US, the most common type of small-time counterfeiting operation is a cut and paste job in which someone cuts the corners off a twenty and pastes them onto four 1-dollar bills, for example, then tries to palm off each as a twenty, usually to buy a two-dollar item so that they’ll receive their change in real money. But this won’t work with Canadian bills as each denomination is a distinctly different color and the numbers aren't in the corners.

However, modern copiers and printers do an astounding job of replicating paper money that will pass undetected to those who aren’t paying close attention. For example, the last time our paper fives got a new look, an enterprising teenager printed a bunch of fakes and palmed them off to unsuspecting classmates, who’d never seen the crisp new bills and so were easily duped. 

But…I’ve been told that newer color copiers and printers are designed to lock up if they’re used to print money. As tempting as it was, I didn’t dare test it on my own printer! 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Not to mention I’d spent a lot of time studying the Criminal Code of Canada while writing the book, and learned that it’s a criminal offence to: make, publish, print, execute, issue, distribute or circulate, including by electronic or computer-assisted means, anything in the likeness of a current bank-note.

Now, if you have authentic looking play money for your kids, no worries, there are exceptions for bills that are less than ¾ of the size of the real thing or that are printed on only one side or printed in black and white. 

Whew! Wouldn’t want those little kiddies carted off to jail while playing store!

All bank  note images in this blog were sourced from the Bank of Canada image gallery. And here's a rundown of how to tell if the newest plastic bill you receive is a genuine article:

Your Turn: What's the money like in your country? Have you ever seen a counterfeit bill?

 

If you’d like a chance to win a copy of Blind Trust (open internationally), hop over to this blog to enter.

 

Sandra Orchard is a multi-award-winning Canadian author of inspirational romanticsuspense/mysteries with Love Inspired Suspense and Revell. An active member in American Christian Fiction Writers, The Word Guild, and Romance Writers of America, she enjoys helping writers hone their skills. To find out more about her novels, and to read interesting bonus features, please visit www.sandraorchard.com or connect at www.Facebook.com/SandraOrchard