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of being an FBI or CIA Agent. Currently
I am enrolled in a Private Investigator
Certificate course at UGA. And every
summer I take seminars and courses on
mystery related topics such as SWAT
Team Tactics, Forensics, Weaponry, and
Handwriting Analysis. Eventually I may
work as a Private Investigator, but for
now I live my double life vicariously
and in a different way. I am a Middle
School teacher by day and a Mystery
Writer by night. I can write all the
adventures I could ever want for Paul
Grey, my detective.
I write on other topics as well. Some
of those articles are on this site.
Many of them have appeared in print and
online magazines such as Lifeloom,
Mystery Scene Magazine,and The Forum.
One day I went to the library to do research and I checked
out several books on poisons, three on weaponry (mostly
guns), and a couple of "odds and ends" on topics like
autopsy, psychology of a killer, police procedure and an
alchemist's cookbook -- all for research on my current book,
Beginner's Luck. The librarian looked at me in a long, odd
way as she took my card and checked out each title, one by
one. Then I realized an explanation was in order. To me,
this was a normal day, nothing usual about my book
selections, but to her? Who knows what she thought! After
telling her I was a mystery writer I made a mental note to
check out my research materials in smaller quanitites or use
the internet from then on. Her suspicious stare followed me
out the automatic doors. I could only imagine her running to
the bulletin board where the FBI's most wanted are posted and
her searching for my picture.
* * * * * *
My husband swears our phones are wire tapped. We hear
whirring and clicking on the line sometimes, and it's no
wonder. I'm sure the CIA and the Secret Service are "on" to
me since I've used the words "bomb" and "kill" together on
the phone and on internet searches. I was looking for someone
who knows how to make an incendiary bomb. The scary thing?
No, not me, but the fact that I found a website that told me
how to do it (marked for entertainment purposes only.) I've
also ordered quasi-legal catalogs on how to mix explosives in
your own home. Yeah, they got me pegged -- "Ace of Spades"
in the FBI's deck of cards, masquerading as a Middle School
teacher. At the very least, if anything mysterious happens
to someone in my family, they'll think I did it!
* * * * * *
I spent a large percent of time on research for Beginner's
Luck. I'm a perfectionist like my protagonist, Paul Grey. I
don't want any of those letters from readers telling me what
I did wrong or how I messed up, although I'm sure I'll get
them anyway. I tried to do as much as I could in real life
that my character was doing. If he went bowling, I went
bowling and used the real scores. If he went out to eat, I
went there first. I'd never shot a gun before, so I went to
a shooting range for lessons and a replica store to see and
feel "antique" guns, before I let Paul Grey use a gun in the
story. My husband said to me one night, "Don't get carried
away with the trying things out first stuff." "What do you
mean?" I asked in reply. And he said, "You don't actually
have to kill anyone before you write about it, okay?"
I think I can leave at least that part up to my imagination!