My universe is expanding – that is, the universe in which Lamb’s Bay and its citizens live – and die. I spoke in an earlier blog about the map I was using to help keep myself on track when talking about places in the book. I now realize, as I begin the first draft for Book 6, Homicide at Home, that I need to add in more locations. So I will need a larger piece of paper to work on.
Book 6? What happened to Books 3, 4 and 5, you may ask? Well, do not despair, they will be published soon. Book 3 will be out by the end of the month. Entitled Criminals at Christmas, this book introduces readers to Vesta, Hilly’s younger sister, who arrives in Lamb’s Bay with criminals on her trail. Her boyfriend, a cable TV pastor, turns out to have a criminal past. And another character will be stalked by her former boyfriend. The police and Hilly work to wrap the cases up in time for everyone to enjoy the Christmas holidays.
Book 4, Secrets at the Spa, is in second draft and about to go to my beta readers.
New places to add to my map include Gull Beach where Secrets at the Spa takes place. Vesta gets a free spa weekend for two and takes Hilly along. Their anticipated relaxing weekend turns into quite the opposite.
Book 5, Dancing at Dove Lake, is in first draft and being edited. I need to add Dove Lake to my map. It is about 40 minutes away from Lamb’s Bay. This is where the local high school used to hold its graduation camp-out when Hilly was a teenager. But Hilly and Brody end up there as unwilling guests of someone seeking revenge for an old grudge.
So those books are keeping me busy in Lamb’s Bay as I work on the plot line for Book 6.
During this time of COVID-19 when we can’t really travel, at least I am lucky enough to have Lamb’s Bay to visit whenever I want. And I get to live vicariously through my characters and their lives.
I love going to Lamb’s Bay. With Hilly and her dog Heidi I can roam the dunes down at the seashore or walk along the boardwalk and stop off at the food truck for a coffee and cinnamon bun. There’s always a trip to the local mall with Vesta, Hilly’s sister, looking for fashion bargains. And then there’s dining at the Luxe Café when neither Hilly nor Vesta feel like cooking.
In the upcoming books, several characters will be on the move in their private lives and their actions will have an impact on Hilly’s life. I hope my readers don’t mind some of the changes but life marches on and my characters are not static. They, like those of us in the real world, evolve and so does their environment.
I’m working on a new version of the map. Watch this space for its debut.
Do you have a favorite place to visit in your imagination?
