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by Mardi Link, author of the forthcoming Isadore's Secret and bestseller When Evil Came to Good Hart

Last night was the first stop on the "Murder Takes a Road Trip" book tour I'm currently on with two fellow writers, Elizabeth Buzzelli and Aaron Stander. The three of us -- and we're privately calling ourselves the co-conspirators -- chatted up a good-sized crowd at the Bellaire Public Library.

For a complete schedule of Mardi's upcoming events, click here.

As a non-fiction writer, it was fascinating for me to hear Elizabeth and Aaron talk about where their stories originate. For mystery writers, the smallest spark can be the impetus for great fiction.
Elizabeth said that one morning she was retrieving the trash can from the curb, felt something round rolling around inside, and had a "What if?" moment. Voila, Dead Dancing Woman and a 4 book contract with Midnight Ink. Aaron was on bed rest, recovering from a back injury and wrote four miscellaneous murder scenes to entertain himself. Summer People tied them all together in a narrative. His two other mystery books followed.

My stories, on the other hand, originate in the mind of a murderer. I'm bound by facts and as opposed to creating the arc of the story, it's already there in tragic detail when I show up. My job is to take the facts and tell a true story, one that tries to make sense of the senseless. Still, since I focus on unsolved cases, there is a real life mystery at their core.

Tonight, Thursday, the Road Trip will make a stop at the Suttons Bay Public Library beginning at 7 p.m. with a booksigning to follow across the street at Brilliant Books. I don't know if there will be cookies. That's another mystery.

This entry was originally posted on Mardi Link's blog at: http://mardilink.typepad.com/rusty_gun/2009/07/michigan-murder-homemade-cookies.html