1. Why set this series along the Appalachian Trail in the mountains of North Georgia? Because I know and love the area. My childhood vacations consisted of camping and hiking in the mountains. While the area provides beautiful, majestic scenery, spectacular waterfalls, quaint small towns, southern charm, delicacies, crafts and folklore it also has a certain mystique. The Appalachian Trail encompasses over two-thousand endless miles of untamed land, isolated areas, wild animals, dangerous drop offs, steep ridges, treacherous terrain, harsh weather conditions and deadly insects. Recluses, hillbillies and criminals live and hide in the isolated areas. The setting becomes a character in the story by providing atmospheric and sensory details that enhance the moody, gothic tone for each book in the series.
2. Why all the folklore? I’ve always been intrigued with southern storytelling and folklore of specific areas and places because they bring the culture and history alive and make the story unique. Legends, rumors, southern sayings, and ghost stories are passed down from one generation to another and bring the small town, quirky characters and setting to life. In Widow Lake, the folklore is based on Lake Lanier, Georgia, a manmade lake in Georgia, which when being built, flooded entire towns and killed many people. Legends claim that swimmers and divers have actually encountered ghosts beneath the water, seen buried cities and that some have felt body parts float up next to them. Small towns can be charming but the fact that everyone knows everyone and their business can cause tension. Rumors and small town gossip also create more conflict for Ellie and interest as the town characters clash.
3. Why write a female lead as a detective? I have two daughters and understand how difficult is for women to thrive and reach their goals and be respected in a “man’s” world. I hope to be a role model to them, for them to know that females can do anything they want to do. When I first submitted the series idea, Ellie had a different name, but my editor wanted an “everyday” girl that people could relate to so we brainstormed and decided to name her Ellie Reeves. Keeping with her suggestion, I thought long and hard on the “everyday woman.” As with many women in all walks of life, Ellie is a strong female fighting to overcome stereotypes about women in law enforcement. Although she has a tender side, especially regarding children, she’s tough, tenacious, strong willed and will do anything to a solve case, get justice for victims, protect her family and those she loves and save lives.
4. Why a series? The setting/world of Crooked Creek and the mountain towns incite so many mystery ideas that I wanted to explore more than one book. If a reader likes a setting or lead character, they also want to return to that place and the characters. While there is an overarching storyline with the series showing characters growth and changes from book to book, each story contains a mystery that is solved by the end of the book so books can be read as stand alones. I want readers to wonder – what is going to happen to Ellie next?
5. People often ask about titles: Do I choose the title? What comes first – the idea or the title? The answer is mixed but the title choice is usually a collaborative effort between me and my editor. In creating titles, the editor and publishing team understand marketing and key words that help sell books. When I first started the series, I pitched titles but my editor steered me in a different direction. One time she suggested the beginning of a story line and I jokingly suggested she send me a title. The next day she did. After that, she suggested different titles and I picked the ones that sparked a story idea that I was excited to write! I already have titles for the next three books in the series and a fourth is percolating!
Author Bio: Rita Herron
USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Rita Herron fell in love with books at the ripe age of eight when she read her first Trixie Belden mystery. But she didn’t think real people grew up to be writers, so she became a teacher instead. Now she writes so she doesn’t have to get a real job.
With over ninety books to her credit, she’s penned romantic suspense, romantic comedy, and YA novels, but she especially likes writing dark romantic suspense and crime fiction set in small southern towns.
For more on. Rita and her titles, visit her at www.ritaherron.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Rita Herrons latest book The Sleeping Girls is out on the 22nd January 2024
The young girl looked so innocent, like a sleeping angel. Kelsey lay on a bed of white sheets, golden hair fanned across the pillow, eyes closed, pale lips pressed together. A white teddy bear was tucked under her slender arm… “My baby, she’s dead” her distraught mother choked out.
When the call comes in that fifteen-year-old Kelsey Tiller has gone missing from her bedroom in the middle of the night, Detective Ellie Reeves rushes to talk to her distraught parents. They tell her that Kelsey, a slender blond with green eyes and a timid smile, had plans to go shopping for her homecoming dress the next day, insisting she would have no reason to run away. But when neighbors report seeing Kelsey with a secret boyfriend, Ellie wonders how much Kelsey really told her parents.
Ellie is determined to find Kelsey’s boyfriend and interviews her friends and teachers at school. But just as she is making headway with the case, she receives some devastating news. Kelsey’s parents have received a photo of their daughter lying on a bed with white sheets over her body, skin ghostly pale under the freckles dotting her nose, her precious life snuffed out.Desperate to find answers for those who loved Kelsey, Ellie studies the picture and realizes that her body has been posed in the same way as a teenage girl murdered ten years earlier. And when she learns Darnell, the killer in that case, has just been released from prison, fear crawls through her. Could Darnell have stolen another innocent life?
But just as Ellie thinks she has cracked the case, Kelsey’s best friend Ruby is snatched from her home, and Darnell has an unbreakable alibi. Haunted by Kelsey’s ashen face, Ellie knows she must race against time to find Ruby alive. And when she discovers one of her team is hiding critical information, she realizes she needs to act alone. But is she dealing with a twisted copycat killer or is the danger far closer to home?
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