I am finally set to release my next novel, a mystery set in rural Pennsylvania. This is the first time I've tried writing a mystery story, and it was quite an awakening! It was not easy keeping the clues straight, making sure the characters know only as much as I want them to know, and keeping the reader guessing . . . while still making it all believable! I kept a notebook as I was writing, with a detailed timeline to help me stay in control of the details. Part of the story is set in present day, but another part is set in the mid-1990's. And it was a bit of a challenge to tell both stories without getting things mixed up.
"Beautiful Lies" is, in some ways, a Young Adult novel -- one of its two protagonists is a seventeen-year-old high school student living in a small town near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. But it's also very much an adult novel, about three people who met in college and, years later, became enmeshed in a situation that would ultimately define their lives. Regina may be seventeen, but "Beautiful Lies" is as much her parents' story as it is hers. And it's Laura Forrester's story, too -- the story of a woman torn between her devotion to Regina's father and her growing belief that the truth matters more than what any of us wants.
It's exciting getting this new book ready for publication. I'll let you know when it's up on Amazon, ready for purchase! And I hope I get as much wonderful feedback on this novel as I did on "Finding Erin Campbell."
Watch for more info, coming soon.