Happy Friday, friends! Today I’d like to introduce you to another friend, this one from Canada. Every mystery/crime fiction author I know wants to entice readers with an interesting crime scene. If you’re a reader, weigh in and tell us your favorites. If you’re a fiction author, take note. Please welcome Author Brenda Chapman as she scopes out the scene of the crime! (By the way, I have left in Canadian spellings in deference to my esteemed guest) ~ Donnell
By: Brenda Chapman
One of the fun bits about being a crime fiction writer is investigating places to dump a body, among other locations of interest. My husband Ted has come along on the majority of my field trips. Usually, he’s been game to explore out of the way locations except for the one time he refused to get out of the car, even after I assured him that I hadn’t taken out an insurance policy of late. He claimed that he preferred to stay out of the wind …
Author Brenda Chapman
My Stonechild and Rouleau police procedural series is set mainly in Kingston, Ontario, a smallish city of about 140,000 straddling the north shore of Lake Ontario. We’ve made frequent trips to scope out locations, driving the streets while I snapped photos to pour over later. One of my characters in Bleeding Darkness, book four in the series, likes to drink in bars so we spent an afternoon visiting several — research that I later wrote off on my taxes 🙂 (Ted was fully on board for that excursion.)
That same trip, we also tromped through the woods on the Rideau Trail, a 387-kilometre hiking trail, linking Ottawa and Kingston. “This is a great place to hide a body,” I proclaimed before noticing a man walking toward me on the narrow path. I smiled and gave him a feeble wave as he hastened past.
My latest Hunter and Tate series, beginning with Blind Date, is set in Ottawa where I’ve lived the last forty years or so. It’s a sprawling city of about a million people and the nation’s capital. We have three waterways, tons of green space and bike paths and numerous distinct neighbourhoods, each with its own vibe and culture. Small towns and villages dot the surrounding district with the Gatineau Hills only a short drive across the Quebec border. So many nooks and crannies — each a possible murder location for my fictional villains and their victims.
For this series, I decided to give Ella Tate, my ex-reporter turned true crime podcaster, my old third-floor apartment in a part of the city called the Glebe. It’s a trendy neighbourhood near the Rideau Canal, not far out of the downtown. Having lived in the neighbourhood has made research simpler, but I’ve still needed to explore other parts of the city for the stories.
For the upcoming book two in this series called When Last Seen, I chose a street for the family at the centre of the crime, using Google maps in the west end of the city that runs parallel to the Ottawa River. I happened to mention this location when sitting around the table after a curling game this past winter. One of my teammates said that he lived in this area and that it was not named Crystal Beach as I’d thought, but Rocky Point. The odd coincidence was that he and his wife lived on the same street that I’d picked out for the story, albeit at the opposite end. To get a true sense of the topography, they invited Ted and me for lunch in June. After a lovely meal seated outdoors overlooking the river, we walked the neighbourhood while I snapped pictures and they told anecdotes about the area. So, all in all quite an inspired location choice on my part.
Sometimes, a trip unrelated to my writing has resulted in a story idea later on. We visited friends in St. Catharines a few summers ago and went for a walk through the woods to Sunset Beach. This isolated location got my crime fiction spidey senses tingling. I later included the location in a story titled “The Final Hit”, recently published in Cold Canadian Crime, an anthology to celebrate Crime Writers of Canada’s 40th anniversary.
Setting is an integral part of every book and having a personal connection helps to bring the story to life. There really is nothing like a field trip to help spark ideas that give realism to the tale that can’t be achieved simply by looking at a map. Touring locations can also be fun and a bonding experience … although your partner might prefer bar-hopping over visiting isolated locations deep in the woods, late at night with bats swooping overhead and wildlife scurrying through the underbrush … just saying.
About Blind Date: Nobody’s safe when a killer has you in their sights.
True crime podcaster Ella Tate is shaken to her core by the horrific assault and murder of Josie Wheatly, a teacher she has never met … because not only had Josie moved into Ella’s vacated apartment three months earlier, but her Facebook photos reveal a striking resemblance between the two women.
Within days, two people close to Ella are harmed, and she fears that she’s become the target of twisted revenge from her crime-reporting days. Reluctantly teaming up with her neighbour Tony, a hairdresser who loves the finer things in life, and Liam Hunter, the persistent detective assigned to the cases, Ella struggles to stay one step ahead before she becomes the target of the final kill.
About the Author: Brenda Chapman is a Canadian writer of mystery novels. Her Jennifer Bannon mysteries are for ages ten and up. She has also published several short stories and murder mysteries. Her Stonechild and Rouleau Mystery Series feature the damaged, brilliant detective Kala Stonechild and workaholic staff sergeant Jacques Rouleau.
Brenda, thanks for joining me today to tell me about your books. As a crime fiction author, I naturally love your genre. I particularly love this topic. Setting is a character into itself!
Thanks for inviting me to guest blog, Donnell. Setting really is a character, especially in crime fiction. I’m so pleased to introduce my part of Canada to your readers 🙂
Great to “meet” you, Brenda and learn about your various series. I grew up in Ottawa and recognize all of the locales you mentioned. It has so much history as well, there are some great tie-ins for crime stories.
I did some personal research myself when I set my crime series in Churchill, MB. It’s nice to write off these trips but getting the flavour and sense of where you’re writing about is the best way to lock down your story.
I’m off to buy Blind Date!
Nice to meet you too, Laurie! I hope Blind Date brings back some memories of your time in Ottawa.
How very cool, Laurie. Love that my blog is exposing such fascinating Canadian settings. Thanks for dropping by!
Thanks for the very enjoyable post. I toured the Ontario countryside several decades ago, and this brought back wonderful memories. I always visit, sometimes numerous times, the scene of my various crimes. I had visualized a murder in Hawaii on rocks below a large hotel and I flew there to check it out. Later I learned there was a “suspicious” death in the exact same location. I met with the lieutenant in charge of the criminal division who told me he couldn’t comment on an open case. I told him it was a coincidence that his dead body was in the same spot as mine!
Cindy, fascinating and your knowledge of setting certainly shows in your books. I have a book that is yet unpublished that is calling my name. I worked for a structural engineering firm and I had the opportunity to tour this building, which was listed on the historical register. My imagination went wild as I toured it. The unpublished version won awards, but as it was my second book I put into mothballs 😉
Regarding the “exact” same location. In The Past Came Hunting I refer to a site in Colorado Springs that is notorious for suicides and murders. I guess we authors look at a place and the first thing we think of is Oh! what a great place to leave a body 😉 Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
Thanks for the post and I liked reading about your practices. My Winnebago County Mysteries are set in Central MN and I often go and sit in the areas I imagine as my crime scenes. In the real Wright County we have 300 lakes, 3 rivers, wetlands, woods, and fields. Lots of places for body to turn up!