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On a full moon night at Galena Lodge, my husband and I ventured on snowshoes out into the dark, lit by the moon, round and the color of bone.
On our way home after dinner, we drove to Last Chance Ranch, a log cabin sited north of Ketchum. My husband Gerry said he wanted to photograph it in the moonlight. We crawled through the wood fence poles, he with his large format camera and I carrying his tripod. We hiked down the snow-covered driveway to get closer to the structure. The moon lit our way. As he set up the camera, pulled the black cloth over his head to focus, and took several photos, I studied the cabin.
I spoke to Gerry. “I bet there is a dead body in there.” Dogs barked, not near but getting so. We hurried to pack up his equipment and scooted back through the fence.
That began my second career: writing mysteries.
As I mulled over a dead body in Last Chance Ranch, I needed someone to find it. I settled on Nellie Burns, a photographer from Chicago, inspired by Nellie Stockbridge of north Idaho fame. Burns is a family name, associated with photography in Boise. I also wanted a time period. The 1920s in Idaho created stories of women seeking independence, days of Prohibition, and opium. No wars to contend with, and Sun Valley wasn’t even a glimmer in Averil Harriman’s brain yet. What about a companion? Aha! A black Labrador dog named Moonshine after a similar pet of ours, now long-gone.
Many people who write mysteries prepare extensive outlines. I find a setting into which I can place my characters and see what happens. I sometimes have a rough plot in my head, but mostly, I write by the seat of my pants. I am what is known as a “pantser.”
The place or setting determines in large part the action of my novels.
Moonshadows, my first, takes place in winter with deep snow, the Big Wood River with ice caking its edges and snow bridges, ghostly empty aspen trees, and coyotes.
Two novels are set in the Stanley Basin. One features cowboy and Basque sheepherder confrontations and magnificent scenery and sheep. The 1920s conjures bootleggers, so they appear, too. Basque Moon. The second focuses on the Chinese population of the period and the now deserted ghost town of Vienna. Moon Bones. Imagine a setting in Craters of the Moon and what could happen there—ice caves, lava, and all. Moonscape. I grew up in Kellogg, Idaho, a mining town, and I used the mines operating during Prohibition and the flapper days for exciting events both inside and outside the diggings. Miners’ Moon.
Figuring out when and where a murder takes place, who did it and why, has been a thoroughly entertaining second career. Even though I write fiction, I do extensive research to be sure my stories fit into the 1920s in Idaho. Much of my research takes place at The Community Library's Center for Regional History, looking at old newspapers, checking photographs of the period, and finding unique resources such as lawsuits instigated or against Chinese of the day. Learning from my husband about photography and researching, plus reading books of the period, fill my days and my thoughts.
Try it! Pick a setting, add some characters, and see what happens!
More about Julie Weston here.
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