Lynn Slaughter

I’ve always been fascinated by the ways in which our various life experiences and career paths inform our writing. Susan Van Kirk is a terrific example of someone whose past life as a distinguished educator has helped her develop the skills to become an accomplished mystery author. I’m so delighted to welcome Susan to my blog today as she celebrates the release of her third Art Center Mystery, DEATH IN A GHOSTLY HUE. Below are her responses to my interview questions, followed by her bio and buy/contact links:

First off, congratulations on the release of your third Art Center Mystery, DEATH IN A GHOSTLY HUE. Can you share with our readers a bit about the book and what inspired the series?

The entire Art Center series is about an oil painter, Jill Madison, who returns home to her small, Midwest town, and the lives of her two brothers and their families. She becomes executive director of an art center named for her sculptor mother.

In Death in a Ghostly Hue, Jill Madison and her brothers have never forgiven Quinn Parsons for driving drunk and killing their parents seven years earlier. When Parsons returns to Apple Grove from his years in prison, he’s looking for redemption. But his thoughtless actions, so long ago, hurt more residents than the Madisons, and murderous motives abound when it comes to Quinn Parsons. His lifeless body is soon found at the bottom of a staircase. And who threatened him in front of a large cross-section of the town? Jill’s brother, Andy Madison. You know who gets arrested.   

Meanwhile, the Old Friends senior group at Jill’s art center is rehearsing a radio-play of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost,” a ghostly story of forgiveness. Strange happenings convince Jill there’s a real-life ghost at the art center. To find out if this is a haunting, she begins to investigate the center’s dark history.

I became interested in writing a mystery series set in an art center because we have such a center in my small, Illinois town. The Buchanan Center for the Arts is a gem in the middle of the Midwest. When I first took a tour of all the nooks and crannies back in 2020, I immediately saw possibilities in the dark, unfinished basement. Great place to hide a body.

Your protagonist, painter Jill Madison, has returned to her Midwestern hometown to direct an arts center and ends up solving unexpected crimes. In the course of the three books, how has Jill grown and changed? 

When I first thought about the Art Center Mysteries, I settled on three themes: family, second chances, and forgiveness. I imagined Jill Madison going through all three of these moments in her life, events often connected by her past and the loss of her parents. When she returns to Apple Grove, she’s suffered depression and an inability to paint. Painting is closely connected to her emotions. Over the course of the three books, she regains her self-confidence, finds her passion for painting again, manages to fend off several murder attempts on her life, discovers she can run huge exhibits and handle millions of dollars’ worth of paintings, and do all of this successfully. By the end of the series, she’s lost a great deal of her immature actions promoted by her relationship with her best friend from grade school, Angie, and she’s grown into her adult, successful life. She’s ready for a mature relationship with someone she loves, and she’s managed to put the deaths of her parents into perspective. Lots of growth over a single year in her life.

You were a distinguished educator who taught both high school and college students for more than four decades. What was the transition like to becoming a full-time mystery writer?

I discovered many similarities between teaching and writing mysteries. Teaching is a job with structure and deadlines. So is mystery-writing. I draft books in a certain logical structure, and each part has its own, self-imposed deadline. It’s like teaching a unit of literature with an overall arc and specific, detailed chapters. I’m an outliner when I write, which is like my approach to teaching. Finally, the culture of teachers is like the culture of writers. We help each other. I’ve discovered so many people in the mystery field interested in helping me. I’ve tried to give back also through the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime.                                                                                         

I should mention that I began writing Cliffs Notes during the later years of my teaching life. Between my high school and college years of teaching, I went back to school and finished my master’s degree so I could teach in college. Then, I was hired by the company that produces Cliffs Notes to research and write those summaries of classic literature. That gave me a belief in myself—that I could write well for publication. I learned to collaborate with editors using their tracking software. I first wrote a memoir about teaching called The Education of a Teacher (Including Dirty Books and Pointed Looks.) After that, I retired from teaching and began teaching myself to write mysteries. So, it was a gradual transition.

A related question: You’ve been very successful (and prolific!) as a mystery writer since your retirement in 2011. What steps did you take to hone your craft as a writer?

I spent a year reading a variety of books about writing—plot structure, characterization, dialogue, themes, villains, and heroes. I first read Stephen King’s On Writing, and I still re-read it often. I made the decision I’d write cozy/leaning-toward-traditional mysteries. I took two of my favorite cozy mysteries, and literally pulled them apart, outlining how the plots were structured. I joined the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The chapter is an educational group for mystery writers, so I took classes with them and began attending conferences. I acquired an editor through them, and eventually an agent and publisher. I still take classes, and just this week I sat in on a webinar with Mystery Writers of America to listen to Tracy Clark talk about characterization. I learned even more. When I read a great mystery, I take notes on techniques I could use. I never stop learning.

I loved that your dad saved the book, THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN SLIPPERS, you wrote and illustrated as a child, as well as copies of the neighborhood newspaper you created. Looking back, what role do you think your parents’ encouragement and interest have played in your life and career journey?

Both of my parents are gone now, my mom when I was only twenty-six. But they always encouraged me, and they sent me to college and loved that I decided to teach. That was the 1960s, and, as we know, not too many jobs were available to women. Fortunately for me, I was passionate about teaching. I was writing my teaching memoir prior to my father’s death, and he was aware that I was going to try to get it published. He read several chapters and encouraged me. I often find my parents in the pages of my books. Things they taught me. Values they believed in. Not sure I would be doing this without their belief that I could do whatever I set my mind to. In fact, there is a line in my new book that sounds very much like those thoughts.

I got such a kick out of reading that you have grandchildren who enjoy giving you words to include in your novels. Any words we should be on the lookout for in DEATH IN A GHOSTLY HUE?

I have two sets of twins in my group of eleven grandchildren, and they have given me words recently. The other grandchildren too, but in my recent book, the twin granddaughters gave me words. One wanted me to use her name for a character, but it had to be a “good character, not a murderer.” So, she is the lawyer named Josie. The other twin Googled “the hardest word that Grandma won’t know.” (Gosh, it was so much easier when they were younger and didn’t use computers.) Her word was “Australopithecus.” When she sent that it certainly gave me pause. And it is there in Death in a Ghostly Hue on page 147. They can’t fool age and experience. Ha, ha.

What is your writing process like?

Unlike many of my writing friends, I don’t write every day. I fit writing into the schedule of the rest of my life. Besides writing, I love being retired. I do outline, as I mentioned. I write a chapter at a time, short or long. When I finish, I pull up my notes for the next time and set them next to my computer. Also, unlike many writers, I edit as I go along. I have a list of words I tend to repeat that I call “weasel words.” I look for them and ruthlessly backspace. I use The Synonym Finder so I don’t repeat words too often. I like interesting verbs. I set deadlines for each part of the book, so I know if I’m on schedule or need to catch up a bit.

Can you share with our readers how you go about planning a whole series?

I write two series: the Endurance Mysteries and the Art Center Mysteries. The former is a series that I keep writing, mindful of the arcs of my characters. I never planned this series as a trilogy or a set number of books.

I planned the Art Center Mysteries all at once. My agent wanted a three-book contract with a publisher, so I had to produce three plots and plan the character arcs and the arc of the series all at once. I created a family that had experienced a horrendous event in their past: the deaths of their parents in a terrible car accident. But the protagonist, Jill Madison, had drifted from her hometown and the lives of her two brothers. She also had fallen into a deep depression and lost her self-confidence. So, I brought her home in the first book to a new job and worked on the family issues. In the second book, I killed her mentor, who had been an immense help to her and created several situations that involved second chances. I also added a new romance, although it isn’t the main plot. Finally, I brought back the accident that claimed the parent’s lives, front and center, and dealt with the theme of forgiveness. From Book One, this family had been decimated by the loss of the generation ahead of them. In the final book of the trilogy, I wanted answers to questions about their parents’ deaths that had hung over them now for seven years. So, the car accident and the family dynamics are the key elements in holding the series together.

What’s next for you writing-wise?

I’ve already begun planning a new Endurance Mystery. It will be a challenge because the relationship of my two main characters, Grace and Jeff, has changed considerably since the last book. They’re now married and adding that key event will change other aspects of the story. It’s largely been a series about the lives of women, and Grace Kimball’s best friend is a female detective. How that relationship might change now that Grace is married is a good question for me to solve.

Anything you’d like to add, or wish I’d asked that I didn’t?

No, Lynn. These are wonderful questions, and I found myself writing way too much. You have given me lots to think about!

Please note:  Susan is giving away a free copy of Death in a Ghostly Hue to one lucky commenter. Leave your comment and email contact before July 26 and one person will win a copy of her book. We’ll announce the winner in the comment section.

About the Author

Susan Van Kirk is a Midwest writer, living in downstate Illinois. Her writings include the Endurance Mysteries, a smalltown series republished by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery. A Death at Tippitt Pond is a standalone mystery. Her Art Center series includes Death in a Pale Hue, Death in a Bygone Hue, and Death in a Ghostly Hue. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and is Past President of the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Her website and blog are at http://www.susanvankirk.com

Buy Link to all three Art Center Mysteries on Amazon:

https://tinyurl.com/2u8c9sy2

 Buy Link to the Endurance Mysteries on Amazon: 

https://www.Amazon.com/dp/B076D6BRP

Social Media:

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