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As an older avid reader, I can’t resist mysteries featuring senior sleuths, and Kass Lamb has a brand new series featuring one. As she celebrates the release of the first book in the series, TROUBLED WATER, Kass reflects on her decision to write about a character in her seventies.

 

Write What You Know ~ Well, I Sure Know Old Age!

by Kassandra Lamb

Write what you know is a very common bit of advice given to novice authors.

When I was a novice, and a recently retired psychotherapist and college professor, I definitely followed this advice by making the protagonist of my first series a psychotherapist (The Kate Huntington Mysteries). And many of the stories in that series revolved around her clients.

I quickly realized why “write what you know” was good advice. It’s hard enough to learn the craft of writing without having to research your protagonist’s profession as well.

But, after several years of writing about Kate, I decided I needed a challenge. I figured I’d try out other sub-genres of mysteries, and also make my protagonists’ professions something I did not know. First, I wrote cozies about a service dog trainer (The Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries). And then I went for an even bigger challenge—writing police procedurals (The C.o.P. on the Scene Mysteries). Those books required a lot of research!

Recently, though, I’ve felt the urge to go back to something a bit easier and more fun. Cozies are my favorite sub-genre, the most fun to write in my opinion. And I’m also cycling back to writing about what I know.

And, at age 73, I know old age intimately.               

I was actually considering retiring completely, from writing and publishing. But as I tried to imagine life after writing, just thinking about it bored me silly. So I decided to write about aging, i.e., develop a new cozy mystery series with a female protagonist of around my age.

The idea came partly from pondering how women of my generation experienced a rather unique phenomenon—being raised initially with traditional gender roles and expectations, and then finding ourselves “liberated” midway through our upbringing. It was pretty confusing.

And often still is. Messages such as “keep the peace, be nice, go along to get along” do battle with, “be strong, be independent, you can do anything.”

So it isn’t unusual for women of my generation to be “finding themselves” in old age. Thus is the case with my main character of this new series. Amy Bridges Parker is suddenly widowed, and she slowly realizes that her late husband was more controlling than she had previously thought.

I’m enjoying walking the path of self-discovery with her, feeling her sense of liberation even as she is grieving her husband. And I’m also enjoying revisiting the pop culture of my youth. References to old TV shows and old songs are sprinkled throughout Book 1.

I even decided to connect the titles of the books to songs from the late sixties/early seventies. The title of Book 1 comes from Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water.” Book 2 will be “Let It Be” (the Beatles).

I’m also finding it liberating to not have to research what slang words a thirty-something (Marcia Banks) or a forty-something (Chief of Police Judith Anderson) would use. I certainly have younger people sprinkled throughout the new book. But when they say things such as “and then she goes, like, you…” or use the word “perfect” three times in ten minutes, I can react from the perspective of a seventy-something.

Write what you know!

 

About TROUBLED WATER:

What does it say about you when your coming-of-age story begins at seventy-one?

Amy Bridges Parker asks herself that question as she resists her domineering sister’s attempts to take over where her subtly controlling and recently deceased husband left off.

Then her sister Clara turns up dead.

With two corpses in forty-eight hours, the town’s sheriff is eyeing Amy with suspicion. But when Amy’s past shows up—a young man claiming to be the grandson of her first husband, who died in Vietnam fifty-two years ago—the sheriff shifts his focus to him. The boy had a grudge and must have gone after the wrong sister.

Amy isn’t convinced. She can’t really explain why, but she likes the young man. And she knows better than most that her sister, a mean girl back in high school, had plenty of old enemies.

But who hated Clara enough to actually kill her? Or did the killer get the wrong sister after all?

BUY LINKS:

AMAZON:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H7YZSQG3 

BARNES & NOBLE:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/troubled-water-kassandra-lamb/1150617824?ean=2940196583292

KOBO:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/troubled-water-10

APPLE:  https://books.apple.com/us/book/troubled-water/id6788504138

GOOGLE PLAY:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kassandra_Lamb_Troubled_Water?id=lGLyEQAAQBAJ

AUTHOR BIO:

Kassandra Lamb has two loves: writing and psychology. In her youth, she discovered that writers need day jobs in order to eat. Partial to food, she studied psychology. Now retired from a career as a psychotherapist and college professor, she spends most of her time in an alternate universe with her characters. The magic portal to this universe (i.e., her computer) is in Florida, where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her. Kass has authored over 40 books, including four mystery series and a romantic suspense trilogy.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

WEBSITE: https://kassandralamb.com

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/kassandralambauthor

INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/kasslamb/

BLUESKY:  https://bsky.app/profile/kasslamb.bsky.social

BOOKBUB PROFILE:  https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kassandra-lamb

GOODREADS:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5624939.Kassandra_Lamb