We’re within ten days now of my latest Sean Colbeth Investigates novel hitting bookshelves, so that means I can tease you with some tidbits from the story — without, of course, spoiling anything. It will be a challenge, of course, but one I am up to (I hope!).
A mystery on an island, eh?
Yes! I mentioned in my last post that one of my favorite Agatha Christie Poirot mysteries is set on one, so I’ve long wanted to stage my own take on such a story. This particular island is one that has actually been hanging out in Windeport Harbor for some time — though only in my location notes. Sean hasn’t had much reason to visit any of the (several) small communities hiding out there in the harbor, so this was the perfect opportunity to introduce Carpenter’s Island.
Is there an actual “Carpenter” behind the name for the island?
Funny you should ask. I do have something of a backstory to the original inhabitants of the island, dating as far back as the late 1700s (when Maine was still part of Massachusetts). My sense of it is that the Vikings might have been the first to stake a claim there, something I based on an amazing book I read years ago about evidence they had settled along the Maine coast decades before the Pilgrims even thought about sailing for the New World. The actual Carpenter family brought the first wave of lobstering folk to the island; though that occupation has faded in favor of tourism, the island’s name keeps the history alive for Windeport.
Things seem a bit frosty between Sean and Suzanne.
They are, which is why Sean is on the island in the first place. Which is total Sean — he wanted to get away, but only so far; leaving Windeport is not something he’s constitutionally able to do. (Yet, the author cackles quietly.)
Wait — what do you mean, yet?
I can’t tell you that — but mostly because I’ve not written far enough into Sean’s future to accurately predict what he might or might not do. However, I can say that life as an employee for the State of Maine isn’t quite what he expected, which will lead to some difficult questions in the next book, Belie.
Not the answer I wanted.
Sorry.
What else is different in this book?
One of the more interesting changes I made this time out was to force Sean into a situation where he works the case solo. While we usually get the story from his perspective anyway, often he outsources key parts of the investigation to other portions of his department — but since he’s stuck on an island with really bad internet, he sort of has to do detective work the old fashioned way. I don’t let him hang, though; help comes in the form of a friend he consulted for many years earlier. Fun fact: when I was thinking about torching Reflection in the Shadows, I recycled the main character from that story as Sean’s friend in the first draft of this novel. (Spoiler: she didn’t make the cut.)
Okay, that’s it for now. Just a quick reminder – you can preorder almost any version of Solitude right now and get it fairly close to the release date. My thanks to everyone who has already done that.
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