The Story Behind the Story with D.C. Malcolm of New Brunswick, Canada.

 

           We have someone new to the Scribbler this week. 

Let’s welcome D.C. Malcolm.

She is sharing the good news about her Latest book.  

Read on my friends.

 

 

D.C. Malcolm is a self-published Historical Mystery Author of Guilty Deceptions and Dark Jealousy. She lives in New Brunswick, Canada, with her son. Her interests include Victorian times, True Crime, and Murder Mysteries. Which heavily influence her writing. When she isn’t killing off characters in her novels, D.C. enjoys a quiet life, reading, spending time with family, and watching murder mysteries.

 

 Title: Dark Jealousy

 

Synopsis: A year after the events of Guilty Deceptions, Sheriff Dawson returns when Catherine Baker is found brutally murdered next to her mother's woodshed in Willow Grove. Armed with his deputy's keen eye and his own wit, Sheriff Dawson must solve this gruesome murder. However, when he has it all figured out, suspects start dropping one by one. Forcing Sheriff Dawson to face the reality of stereotypes – fight for what is right – and hopefully solve these crimes before someone else dies.

 

The Story Behind the Story: While I was finishing Guilty Deceptions, an idea came to me. I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters I had created, and I felt there was more to Sheriff Dawson, Becky, Annie, and Patrick. I also didn’t want to let go of some other characters like Sylvester, Billy, and Horace, to name a few.

After brainstorming, I decided that I could continue this story into a series. This was because Guilty Deceptions had transformed from a story focused on Maggie and John to a story about Sheriff Dawson, his mind, and his hardships.

Once I decided that I was going to continue the series, I realized I needed to find a plot to base my story on. This is because of my unique niche of loosely basing my murder mysteries on real-life crimes from Victorian times.

So, I researched cases that stuck out. Something that I could twist and morph into a story. After hours of research, I came across a case that happened in 1883, where a man named William had been convicted of murdering his wife, Elizabeth. The murder took place in Willow Grove, a community that I had already introduced in Guilty Deceptions, and I figured it would be nice to revisit the area in a second book.

The problem was the date, which wasn’t much of a problem. I just changed the date from 1883 to 1871 to fit the timeline of Sheriff Dawson. When I sit down to write, I never know the ending of my stories. Halfway through my first draft, I decided that I had to touch on topics that were considered taboo in 1871. Sheriff Dawson is always ahead of his time and touches on these taboo subjects with a modern view.

I also did some research via newspapers on Google Books. (I love using this feature in my research) and found out that Small Pox was going around Saint John in 1871. After my research, I wanted to place a few nods to Guilty Deceptions. I researched buildings built by the real-life John and visited these buildings in the story during the investigation. I described these buildings the best I could, and, from my understanding, many still stand in Saint John today. I owe credit to the many people on the Facebook group Historic Saint John for helping me with this. I was able to make connections to a fellow local author who was a tremendous help. I also connected with a local historian who helped me with street names before the fire and where these streets were located.

When I had everything I needed, I let the characters tell me what happened, how it happened, and who was responsible for it happening in the first place. My book Dark Jealousy was fun to write, and I plan to have more books in the Sheriff Dawson series. I’ve been working on a prequel to the books.

 

Website: Go HERE  

 

A question before you go:

Scribbler: What is the ideal spot for you when you write your stories? Music in the background or quiet. Coffee or tequila? Messy or neat?

DC: My apartment is small, but I created a makeshift office in a corner of my living room. This is where I work on my writing. It’s a small desk with my laptop and a few trinkets, cluttered with writing books, among other things. The wall behind my desk has a calendar, a corkboard for my notes, and is plastered with canvases about writing and books. Cluttered or not, this is my favorite place to write. I’m also not much of a drinker, only drinking on special occasions. However, I love my coffee and can be found with a cup beside me, usually a double-double – homemade. As for music or quiet, I can write with both. I grew up in a family of six. So, I had three younger siblings, all many years younger. The youngest is thirteen years my junior, so I tend to block out the noise, the easiest way I can concentrate.

 

 

An Excerpt:

The snow was stained crimson all around the front of the shed. The front wall and door were splattered in blood. Yet, my eyes were on Catherine Baker; her head partly severed – as if the murderer attempted to cut her head off – but failed miserably at it. A few feet away, a bloody axe was discarded in the snow. Sylvester crept down and carefully examined the body.

“On an educated guess,” he said. “This death is but a few hours old, maybe less.”

“This is what I feared,” I said. “A fresh murder and we have no idea what the cause or intent here was. Will the killer strike again? That’s yet to be seen.” Edward walked up to us.

“We have tracks in the snow,” he said. “One is a woman’s, the others men and I can guess that they are about size ten.” I sighed and shook my head.

“There are a lot of men that wear size ten,” I said. “We’ll have to narrow down the list. Yet, we don’t even have a suspect.” The photographer was snapping photos around us.

“What about the farmhand?” Patrick asked, and I narrowed my eyes.

“What about him?” I asked, and Patrick sighed.

“Well, he was here during the murder, wasn’t he boss?” Patrick asked. “He either did it or he knows something.” He was right, we had to look into everything and the farmhand was a good place to start the investigation.

“Okay,” I said. “Here’s what we are going to do,” I licked my lips and pointed to my men. “Paul, Edward, and Curtis, you search the house for any clues. Peter, Jonathan, and William, you search the grounds with Dr. Knox and Dr. Murphy. Patrick, you're with me.”

“Where are we going, boss?” Patrick asked.

“We need to question the farmhand,” I said, making my way back out front and looking at Angela.

“Miss Angela,” I said. “What can you tell us about your farmhand?”

“Daniel?” she asked. “Him started working for me family about ten years ago. Him should be around here somewhere. You don’t think Daniel did this?”

“It’s too early to be certain,” I said. “But, I need to investigate every possibility. He was here, the axe belongs to him, and he never came running when you screamed. He either is involved or-”

“He’s dead too,” Angela said, nodding.

Thank you for sharing your news and for being our guest this week, DC. We wish you continued success with your writing.

And a BIG thank you to all our readers and visitors. You’re the reason we do what we do.