Every novel begins with the spark of an idea. For me, those sparks often come from conversations—ordinary chats that land on the extraordinary, a place, a figure, a moment in time.
For example, my father and I shared a love of history. He and my mother had watched the documentary about Annie Oakley on PBS, and he encouraged me to watch it. Later, he said, “You know, you ought to write something about her.” I wasn’t drawn to non-fiction, but the idea stayed with me. What if Annie Oakley became an amateur sleuth, solving crimes while traveling with the Wild West show?
That question became the first book in the Annie Oakley Mystery series.
Another seed of an idea came from a conversation with my former horse trainer. I’d always been fascinated by the Ziegfeld Follies and she casually mentioned that her mother had once been a Ziegfeld girl. That remark got me down an hours-long rabbit hole of research where I discovered the tragic story of Olive Thomas. Her life was a fast-paced rise to fame, and her death was shrouded in mystery. Her story inspired the first book of the Grace Michelle Mysteries about a budding costume-designer, a missing starlet, and a darker world that lay behind the lights of the stage.
And another spark of an idea came from a location. Growing up our family had a second home in Durango, Colorado. I was always fascinated by the Strater Hotel, the heart of the town. It’s a Victorian beauty, built in the 1880s and steeped in ghost stories. One of those legends centered around a man in period dress walking the lobby, then vanishing on the adjacent railway tracks. On one occasion, my husband and I stayed in the “Louis L’Amour” suite, where the author had written many novels. That weekend, the setting, the history, and the tales of past lives came together in the idea of the Pryce of Murder series, my protagonist, Arabella Pryce, and her friend and confidant, a ghost named Percival.
Research & Fact + Fiction
Once I have the idea, the real fun begins: digging into the time period, gathering facts, and shaping them into something fictional yet believable. While the internet is a wonderful tool, for the Pryce of Murder series I spent quite a bit of time in Durango itself. I stayed at the Strater Hotel, walked the historic streets, took photos of old buildings, and visited the local historical society. A few of the docents there were incredibly generous with their time—showing me old records, recommending books, and sharing stories steeped in local lore and legend.
Then I ask myself: what story does this history want to tell? What’s true—and where do I need to flex it so the mystery works? In the Oakley books, Annie’s real sharpshooting career becomes the backdrop but the crime is fictional. In the Ziegfeld-inspired book, the real Olive Thomas becomes a jumping-off point, not a mirror. And in the Pryce series, the haunted hotel and railroad town are real cornerstones, but the murder, the side-kick ghost character, and the heroine’s arc are all mine.
Balancing Accuracy with Storytelling
This part is like walking a tightrope. I want readers fully immersed in the era—to hear the bustle of the town, to see the setting unfold like a film, and to feel what the characters feel. I want them to believe this world is real. So I stay true to major historical events, social customs, and the technology of the time. But I don’t let facts smother the story.
Annie Oakley probably never solved a murder—but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have the instincts or the skills. I took what we know of her personality and molded it into a fictional Annie who operates within the reality of her world.
While we may never know for certain if the Strater Hotel is truly haunted, it’s certainly fun to imagine. The sheer number of ghost stories—from phantom footsteps to spectral sightings—made it easy to let my imagination run. Those tales directly inspired the Arabella Hotel in the Pryce of Murder series, where the ghost Percival Blank makes his home.
Fiction needs a certain amount of freedom to be compelling, but I also think it’s important to give history the respect it deserves.
