The cozy mystery I’d just finished reading reminded me of characters in “Moonlighting,” a TV series in the 1980s about an out-of-work model who brings in a partner to a detective agency she owns. My newbie private investigators, unlucky-in-love and mutually-vowed ‘friends-only’ Eddie Emerson and Kelly Gillespie, would set up shop in a north Chicago suburb to help clients avoid heartbreak. I envisioned a book series of deep dives into lovers’ and potential marital mates’ backgrounds with a touch of humor, surprising plot twists, and sometimes happily-ever-after results.

Their first client would be a senior partner at a high-profile law firm, stung by a messy divorce, but ready to love again. Before he proposes marriage to the teacher and first chair Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist who helped the talented teen-aged son he adores cope with his parents’ bitter separation, he hires the PIs to discreetly dig into his lover’s past.

The case that seems like a sweet slam dunk quickly deteriorated into a dangerous scenario that produced a pair of villains who quite frankly took my breath away. My cozy mystery morphed into romantic suspense of international intrigue proportions populated by law enforcement from Chicago PD to Interpol.

As the story continues to evolve toward an out of the blue ending, I can honestly say my lack of planned plot and carefully crafted outline has been fun. I get excited with each new twist that wiggles, scrambles and springs out of the creative process I don’t ever want to control.

Where do I get my ideas? I haven’t a clue. But Eddie and Kelly will tell me where their story should go. I’ll write it and revise it, get critiques from beta readers and polish from editors before I publish The UnMatchables Case #1.

Buy my New Life in Love Trilogy at these independent book stores!

Next Page Books
1105 Third Street SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
http://npbnewbo.com/

Prairie Lights Bookstore
15 South Dubuque Street
Iowa City, Iowa
http://www.prairielights.com

The Book Rack
4764 Elmore Ave.
Davenport, Iowa
http://www.thebookrackqc.com