Author’s humiliations are often fodder for their characters’ challenges, and more than one of my escapades have ended up complicating the holidays in my fiction. Thanksgiving anyone? It ain’t pretty, but it’s entertaining!
Category Archives: Story Insight
A Hurricane in the Keys and How it Shaped my Characters
Hurricane Irma devastated the Florida Keys, but in the aftermath, I knew exactly what kind of strength the characters in BEACHED needed.
Characters and the (Imaginary) Media
Not everyone enjoys the spotlight–including most authors, even if they were once the Public Information Officer for their police department.
Novel Settings Have Stories of Their Own
The settings in BEACHED are a combination of real and imagined locations. Read to find out the real history behind one of the most important settings in the novel.
The Sentence that Started it all: BEACHED
Home and what it means to Mer Cavallo (and her author) as we replay One-line Wednesday: BEACHED Chapter One.
Mystery Writing: It Starts with a Crime
Need help structuring your mystery novel? It all starts with the crime.
10 Fun Facts About Detective Jo Wyatt
A reader once described Jo as “smart enough to know her limitations, confident enough to trust her gut, and determined enough to unravel the threads in any case.” That’s Jo to a T. But underneath all that professionalism is a woman who you’d enjoy sharing a drink with. Here’s a list of fun facts aboutContinue reading “10 Fun Facts About Detective Jo Wyatt”
My Book~Shadow Ridge
I believe crime fiction is ultimately about redemption, which to attain requires unflinching emotional honesty. I naively expected the transition from cop to writer to be fairly straightforward. I was wrong.
A Sense of Place
Setting is the literal bedrock of a story and Detective Jo Wyatt and Echo Valley are inextricably linked in Shadow Ridge. Find out why.