The Stories Behind the Stories
A Thousand Bones
Going "up north" was a ritual for any kid who grew up in Michigan. No matter how rich or poor your family was, a vacation to some resort, lake or campground north of Lansing was something you always had to look forward to. We were no exception. After our parents divorced, we were pretty much raised by our father Al. And every year, he would bundle us up in the sedan and we would make the trek "up north." Usually, it was to Houghton Lake, the big inland lake that sat like a watery wart on the I-75 spine that runs up the state. Houghton Lake was a kids' paradise with Dairy Queens, Go-Kart rides, Putt-Putt golf – and for the teenagers, the Music Box, where you could dance under the stars with your summer romance. But our dad took us to all the other hot spots up north. The Sleeping Bear Dunes on Lake Michigan, Frankenmuth, Holland, across the Mackinac Bridge to Tahquamenon Falls and the Soo Locks, and of course, to Mackinac Island. When we decided to spin off our character Joette Frye (who first appeared with Louis in A KILLING RAIN) into her own series, we weren't sure where to put her. Although she was a Miami homicide detective, Florida just didn't feel right. But then we realized "up north" was the place she belonged. Her fictional town of Echo Bay is modeled after a real village called Leland up in the Leelanau Peninsula. We wanted to give her a home where she could truly implant her heart. We think Leelanau is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Her first case there as a rookie is a horrific experience. But after her baptism by fire, we know Joe is going to have a long and happy life there. Louis will continue to live in Captiva. So now Louis and Joe have come to represent a part of ourselves – Michiganders who went south, but who always feel the pull of home.
An Unquiet Grave
When we were kids, we used to ride our bikes a couple miles down to Michigan and Merriman avenues to the place we knew only as Eloise. It was a sprawling mental institution, a creepy red-brick place behind high iron gates. We used to stare at the patients sitting in swings in the yard and wonder what horrors they had they done, who had they killed to be locked away inside Eloise. Kids do that -- inflate reality. But mental illness was scary back in the 50s, and Eloise loomed large in our imaginations. Forty-some years later, we were in Michigan and visited Eloise. Most the buildings were gone, but the nice folks who are trying to preserve Eloise's history let us look around. They didn't know where the old Potter's Field was, however. So we trekked across the highway, past a crumbling viaduct and into an abandoned corn field. We were lost, until we saw two giant pine trees that rumor said guarded the lost cemetery. Inside were thousands of small numbered gravestones imbedded in the grass, the only signs of the Eloise's lost souls. That was the moment we knew we had story to tell.
A Killing Rain
We started with the calculated idea that we wanted to write a "ticking clock" story, one with a compression of time and urgency. Then we asked ourselves: What would Louis care about? He was trying to start a relationship with Susan Outlaw and we realized Louis's ambivalence about her young son Ben was worthy of exploring. So when Ben is kidnapped, it set in play not only a roller coaster plot, but a personal quest for Louis to make sure the boy is saved - both physically and emotionally. What we didn't foresee was that Louis would find a soul mate in Joe Frye. She was to be a man originally, but because we had to accommodate the winner of a Name A Character contest, we decided Miami PD would have to have a female detective. Thus was Joe born. And damn, it was past time for Louis to have a woman in his life, as our readers kept reminding us.
Island of Bones
Kris had a long-favorite song by the J. Geils Band called "Monkey Island." Its haunting lyrics say, in part:
No one could explain it,
what went on that night.
How every living thing
just dropped out of sight.
We watched them take the bodies
and row them back to shore.
Nothing ever like it happened here before.
There ain't no life on Monkey Island..."
The song's ambiguity had always bugged her so she played the song for Kelly and asked: "What the hell happened on that island?" But it wasn't until we were sitting at a book signing in Fort Myers and a lady told us she was writing a book about multi-generational families living together that the plot clicked in our heads. From there, we decided our island family was of Spanish descent and we researched the culture of the isolated villages of Asturias in northern Spain, where even today some remnants of old Latin-tinged customs survive. Everything fell into place after that. A year after the book came out, Kris had a chance to go to Asturias. She was amazed to find it exactly as we had envisioned it.
Thicker Than Water
This is our "quiet mystery." A true puzzle, heavy with twists and turns and bread-crumb clue trails. It isn't as "thriller" oriented as our other books, and we can't even recall where the original idea came from. It was somewhat inspired by the famous quote, "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." But that was too easy. So we went and read the quote in its context in Shakespeare's "King Henry VI." We discovered the quote referred to a man falsely accused of a crime, and how he feared that once accused, he could never redeem his reputation. That became the theme behind the story about the despicable ex-con Jack Cade and the murdered teenage girl Kitty Jagger. It's our only real whodunit.
Paint It Black
We didn't really want to write a serial killer book. It's so hard to make it fresh. But our editor insisted, so we mulled it over and couldn't come up with anything that floated our boat. Then Kris was talking to a family member over breakfast one day. The young man, Dave Donson, had just finished part of his residency in a psychiatric ward and told the fascinating case history of a black man, a schizophrenic who "confabulated" (told lies he truly believed) to the point that he thought he was a white racist who hated black people. We used that germ to get inside the mind of our killer and to create a story that had personal meaning for Louis as he explores his biraciality.
Dead of Winter
This was a hard book to write because its plot changed so much during the writing process. We rewrote this book at least ten times until we got it right. Kelly wanted to set a book in northern Michigan, where we had vacationed as kids. And there was something emotionally resonant about the bleak isolation of the winters up there that worked with the themes we were playing with. We also knew we wanted to explore the intense familial bonds of a police department. Another theme emerged: the limits of loyalty among families and the family of cops. What we didn't see coming was who the killer was. We ended up changing it almost at the very last minute.
Dark of Moon
Kelly was living in rural Mississippi and every day, on her way to work, she drove past a dense area of swampy woods. She found herself wondering, "What would happen if they found some old bones out there?" And because of where she was, in a small town infamous for its civil rights history, she wondered further, what would happen if the bones belonged to a long-forgotten lynching victim? Thus was born the idea for Louis's first adventure. But what about Louis himself, where did he come from? Kelly had two very young biracial grandchildren and things were not always easy living in the small town where old habits and prejudices died hard. We realized that by making Louis biracial, we could explore the dichotomy of his living in two worlds. That one decision gave us many more layers to peel back as we delve into Louis's past -- and chart his future. Louis Kincaid has many years ahead of him and many things yet to learn. It's our job to just trail behind him, pen in hand, writing it all down for you.