November 24, 2025
What is one of your favorite settings from your books?
I built an entire small town over the course of my Harmony Duprie mysteries and Jake Hennessey books.
It happened in small moments, and momentary glimpses into people’s lives.
*****
Oak Grove was one of those “rust belt” cities, fallen on hard times when the steel mills moved overseas. When the jobs disappeared, so did half of the population. The downtown area had more than its share of empty storefronts, and the mall near the edge of town wasn’t full. Not being a fan of the big box stores, my choices were limited.
*****
The Dairy Barn felt like a blast from the 60s, a teenage hangout from a TV show. Faded red vinyl on the seats of the booths, servers in short-sleeve shirts with white collars, and a jukebox in the corner. Jake imagined it playing music from Woodstock instead of recent pop songs.
*****
Mabel had volunteered for the library for fifty-some years. She was as much of a fixture as the bookshelves.
“The library is haunted? Nobody ever mentioned it when I worked here.”
Janine leaned across the table and lowered her voice. “That’s what she claims. She said back in the 1920’s, shortly after the library opened, a man who taught English at the local high school dated one of the librarians. According to the story, she broke off the relationship after a few dates. He tried to win her back, but she didn’t want anything to do with him. In fact, she started seeing the owner of Mitchell’s department store. According to Mabel, the teacher committed suicide. Hung himself off the second floor railing the same day as the librarian and the businessman got married”
*****.
Wednesday night was girls’ night out at our hang-out of choice, the Pink Flamingo. The Flamingo is about a quarter restaurant, three-fourths bar, and has been our favorite spot since high school. The plastic birds it took its name from have faded to an almost white color from exposure to the sunshine through the front windows, but the owner has never replaced them. Not much has changed in ten years, except we no longer sit up front in the restaurant section with its beige upholstery and bright lighting. We’ve graduated to the middle section where most of the seating is barstools or wooden chairs at small tables, and only a few booths line one wall and lighting is kept to a minimum. The back is reserved for pool players and their buddies.
*****
A few years back, Pete Zamora had been one of the rare male high school volunteers at the library. When I first started working there, I’d been closest in age to the high-schoolers and became their unofficial liaison. Sure, he signed up because he had a crush on a girl who volunteered, but that didn’t stop him from pitching in with the best of them. I hadn’t seen him around lately, but the rumor mill reported his hiring by the fire department.
There were several locations I kept coming back to.
The local library where Harmony had worked and where she did most of her research. The remodeled Victorian where she rented the third floor. The Aldridge house, the house Jake had bought and lost back to the bank when he was in prison. That house that was the center of so much of the action in the series. Where she found Jake hiding out during a snowstorm. Where she was wined and dined by Jake’s competition. And where she introduced Eli to the resident ghost.
*****
I caught a flicker of movement in a second-story window as I pulled up to the Aldridge house. The last rays of the setting sun lit the exterior, making the fading and peeling white paint look pale pink. Once the weather warmed up, I would start the job of returning the wooden siding to its original deep blue color.
*****
I called the last room, with a window facing the main street, the ghost’s room. I’d never seen the ghost, but I’d heard it plenty of times. Some days when I pulled up to the house, I saw the curtains in this window move, despite all the repairs. I’d left the thin and faded curtains up, so the ghost would feel safe.
*****
“And I won’t be moving in. I’ll come over for meetings and stay when you’re in town, but otherwise, I’ll keep my place. That way I don’t become part of the furniture or spend my nights listening to the ghost in the walls.” Or end up homeless if we broke up.
“We have ghosts?”
Out of all the things I’d mentioned, he wanted to talk about the ghost?
“I’ve never seen it, but I hear it. I figured it was mice in the walls at first, but after we had the exterminator go through the entire house, the noises still happened. It quiets down when the house has people in it. It likes company.”
“You’re not the type to believe in ghosts.”
I wasn’t. “Spend a few nights here by yourself, then tell me what you think.”
All selections are from various books in the Harmony Duprie series.
*****
I hadn’t planned it that way, but that old house became the centerpiece of the series. (Including it being set on fire in one book.)
What settings have our other authors shared? The links below will lead you to the magic.
As always, please stay safe until the next time.
November 24, 2025
What is one of your favorite settings from your books?
