A warm welcome back to Susan Van Kirk, who candidly discusses her writing path, then and now. Take it away, Susan!

My first attempt at writing mysteries began with the Endurance Mysteries—four novels and one novella so far. I’ve been happily visiting the town of Endurance with Grace, TJ Sweeney, Lettie, and Jeff Maitlin. While I enjoy writing that series, a few years ago I needed something new to kickstart my imagination. For months I considered possibilities and discarded each one. Was this writer’s block? So, I put the series thought aside and did other things. On a trip to our local art center in my small town of Monmouth, Illinois, I went on a behind-the-scenes tour of the 19^th-century building. When we reached the basement, I had my new series idea.

My downstate, Midwest, Illinois town of Monmouth has about 9,000 residents, and for such a small place, the Buchanan Center for the Arts is thriving. Hundreds of people utilize the art center each month, and the director, Kristyne Gilbert, seems to have 48 hours in her day. The center has a gift shop, weaver’s guild, classes, plays and radio shows, national juried exhibits, book-signings, a senior group, a podcast, and so many other activities. It is also aligned with the local schools in the area and provides art opportunities and a junior membership. A non-profit, a board of directors runs the whole production. I’m currently on that board.

This sent my imagination in a whole new direction for a mystery series. The Art Center Mysteries began with Death in a Pale Hue a year ago, published by Level Best Books. Jill Madison returns to her hometown feeling like a failure. She’s an oil painter, and in the six years since her parents died in a car accident with a drunk driver, she’s been anchorless. Her painting dried up and nothing was going well in the Chicago art scene. Her police detective brother encourages her to return to Apple Grove, Illinois, and join him and her other brother. The art center, which is named for their sculptor mother, needs an executive director. So, she goes back home, and in doing so, finds herself and her family again. Of course, she also finds a corpse in the basement of the art center and a robbery puts her in trouble with the board.

This book led to my newest, Death in a Bygone Hue, which just launched. Jill’s mentor, friend, and treasurer of her art center board is murdered. There’s no easy way to put it. His will names Jill as executor of his huge estate with millions of dollars of artwork. He has left his two children out of the will, and they come to town to get what’s rightly theirs. A muckraking journalist, a shady art buyer, and people from the victim’s past all swirl around this questionable death. Jill finds herself, as one of the beneficiaries, with a target on her back.

The third book, called Death in a Ghostly Hue, will utilize the newly formed senior group at the center. A radio show, mysterious and ghostly happenings at the art center, a visitor from the past, and a romance for Jill will complete the trilogy a year from now.

Now I find myself a writer of two series. But watching Judy Penz Sheluk balance far more than that, I think I can manage two series at the same time. I just need to make sure the characters are in the right town.

Readers, have you ever been delighted because you tried something new? Do you have an Art Center or something similar in your town?

Judy’s answer: When I lived in Alliston, Ontario, there was the South Simcoe Arts Council, whose motto was Arts for All. A wonderful place, so supportive of the arts and local authors.

Susan Van Kirk is the president of the Guppy Chapter, the online chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a writer of cozy mysteries. She lives at the center of the universe—the Midwest—and writes during the ridiculously cold and icy winters. Why leave the house and break something? Van Kirk taught forty-four years in high school and college and raised three children. Now that the children are launched, she writes. Her Endurance mysteries include Three May Keep a Secret, Marry in Haste, The Locket: From the Casebook of TJ Sweeney, Death Takes No Bribes, and The Witch’s Child. She also wrote A Death at Tippitt Pond. Her latest Art Center Mysteries include Death in a Pale Hue and Death in a Bygone Hue from Level Best Books. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Find her at www.susanvankirk.com.

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