It’s my pleasure to welcome back fellow Sister in Crime Lois Winston, who is here today to share her take on dysfunctional families. Take it away, Lois:
As authors, we’re often told to write what we know. That’s not always possible for those of us who write mysteries filled with murder and mayhem. Certainly, there are “those” people in our lives we may fantasize about eliminating, but unlike the romance writer recently convicted of killing her husband, we tamp down those urges. Like many mystery authors, I instead get plot ideas from world and local news, not by committing my own crimes in the name of research.
However, the same is not true for my characters. Since I began my writing career seventeen years ago, I’ve written more than thirty novels, novellas, and short stories. I’ve relied on people in my own life for most of the characters I’ve created. Sometimes a character is a composite of various people I’ve known. Other times, the character is inspired by one person. Throughout my life, I’ve come across many people who belong between the covers of a novel, and sadly, I’ve had the misfortune of being related to quite a few of them.
I grew up in a family that was unlike the families portrayed on television during my early childhood. Nowadays TV families are more realistic. Back then, they were idealized representations dreamed up by scriptwriters. However, as a kid, I didn’t know that. I longed for parents like the Cleavers, the Andersons, and the Stones. Instead, I was born to parents who never should have had one child, let alone four.
More than anything I wanted to be part of a loving family. I swore I’d never get involved with anyone whose family didn’t measure up to my ideals. When I met my future husband, I not only fell in love with him, I fell in love with his family.
But sometimes people hide their true selves, and such was the case with my future in-laws, especially my mother-in-law. Within a short time after my marriage, our relationship began to deteriorate. It’s not easy dealing with a bully who believes she’s always right, and you’re always wrong—about everything. As she grew older, her nastiness and bullying grew exponentially.
And did I mention she was a card-carrying communist?
My mother-in-law became the inspiration behind Lucille Pollack, my amateur sleuth’s mother-in-law in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. The situations I create for Lucille may be totally fictitious, but her personality is true to the woman who inspired her.
Although my mother-in-law died seventeen years ago, the psychological wounds she inflicted on those around her live on. But that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right? I may not have had a storybook childhood or married into the family of my dreams, but the people who have caused me the most grief in my life have also inspired me to create unique and interesting characters.
There are now eleven books in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. Lucille’s role in each story varies. Sometimes she’s present in much of the plot; sometimes she has a minor role. In the newly released Guilty as Framed, she manages to wreak havoc in unexpected ways for Anastasia and her family.
An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 11
When an elderly man shows up at the home of reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack, she’s drawn into the unsolved mystery of the greatest art heist in history.
Boston mob boss Cormac Murphy has recently been released from prison. He doesn’t believe Anastasia’s assertion that the man he’s looking for doesn’t live at her address and attempts to muscle his way into her home. His efforts are thwarted by Anastasia’s fiancé Zack Barnes.
A week later, a stolen SUV containing a dead body appears in Anastasia’s driveway. Anastasia believes Murphy is sending her a message. It’s only the first in a series of alarming incidents, including a mugging, a break-in, another murder, and the discovery of a cache of jewelry and an etching from the largest museum burglary in history.
But will Anastasia solve the mystery behind these shocking events before she falls victim to a couple of desperate thugs who will stop at nothing to get what they want?
Find the book:
Paperback (available 9/6/22)
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3tLnT3d
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/guilty-as-framed
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/guilty-as-framed/id6442846272
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/guilty-as-framed-lois-winston/1141500980?ean=2940185728703
You made the best of the situation with your mother-in-law, and came away stronger, despite her negativity. Congratulations on the new release!
Thanks for stopping by M.E.!
Thanks, M.E.! It certainly wasn’t easy at times.
Judy, thank you so much for hosting me on your blog yesterday!
you are welcome any time, Lois
Lois,
I love your blogs. I’m sorry that you had to deal with a woman like your mother-in-law, but you made good use of her.:)
Thanks, Marilyn! Yes, she wound up being good for something, at least. ;-D
Thanks for stopping by Marilyn
I enjoyed reading about your inspiration for Lucille Pollack. Dealing with bullies, especially at a young age, is tough. Writing about them and other troubling issues can be cathartic. Best of luck with Guilty as Framed.
Thanks, Kathleen! Cathartic certainly has described much of my writing.
Thanks for stopping by Kathleen.
Interesting. Most of us don’t have to look too far for intriguing and sometimes scary characters.
So true, C.J.! And I found it interesting as well. Lois knows how to grab a reader.
Yes, C.J., characters are all around us, just waiting to be scooped up and dropped into a novel. Sometimes, though, you have to get very creative if there’s someone you’re itching to write about but worry over the repercussions. Luckily for me, my mother-in-law was no longer alive when I created Lucille. I’m not sure I would have had the courage to be so accurate in my portrayal of her personality otherwise. Then again, since she never would have wasted her time reading anything I wrote, it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.