Before I wrote my first mystery novel, I made a career as an investigator with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Logic dictated that I keep my first foray into writing within the familiar genre of mystery novel or crime novel. All I had to do was come up with the story line based on my experience. Instead, I woke one morning to a memory that screamed to be told. Here it is.
The summer I turned 14, my older sister and I volunteered with The Red Cross in Charleston, West Virginia. One of the adults came up with a brilliant plan (eye roll). Let’s load up a half dozen teenaged girls and take them to the state’s lunatic asylum for a picnic with the patients. Think, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to draw a mental picture of the place. An imposing three-story stone mansion surrounded by manicured lawns greeted us. As we crawled out of the station wagon, our ears were assaulted by blood-curdling screams that echoed through the grounds.
Smile plastered on her face, one of the hospital aides took our huddled mass into the building to show us how to find the ladies room. The walls in the entry and first-floor hallway were marred with peeling industrial green paint. We took careful steps along scuffed linoleum floors. Bars on the windows of the rooms we passed muted the daylight. As we emerged through another door, I couldn’t help but notice this good-looking young man sitting on the porch. He was hot. And silent (catatonic). One of the other girls knew his story.
A typical teenaged boy, he was drawn to the strobe of police lights on the banks of the Kanawha River. He mingled with the crowd to watch as the police dredged the river. When they pulled up a body, it turned out to be the teen’s mother.
I never knew the boy’s name, nor the circumstances of his mother’s death. As a novice writer, I gave my imagination free rein for this mystery novel. I changed the location to Boston (the Charles River) and for my novel, I wove a tale of family tragedy and murder. The result was my first book, Secrets of the Charles, which won a first place award in the Royal Palm Literary Awards.
About the author Susan Boyd: Several of her award-winning short stories have been published. Her first novel, “Secrets of the Charles“, was a first-place winner of the 2010 Royal Palm Literary Awards. Her third novel, “Grey to Black“, won two Royal Palm Literary Awards. She is also the author of “Secrets Hid Lies“.Susan resides in central Florida. She is currently working on a new novel set to release soon.