Working as a professional writer for more than twenty years, I’ve written every type of document you can imagine; social media posts, press releases, speeches and scripts, but never a novel. Until Dinked: The Secrets of Serenity Acres that is.
I grew up watching cozy mysteries with my family. The classics were staples in my home. Long before the days of PVRs or even VCRs, we would gather around the TV to watch the likes of Quincy, Murder She Wrote and Columbo. Unlike today’s choreographed fight scenes where characters absorb endless blows and perform Matrix-style stunts, the victims in these shows perished easily. One quick knock to the noggin was all it took, and blood loss was limited.
I’m also a child of a mother who devoured Harlequin romance novels like they were butterscotch Lifesavers and followed the soap operas like stocks.
Now, as an adult, my tastes vary wildly, but cozy mysteries filled with scandal are always a favorite. Numerous twists required, the more ludicrous the better.
I also loved racquet sports since I was tall enough to hold one, even if I didn’t have a partner. I would smash tennis balls against the garage door for hours, wishing I had a friend to play with. That all changed when I met my husband, who’s an avid player. We spent much of our time together hitting up the free courts, practicing our strokes!
We got a dog (Stella), got married, had two kids (boys), and then another dog (Hank, after Stella died) and our racquets sat gathering dust for a few years while we raised our young family.
Then, pickleball arrived with a vengeance on our scene. I was instantly hooked! Easy to learn but hard to master, I thrilled at absorbing the complicated (but easy once you get it!) scoring system and laughed every time I got caught in “the kitchen.” The fierce but friendly competition gave my leisure time a new meaning.
My husband? Not so much so. At least not at first. Our debates about each sport’s merits raged on like the presidential debates while our kids noted they would rather golf (they don’t!). But the fun, quick-paced nature of the fastest-growing sport in North America is contagious and won him over and soon enough we started to split our time evenly between the two. My kids are even in on the fun now, and we’ve spent countless sunny hours sweating it out. Sadly, our favorite ball boy Hank passed away last spring.
And just like that…pickleball added itself to my list of favorite things, along with cozy mysteries and scandal-driven storylines. I’m excited to share behind-the-scenes info, book club ideas, and more. I hope you love DInked: The Secrets of Serenity Acres as much as I loved creating it.
Are you a cozy mystery fan? A pickleball addict? Or just here for the scandal? Drop a comment—I’d love to hear from you!