North Carolina Mystery Writer, Susan Whitfield

 Susan Whitfield has written four books in the Logan Hunter Mystery series, including Genesis Beach, Just North of Luck, Hell Swamp, and Sin Creek. She sets her novels in the state she loves. North Carolina is blessed with The Crystal Coast, The Blue Ridge Mountains, and a wide array of unique dialects, customs, and personalities. It’s said that there’s a writer under every bush in North Carolina because it’s such a wonderful place for inspiration.

Genesis Beach, the first in the series, is set in a fictitious place only Susan can locate with any accuracy. “It’s actually a weaving of several of our beaches. I was first inspired to write my first novel while visiting The Crystal Coast and the Outer Banks, looking down at a tanned man with a pierced nipple in a hot tub.”  

Excerpt from Genesis Beach:

I’d come all this way to slap him and tell him to go straight to Hell only to find out he was already there.

“I liked my female protagonist, Logan, so much that I decided without hesitation to send her off to the Blue Ridge Mountains after a serial killer. Just North of Luck challenged us both. I’d never written from a villain’s point-of-view, certainly not a serial killer’s.

I try to showcase aspects of North Carolina, so in this book, readers get the switchback curves, prolific kudzu, moonshine stills, skunks, and some Appalachian culture. I stayed for days at the time in Hot Springs, a world famous small town with its own mineral springs and spa, relaxing and learning more about that area.   

                   

Excerpt:

A white plastic banner across the road twinkled bright lights: Go Nuts at the Testicle Festival! I spotted a television cameraman filming cooks and getting reactions from tasters. People were bestowing glorious accolades on the samples.

We approached the tables and a man shoved sturdy cardboard platters into our hands. I tried to give mine back, but Pepper pulled me toward a deep fryer filled with bubbling oil. Chase gave me a bemused look and egged Pepper on to get me to try a fried bull gonad. Unexpectedly one was on my plate, sizzling, and smelling--alluring. I shook my head. What was I thinking? I turned and watched in horror as Pepper and Chase counted to three and bit into a crispy gonad. They both leaned toward me, chewing and moaning as if it were wonderful, but they weren’t fooling me.

Susan went back to her childhood home and the nearby mansion she loved in Pender County to set Hell Swamp along Black River, and use The Black River Plantation for the crime scene. “There really is a Hell Swamp somewhere down Black River but I didn’t venture there because I’d been told about the canopy of water moccasins that call it home. I have since become friends with the plantation’s owner, Ed Padfield, a real sweetie. I treasure that friendship.”                                            

The fourth novel in the series, Sin Creek, is set along the Cape Fear Riverfront in Wilmington. I love Wilmington, but this fictional novel was a major challenge. I stopped many times but finally completed it, wanting to showcase the stunning port city and set an ugly story there as well. The topics of rape and pornography give me the creeps, but it’s out there all around us all over the world and this story had to be told.”  

Here’s a tidbit to tease you:

The Cape Fear River snakes through eastern North Carolina past the stunning port city of Wilmington, and sidling up next to it is Sin Creek, a sliver of water where wickedness and decadence take precedence over decency and threaten to bring the city to its knees.

Whitfield’s series can be purchased anywhere books are sold as well as online in print or digital format. “If you want a book autographed, just go to my site at www.susanwhitfieldonline.com and order from there. I’ll personally autograph it for you or someone else.”

Whitfield also has a cookbook she compiled after asking writer friends to submit recipes for Killer Recipes, not only a book of writers’ favorite foods but also book titles, web sites, and other interesting tidbits. All proceeds from this cookbook are donated to cancer research. “I feel so good about doing this because so many of us have been affected by cancer in some way. I appreciate eighty-seven authors submitting as many as five recipes for this project. Killer Recipes will be released in August and we hope you’ll buy some and spread the word.” This cookbook is available on Whitfield’s web site, from the publisher at www.lldreamspell.com, as well as Amazon.com and other online stores. “I’m proud and grateful that L&L Dreamspell jumped at the chance to publish this special book and donate their earnings to the cause.”                                                            

Susan Whitfield is currently working on a stand-alone about the misadventures and perils of two women who’ve been friends since infancy. The title is The Goose Parade of Old Dickeywood. She’s also working on the fifth Logan Hunter Mystery, Punch Street, and researching a medieval ancestor in hopes of writing an historical novel. Susan also has an award-winning blog at www.susanwhitfield.blogspot.com and interviews authors and industry experts. She’s also on Facebook, Twitter, and www.booktown.com set up “Susan’s Interviews” for its members. Come and visit her in North Carolina. She’d be glad to have you.

(pictures provided by author)