Welcome Debut Mystery Author, Carol Light!

 

Wranglers, I'm beyond delighted to introduce you to debut author, Carol Light! She is an amazing mystery writer as well as a fellow Tule author, and I'm so pleased she was willing to stop by the round pen today to tell us about her debut novel, Room for Suspicion.

Carol Light is an avid reader and writer of mysteries. She loves creating amateur sleuths and complicating their normal lives with a crime that they must use their talents and wits to solve. She’s traveled worldwide and lived in Australia for eight years, teaching high school English and learning to speak “Strine.” Florida is now her home. If she’s not at the beach or writing, you can find her tackling quilting in much the same way that she figures out her mysteries—piece by piece, clue by clue.

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Long Time Coming

by Carol Light

 This week I reached a lifetime goal of publishing a novel. A copy of Room for Suspicion with my name blazing across the cover in bold letters faces me on my bookshelf as I write. Like most authors, I wasn’t “an overnight success”—far from it. Two earlier novels never sold and continue to urge me in whispers to try rewriting once again. The first one was completed nearly thirty years ago. After I tried and failed to sell it, I put it aside. My writing buddy moved to another state, my day job consumed more time and energy, and my parents needed more help as the years passed. Occasionally I jotted ideas or wrote random scenes. It seemed unlikely that I’d ever be published.

 Another promotion at work that involved more frequent travel left less time for writing. At one point (probably while considering my New Year’s resolutions), I wondered if I should just give up the dream of being an author. It didn’t make sense to hold onto a goal that was unlikely to be accomplished. I was growing older, there were a million excellent novelists publishing every year, and I probably just wasn’t good enough. After all, that first manuscript never sold, although several agents had sent encouraging notes. Why continue to torture myself expecting more than I was clearly able to deliver? But I just couldn’t let go of the dream. I wanted it. I could taste it. I knew I was meant to be an author.

 In the summer of 2015, I signed up for a week-long course at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. I had an idea for my second novel, and I wrote several scenes during that week. I also received valuable feedback from my teacher, a published author, and classmates. I knew that if I wasn’t going to give up on my dream, I had to write, however sporadically, despite the challenges of my job and caregiving for my mother every weekend for four years.

 After my mother’s death in October 2018, I was just over a year away from retirement. I needed to take the annual leave I’d squirreled away or lose it, and suddenly I had time to write. I set goals, worked out a schedule, and completed my second novel that year. After several revisions, I was ready to try again to find an agent in early 2020. Bad timing. The pandemic struck and I only received one reply to my multiple queries—a rejection. But this time I kept writing. I studied techniques in online webinars and learned about marketing. I found joy in creating characters and plotting scenes. I immersed myself in the creativity and craft of writing mysteries, with plot twists and themes woven in the story. Whether I ever sold a book or not, I was at last a writer.

 Room for Suspicion was my COVID novel , the first book in a mystery series about professional organizer Crystal Ward, an amateur sleuth in Chicago. I’d learned more about publishing. For example, mystery series were more in demand than standalone novels. I’d also learned more about my craft and improved my skills. When Nan Reinhardt suggested I submit my manuscript (the whole novel, not just the usual ten pages or first chapter) to Tule Publishing, I didn’t know what to expect. My hopes weren’t any higher than they’d been with all the other submissions. Then Tule responded two months later and offered me a contract for two books. I had to read that email several times before whooping with joy. I’m now writing the fourth novel in my Cluttered Crime Mysteries series for Tule.

 It's a cliché to say never give up on your dreams or you’re never too old to accomplish goals, but there’s truth in those sayings. We’re lucky as writers that there’s no age limit or expectation to be young and hip. Our experiences as we grow older help make us better at this craft. We’ve met more people, visited more places, and faced more challenges than most young adults just starting out. Our brains are full of stories we’ve heard or experienced just waiting to be put on a page. And maybe we’ve also learned to persevere.

 I now realize that my career as a writer may have worked out perfectly in its own time. The publishing industry has changed considerably since my first novel was completed, with on-demand publishing and e-books, among other innovations, offering more opportunities for writers. I know I couldn’t be nearly as productive composing on a typewriter or longhand as I am today on the computer.

 Despite the long journey, I’m glad I never gave up on my dream and finally achieved my goal. Now I just have to make that bestseller list before another thirty years go by.

Room for Suspicion

It’s going to take more than carefully labeled boxes to sort through the clues of this homicide…

Professional organizer Crystal Ward knows she can make a success of her new business, Organizing Chicago. The extra income would allow her to renovate her own home, full of more cluttered spaces than she’d ever admit to her clients. But her life wasn’t always this disorganized. Five years ago her husband, Rick, a Chicago police detective, was shot while chasing a suspect. Now a paraplegic, he’s wary of her going into strangers’ homes…and for good reason.

When Crys discovers a dead man in a client’s living room, she refuses to accept that the murder is an open-and-shut case of domestic violence. If she can untangle this mess, she can prove her client’s innocence and ease Rick’s fears.

But the only witness to the murder is hospitalized in a catatonic state. And the lead detective is Rick’s former partner, the man Crys blames for his paralysis. Crys is on her own to save her client from jail and stop a murderer intent on tidying up loose ends.

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