Stiletto to the Pedal (The Tow Truck Murder Mysteries) by Karen C. Whalen | Author Guest Post

Janet Evanovich, one of my favorite writers for her humorous and quirky characters, once said in an interview that she likes change, that change is good. I read about her spirited attitude at a time when I was stressing about a big change in my own life, moving from the west to the eastern seacoast.

I’m the sentimental type, wishing to hang on to memories. Not wanting to leave the house my sons grew up in (they both moved out of state and didn’t seem to have the same attachment as I did). Not wanting to part with friends. Leaving the familiar, not having the history of living in a place “before the highway went in” or “before there was this much traffic.” But mostly, the change affected my sense of self. I considered myself a westerner. Who was I going to be now?

But change is inevitable. No one stays static. Time and circumstances change us all no matter how we fight it, so why not think of it as “good,” too, like Evanovich does? Change prompts us to experience new things, causes us to grow, and makes us face our fear of letting go. Hanging on to the past keeps us from embracing the present or looking forward to the future. Turns out, many of our western friends had also moved to warmer climates. Plus, living near the ocean is pretty nice. Our sons and their families visit us, as do our friends. And we’re making new friends and new memories.

I visit the mountains each time I write one of my cozy mysteries which take place in a fictional town called Spruce Ridge, Colorado located between Vail and Denver near ski resorts and pristine forest preserves. In the Tow Truck Mysteries, shoe-a-holic Delaney Morran receives an unexpected inheritance—a tow truck—from a dad she’s never known and decides to give the rough and dangerous business a chance. Hauling cars for suspicious characters provides plenty of opportunities to discover dead bodies. And when that happens Delaney must toughen up her image as the tow truck operator in high-heels and find the killers in her otherwise safe mountain town. I love spending time with Delaney, her sidekick Axle, her best friend Kristen, and her love interests, Tanner, the hunky tow truck driver, or Ephraim, the hot Latino sheriff, in the majestic mountains and quaint tourist town.

I also spend time at the beach, in person and in my imagination, when writing my new series set in a made-up town in coastal Carolina. The first book, Murder at Sea Oats Beach, will be coming out in June. In this book, Breanna Hart, a volunteer at the animal shelter, learns the police chief is found dead inside the cage of her favorite dog. Everyone has the dog tagged as the murderer, even the handsome police officer in charge of the investigation, and the pooch is put on the euthanasia list. In spite of being new in town and dealing with both a social phobia and a secret, Breanna feels she must solve the crime and prove the dog’s innocence in order to find his forever home. If she can do that, maybe she can also embrace the salty seaside life and find a forever home for herself.

I’m sure you can see some themes in the books, having to do with change. While I still consider the west my home, when my granddaughter called us “the coastal grandparents” I had to smile. I’m grateful and feel privileged to live here, to walk along the shore, hear the music of the waves, feel the warmth of the sand, and say, “I live here now. This is who I am now.”

Like Evanovich said, change is good.