Mid-Month Mysteries: Location Themes

 

Although my family is fully vaccinated, our schedules don't allow us much opportunity to travel this year. Perhaps we can go somewhere during my son's next Spring Break or next summer. In the meantime, books allow us to experience other destinations. It's not surprising that there are cozy mystery series devoted to travel or vacations. Goodreads has a list of such series, and this blog has pages of mysteries on this theme. I'll just briefly mention books about places I've visited.

When I was fourteen, I spent a month in Germany but had a short layover in Reykjavik, Iceland. That's why I just added R.I.P. in Reykjavik to my Want-To-Read list. Representing Germany is The Watchman of Rothenburg by Adriana Licio. 

Another place that I've been to is Washington, D.C. I spent six months performing an internship at the National Cancer Institute, but I've also been in the area as a tourist. Elliot Roosevelt has a whole series set in D.C.; the first book is appropriately called Murder and the First Lady.

Before we got married, my husband and I visited friends in Minneapolis. These two series are set in Minnesota: Curiosity Thrilled the Cat and Killer Librarian.

For our honeymoon, my husband and I took an Alaskan cruise. Sue Henry has a whole series on Alaska, starting with Murder on the Iditarod. We also spent a week in London for our first anniversary, and this site has a whole page of mysteries set in London, too many to pick out just one.

When I was pregnant with my son, I accompanied my husband to Las Vegas for a veterinarian convention/continuing education experience. This location brings Carole Nelson Douglas's Midnight Louie series to mind. Start with Cat in an Alphabet Soup. 

In 2009, I spent two weeks in Japan for work, not a vacation (though I did get to do some sightseeing). The Daydreamer Detective is set in a small Japanese town and is free on Amazon.

To keep this post short, I haven't included books about other places, like New York City, Texas, Arizona, or Florida. Where do you like to go on vacation? Have you read any cozy mysteries set in these locations? Feel free to share them in the comments.

Milwaukee Trip

My family and I took a few days off last week to go to Milwaukee. I know it's not a glamorous destination, but we didn't have enough time to go very far. Besides, there were a couple of museums Alex wanted to visit.

On our first full day, we visited both the Milwaukee Public Museum and the Pabst Mansion. We visited MPM on our first family trip, and this was one of the places we wanted to revisit. Alex particularly enjoyed the dinosaurs and the bug exhibit, and I liked the butterflies. Since we didn't spend the full day there, we headed over to the Pabst Mansion. I was there a couple of times in high school, but the house has been extensively renovated since then. For dinner, we stopped at the Milwaukee Public Market, where we happened to pick up a chocolate T-rex.

Eugene wanted to visit the Milwaukee Art Museum, as the new building offers many photographic opportunities. We spent a few hours there, but since Alex was getting bored, we headed over to Discovery World in the afternoon. Then it was back to the Milwaukee Public Market for dinner and more swimming in the hotel pool.

We had to return home Saturday so Eugene and I could see Sting and Peter Gabriel in concert at the United Center. So we literally made the trip home a little sweeter by touring the Jelly Belly Company warehouse and picking up Japanese green tea Kit Kats in Gurnee Mills. Maybe next time we head up to Milwaukee (assuming we have decent weather), we can try tracking down the Bronze Fonz. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures from our trip.

Travel in Fantasy

So, with Seasons' Beginnings in the hands of the beta readers and cover artist, and with the book about 98% formatted (I still have to add some back matter, in addition to making final revisions once all the beta readers get back to me with their comments), I'm currently editing Scattered Seasons, Book Two of the Season Avatars series. The plot for this book revolves around the next leader of the Season Avatars. She must travel around the country of Challen to find the other three Season Avatars born in the same year as she was. The question I'm pondering now is how much detail I need to go into about the travel and what kind of incidents need to happen along the way. I don't want to write travelogs because they're expected by readers or to pad out the story; each event should have meaning. Based on the ending of Seasons' Beginnings, I've added a plot twist that affects how Gwen, the protagonist of Scattered Seasons, deals with the people she meets. This in turn may change how she evolves over this book. Other things I want to accomplish with the travel is to show readers different parts of the country so they can become familiar with it and the culture. Of course, there will be obstacles along the way and different modes of travel. Before I go and edit each scene, I should probably step back, reread the entire draft, and think about the overall arc for this book. Then each of the mini-journeys Gwen makes will work together, not separately.

As a reader, how much do you enjoy reading about journeys? Do you expect it? Do you find such scenes tedious and wish the characters could instantly transport themselves wherever they need to go so they can get on with the action? What do you like or dislike about travel scenes?