Books of Our Hearts

Lie Catchers: Welcome Home!

Writing any novel is a story in itself. Why am I writing this book? Where did the characters and plot come from? What makes its development such a tangled, fits-and-starts journey?

A few months ago when my publisher reverted the rights of the novel to me, I polished it and provided a spanking new cover to it. But most important, I revisited all the reasons I loved writing the book. No project has taken me in more interesting directions than Lie Catchers.

First. I named most of the characters in the novel for my Norwegian relatives, living and deceased. The idea of my family ‘living’ forever in a story, has immense appeal for me.

Second. The story emerged almost by chance. It was 2011 and we were cruising from Washington State to Alaska on our trawler Intrepid (see picture below). Never have we covered that distance, much less navigated such difficult stretches of water.

But when we arrived in Petersburg, Alaska, all the strangeness of a scary virgin voyage fell away. Petersburg is FULL of Norwegians, looking a lot like my husband and me. The little fishing town felt like home to us…relaxing me to the point I began to enjoy our cruise rather than stress over it.

What’s more, Petersburg came with an unsolved crime from 1932 and a rich history of Norwegians, Tlingit, Haida, Chinese and other folk trying hard to make a living centered on fishing.

I had a novel churning in my brain by the time I left the dock. When we returned to Petersburg on our way south, I had a plot in my mind and research to do. From then on, writing a suspense novel set in Petersburg, AK, became my new passion.

A year later, I returned to Petersburg, by boat, published books in hand. Never have I had a more successful book signing!

I had so much fun writing Lie Catchers, and I hope you enjoy reading my newest version. My reviewers say they had no idea who the villain was until the ending. Let’s see if you guess correctly!