Ask the Author: Morgan James
Answered Questions (4)
Morgan James
Ah, so many good books. My list grows daily. Today, the list includes Louise Penny's, A Great Reckoning, Thin Air by Ann Cleeves, and The River of Kings, Taylor Brown's newest book, set in my home state, Georgia.
Morgan James
All good plots have several threads pulling in different directions. Here's one thread which has remained unraveled for me. Some years ago, on a particularly frantic work day, I was driving to a business appointment and remembered I had a doctor's appointment twenty miles in the other direction-- in an hour. There was no way I would make my doctor's appointment. I needed to call and cancel. But, I realized I didn't have the doctor's number. I called two numbers on the cell, hoping one was correct. Neither were...finally, frustrated and angry, I gave up and made the decision to call a client who'd called me earlier and left a message on my cell phone. I put in the phone number to call the client. A woman answered the phone and I asked to speak to my client. I was told she didn't work there, that I'd dialed Dr. ***'s office. What? I'd reached the doctor's office I needed to call to cancel my appointment. Okay. I told the receptionist my name and that I needed to cancel my appointment. She was very polite and told me that I'd called them about an hour before to cancel and that she'd given me a new appointment time for the next day. Only, I had not called and didn't even have the number with me to call. Who would be phoning my doctor, pretending to be me? And why? And how could I reach the doctor's office by using my client's phone number?
Morgan James
We are about to release the third Promise McNeal Mystery, Quiet Hearts, which it set on the coast of Georgia, at St. Simons and Jekyll Islands, and in Western North Carolina.
Morgan James
Characters who show up in my mind and insist on telling their story seem to be the seeds for my books. In this case, I was visiting Jekyll Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia. We were walking around the du Bignon Cemetery when a Chinese lady holding a cane with a dog's head carved on it stepped out of the shadows---or she stepped into my mind, depending on your view of how the universe works. She said, "You think everybody on this beautiful island had good times? Ha. You listen to what I tell you." I listened to her story and Betty Wu became the pivot for Quiet Hearts, the third Promise McNeal Mystery.
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