I love my little town. It is the perfect backdrop for a book, with its country-like feel and abundance of wildlife; its eclectic mix of generations; its firefighters that will respond to everything from a blazing inferno to a kitten in a tree; its police that will come over and get your kid out of a locked bathroom. It’s a town where everyone knows everyone’s business, a modern-day Mayberry. It is Hollywood Park, Texas, and it is a little parcel of heaven smack-dab in the middle of San Antonio, the 7th largest city in America.

Advice of Counsel takes place in Hollywood Park, as does its follow-up that I’m writing now, Evidence of Record. One reader concluded her review of Advice with the comment: “I already miss the characters and am dying to get back into this little neighborhood that the author created.” I had to laugh, because much as I’d like to take credit for creating such a great little neighborhood, it’s actually very real, and it’s the place I am privileged to call home.

I love incorporating actual events into my writing. A couple of years ago, we had an attack owl that was terrorizing residents, and last week, I incorporated that into a scene in Evidence. This week presented another great story to incorporate into the book. We have a garbage collector named Mateo who has worked in the Park for years. Residents know him by name, and love him because of his friendly smile and vigorous wave, his hard work, and his enthusiasm. We got wind this week that Mateo was going to be transferred out of the Park. The dozens of calls that Waste Management fielded from complaining residents were met with utter disbelief that a community cared who was assigned as their garbage collector. Apparently it was a first. What they didn’t understand, was the Mateo is very much a part of our community. In the end, we prevailed: Mateo stays! And that’s Hollywood Park. For book material, it just doesn’t get any better than that.