June 13, 2014 at 2:42 p.m.
Houston releases 14th installment of popular mystery series
Houston releases 14th installment of popular mystery series
The small town hidden somewhere in the Northwoods, and the many characters that reside there, have dealt with an inordinate amount of murder and mayhem and the latest installment, "Dead Lil' Hustler," is no exception. Houston said over the course of 14 books, she's gotten to know her readership, and she think they'll love her latest offering.
"My readership is a little unusual," she said. "Among mysteries, 80 percent of the readers are female, but I usually get about 50-50. That's because of the setting, and the fishing really makes a difference. The people I know who are into fly fishing will enjoy a japanese-style of fly fishing I address in this book. I've also got some scary stuff people will like that involves wolves, which aren't exactly household pets. Last year in Wisconsin, they found 11 different marijuana fields in the national forests. Using that has been fun."
Although the storytelling is great, for Northwoods citizens, part of the fun of Houston's books is the familiar setting. She grew up in Rhinelander and Loon Lake draws heavily from the surrounding areas.
"I quote Willa Cather who said, 'Writers write from the memories they have from before the age of 13.' For the people in my book, both main characters and some secondary characters, they're really drawn from memories growing up here. A lot of the inspiration comes from people I knew as a child."
Loon Lake isn't a code name for Rhinelander though. Houston's imaginary town is the combination of a number of Northwoods spots.
"I see the town of Loon Lake as kind of a Brigadoon," she said. "It's north of Wausau, south of Land O' Lakes, west of Goodman, and south of Park Falls. It's got doses of Rhinelander, Eagle River, Minocqua and Three Lakes. Some people want to know where Loon Lake is. For the record, there are 14 in the state of Wisconsin."
With 14 books in the series completed, Houston said she's nowhere near ready to end it. There are plenty more visits to Loon Lake on the way. In fact, she's already working on number 15.
"When working on the first book, which took me about two and a half years to write, I really developed an affection for those main characters," she said. "I'm glad I get to keep writing about these characters. I have a contract that requires me to write two more books. I know legally, I have to deliver on those. I'd like to continue with the series beyond that."
Houston has her writing down to a science. She has a very clear blueprint to help her draw inspiration and brainstorm new scenarios for her Loon Lake characters.
"When I'm working on a book, which takes me about a year, I'm just a fanatic newspaper reader," Houston said. "I have the daily Wall Street Journal, the daily New York Times, the Washington Post online and, of course, I get the River News. I read those newspapers and I am always clipping stories that appeal to me. Very often they're the ones buried in the back. When I've finished a book, I take a month off and go through that file that I've been keeping for a year. I see what really sparks my interest."
Then, the real work begins. It's time to figure out what kind of trouble her protagonists will find themselves in this time around.
"I take about six weeks to figure out what murder or murders open the story, who the secondary characters are going to be, and what's going on in the lives of my main characters," she said. "I'll do a one page synopsis of what I want the story to be. Then, it's a solid nine months of writing. I'm editing and revising the whole time. It's like refinishing a tabletop. You sand and varnish, and then you go back and sand and varnish again."
Houston will go into more detail about her writing process and talk about her Loon Lake mystery series in depth at the Rhinelander District Library on Monday from 6 to 7 p.m.
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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