Welcome to Laura Lascarso joining us today to talk about new release “In the Pines”, Welcome 🙂
Today I’d like to talk about what inspired me to write In the Pines, my newest M/M romance, which is a small-town murder mystery set in Gainesville, Florida.
My first inspiration was one of my favorite television shows, Veronica Mars, which for those of you who don’t know it, I highly recommend. Veronica is an intrepid teen detective whose dad is a disgraced sheriff-turned-private-eye in the small, fictional town of Neptune, California. Using her wit and her wiles, Veronica is able to solve just about any mystery that comes her way, except perhaps, the mystery of her heart.
Also, Team Logan.
Because I am such a big fan of that show, I wanted to try my hand at a murder mystery where the detective is teenaged (Charlie is a senior in high school) and where the murder feels very personal (the victim is the twin brother of Charlie’s long-time crush). I wanted to get that small-town gossipy vibe that Veronica Mars so expertly captures, but being a Florida native myself, I had to draw from a setting I understood well, which ended up being Gainesville where I spent 4+ years attending the University of Florida (Go Gators!)
One of the things I really enjoy about reading mysteries, and something I think Veronica Mars does well, is keep you guessing as to who the culprit is. Everyone seems suspicious and, everyone has a motive. This was a real challenge for me and involved a highly detailed spreadsheet/matrix where I could keep track of all my characters and their “crimes.”
My second source of inspiration for writing In the Pines, and the one I drew on heavily in designing the actual murder, was the song “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” by Nirvana, originally known as “In the Pines.” This song was first made famous by Lead Belly but is actually an even older song originating in the Southern Appalachians. Also, it’s super creepy. Listening to that song in my youth had me asking so many questions…
His head was caught in a driving wheel.
Whaaaat? What’s a driving wheel? And how did it get caught?
His body never was found.
For real? Like, where did it go?
My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me. Tell me where did you sleep last night?
Ummm, there’s no way I’d tell that guy where I slept last night and why was she sleeping in the pines to begin with?
You get the idea.
Drawing from the song’s lyrics, my daughter, lover of all things macabre, helped me craft a murder where we were able to incorporate some of the elements from the song. All in all, I thought it turned out pretty creepy, though I’ll be interested to see what readers have to say.
If you’d like to read the first chapter, you can do so here on Dreamspinner’s website. And if you’d like to see the full lyrics to the song, AZLyrics doth provide.
Thanks so much for reading and whatever you do, stay away from the pines!
Title: In the Pines
Publication Date: October 23, 2018
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Designer: AngstyG
Blurb:
When your high school crush is also your number one suspect, what’s a boy to do?
After the disappearance of Eastview High’s homecoming king, seventeen-year-old Charlie Schiffer must put his detective skills to work to help class heartthrob Dare Chalmers find his missing twin brother. From the gator-filled swamps of Paynes Prairie to the truck-stop strip club Café Risqué, there’s no situation too dicey for this amateur sleuth when he’s on the prowl for clues to this mystery.
Meanwhile, Dare is everything Charlie could want in a boyfriend—charismatic, handsome, polite—but as Charlie’s mother always says, the unlikeliest people can turn out to be criminals. When evidence surfaces revealing his suspects’ hidden motives, Charlie must dig deep to suss out who among them is innocent and who is guilty, even if it means betraying the man he cares for most.
Laura Lascarso wants you to stay up way past your bedtime reading her stories. She aims to inspire more questions than answers in her fiction and believes in the power of storytelling to heal and transform a society. When not writing, Laura can be found screaming “finish” on the soccer fields, rewatching Veronica Mars, and trying to convince politicians that climate change is real. She lives in North Florida with her darling husband and two kids. She loves hearing from readers, and she’d be delighted to hear from you.
Website: lauralascarso.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lascarso
Twitter: @lauralascarso