Saxton Reads! & Reviews

Welcome Guest Blogger
Denise Swanson

One of the first questions I'm often asked when I speak about my writing is why I chose to write mysteries instead of romances (I assume this is because I have such an innocent face). My answer is simple: after twenty-two years in public education there are a lot of people who need to die, but very few I want to sleep with. My Scumble River Mystery series is set in a fictional small town in Illinois, and features a school psychologist-sleuth named Skye Denison. I was a school psychologist for twenty-two years, and many of the stories are based on my personal experiences—although I've never found a dead body—at least not yet.

I’ve been writing since kindergarten when I used my Big Chief tablet and jumbo pencil to create my own version of an alphabet book. Unfortunately, my teacher’s reaction was, "You've used up all your paper! What will you use for the rest of the year?" My first bad review.

My second attempt was in junior high school, when I decided to write a Harlequin Romance. At that time (the early 1970s), they were pretty tame—the characters barely kissed, and I wanted to make them more realistic. My English teacher caught me working on my story in class and ordered me to read it out loud. The scene I’d been working was about French kissing and the teacher had a fit. She took me to the principal, who was an ex-nun, and I was almost kicked out. My second bad review.

I took that to heart, and stopped writing fiction for a long time. I wrote articles for the school newspaper and the college newspaper, and I edited a school psychology journal. Finally, as I was nearing forty, I realized that if I was ever going to fulfill my dream and write a novel, this was the time.

At first, I tried to write a very dark psychological thriller, but that wasn’t my personality. I’m not a dark person. So instead I turned to my years as a school psychologist, and all the funny, quirky, and poignant moments and wrote my first book, Murder of a Small-Town Honey.

In this book my sleuth, school psychologist Skye Denison has just returned to her hometown after being jilted, fired, and maxing out her credit cards. Her homecoming is complicated by the fact she told off the entire town in her valedictorian speech. Her intention is to slip into Scumble River, make some money, redeem her professional reputation, and keep off the local radar until she can leave, but then her brother is accused of murder.

One of Skye’s biggest flaws is also one of her best characteristics—she wants to help people and make the world a better place. Because of this, there is no way she can maintain a low profile, and in the next ten books in the series Skye begins to understand what she’s really is looking for in life.

Helping her out in this journey (and in solving the mysteries) is her mother May, who is a police dispatcher and thinks she knows what’s best for Skye, which is staying in Scumble River and getting married. Another important secondary character is Skye’s honorary Uncle Charlie who owns the local motel, but in reality runs most of the town. And in the second book, Murder of a Sweet Old Lady, Skye is reunited with an old friend, Trixie Frayne, who is now the school librarian. By the third book, Murder of a Sleeping Beauty, she gains two teenage sidekicks.

Then there’s her love life. Throughout most of the series she is torn between two lovers, as the song goes, and my readers have definite views on which man she should choose. When I do book signings, there have even been some skirmishes between those who have different opinions on which guy Skye should end up with!

Thank you for this opportunity to introduce you to my series. If you’d like more information please visit my website www.DeniseSwanson.com