Who's Your Daddy (or Mother)?

My first exposure to mysteries was in the third grade when I read The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. It really sparked my imagination. I grew up in a small town with three sets of railroad tracks passing through it, and my dad ran a factory where a railway siding was used to deliver materials, so I'd seen the inside of real boxcars. All of the above contributed to my love of trains. Is it any wonder that Brad Frame - my fictional detective - is a train aficionado?

I later "graduated" to The Hardy Boys, and can still recall how it felt exploring Mr. Applegate's creepy house in The Tower Treasure by Franklin W. Dixon.

By high school I'd discovered Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason mysteries, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, and the Ellery Queen stories. Later I found Agatha Christie's Poirot. A theme among those early favorites was the use of either a "Watson" character to recount the cases, or trusted associates. Della Street and Paul Drake, Archie Goodwin, and Captain Hastings, were as integral to the stories as the well-known protagonists. That influenced me to expand Sharon Porter's role in the Brad Frame series. Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Michael Palmer, Vince Flynn, Brad Meltzer, David Baldacci, and Nelson DeMille have joined my recent reading list. I love mystery series, because whenever I find an author I like that's written a series I know there will be lots of great reading ahead. It's also clear from these early influences that I love a whodunit, and try to surprise readers with the outcome of each Brad Frame story.

I labeled this post "Who's Your Daddy (or Mother)?" in the belief that our early reading and life experiences are the progenitor to the creative process.

What kind of mysteries do you like to read? And can you trace your current reading/writing interests to a "first" book experience? Share your comment and join the conversation.

3, 2, 1... Relaunch!

In the summer of 2013, as I prepared to retire and devote full-time to my writing, I launched this blog. Not completely sure of what I was doing, I pressed forward because everyone advised, "You're a writer; you need a blog." Okay then.

Every other week like clockwork I put up a new post. I blogged about the writing process, a one-man show about Ben Franklin on which I was working, mused on the value of a writers' critique group, and provided links to short stories, videos and my books.

My last blog post was in mid-December, a time when my wife had just come out of the hospital and my mother-in-law was hospitalized. The prognosis for my mother-in-law was not good and she died on Christmas Day. The day after her funeral my wife re-entered the hospital. Little did I realize at the time that she would pass away nine days later. Sad times!

To say that my life felt like it had been kicked to the curb is an understatement; more like being catapulted into the void between Mars and Jupiter. In the last few months I sold our place in Maryland, downsized for the move, and settled into a comfortable new condo in Florida where, when the snow starts flying up north, I expect to see visitors. :-) Every day I shake my head in wonder at all that has transpired. I've learned a lot about resilience. My life is good, just not what I expected it to be few short months ago. I'm grateful for family and old friends who have seen me through tough times, and for new friends and acquaintances who have welcomed me to my new life.

I'm grounded by my writing. Stirring those "creative juices" keeps me going. I've re-titled this blog, LIFE'S A MYSTERY. Perhaps that truth is why mysteries resonate with readers. My take away from the past nine months is that our time together is fleeting. I want to enjoy all that life has to offer and plan to use this blog to share my thoughts about this incredible journey and how "life's mysteries" infuse my mystery writing. My hope is that you'll join in the conversation with your comments. 

You can see more about my books and short stories at www.rayflynt.com.