I’m so excited I have Daryl Wood Gerber on the blog today telling us about featuring real places in her stories. Her latest mystery, A Glimmer of a Clue is set in Carmel, California. I’ll be honest, I’ve always made stuff up (my mother would agree on that one) so didn’t have to worry about getting street names right. If you were writing a book, would you write about a real town or would make up your own fictional world? 

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Writing About a Real Place is a Challenge!

By Daryl Wood Gerber

For my new Fairy Garden Mystery series, I decided to write about Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, also known simply as Carmel. What a challenge for me. Granted, I have set my suspense novels in real places, but I have set all of my cozy mysteries in fictional places. The Cheese Shop Mysteries are set in Providence, Ohio (fictional town in Holmes County), the Cookbook Nook Mysteries are set in Crystal Cove, California (there’s a state park named Crystal Cove but not a pretty coastal town on the Central Coast), and the French Bistro Mysteries are set in Nouvelle Vie ( a fictional enclave between Yountville and St. Helena). For each of these series, I’ve created my own streets and my own shops. Heck, I even created a pier in Crystal Cove.

So why did I choose to set this series in Carmel? Because it’s one of the most delicious towns in the world, filled with fabulous art, exceptional food, eccentric people, and it’s located on one of the most gorgeous strips of the ocean you’ll ever find. [If you’ve ever watched golf tournaments, you would know that the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course is in Carmel.] Visiting the town fills my soul and feeds me spiritually.

Writing about a real place is a challenge. I have to get the streets right. Oh, sure, I can create a few fictional things, like my shop and the shops nearby and the courtyard where they are located, but I have to know the “rules of the town.” In Carmel, for example, there are no mailboxes. The original designers felt mailboxes ruined the charm, so the townsfolk go to the main post office to collect mail. Carmel is a pet-friendly town, so there are many restaurants and shops that allow dogs, on leash, to enter. In addition, there are particular rules one has to follow—visitors or locals. For example, many of the sidewalks are cobblestone, so a woman (or a man for that matter) is “not allowed” to wear high heels for fear of twisting an ankle. I always wear tennis shoes so I can do a lot of walking.

My challenge, as an author, is to incorporate all of this into the book without overloading it with “reality.” Which is why I have to visit Carmel to do research—in order to get it right. Poor me.

As I said above, because Carmel is a place that feeds my soul, I felt it was the perfect place to set a story about the supernatural—of the fairy kind. I love the adorable old cottages, packed with lots of history, the beautiful gardens which are perfect for fairy houses, and the courtyards featuring fountains and hidden doorways.

My love for Carmel is why I felt it was the perfect place to have my protagonist Courtney Kelly begin her life anew as a shop owner. She is from Carmel and she was working for her father in his landscaping business in the area, but that job wasn’t nourishing her. She felt stagnant. Uninspired. When her nana left her a small inheritance, it gave Courtney the courage to spread her wings and open her fairy garden shop.

When she opened it, she invited magic into her life. And with that, a new friend. Fiona . . .

More About A Glimmer of a Clue

A Glimmer of a Clue (A Fairy Garden Mystery)

Cozy Mystery      2nd in Series     Publisher: Kensington (June 29, 2021)

Courtney Kelly has a shop full of delights, a cat named Pixie, a green thumb—and a magical touch when it comes to garden design. But in Carmel-by-the-Sea, things aren’t all sweetness and fairy lights . . .

When Courtney’s friend Wanda gets into a ponytail-pulling wrestling match in public with a nasty local art critic, Courtney stops the fight with the help of a garden hose. But Lana Lamar has a talent for escalating things and creating tension, which she succeeds in doing by threatening a lawsuit, getting into yet another scuffle—in the midst of an elegant fundraiser, no less—and lobbing insults around like pickleballs.

Next thing Courtney knows, Lana is on the floor, stabbed with a decorative letter opener from one of Courtney’s fairy gardens, and Wanda is standing by asking “What have I done?” But the answer may not be as obvious as it seems, since Wanda is prone to sleepwalking and appears to be in a daze. Could she have risen from her nap and committed murder while unconscious? Or is the guilty party someone else Lana’s ticked off, like her long-suffering husband? To find out, Courtney will have to dig up some dirt . . .

You can find Glimmer of a Clue at these online retailers: 

Amazon   Barnes and Noble:    Kobo    Bookshop    Indiebound   Mysterious Galaxy   Murder by the Book    Target    Kensington Books

About Daryl Wood Gerber

Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber writes the nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries, the Fairy Garden Mysteries, and the French Bistro Mysteries. As Avery Aames, she pens the popular Cheese Shop Mysteries. In addition, Daryl writes the Aspen Adams novels of suspense as well as stand-alone suspense. Daryl loves to cook, fairy garden, and read, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle who keeps her in line!

Author Links

WEBSITE: http://darylwoodgerber.com

FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/darylwoodgerber

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/darylwoodgerber

BOOKBUB: http://bookbub.com/authors/daryl-wood-gerber

YOUTUBE: http://youtube.com/woodgerb1

INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/darylwoodgerber

PINTEREST: http://pinterest.com/darylwoodgerber

GOODREADS: http://goodreads.com/darylwoodgerber

AMAZON:  http://bit.ly/Daryl_Wood_Gerber_page

You can find Glimmer of a Clue at these online retailers: 

Amazon   Barnes and Noble:    Kobo    Bookshop    Indiebound   Mysterious Galaxy   Murder by the Book    Target    Kensington Books

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