The McLaren Mysteries
British mystery
Date Published: Sept 19, 2022
Former police detective Michael McLaren arrives in Scotland, ready to immerse himself in the fun of the Highland Games and to enjoy a holiday with Melanie. But the old saying of plans oft going awry rears its ugly head: Simon Shaw, a member of McLaren's folk group, dies. Murdered a year to the day following his uncle's death.
McLaren is determined to find out who killed Simon. Needing justice for his friend is only half of his incentive. He also needs to appease his guilt for suggesting the group sing there in the first place.
As McLaren becomes immersed in the investigation, he wonders if the two deaths are linked, or have to do with the family or their clan. Perhaps Simon's former wife killed him, bent on revenge more powerful than mere divorce. Or was the killing tied to an old hunt for diamonds? After all, diamonds aren't only a girl's best friend. Sometimes they birth greed and murder. And entrap the innocent.
Interview with Jo A. Hiestand
How many books have you written, and which is your favorite?
Thirty-four books written to date. These are in four series—two of which are idle. I’m just beginning to plot the nineteenth McLaren mystery. Do I have a favorite one? Gee, that’s a difficult choice. I like different ones for different reasons. I love The Low Road because it’s set in Scotland, because McLaren’s grandfather is part of the story and there’s a very funny scene with him, because I immensely like the story’s ending, because I like explaining the real MacLaren clan’s legend, and because there’s a scene with McLaren that shows his humor, which is something we don’t see a lot in some books. Perhaps tied with The Low Road is the book A Drizzle of Trouble, the second book in my amateur sleuth mystery series (The Cookies & Kilts Mysteries). I like that two cats are essential to the plot, that one cat hands my amateur sleuth, Kate, the clue that leads to the killer, and the zany former English teacher, Harold, who writes crazy songs. It’s a toss-up about a favorite, but both of those books could be my number one.
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
I’ve just finished the new McLaren mystery The Cottage. It’s sitting on my editor’s desk, ready for the red ink. My protagonist, Michael McLaren, is in Cumbria, England, helping his love-interest pack for her move south to Derbyshire, to buy a house in his village. While he’s there, a woman asks him to investigate the cold case murder of her parents. He’s caught between wanting to find the killer (McLaren is a former police detective who is very keen on catching killers) and wanting to help his lady love, which is why he’s there. There are problems that crop up during the investigation, of course, and a bit of a different type of ending from my previous books. It should be available for purchase at the end of August.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Each book in a stand-alone in the sense that a person can read any of them without having read the prior ones. But each book connects to the previous books via the four main characters who are in every novel, and by mentioning things that have happened in earlier books. However, I think I explain in a few sentences what I mean, so the reader isn’t confused. I’ve had several reviewers remark on how seamlessly I do this without info-dumping, and comment that each book can be read as a stand-alone without leaving the reader scratching her/his head.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
A song or piece of music crops up in each book. It is important either to the murder victim, to McLaren, or to the theme of the story. In The Low Road, since the story takes place in Scotland, I thought “Loch Lomond” would be a good song to include in the story. Because many people have a misconception about the song, I wanted to explain it to the reader. I also thought it would be a great title and emphasize the point of not only the gist of the song but also the high and low roads in life, as in moral paths one might choose to take. And this is certainly true of the characters in the story.
How long did it take you to write this book?
I don’t keep track of beginning and ending dates, but most books take about five to six months. That’s from coming up with the idea and plotting it, until it’s submitted to my editor and I’ve made the changes. Sometimes it seems like five or six years if I encounter plot problems!
What does the title mean?
The Low Road’s meaning is explained in the book and refers to the low and high roads in the song “Loch Lomond.”
What did you learn when writing the book?
I usually learn quite a bit through each book’s research. This book was no exception. I learned about the Chattan Clan Federation, an interesting local site linked to an historical person, the makeup of the bag used in the Highland Game sheaf toss event and the event’s rules, a specific wild animal’s habits and defense, what flora and fauna are native to a particular area in Scotland, and some current Scottish slang!
What surprised you the most?
I think the slang did. Since I don’t live in Scotland, my knowledge is woefully lacking. I always have to look things up or ask a British friend (who sometimes doesn’t know everything I ask!). I’m always amazed at the vocabulary. It seems to change quickly and really is interesting.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Well, I did. I killed off McLaren’s fiancée, Dena, in an early book. It wasn’t because I didn’t like her. The story seemed to call for something drastic like that. I heard from a few people, so I brought in Melanie, who is McLaren’s current love-interest. She appeared a few books after Dena left the stage. He had a very difficult time getting over Dena’s death, which propelled the plots of books seven and eight (An Unwilling Suspect and Arrested Flight). I had never killed off a main character before, so that was a drastic move on my part, but hopefully Melanie has made up for the necessity to do away with Dena!
What do you do to get inside your characters’ heads?
Oh, my. I don’t know if I can explain this without it sounding too goofy. Getting inside each character’s head starts with the plot, when I decide on and flesh out the characters. My stories are character-driven, so I have given them names and physical descriptions and backgrounds and motives and goals at the very beginning of plotting. And I know who the victim and bad guy are. When I have the group of characters, I figure out the story, and these characters—through motives and goals and personalities—interact with each other. Because I have their lives fleshed out (no pun intended) and know why they are doing something and what they wish to accomplish, it’s rather easy for me to understand them, even the bad guy. I realize what’s going on with them, and I can sympathize with their motives and goals, even sympathize with the bad guy to a degree. Which doesn’t mean I agree with the reason for the murder, but I comprehend why it occurred. I think it’s through knowing the characters so well that enables me to write about their feelings and reactions, to get inside each person’s head. At least, I hope so. I try to make them full characters. Even my secondary characters need to seem like complete people. Also, I understand my main man, McLaren, because we share a lot of the same experiences and emotions and fears. Therefore, it’s easy for me to write about all that because I just explain how I feel or have felt, and hopefully the reader will feel that too, and it seems logical. It doesn’t matter that I’m a woman and he’s a man. To me, emotion and fear and happiness have no restriction of gender. I just write about me and put it into a man named Michael McLaren.
Hope this all makes sense! Thanks so much for hosting my audiobook today. And thanks for allowing me to chat with your readers. I hope it’s been interesting! Jo
I am so glad you could be here! You are so welcome!
About the Author
Jo A. Hiestand grew up on regular doses of music, books, and Girl Scout camping. She gravitated toward writing in her post-high school years and finally did something sensible about it, graduating from Webster University with a BA degree in English and departmental honors. She writes a British mystery series (the McLaren Mysteries)—of which three books have garnered the prestigious N.N. Light’s Book Heaven ‘Best Mystery Novel’ three years straight. She also writes a Missouri-based cozy mystery series (The Cookies & Kilts Mysteries, of which "A Trifling Murder" is the second book) that is grounded in places associated with her camping haunts. The camping is a thing of the past, for the most part, but the music stayed with her in the form of playing guitar and harpsichord, and singing in a folk group. Jo carves jack o’ lanterns badly and sings loudly. She loves barbecue sauce and ice cream (separately, not together), kilts (especially if men wear them), clouds and stormy skies, and the music of G.F. Handel. You can usually find her pulling mystery plots out of scenery—whether from photographs or the real thing.
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1 comments:
Thank you for hosting this stop on my audiobook tour, and for the interview.
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