The eight-book series featuring Texas Miz Mike was a blast to write—partly because Miz Mike was an adventure-seeking klutz. My protagonist did the ridiculous things I do: shut my nose in the refrigerator; trip over the dog bed and break a toe; lean over to find the seatbelt clasp because it’s fallen to the bottom of the car and tumble out into the parking lot; open the car trunk only partially to keep the pouring rain out and straighten up under the trunk latch, and etc., etc., etc.
A calamity of errors can be funny. The 1953 Technicolor Western musical featuring Doris Day is proof of that. Highly recommended for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
My newest book, “Body in a Bush Murder” features a different brand of calamity of errors. The protagonist moves to Scotland from Georgia, and hates it because of the cool, rainy climate, and nearly constant rain. The differences between driving in the U.S. versus Scotland; the differences in food, language and the pronunciation and spelling of words, and the difference in accommodations—after the chaotic life she left behind her in the U.S. and then finding a child’s skeleton in her garden—who could blame Skye for finding solace in alcohol?
Attractive neighbor Gareth blames her. He not only encourages her to quit drinking before she can’t, but then adds to her stress by bringing her a “baby” Great Dane dog—a baby who weighs 155 pounds and loves to fly.
Errors continue to build as Skye searches for the identity of the child killer and seeks to make peace with her new country. And new love? Except Gareth hates alcohol and—to use a great Scottish word—is “scunnered” by Skye’s drinking. Skye refuses to acknowledge that she has a drinking problem. She can control it, can’t she? In spite of Gareth’s assistance that making friends with alcohol is like keeping a pet rattlesnake in a box and trusting it not to bite.
While Skye’s continued drinking push them apart, their search for the child’s killer brings them together.
Stephanie Parker McKean 