Love and Marriage

HH and I have survived the ups and downs of life and still like each other…a lot. Our 50th anniversary is August 21st, so our family has gone together to rent a vacation house on Tybee Island to celebrate. Both of our daughters will be there. One’s bringing her significant other and the other her husband. We really like both of them. Our grandson and his wife are coming. Yay. So is our second grandson with his girlfriend. It will be the first time we meet her. HH’s brother and his partner will be there, too. We’re so looking forward to seeing everyone and having a good time.

HH and I have been lucky, and we know it. Some of our friends haven’t fared as well. Divorces are few, but some of our friends have lost spouses to diabetes, cancer, and other health problems. It takes a long time–longer than a year of grieving–for the spouse who survived to enjoy life again. In the book [‘m working on now, POSED IN DEATH, Laurel–my protagonist–and Nick–her romantic interest–are both widows. Laurel’s husband died of a heart attack three years ago and Nick’s wife was killed in a random shooting a year before that. They both had two children who are now grown, and they’re both lonely. Neither of them was looking for someone…until they met each other.

Marriages–good and bad–play an important part in the book. A serial killer is stalking married women in their forties. When Laurel and Nick question people who might know why one of Laurel’s best friends was targeted, they discover that there are all kinds of marriages and different reasons they work or don’t work. But, was Maxine really targeted by the Midlife Murderer, or did a copycat killer try to make it look that way?

When I started to write POSED IN DEATH, I didn’t realize marriage was going to be such a strong theme in the book, but it’s been interesting to see what I can do with the good, the bad, and the ugly bits Not every marriage is happy or even healthy. And that adds to a mystery:).