Fifteen Years for Jolie Gentil and Friends

By Elaine L. Orr

Sixteen represents coming of age -- beginning early adulthood, learning to drive, getting a later curfew, and for many, that first job. 

For Jolie Gentil and friends at the Jersey Shore, fifteen is the big year. Why? September 25, 2026 will be the 15th anniversary of publication of the first Jolie Gentil book -- Appraisal for Murder. She'd been around for a while. I finished the first version in 2005 and decided to write the second book, Rekindling Motives, and look at the two together. Good thing I did. Both books benefitted from that synergy. Gads, in a sense, she's 21.

The book didn't start with the characters. My friend Barbara lived in Ocean Grove, New Jersey and I spent a weekend with her. I fell in love with the town,  Founded in 1869 as a permanent seaside camp by Methodists, its Victorian architecture has changed little. No honky tonk. 

Having spent a lot of time at Maryland's large, touristy towns (think Ocean City, MD) it would not have occurred to me to set a book there. I love the place, but it wasn't a setting for a small-town mystery. I don't like to use real places as primary cities in my work, so instead of Ocean Grove there is Ocean Alley, called that because it is two miles long and only twelve blocks deep.

Who knew there would be fourteen books, two novellas, and a long short story? Not me. The third book was originally called "Justice for Scoobie" and Jolie would solve the murder of her good friend. He ended up being everyone's favorite character and I liked him, too. Their relationship evolves.

Characters have time to evolve in a long series. I finally decided to leave Jolie, Scoobie and friends in their mid-thirties with four-year old twins. In part it's a great age for all and the twins can be in the story some but don't need to be cared for as much as one-year-olds. Still time for Jolie to get in trouble. The biggest reason was that if Jolie and Scoobie aged more, Aunt Madge would 'age out,' so to speak, and have to be gone. Nope, no way.

I often wondered if Sue Grafton kept Kinsey Milhone in her 30s in the 1980s because she wanted to keep Kinsey's landlord around. The baking 90+ man was, IMHO, a key part of the stories. And I loved his dry humor and perspectives on life.

Now, how to celebrate the anniversary? I'll definitely make all ebooks 99 cents for a time. It'll have to  be for a couple of weeks, because it'll take me ages to change the prices on all those book on all sites!

I need a 'grand prize' for readers. Any ideas?

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I Must Be Falling for Fall

By Elaine L. Orr

I’ve set a few books in summer and winter, but my season of choice is fall. It may have to do with the beautiful colors, but the temperatures are also pleasant after 90-plus degree weather. 

I'm not sure it's a good thing that I only recently realized that books three, nine and ten aren't set in the fall. Books nine and ten are in winter (because I wanted a certain wedding to take place New Year's Eve), and book three is in spring and summer because I wanted a Fourth of July event.

Here are my fall Jolie Gentil books (with Amazon links).

The prequel – Jolie and Scoobie’s High School Misadventures starts with Jolie's junior year, her only school year in Ocean Alley. It does span the year.

Appraisal for Murder – Jolie passes out Halloween candy as she solves a murder

Rekindling Motives – trouble starts at Jolie and Scoobie’s 10th high school reunion on a Thanksgiving weekend

Any Port in a Storm – think Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19^th) and hurricane remnants

Trouble on the Doorstep – starts with Super Storm Sandy, the late October storm that wasn’t officially a hurricane

Vague Images – Jolie manages to hit a deer during fall mating season

Ground to a Halt – kidnapping at a Halloween party!

Underground in Ocean Alley -- a nurse is murdered and Aunt Madge runs for mayor

Sticky Fingered Books – October is a time for murder in the daycare center

New Lease on Death – early October blends pumpkin spice coffee with murder

Phoning in a Murder – football season at the high school is not good for the marching band leader

I'm going to have to do some serious planning about books 15 and forward. Future books will occur as Jolie and Scoobie stay in their mid-thirties. Among the reasons is because Aunt Madge couldn't run a B&B into her mid-nineties! Or perhaps she could, but there are steps...

It's now fall in Illinois, where I live. Time to enjoy the mums and plan a new book.

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