PARK RIDGE
A Senior Center Murder

PARK RIDGE

Meet the Author

The idea for a murder/mystery series came from teaching writing classes at the Park Ridge Senior Center in Park Ridge, Illinois. Yes, it IS a real place! It even looks a lot like I describe it. Of course, the characters are fictional, but I think anyone in the area will recognize Edison Park, St. Juliana's, and the Pickwick Theater. In the spring of 2006 I had the class do some exercises in writing short-short murder stories. That project evolved into a contest. I believe that a good teacher should lead by example and set to work writing my contest entry. When I finished, I had written eight separate stories, two of which I was really proud.

I suppose like many other people (I hope I'm not the only one!) I was biased when I first walked into the senior center. I saw tables filled with older folks playing cards. I said to myself, "Hmm. This reminds me of an old people's home." That first impression led to what I think was one of my more successful short stories.

I allowed myself to fantasize what it might be like to be one of those pinochle players, sitting there day after day, with people traipsing by to go to dance or exercise classes, watching people queue to go on trips. I wondered how I would feel if anyone approached and suggested that I "do something" -- meaning something other than cards. Could that turn into a motive for murder? the answer was, "Sure enough."

For the novel, of course, I had to create four pinochle players with individual personalities and their own peculiar reasons for murder: irascible Jack Buchtel, mousy Margaret Neal, elephantine Eleanor Montgomery, and the fussy "Professor." I wanted to really get to know them, so I used their own words to describe themselves in the act of killing. I also used excerpts from videotapes produced by students from Northwestern University to get inside the killers' minds.

And what's a murder/mystery without a little romance? It pleased me no end when Linda Mowry, Associate Editor of Jane's Stories I and II, said, "Good job combining mystery with romance. Stan and Teresa behave like the adults they are."

On a personal note, I live in Des Plaines, Illinois, have one dog and one cat. I earned my master's degree in writing from DePaul University.

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