Procrastinating with Meat Loaf

Every now and again I have what I call one of my “Agatha Christie Days”—and by that I don’t mean channeling my inner Hercule Poirot, but rather attempting to follow Dame Agatha’s sage advice, which is “to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you’re writing, and aren’t writing particularly well.”

Anyway, I was working on Before There Were Skeletons, Book 4 in my Marketville Mystery series, or more accurately, sitting at my desk, staring at a flashing curser and a blank page, the radio playing softly in the background, when a song came on that changed everything. Oh, not right away—that would have been too easy. But it did allow me one of the best gifts a writer can ask for:

Procrastination in the name of research.

The song was Paradise by the Dashboard Light by the late Marvin Lee Aday, better known as Meat Loaf. Included in his 1977 bestselling album, Bat Out of Hell, the song has remained a cult favorite for decades. At the time, however, it would have been revolutionary, and as luck would have it, my protagonist, Calamity (Callie) Barnstable was in the midst of researching the disappearance of a pregnant seventeen-year-old who disappeared in Toronto in the spring of 1978.

It might be a stretch to call a song coming on the radio an omen, but it was certainly enough to get me googling “Meat Loaf concerts 1978.” And here my luck continued. Turns out that Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell concert tour took him to Toronto’s Massey Hall on Friday, April 21, 1978. A bit more googling and I found a ticket stub for that same concert on eBay (even went so far as to look at a Massey Hall seating chart) and then found a vintage t-shirt from that same concert. Procrastination at its finest.

Naturally, Callie makes good use of my Meat Loaf finds, but I’m afraid that’s as much as I can tell you without a spoiler, but I can share this YouTube link to the official music video

And now for the Shameless Self Promotion part of this post:

Available in e-book, print, and audio (Audible), I describe my Marketville Mysteries as “cold case cozies.” You won’t find any cats, crafts, or cookie recipes, but you also won’t find overt sex, violence or bad language. I like to think that Dame Agatha would approve. Poirot? He’d probably think he could do it better.

Skeletons in the Attic (Book 1): Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville with one condition: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder. Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who hopes to expose the Barnstable family secrets herself. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

On sale for just .99 at all the usual e-book suspects until November 15th. Here’s a multi-retailer link.

Past & Present (Book 2): It’s been thirteen months since Callie inherited the house in Marketville. She solves the mystery, but what next? Unemployment? Another nine-to-five job in Toronto? She decides to set down roots in Marketville, take the skills and knowledge she acquired over the past year, and start her own business: Past & Present Investigations. It’s not long before she gets her first client: a woman who wants to find out everything she can about her grandmother, Anneliese Prei, and how she came to a “bad end” in 1956. It sounds like a perfect first assignment. Except for one thing: Anneliese’s past winds its way into Callie’s present, and not in a manner anyone—least of all Callie—could have predicted.

A Fool’s Journey (Book 3): In March 2000, twenty-year-old Brandon Colbeck left home to find himself on a self-proclaimed “fool’s journey.” No one—not friends or family—have seen or heard from him since, until a phone call from a man claiming to be Brandon brings the case back to the forefront. Calamity (Callie) Barnstable and her team at Past & Present Investigations have been hired to find out what happened to Brandon and where he might be. As Callie follows a trail of buried secrets and decades-old deceptions only one thing is certain: whatever the outcome, there is no such thing as closure.

Before There Were Skeletons (Book 4): The last time anyone saw Veronica Goodman was the night of February 14, 1995, the only clue to her disappearance a silver heart-shaped pendant, found in the parking lot behind the bar where she worked. Twenty-seven years later, Veronica’s daughter, Kate, just a year old when her mother vanished, hires Past & Present Investigations to find out what happened that fateful night.
Calamity (Callie) Barnstable is drawn to the case, the similarities to her own mother’s disappearance on Valentine’s Day 1986 hauntingly familiar. A disappearance she thought she’d come to terms with. Until Veronica’s case, and five high school yearbooks, take her back in time…a time before there were skeletons.