Author name: Sayling@@Away

In Death in a Red Canvas Sail, Kelly Ingram is the quarterback of the Pequod football team – a tall, good-looking young man with reddish hair who has more than his share of female admirers. Rhe meets him on campus when she is tracking down friends of the young woman found dead in the canvas chair. He makes another appearance just after a young black student, Tanya David, is dropped at Sturdevant Hospital after being attacked and beaten. Kelly brings her to the hospital but doesn’t stay around to identify her. Luckily Rhe knows her, and Rhe recognizes Kelly at the information desk asking about Tanya’s status, she grabs him to find out what he knows. Kelly stonewalls her, but when she threatens him with calling the police, he tells her his roommate, another football player named Raymond Little, was the one who did it. How do you see this young quarterback? Got a movie star in mind? 0 0

Sylvia is a character with a major role in Death in a Dacron Sail. She is the head of Human Resources at Sturdevant Hospital, and Rhe has known her since grade school.  Sylvia was a year older, but together with Rhe and another friend, Deirdre, they had been the three Musketeers, always looking for adventure. Of the three, Sylvia was the cautious, no-nonsense one. She reined in their more dangerous ideas for fun, such as climbing around in the collapsing and condemned hotel that sat on the property where Rhe lives now. Deirdre disappeared without a trace when Rhe was eleven, and the search for her is part of this book. Sylvia and Rhe had met again when Rhe started working at Sturdevant, refueling the friendship with lunches together every few weeks and occasional dinner swaps. Sylvia is a feast for a fashionista’s eyes. She shops at Target and TJ Maxx, but she always projects the image of a consummate professional, reed thin and dressed in the timeless styles. In one scene she is s wearing an aubergine knit dress with a mosaic scarf in blending colors, artistically tied at her neck, and black, high-heeled boots. The outfit is a stunning contrast to her graying, close-cropped hair. In another scene, she is wearing a deep green pantsuit with a blue-green paisley silk blouse and a string of silver beads. Can you see Sylvia Hutty in your mind’s eye? Can you send me an image? 0 0

You don’t have to imagine the Glass Trinket. Here is a photo: This is Rhe’s sailboat and it features prominently is Death in a Red Canvas Chair. The Glass Trinket is a 12 foot Beetle Cat, moored at the yacht club from where Rhe sails.This was Rhe’s boat when she was growing up, and like me, Rhe finds a freedom and release in sailing that makes life worth living. Cat boats feature a gaff-rigged sail and cedar hull with an oak frame, which meant Rhe has to spend time every spring  sanding, caulking, painting and varnishing.  A Beetle Cat has two distinct features: a quadrilateral sail, or gaff rigging, raised by and suspended from a pole or spar attached to the top of the sail, and a centerboard, a retractable keel that pivots out of a slot in centerline of the hull. Rhe uses the Glass trinket to sail up the coast from Pequod and moor near East Almorel, a mansion serving as a high class brothel, which sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean. She climbs up the steep stairs from the beach and snoops around the mansion to confirm her suspicions that young Pequod college students work there as ‘escorts,’ and she almost gets killed in the process.  The Glass Trinket will return in my fourth book, Death in a Mudflat. I named the Glass Trinket for a boat owned by a friend of my parents. 0 0

Frank Boyette is another of the minor characters and he appears for the first time in Death by Pumpkin. Actually, his business – the small Italian place called Ernie’s – has been in all three books. In Death in a Dacron Sail, Rhe sees a kidnapping suspect looking at her through the fogged windows of Ernie’s. In Death by Pumpkin, Frank Boyette is one of the small business owners who takes a stand against coercion by students from Pequod College. You’ll have to read the book to find out more. Ernie’s is almost a character unto itself. It is where Sam and Rhe often have lunch together. Ernie’s specialty is pizza, and Sam’s favorite is mushroom, green pepper and sausage. Rhe usually has an Italian salad to avoid the calories.  The aromas of baking pizza crust and the other Italian specialties form a wonderful atmosphere for Sam and Rhe’s conversations. Naming this pizza place Ernie’s was an homage to the place in North Plymouth, MA, where I first had pizza. Ernie’s is still there and still offers the BEST thin crust pizza I’ve ever had. Hubs and I eat there at least once every time we visit Plymouth, usually with the company of friends. I did not describe Frank Boyette in Death by Pumpkin. How do you see him? Remember, at the end of the month, I will choose pictures for my characters! 0 0

Challenge: Send me a picture of what you think Nancy Ennis looks like! Nancy Ennis is one of those background characters created to be the minor supporting cast, playing small but critical roles. As such, she appears in all three Rhe Brewster Mystery books. She is a full-time nurse in the emergency room and frequently works with Rhe, who is part- time. Nancy often serves as the charge nurse — in charge of, or responsible for, the work of the emergency room during a single shift. She and Rhe are good friends and commiserate regularly about hospital CEO Manning’s pressure on Rhe and his attempts to trim the emergency room budget. Nancy is young, energetic and is identifiable by her bouncy red curls. She is also ambitious and in Death in a Red Canvas Chair is hoping to be accepted to the transplantation surgical team. She is also dating Marsh Adam’s assistant and forensic technologist, Oliver. In Death in a Dacron Sail, she jumps in to help Rhe when Rhe is physically attacked by a drunk in the emergency room. You’ll just have to read Death by Pumpkin to see what she does in her next appearance. Cover reveal for Death by Pumpkin in April! 0 0

Today I have an inanimate object that is on all three of the Rhe Brewster  Mysteries, unless you have an old battered Jeep Cherokee! Miss Daisy is Rhe’s now thirteen year-old dented green Cherokee, named for the movie Driving Miss Daisy. Miss Daisy is indeed a character, having none of the recent amenities. Scratches and rust spos, crank-down windows, stick shift, and a whimsical heater that frequently leaves Rhe frozen. There’s a heavy wool blanket in the back for winter emergencies. No cup holders, either. She may be due for a new car in Book 4, but it will probably be another Jeep. I think this one looks a little too nice, but finding pictures of battered cars is difficult. 0 0

Today I have a place that figures into Death in a Dacron Sail, so no challenge to provide me with a picture! Crystal Bog is located in Maine’s Aroostook County. It is a 1400 acre wetland and is one of the state’s best example of a domed bog ecosystem. It is also one of Main’s most diverse bogs and contains a large number of rare plants and animals. A typical bog is formed from an accumulation of peat (dead plant material) and mosses, mainly sphagnum moss. Raised or domed bogs are discreet, raised, mound-shaped masses of peat occupying former lakes or shallow depressions in the landscape. Their principal supply of water and nutrients is from rainfall and the substrate is acid peat soil, which can be up to 12m deep. Raised bogs are characterized by low-growing, open vegetation dominated by mosses, sedges and heathers, all of which are adapted to waterlogged, acidic and exposed conditions. In the center there can be an expanse of water in the form of a shallow pond. A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Some of them have been dated to between 8000 BCE and the Second World War, the levels of preservation varying widely from perfectly preserved to mere skeletons. A body is discovered in Crystal bog in Death in a Dacron Sail, and Crystal Bog is the wetland that Rhe, wearing shackles and weak from a concussion, has to slog through in the middle of winter, following an escape from her kidnapper. 0 0

Bob Morgan Challenge: Send me a picture of what you think Bob Morgan looks like! Bob is the Editor in Chief of the Post & Sentinel, Pequod’s daily newspaper. He went to high school with Rhe and they were a couple for a brief time. Bob wanted a physical relationship, but Rhe had her sights set on college and a career; as a result, she broke it off.  Bob married and divorced, and even though Rhe is now married with a child, he still carries a flame for her. When Bob returned to Pequod to take on the reins of Editor, he borrowed money from Bitsy Wellington to upgrade the newspaper. Along with the money came Bitsy herself, in a short term relationship. Rhe and Bob’s relationship is contentious, with Bob alternately making passes at her and harassing her for information on the investigations she is running. 0 0

To all my followers, fellow bloggers and friends (you are all of them): I am working on the cover for my third book. This one is more difficult because of its focus. Could you take some time out of your busy day and go to: http://99designs.com/book-cover-design/vote-cip49o and vote on a design? The print on each with be the same type as on my previous two covers and the title is Death by Pumpkin (some of the selections got it wrong). Thanks a million! Noelle 0 0

Challenge: Send me a picture of what you think Marsh Adams looks like! Marsh Adams was originally an emergency room physician and has been a friend of Rhe Brewster’s for many years. Before the time of Death in a Red Canvas Chair, he’d decided to leave the ER for pathology, telling Rhe he had seen too much pain and suffering in the living and preferred the peace of the already dead. After some catch-up time reviewing pathology, he’d spent a year in the Maine Medical Examiner’s office, returning to Pequod with the title of Assistant to the State ME. Marsh works out with weights almost every day and is built like a fireplug, of medium height, bulky with muscles, and sporting a crew cut. His gym is directly across the street from the Hole-in-One, a doughnut shop which makes the lemon-filled doughnuts to which he is addicted. He actually likes almost anything lemon, but by the time of Death by Pumpkin, he has discovered the benefits of chocolate. Rhe visits Marsh after almost every shift when she is deep in a mystery, since he is usually responsible for the autopsy of any body, along with the help of his assistant. In Death in a Red Canvas Chair, his assistant is Oliver, who is revealed as inextricably wound into the mystery. By the time of Death in a Dacron Sail, he has hired a new assistant, Midori Ishikawa, who is gradually becoming an excellent forensic technologist. In Death by Pumpkin, Marsh meets Belledonna Dzundic, a tall, imposing agent with the Maine Major Crimes unit, and it is love at first sight for both of them. 0 0