Terry Odell wants to keep her mysteries light

Terry Odell is the author of multiple books in the mystery, thriller, and romantic suspense genres. For this interview, Odell discussed her newest release, which is the fourth Mapleton Murder, “Deadly Production.”

On the issue of writing about issues, authors fall into two distinct camps—those who do and those who don’t. Terry Odell said, “I don’t like tackling serious issues when I read, so most definitely not when I write. I prefer to keep my books on the ‘light’ side (if one can call murder mysteries ‘light’). I want my readers to get away from problems and issues, not dwell on them.

“However, in a very subtle, almost roundabout way, ‘Deadly Production’ deals with clinical depression. Cassidy Clarke, one of the main characters is an actor. His mother suffered from depression, and he is working on the movie being filmed in Mapleton for free to help raise awareness. I think that another thread, dealing with budgetary issues for small town police departments is just as significant to the story line. Perhaps, more so. But, the book is still about solving a murder, life in a small town, and relationships.”

[contestad code=#Mapleton startdate=2015-06-14 enddate=2015-06-21]Odell said the Mapleton Mystery series centers around Gordon Hepler, the Chief of Police of an imaginary small town in Colorado. To avoid what’s called the “Jessica Fletcher” or “Cabot Cove” syndrome, Odell only killed off a resident in the first book. She said, “‘Deadly Secrets’ began with the first homicide in the town’s collective memory, so I’ve been looking for ways to involve my protagonist to have to solve crimes without making Mapleton look like homicide central.”

Book 2 in the Mapleton series dealt with a cold case, and Book 3 pulled Gordon out of Mapleton on a doctor-imposed vacation, where he got involved in a homicide investigation. Odell said that in “Deadly Production,” she again wanted to avoid killing a resident. “The idea of a movie company coming to town, with all its inherent headaches for Gordon, seemed a perfect way to introduce a dead body without it being a Mapleton character.”

Gordon Hepler is, in fact, named after a postal worker in Orlando who contacted Terry Odell and told her he wanted to be in one of her books. In addition to letting one of her fans choose a character name, Odell also relies on her kids to help her write younger characters.

Terry Odell is one of those authors who came to the game later in life. She said, “Normally, when I’m introduced on a panel of authors, everyone else regales the audience with how they’ve been writing since before they could talk, or wrote their first novel in crayon. I point out that I didn’t begin writing—or even thinking about writing—until my AARP card was well-worn.”

One of the things Odell said she wished she had done was to create what writers call a “series Bible.” It’s a record of characters and plots that can help writers easily recall who-did-what-to-whom. Odell said, “I keep meaning to create series Bibles, but now that I’ve got at least 4 books in each series, the task has become daunting. Consequently, I rely heavily on the ‘find’ function in Word to review previous books.”

Despite growing up in the Hollywood and Beverly Hills areas, Odell said she had very little experience with movie productions. “I rode the school bus with the offspring of celebrities such as Jayne Mansfield and Errol Flynn, and was in classes with Jeff Chandler’s son, and Liza Minnelli during her short stint in the public school system.” And, even though Terry Odell’s mother always hoped to run into movie stars during “Back to School” nights, Odell said she didn’t have a source inside the industry until her daughter became an extra.

“I noticed that my daughter was tweeting about having to get up at 2:30 in the morning and when I asked her why, she said it was because she was an extra on Game of Thrones. Not getting HBO, I’d never watched the show, but I pumped her for information about the process, and asked her to vet some scenes in the book.” Odell also took the opportunity to put in a plug for her daughter, describing her as, “the blonde Wildling in Season 5, Episode 8.”

While she wasn’t familiar with what goes on behind the scenes in movie productions, she does know the difficulties faced by small-town police. Odell said, “I’ve done ride-alongs with local deputies, where I saw the challenges of being on patrol in the mountains, where radios and cell phones didn’t work, and their vehicles didn’t have computers.”

She also noted that those difficulties include not being able to summon quick backup. “Should they get into trouble, it could easily be twenty minutes before help arrives. The deputy I rode with had a street map book that was out-of-date, and I was using my smart phone to find addresses when we could get a signal. Those sorts of details show up in all my Mapleton books. In fact, in ‘Deadly Production’ Gordon has applied for a grant to get computers into the Mapleton police vehicles.”

Odell also said, “There’s a common ‘rule’ that says, ‘Write what you know.’ If I did that, I’d be bored beyond belief. I prefer to ‘Write what I can learn.’”

More about Terry Odell

Learn more about Terry Odell on her website at terryodell.com.