Behind the story of Dead as a Duck by Colleen J. Shogan

Colleen J. Shogan is political scientist by training, She’s taught American politics at numerous universities, has worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate, and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress. Currently, she’s a Senior Vice President at the White House Historical Association.  Dead as a Duck is the seventh book in her Washington Whodunnit series.

From Washington to the Outer Banks of North Carolina

“I have vacationed on the Outer Banks in North Carolina for over a decade. In years past, groups of friends have rented a beach home for vacation. I thought it would be a lot of fun to move Kit Marshall out of the Washington, D.C. area and give her the opportunity for a vacation with her husband, dog, and friends. The Outer Banks is certainly one of the top vacation destinations for people who live and work in the Washington, D.C. area. Also, I had always wanted to write a beach mystery! The Outer Banks, given my familiarity with it, provided the perfect setting.”

Colleen’s protagonist, Kit Marshall, is a congressional staffer. While it would have been easy to make this series ‘all about politics’, that’s not the direction Colleen chose to go with this series. “I would not say my books are political, and certainly not partisan, in nature. In this book, there are some environmental themes that are recurring. Kit’s brother, Sebastian, becomes the prime suspect in the murder because he disagreed publicly with the victim during a local town hall meeting. Kit’s brother is an environmental activist, so it makes sense that there would be some discussion of those issues in the book. However, it’s a lighter touch and not something that detracts from the plot of the book or the mystery in a significant way.”

People or places, it’s all about the character 

“I really focus on character development in my books,” Colleen said. “I give up on series in which the main characters don’t change or grow. So, you will see evolution and evolving relationships in my series, sometimes resulting in surprising twists that readers didn’t see coming! The other important item I would emphasize is setting. I really pay attention to the settings for my books and take great care to make sure my portrayal of the location is true to the character of the place. Sometimes, specific sites need to be altered to fit the requirements of the plot, but that doesn’t detract from my overall emphasis on depicting places, historic sites, and neighborhoods accurately.”

Colleen wrote much of Dead as a Duck during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because she was able to telework, Colleen spent a great deal of time from March 2020 forward at the small house she husband her own in the town of Duck in the Outer Banks. “My editor pushed me on adding details to the book that would enhance its description, and because I was spending so much time there, it was really helpful as I completed rewrites and subsequent drafts.”

A side of murder with that filet mignon?

Personally, I love hearing what lengths writers will go to in the name of research. I especially love it when they share their stories about how they broke the rules (or at least bent them)—perhaps they’re simply channeling their protagonist. In this case, I congratulate Colleen on being creative and say, bravo for a fib well told!

“When I was writing the fourth book in my series, K Street Killing, I managed to talk my way into getting a look at a very exclusive rooftop area of an expensive restaurant in Washington, D.C. I knew I wanted my victim, a prominent lobbyist, to take a tumble off the roof, but I wasn’t sure how that might work. To gain access one evening, I had to tell a white lie about wanting to plan a rooftop soiree so I could tour the space with someone from the restaurant – but I didn’t take more than 15 minutes of her time! In the end, it really helped me understand how the murder would occur, which was obviously key to the entire plot of the book.”

Learn more about Colleen J. Shogan and Dead as a Duck at www.colleenshogan.com . Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.

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