Behind the story of Death at Fair Havens

Say hello to the mother-daughter writing team of Maria Mankin and Maren C. Tirabassi. Both are multi-published authors in their own right. They started working together in 2000 and have published in a variety of genres. Death at Fair Havens is the first book in their first collaborative cozy mystery.

The beginnings of Death at Fair Havens

“When we first started thinking about writing a cozy mystery together, we discussed the fact that we needed to write about our friends, or if not them specifically, then fragile, complicated, joyful people like them. We wanted to open a book and feel as though the people on those pages reflected the lives we lead, the fantastic friendships we’ve enjoyed, and the challenges that arise when you’re open to the vulnerability of meaningful relationships.”

The word ‘relationship’ typically conjures images of romance, but that’s not what the authors had in mind. “We were focused on what it means to involve oneself in a murder investigation when it isn’t your job…and when no one else believes it’s murder. How does that affect a person during the investigation and after the fact? How might it destroy relationships, jobs, and a sense of security? What would it feel like, as women without any magical ‘gifts’ or unusual physical prowess, to choose to repeatedly stand up in dangerous situations to protect those who couldn’t?” 

In Death at Fair Havens, the murder victim is a man with early on-set Alzheimer’s. Many of the witnesses also have memory issues. “They’re the ones for whom memory is not a sure thing – people who are often discarded or ignored. These people make unreliable witnesses but are ultimately crucial to uncovering the truth. Wanda and Rye don’t ignore them, and they don’t simply tolerate them. Every person they meet is fully capable of villainy and great wisdom, as well as deserving of respect.”

Eight years to the finish line

“We started Death at Fair Havens back in August of 2014. We were driving through the White Mountains in New Hampshire and decided it was time to stop talking about the move from writing solely non-fiction to actually writing a novel. Thankfully, we had a legal pad and a pen handy, and as we drove, we brain dumped. All the ideas we had been tossing around for years started to coalesce in those hours – Wanda and Rye, their lives and professions, the people who defined them and the pain they carried – it all started flowing. Once we started, we couldn’t stop. We began emailing chapters back and forth every week, and by May 2015, the first draft was solid. Of course, it took two births, a retirement and one very long pandemic to get to the book we have today, but the journey was absolutely worth it! We have refined the novel so much since we filled that first notebook, but the seeds of what we planted that day remain.”

The authors said that it seemed natural for them to begin the series with two narrators of different generations because they’ve also had to navigate challenges together. “Our values are deeply aligned, but the way that we approach problems – well, all situations, really – is profoundly different because of our upbringings, our generational perspectives, and our personalities. Fortunately for us, it works! It’s a compatibly that we’ve never really questioned but are so lucky to have discovered early on.”

Drawing on personal experience

“This particular novel, with its focus on the deaf community and people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, has been bittersweet. So much of what we know about the latter community comes from over a decade of personal experience with multiple family members. As we watched the cognitive decline, which looks so different from person to person, we had to continuously find new ways to bring joy and comfort into those relationships while also processing the grief that comes long before death. In Death at Fair Havens, we were able to capture both the pain and the ‘you just have to laugh’ moments that pop up in that environment, and it felt like a celebration of a critically important part of our lives.”

The authors have also had to several family members who experienced severe hearing loss in early middle age, and who later became deaf. “They had no real tools of communication to connect them to the wider world. It is one of the features that defined Wanda – her profound hearing loss in her thirties has shaped how she communicates with the world twenty years on – although it still doesn’t fully prepare her for a relationship with the victim’s brother, an attractive man born into deaf culture who navigates the hearing world with more confidence than Wanda can sometimes manage.

“These emotionally charged situations brought life to the book. Incorporating these experiences with the help of two amazing deaf sensitivity readers drove us to more interesting conversation and made the resolutions in the novel that much more satisfying.”

And then there’s the wings…

Chicken wings, to be exact. “For some reason that has now been lost to the vagaries of time, we wrote Wanda and Rye to be dedicated chicken wing eaters. As a result, over the last few years, we’ve taken the opportunity, when we’re together, to order and devour a shocking quantity of wings (one of us prefers to try new and interesting flavors – the other wants the heartburn heat special every time). It seems like such an innocent choice, until we realize a few hours later that neither of our digestive capabilities are as young as they once were.”

Learn more about the authors at callingallcharacters.com. Did you like this interview? If so, click here to read more Behind the Story interviews from your favorite authors.