Let me tell you how the Heartland to Homeland Mysteries concept came to be.

You’ve all heard the writers’ adage: write what you know. It is sensible advice. I have lived in many places in my 80+ years and have had many adventures, all ripe source material. One adventure was the escape from Hurricane Katrina. She blew our family to Marshall, a charming small town in central Missouri, where we lived for several years.

What better place to use as the main setting for a mystery series? Not literally, of course, but through a fictional lens. On the surface, real-life Marshall and fictional Hawkinston are both agrarian communities. They share an elegant town square with a red brick courthouse. They each have a private college and a public education system with a unique format. Beyond that broad similarity, they are very different.

At the heart of the series is Leni Spencer, a 24-year-old reporter for the Hawkinston Daily News. Born and reared in Hawkinston, she leads a seemingly linear life, living in the family home she inherited when her parents died and working for her hometown newspaper. The challenge for the series was to inject some excitement and growth into her story. Drawing from my life experiences, it seemed like travel could be the perfect catalyst for her journey.

Why would Leni travel? The stories she covers are local. But people come and go in a small town. They have roots or interests elsewhere. In The Next Great Discovery, New Orleans is the elsewhere. It was the hometown of several characters in the book, so it was logical for the storyline to take Leni there.

And so, the concept was born: the Heartland to Hometown Mysteries. Hawkinston is in the heartland, and each mystery will take Leni to the hometown of a beleaguered character. —Kathie Bennett