It Takes a Lot of Coffee to Write a Mystery

It takes more than one cup of Folgers Coffee to write a tension-filled scene in a Darcy and Flora mystery. For example, time is a vital part of setting. When does the story take place? Last December, Oklahoma experienced record floods. I decided to use that phenomenon when writing Grave Heritage. However, the story doesn’t take place in December but in July. July is usually a fairly dry, hot month in Oklahoma but not the July in Grave Heritage. It rained. It poured. It rained some more. Creeks rose. The river flooded and, as if this were not bad enough, a murderer was loose in Ventris County. As the story neared its conclusion, Darcy and Flora were trapped between a flood and a killer. Tension mounted. Where was the coffee?

Here’s another scene that I got pretty involved with:

Darcy had just finished one of Flora’s delicious breakfasts and was about to head out the door when the phone rang. It was Doris Elroy, Grant’s secretary with some alarming news.

“Darcy, Grant asked me to have you and Miss Flora meet him at Miss Sugar’s. He wouldn’t tell me why. He just said it was important. I know it’s awfully early. Sorry.”

Doris Elroy’s normally calm voice held a note of impatience. Was she aggravated with her boss? Usually, Doris was Grant’s staunch supporter.

Lulabelle Shuggart was the owner, operator and general compassion-giver at Shuggart’s Funeral Home. Plump, be-spectacled, and white-haired, she exuded sympathy, concern, and competence. It was no wonder that everyone in town shortened her last name to Sugar. There had been a Shuggart’s Funeral Home in Levi since time immemorial. Miss Lulabelle Shuggart was the third generation of her family in the business of burying Ventris County’s dear departed. Now her nephew and his son were also involved. Shuggart’s would be in the grave business for years to come. It was odd, what I felt upon coming face to face with Miss Sugar. I associated her with my father’s funeral and sadness but at the same time, she radiated a feeling of comfort. Other than that, I didn’t know much about Lulabelle Shuggart. There was a rumor that she had been in love once but the young man had a change of heart. Humans are strange people.

Glancing at the clock, I said, “That’s all right, Doris. We are early risers. Why does Grant want us to go to the funeral home, of all places?”

“He wouldn’t tell me why but he said he’s going out to Miss Pat’s first. I gathered he is bringing her to the funeral home and wants you to be there in case Pat needs you. At 8:30, he said.”

“Pat? Pat Harris?” I asked.

Mom hurried to the phone. “Is it Pat? Is she sick?”

“Yes, Pat Harris,” Doris said. “I don’t know what to make of it, Darcy. I don’t think Grant has ever located Jasper. Maybe…no, we won’t think the worst.”

A cold dread settled around my heart. I had to swallow a couple of times before I could answer. “Sure, Doris, we’ll be there.”

“What in the world is going on?” Mom asked as I replaced the receiver.

“Grant wants us to meet him and Pat at Miss Sugar’s at 8:30. Doris didn’t know why.”

“Oh, no! Maybe it’s Jasper. Oh, surely not. Grant wouldn’t be bringing Pat to the funeral home unless…unless it was to identify him.” Mom’s voice sank to a whisper.

Pouring two more cups of coffee, I set them on the table and guided Mom to a chair. Her hands were shaking.

“Grant wouldn’t break the news to us this way,” I said, as we faced each other at the table. “He would phone us himself and not ask Doris to phone, or he would come to the house. No, it can’t be Jasper.”

I tried to sound reassuring but my coffee sloshed out of my cup as I raised it to my lips. I guessed my own face was as pale as my mother’s.

Grant’s white Ford truck was parked in front of Shuggart’s when Mom and I arrived. Inside the door of the funeral home, Miss Sugar met us.