I have always aspired to be an eccentric old woman. This, like so many other things in life, needs to be planned. One doesn’t wake up one day and voilà, you’re eccentric. No. If that happens, it’s dementia.
I started planning my eccentric ways shortly after I began writing. In fact, writing is one of my cornerstones along with letting my hair naturally go white, perennially being an amateur solo guitar player, and maintaining my twelve earrings when certainly I should have let a few close by now.
Eccentric people make the best characters. They don’t fit easily into a mold, don’t react the way you’d expect, and tend to go sideways instead of forward, figuratively speaking. While eccentrics may not be the easiest people to get along with, they are never dull.
In Guilty by Association, book 2 of the Rizk Brothers Legal Mysteries, the mystery is set in a fictional, upscale physical rehab facility set in South Bend, Indiana. I wanted a “fish out of water” experience for Seth Rizk, the boots on the ground investigative twin. It starts out simple enough. A phone call to the woman who found the body, Morrighan (pronounced Morgan) O’Connell. She begins referring to Seth as her nephew to keep nosy neighbors at a distance. The two perpetuate the fraud even though Morrighan is a creamy white Irish-American and Seth gets his deep olive complexion from his father’s Lebanese heritage.
Enter Janus, the conspiracy theorist. She’s never met a fact she couldn’t break. Serious and iron willed, nothing can bend Janus … unless it’s the salsa-style morning exercise class Seth runs. Then she’s fist pumping and shouting “Crank it to eleven!” (A “This is Spinal Tap” reference and homage to the late great Rob Reiner).
Next is Sylvia with her thick (unspecified) European accent. She’s not very eccentric on her own but in her shadow is Ivan, the guy crushing on her hard enough to be the only man in the salsa class. I don’t think he has two lines in the entire book, he’s just always there, waiting to be the Louisiana to her Mississippi.
There are the brother and sister who run an Ebay operation, the occupational therapist who helps residents with their banking after hours, the social worker practicing her massage techniques, and the executive director who won’t let a sweaty Seth sit on her chairs.
Twins Seth and Jakob Rizk may be the stars of Guilty of Association, but they have an
ensemble cast eager to entertain. Oh, and one of them is a murderer.
Where am I in all this? I’m the eccentric middle-aged lady sitting in the corner and watching everyone, thinking “this is going in a book.”
Happy reading!
About the Author
TG Wolff writes mysteries meant to be solved. She specializes in puzzles and giving you everything you need to beat the detective to the solution. Diverse characters mirror the complexities of real life and real people, balanced with a healthy dose of entertainment. TG Wolff holds a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, which gives her no background in writing but was an excellent training ground for mystery solving.
