As you can see from the new book jacket here, there's a new Darcy Lott book, Power Slide.
One of my pleasures in writing has been discovering characters' secrets. They've all got them (why else would they be in a mystery?) When I start writing a book I know no more about them than you do. But I wonder. Then, suddenly, secrets spring open. It's as if they've always been there but I just haven't looked in the right direction, or in the right light.
The most baffling question has been about her missing brother, Mike. Of course, I've always known that he was missing. But until I started writing Power Slide I didn't know how or why he disappeared, if he'd been kidnapped, murdered, killed accidentally, or if despite the odds he'd survived, or if he'd merely left on his own. But he wasn't the type of guy to walk away and leave his family hanging, that I did know. I trusted that the answer existed, that at some point I'd look from a new angle and it would reveal itself. But time passed. I worried. Darcy's family pressured her to okay a once-and-for-all search. Time closed in. I worried more. And then, suddenly, what happened came clear, startlingly so.
When you first see Darcy, she's doing a power slide, a scary cycle stunt with a slide under an eighteen-wheeler. It's a gag where a false move could be her last move, one in which she has to trust her partner completely. Nothing can go wrong... Her partner is Damon Guthrie, a guy with whom she's had an on-going, passionate, yet distant relationship. Since Mike's disappearance, that's the only kind of relationship she's been able to handle, one with no pressure, no questions asked. But no questions answered can hide big secrets. And bigger dangers.
Upcoming Events:
Thursday, August 12
7:30 PM
Mrs. Dalloway's
2904 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA
510-704-8222
I'm hoping you know the heroines of my three previous series: Berkeley Police Detective Jill Smith, forensic pathologist-turned-detective Kiernan O'Shaughnessy and PG&E meter reader Vejay Haskell. But you may not be as familiar with stunt double Darcy Lott.
Darcy Lott's interests are the things that I'm fascinated by. All of them can be classified as: Things are not as they seem.
Her specialty is high falls, but like any stunt double who wants to continue eating, she has other skills. In A Single Eye she does a wire leap, in Hungry Ghosts, a high fall and a stair fall, in Civil Twilight, a car gag (stunt) in two parts, which ends in a fire gag. And in the upcoming Power Slide, she does a power slide. When you see a bike rider slip, the bike tip and go shooting sideways under a truck, that's a power slide. The goal of all stunts is to be choreographed so they are as safe as possible, while appearing excruciatingly dangerous. Things are not as they seem.
Darcy's also the assistant to Leo, Garson-roshi, the abbot of San Francisco's Barbary Coast Zen Center. What she learns there colors how she views everything else. One of the core teachings of Zen is from Suzuki-Roshi who brought Zen to San Francisco. When asked what Zen is, he said, "Things change." As for Leo, he would rather be true to the dharma (rules, beliefs) than to avoid trouble. And he has an proclivity for answering honestly—a trait that can be a big problem for Darcy, when she's avoiding the police.
Unlike Jill, Kiernan and Vejay, Darcy has a big family, with older siblings involved with pretty much all aspects of San Francisco, each of whom figures s/he is the only family member Darcy should trust with any secret. And there are ample secrets. Because of them Darcy steered clear of the family and San Francisco since college. Now she's edging back into the family, but she's almost a stranger and there's a history among the rest of them about which she has no idea.
For me, writing is like sculpting in the sense that the statue or the story is always there, it's just a matter of getting down to it. If you've finished my latest book, then I don't know any more than you do. I'm intrigued by what will happen. I write because I want to know.
I've written up some descriptions of my books for you. Descriptions, observations, what seemed right for each book. For some it's the jacket copy, because either an editor or I, or both, have sweated to give you a taste of the book, without giving away the plot—not an easy task. Trust me on this.
I hope you'll enjoy your visit here and come again.
© Susan Dunlap. Web site by interbridge.