THE CROSSOVER: 1+2= 3 AND SOLVED, by BJ Magnani

 

Today,  I welcome author BJ Magnani, who is also internationally recognized for her expertise in clinical chemistry and toxicology.  Check out her blog on poisons. The floor is yours, BJ.

I remember how much fun it was when characters from one TV show crossed over into another. Think CSI: Trilogy, where the team from CSI: Miami worked with those from CSI: NY and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation to track down a lost girl found to be the victim of a human trafficking ring. That feeling of “so happy they finally meet and are working together to solve the case” percolates throughout DEATH on OUT-to-SEA ISLAND. Two of my favorite authors agreed that we should write a story where our protagonists collectively solve a murder mystery.

For Maine’s Matt Cost, a prolific author of several series, including the Mainely Mysteries, the Clay Wolf/Port Essex Mysteries, the Brooklyn 8 Ballo Series, and more, and Wyoming’s C.M. Wendelboe known for gritty westerns and multiple series, such as the Spirit Road Mysteries, the Bitter Wind Mysteries, the Nelson Land Frontier Mysteries and more, it was a difficult choice to decide which of their detectives would play a part in the story.

For me, it was easy. I only write one series with Dr. Lily Robinson—a Boston physician recruited by the U.S. Government as a covert assassin. So, how and where would these characters cross paths?

Two years ago, Matt Cost and I met with Curt Wendelboe, who was in Maine spending time on Monhegan Island, a spot of land located just off the coast of Tenants Harbor. After lunch, we talked about having our characters—Arn Anderson from the Bitter Wind series and Clay Wolfe from the Clay Wolfe series—come together at a private investigator’s refresher course held on Monhegan Island, where Lily Robinson would teach the basics of homicidal poisonings. When one of the lecturers turns up dead, who better than a couple of detectives and a doctor to figure out what happened? Of course, they are isolated from the mainland during a raging storm and take matters into their own hands. In a tongue-in-cheek Agatha Christie-like fashion, they track down the murderer using their wits and know-how.

Curt Wendelboe started the story by creating colorful character names and setting the scene. Curt: “Folks might think it difficult working with two other people to solve a homicide, and it was. My protagonist, Arn Anderson, was used to working alone—like me as an author. I struggled with it until I closed my eyes and visualized BJ as Lily and Matt as Clay. Along the way I kept asking myself: what would Clay do? What would Lily do to help solve this murder and things started flowing naturally. I felt confident handing the investigation off to Clay and Lily. I knew—when we huddled in the end—that we would have the killer in our sights.”

The story was then given to me to write the dreaded “middle bits,” and I used the opportunity to create more context before getting Lily involved in the case. Once confronted with the body, she uses her knowledge of medicine and poisons to determine the manner and cause of death. But with no medical facilities and forensic help, she has to improvise.

Next, the story was handed off to Matt Cost, the anchor in the relay. Perhaps he had the hardest task of all—wrapping up a tale with the clues left by two other writers. How do you do that? Matt: “The task of a writer is to get into the heads of the characters in the book and let them tell you what is going to happen next. Understanding Lily and Arn, as well as BJ and Curt, was essential for tying the murder mystery together in a fashion that was both shocking and believable. The plethora of clues, fully fleshed out characters, and strong plot creation made the task quite simple, really.”

One of the challenges in writing a story like this is understanding the other author’s character—how they act and how they speak.  Lily Robinson approaches problems logically with a scientific mind, while Arn Anderson, a retired Denver Metro Homicide investigator now living in Cheyenne, uses his knowledge of hunting killers to point Lily and Clay in the right direction. It takes Clay Wolfe’s knowledge of Maine and its people and a basic understanding of human nature to tie all of these pieces together into a solution. Editing is important, too, because each writer has a style, and each character has a personality that needs to be preserved when making the story come together.

We could have used a pen name when creating the eBook but instead chose to use our three last names as the first, middle, and last name when submitting the story. And East Meets West Press made sense since we were two New Englanders and one Westerner author.

A piece like DEATH on OUT-to-SEA ISLAND has the advantage of having fans of one author be exposed to the writing and characters of another author. It’s an experience of fun, creativity, and friendship that more writers and readers should consider. And it’s only a one-hour read.

 

For more information about the authors, see

BJ Magnani  https://www.bjmagnani.com/

Matt Cost https://www.mattcost.net/

C.M. Wendelboe  https://cmwendelboe.com/