"Where Fillmore County News Comes First"
Online Edition
Wednesday, June 19th, 2013
Volume ∞ Issue ∞
- 8:58:04, Jun 18th 2013 - cabraden1 - I salute you Colonel Overland. Your were my c.o. at Rockville Naval Air ... [Read More]
- 7:10:46, Jun 13th 2013 - chipperlee - Seems to be a well written article, except maybe Silica Sand is used in ... [Read More]
- 12:02:15, Jun 9th 2013 - getthefacts - The problem here lies in the fact that girls were repeatedly told "if y ... [Read More]
- 10:45:32, Jun 7th 2013 - Jo mom for 6yrs - Mr. Ehler hit the nail on the head. I agree with the religious con ... [Read More]
- 2:47:58, Jun 7th 2013 - hello - Hello, it's time you wake up. There isn't a community nearby that doesn't offe ... [Read More]
- 9:06:21, Jun 6th 2013 - hello - Hello, it's time you wake up. There isn't a community nearby that doesn't offe ... [Read More]
- 2:05:29, Jun 6th 2013 - Kim Wentworth - The number one rule in a debate: 1) if the person from the opposite si ... [Read More]
- 12:42:18, Jun 4th 2013 - EW - For someone that is always spouting religious rhetoric, you try to come off as a ... [Read More]
- 11:32:18, May 31st 2013 - JO PLAYER - This is unfair to us girls. Morrie Miller is not getting canceled but J ... [Read More]
- 8:25:34, May 29th 2013 - RP - Why is Mr. Ehler involving himself with non-school activities? Is he going after ... [Read More]
33
Do you think the use of all fireworks should be legal in the state of Minnesota for all consumers?
A mystery writer visits
Comments
Monday, July 10, 2000
Running a motel in Helena, Montana, was a very confining business, the mystery writer and Chatfield native, Elizabeth Gunn told an audience last week at the Harmony Public Library. "There were whole years where we didn’t have one day off," she said.
Consequently, there was a lot of restlessness stored up, so when Elizabeth, and her husband, Philip, sold their business and bought a sailboat, they spent the next year and half sailing from port to port along the western coast of Mexico. "We decided not to let any more grass grow under our feet," Elizabeth said.
The couple eventually parted with their boat in San Diego and headed to the Florida Keys. It had been a long journey, an ‘epic adventure’, one that had changed them forever. And the journey was far from over.
"I decided that I wanted to tell my story so I started writing travel articles," Elizabeth said. When they sailed a trawler up the inland coastal waterway of the eastern United States, Elizabeth made sure that she had already sold six stories in advance to a boating magazine. It became a package deal when Philip started selling his photographs to go along with Elizabeth’s articles.
The incessant traveling continued overseas, where the Gunns spent a year learning Spanish in Barcelona and traveling around the recently liberated countries of the former Soviet Bloc. "Those were such euphoric times," Elizabeth said. "Nobody had yet started worrying about who was going to pay for everything."
After a few years of travel writing, Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice that she had collected quite a stack of newspaper and magazine articles with her by-line. "By gum, there’s my name on all those clippings," she realized, " I guess I really am a writer!" The idea of taking her work to another level, of doing something more ambitious, seemed like the logical next step. It was time to write a book.
After researching the book business Elizabeth concluded that the bread and butter of the publishing world were mysteries. Despite, knowing nothing about the genre, Elizabeth decided that she would write a mystery.
It was around this time that Elizabeth was visiting her sister in Rochester. She was sitting on the front porch one summer evening enjoying the peaceful and idyllic setting when it suddenly occurred to her what she could write about. "I decided I wanted to write a murder mystery which was set in a place where nothing bad ever happened," Elizabeth said.
"You haven’t lived here in quite a while," was Rochester Deputy Chief of Police John Sibley’s bemused reaction when Elizabeth approached him about her new project.
Sibley agreed to show Elizabeth around the police department and he introduced her to people, whose brains she has been picking for information ever since. She rode along in patrol cars and started to learn cop jargon and investigative procedures. She soon found herself being so dazzled and impressed with this new world she had entered, that she feared whatever she’d end up writing would be nothing but an unabashed booster book for the police department.
Now, three published books later, Elizabeth is putting the finishing editorial touches to number four, which will be titled Six-pound Walleye. The other books: Triple Play, Par Four and Five-Card Stud, are all set in southeastern Minnesota in the fictional town of Rutherford, which bears an un-canny resemblance in demograhics and personality to Rochester. Her central character, the police detective, Jake Hines, who was orphaned at birth, is a mystery within the broader mystery of the stories. He simply doesn’t know who he is or where he came from.
Elizabeth, who now makes Tucson, Arizona, her home, enjoys the many visits back to the land of her childhood, both for the family ties and the beautiful scenery.
"Just driving down tonight was inspirational," she said. "The air was heavy with the scent of barbecue grills and fresh cut alfalfa. The corn looked perfect and the pastures were a green velvet."
Minnesota, she went on to say, is always a main character in each one of her books. And then the seasoned world traveler smiled and said, "It’s hard to imagine why anybody would want to live anywhere else."
Running a motel in Helena, Montana, was a very confining business, the mystery writer and Chatfield native, Elizabeth Gunn told an audience last week at the Harmony Public Library. "There were whole years where we didn’t have one day off," she said.
Consequently, there was a lot of restlessness stored up, so when Elizabeth, and her husband, Philip, sold their business and bought a sailboat, they spent the next year and half sailing from port to port along the western coast of Mexico. "We decided not to let any more grass grow under our feet," Elizabeth said.
The couple eventually parted with their boat in San Diego and headed to the Florida Keys. It had been a long journey, an ‘epic adventure’, one that had changed them forever. And the journey was far from over.
"I decided that I wanted to tell my story so I started writing travel articles," Elizabeth said. When they sailed a trawler up the inland coastal waterway of the eastern United States, Elizabeth made sure that she had already sold six stories in advance to a boating magazine. It became a package deal when Philip started selling his photographs to go along with Elizabeth’s articles.
The incessant traveling continued overseas, where the Gunns spent a year learning Spanish in Barcelona and traveling around the recently liberated countries of the former Soviet Bloc. "Those were such euphoric times," Elizabeth said. "Nobody had yet started worrying about who was going to pay for everything."
After a few years of travel writing, Elizabeth couldn’t help but notice that she had collected quite a stack of newspaper and magazine articles with her by-line. "By gum, there’s my name on all those clippings," she realized, " I guess I really am a writer!" The idea of taking her work to another level, of doing something more ambitious, seemed like the logical next step. It was time to write a book.
After researching the book business Elizabeth concluded that the bread and butter of the publishing world were mysteries. Despite, knowing nothing about the genre, Elizabeth decided that she would write a mystery.
It was around this time that Elizabeth was visiting her sister in Rochester. She was sitting on the front porch one summer evening enjoying the peaceful and idyllic setting when it suddenly occurred to her what she could write about. "I decided I wanted to write a murder mystery which was set in a place where nothing bad ever happened," Elizabeth said.
"You haven’t lived here in quite a while," was Rochester Deputy Chief of Police John Sibley’s bemused reaction when Elizabeth approached him about her new project.
Sibley agreed to show Elizabeth around the police department and he introduced her to people, whose brains she has been picking for information ever since. She rode along in patrol cars and started to learn cop jargon and investigative procedures. She soon found herself being so dazzled and impressed with this new world she had entered, that she feared whatever she’d end up writing would be nothing but an unabashed booster book for the police department.
Now, three published books later, Elizabeth is putting the finishing editorial touches to number four, which will be titled Six-pound Walleye. The other books: Triple Play, Par Four and Five-Card Stud, are all set in southeastern Minnesota in the fictional town of Rutherford, which bears an un-canny resemblance in demograhics and personality to Rochester. Her central character, the police detective, Jake Hines, who was orphaned at birth, is a mystery within the broader mystery of the stories. He simply doesn’t know who he is or where he came from.
Elizabeth, who now makes Tucson, Arizona, her home, enjoys the many visits back to the land of her childhood, both for the family ties and the beautiful scenery.
"Just driving down tonight was inspirational," she said. "The air was heavy with the scent of barbecue grills and fresh cut alfalfa. The corn looked perfect and the pastures were a green velvet."
Minnesota, she went on to say, is always a main character in each one of her books. And then the seasoned world traveler smiled and said, "It’s hard to imagine why anybody would want to live anywhere else."
No Comments Yet. Be the first to comment!
