While summer romances are fun, so are summer murder mysteries! Especially when the murder mystery is a cold case, and the story is told in dual timelines. This is the 'case' with The Summer of Love and Death by Marcy McCreary. I recently had the chance to talk with Marcy about her 3rd Ford Family Mystery.
Congrats on the upcoming release of The Summer of Love and Death. Tell us a bit about the premise.
Detective Susan Ford and her new partner, Detective Jack Tomelli, are called to a crime scene at the local summer stock theater where they find the director of Murder on the Orient Express gruesomely murdered—naked, face caked in makeup, pillow at his feet, wrists and ankles bound by rope. When Susan describes the murder to her dad, retired detective Will Ford, he tells her the crime scene matches the MO of a 1969 serial killer . . . a case he worked fifty years ago.
Will remembers a lot of things about that summer . . . the Woodstock Festival, the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Miracle Mets . . . yet he is fuzzy on the details of the decades-old case. But when Susan and Jack discover the old case files, his memories start trickling back. And with each old clue and each new clue, Susan, Jack, and Will must narrow down the pool of suspects before the killer strikes again.
What made you decide to tell this story using dual timelines? And why did you pick 1969 for the year of the crime?
As I pondered the potential plot for the third installment of The Ford Family Mystery series, I thought about writing a prequel as opposed to a sequel. Essentially, lean in on the nostalgia of the Catskills Borscht Belt hotels (think Dirty Dancing or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisal) and set the story during its heyday of the 1960s. My initial concept was a murder mystery told from Detective Will Ford’s point-of-view when he was a young detective and centered around one of the storied hotels. That idea was short-lived—for a whole host of reasons—but it did spur my thinking about incorporating the nostalgia of that area and specifically the Woodstock festival into a contemporary narrative. Then I took it a step further . . . what if Detective Susan Ford is investigating a present-day murder mystery that has some connection to her father’s first case as a detective in the summer of ‘69?
Did you learn anything about writing by writing a dual timeline story?
I think crafting a dual timeline taught me a lot about structure and pacing. Writing a dual timeline is challenging—both timelines must be equally compelling, the cut from present to past (and back again) must generate tension and suspense, and the past must reveal something new about the character or plot. The past timeline has a very specific role: it must provide significance—a gem— that adds to the interpretation of events in the present. And the present timeline must lead into the past (or flashback scenes) with a smooth triggering device (for instance, something Susan says or discovers that jogs Will’s memory) that allows the two disparate narratives to unfurl as one story. That’s a lot of “musts.” And that makes writing a dual timeline tricky.
In a dual timeline narrative, I also believe the structure must serve the theme. In The Summer of Love and Death, I use the past to amplify the present, and in doing so bring a deeper understanding to the themes of the novel. The book is about memory and memories and the domino effect of how past events resonate in the present (both good and bad). The reason why I decided to set Detective Will Ford’s mini-chapters in 1969 is because I wanted the reader to experience what he was experiencing in the pivotal moments of his case. I could have easily had Will tell Susan about the case through dialog, but I believe I would have lost the emotional impact this case had on Will. I also didn’t want his retelling to carry the weight of faulty memory. By setting his scenes in the past, the reader is given access to Will’s reality. This is a fair play mystery, so my intent is not to trick the reader, but dole out the clues and red herrings in both timelines so that the reader can puzzle out the “who” (and why) in the whodunnit.
I love the meta element of discovering the murder at a theatre production of Murder on the Orient Express. What made you decide to go that route?
One night while channel surfing, I happened upon the 1974 screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. It reminded me of something a friend had recently told me: the novel had been adapted for the stage in 2017. And that got me thinking . . . wouldn’t it be fun if Detective Susan Ford is called to a murder at a summer stock theater that just happens to be performing Murder on the Orient Express. And then once I got writing, I thought it would be clever to use the twist in Christie’s novel—they all did—as a running joke in my novel, as expressed by the exasperated investigators as they try to sort out who murdered the show’s director. Was there more than one killer? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!
The Summer of Love and Death is the third book in the Ford Family Mysteries series. How does writing the first book in a mystery series compare with writing subsequent books?
The self-editing became easier because I had my editor, Helga Schier’s, voice in the back of my head as I wrote The Summer of Love and Death. I kept “hearing” her advice about pacing, propulsion, and tension and I think that helped me create a stronger first draft. Now, there were problems with that first draft, but again, having the experience of editing two previous books, I was able to quickly resolve those issues in the second draft, using Helga’s advice on how to fix some aspects of the plot and subplot that weren't quite working. Also, by the time I got to my third book, my characters felt like my extended family. That made it easier to develop their character arcs within the context of this novel's story.
Any plans to continue the Ford Family Mysteries that you can share?
I’m mulling several ideas including a spinoff featuring a young Detective Will Ford set in the early 1970s. The hotel resorts were still thriving then, and I’m thinking about a locked-room or closed-circle mystery set in one of the hotels.
Where can people order The Summer of Love and Death?
Anywhere you buy books: online, bookstores, libraries. If possible, try and support your local independent bookstore. You can order signed hardcover copies of The Summer of Love and Death from The Mysterious Bookshop.
Where’s the best place to follow you?
Instagram (@marcymccrearyauthor) is my favorite social media platform for engaging with readers and authors, so I tend to post on Instagram quite often. But you’ll also find me on Facebook (@marcymccrearywrites), on Twitter (@mcmarcy) and TikTok (@marcymccreary).
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