When I had my first inklings of writing a detective novel, I considered that my main character would need a posse. Every detective has a posse. So what sort of people would comprise Rita Mars’ inner circle? They had to be fun, trusted, effective. I discovered over time that some of the most knowledgeable and effective folk didn’t always look the part.
And what is the part of Rita Mars’ assistant and work confident? That role had to be someone Rita would trust when her natural approach to anyone was keeping her distance. Rita Mars does not often ask for help. She does not assume a person is a friendly just because they
present as such. She relies on those she knows have been through the fires of battle, whether that battle is prejudice or war or plain old garden variety bigotry players in the Rita Mars saga.
When I considered Beverly Hills as a character I thought of a good friend I worked with so many years ago. Larry was a gay, black man. In 1967 he was attending Boston University. On his way to class one day, he drove through Boston’s Roxbury district where he was surrounded by a mob, dragged from his car and thrown through a plate glass window. It took more than a year for him to walk again. He emerged from his trauma strong and determined not to let haters dictate his life. I knew he would be the right model for Rita’s right hand.
In The Rita Mars Series, Bev meets Rita as she’s working on a serial case where gay men are stalked and killed in a Baltimore at a notorious “meat market” park in a very upscale part of Baltimore. Rita is determined to find the killer when she mistakes Bev for the murderer as he’s presenting himself for bait to try and catch the killer himself. In the backstory from my first book, DRIVEN, Rita and Bev team to successfully solve the case.
Beverly Hills served his country in Afghanistan when he was known as Charles Tyrell Wheatly. As a kid from the projects in Baltimore, his opportunities had been limited so he joined the Army. Bev served admirably in her tours in Afghanistan. She had taken IED shrapnel when she tricked a suicide bomber into prematurely detonating his explosives vest which saved a platoon. For th0se heroics the Army awarded Bev a Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross.
When she returned home, she not only had PTSD to manage but that notion that she had fought all her 30-some years. The time in hospital for her wounds made it impossible for her to stuff the idea that while her body might be male, her head was definitely not. Bev has not yet chosen transition. That idea remains a chasm to leap for her. In the meantime, she’s dressing as it pleases her and the hell with the haters.
Teaming with Rita on the serial killer gave her not only an accepting friend but gave Bev a safe place to work as she considers where decision and circumstance takes her. She is devoted to Rita and often acts as her bodyguard. It is Bev who keeps the office running for her adrenalin-fueled friend and boss.
So why did I tap Larry as my main model for Beverly Hills? Like Bev, he stood up to hate with strength and dignity. He was never out-of-control angry; something it took me a long time to understand. However, he was also not going to allow the prejudice of others to shape his character. Bev, like Larry, is a person of courage, of loyalty and one never swept away in the grip of hate. She will always be one of my most favorite players in the Rita Mars saga.
In the upcoming monthly posts, I’m going not only to present the profiles of my thriller cast, I want to share how they got to be who they are.
IN THE BEGINNING…
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Me – I need to create make-believable characters. Not as hard, one would think, as I only had to personify the traits from which each player operated. These would be traits I wanted to exploit or explore. And, while I wasn’t going literally to breathe them into the physical world, I knew that I had to make them real.
RITA MARS
If I told you that I am not a part of Rita Mars, you’d know I was full of it. I think of each book’s protagonist as a construct incorporating the author’s view point, a bit of the author’s personality, hunks of author ideology and her larger-than-life response to the main character’s challenges. In thrillers and mysteries, we get to be the protagonist as hero in the end. (Of course, I love this bit!).
Where did Rita Mars come from?
This author has been a rebellious sort forever. I was the bane of my mother’s social senses. I spent a good deal of my youth protesting wars and racism and hate in general. Rita, therefore, is that woman who will charge like the Light Brigade if she believes in the cause. She views people in high places as simply another human who puts their underwear on same as everyone else. Rita speaks her mind and sometimes gets away with it and sometimes she doesn’t. She’s just not going to stop speaking out when she disagrees. Rita will always let the chips fall . . ..
In my career of developing law enforcement and security applications, I had the most instructive education ever in work with federal agencies as well as local authorities. I was honored to work with people who were dedicated. They were smart. They understood the stakes.
I soaked up the war stories from these men and women. They taught me the nuances of surveillance. They recounted the cases that haunted them, the murders, the disappearances, the deaths they could not prevent. Theirs was a passion for holding the line. The toll it took in broken families and splintered relationships could be enormous. Nonetheless, they believed in their mission and they carried their grief and fear in silence. Their stories are part of Rita’s.
Her father had been one of those whose beliefs carried him into the Viet Nam war. It was not the fear of battle that shattered his sense of place in the universe, it was the disillusion borne of his awakening to the savage stupidity of war and the absurd idea that we must coerce everyone to our personal projection of what is right. In the end Robert Mars released himself from his loss of faith. The blow from that escape left Rita Mars clear-eyed about the evils of judgement. It also engendered a stance to keep that small, vulnerable flame of self-belief guarded; to shun intimacy and embrace emotional armor.
The last I’ll say about Rita – it is the wall of self-preservation that hampers Rita’s attachments. While not a battlefield veteran, she’s witnessed the ugliness of betrayal, the infinite appetite of greed, the foundational loss of those we have loved. Underneath her willingness to step into the cage, Rita Mars harbors the belief in a just world and that she will forever nurture the internal spark of that belief against what may come.
In psych thrillers, it’s always a dark and stormy night. As thriller readers, we love that brush with evil, that threat that cannot touch us. We’re safe from the likes of a Hannibal Lecter, but boy, do we love the intrigue, the danger and suspense. Since March is definitively the “Madness” month, I offer you some of the best of the self-published psychological thrillers that will make the hair on your neck stand up and deliver the chills we crave!
It’s February, and groundhogs aside, the fame of this month belongs to Cupids, heart-shaped boxes of cheap chocolate and flowers scooped up at the last minute from the grocery. So, what the heck do those things have to do with books, you ask?
I couldn’t make that leap so I decided to have a little imaginative fun – and very stingy on the imaginative, I might add. I’m an author I said to myself. Use your writer brain. What would a valentine from Romeo to Juliet say or Cleo to Antony? I squandered quality writing time concocting Valentines that some of fiction’s best loved lovers might have sent to their object of affection.
Authors are choosing more often to self publish. A key indicator in 2024 trends is the uptick in self publishing which outstripped traditional publishing for the first time. This self publishing market is experiencing a 17% annual growth rate. Compare that to the 1% growth rate of the traditional publishing market.
Even The Pulitzer Prize and British Book Awards are now open to self published books. Sorry, The New York Times bestseller list still requires a traditional publishing process. But for us, the serious self publishing authors, this means there are far more opportunities for recognition.
I was initially dismayed by the amount of work in the more interactive process of book cover math, developmental and format editing and the sheer enormity of how to tackle social media marketing. Nonetheless, the upside of self publishing vs traditional publishing has definite advantages. For instance, self publishing is far faster and easier. Self published authors also score a much bigger chunk of the book royalties. According to the Alliance of Independent Authors, more than 2,000 authors earned over $100,000 in royalties in 2022 and the earnings continue to increase!
Corporate conglomerates are not the exclusive source of good storytelling and great reads. As we start another year of authoring and book marketing, I chose three self published selections to share with you and hope you’ll read at least one. They stood out from the long list of bestselling self published books 0f 2024.
Chicago surgeon Emily Hartford has never quite shaken off the dust of her hometown in Michigan. She may be a professional success and have a princely boyfriend in the Windy City, but she can’t seem to let go of being “the coroner’s daughter” from Freeport.
She finds herself pulled back to her hometown when Jeremiah—the eleven-year-old son of her best friend, Jo—goes missing on the frigid shores of Lake Michigan. Emily solidifies her role as the coroner’s daughter when she puzzles out a madman’s chilling machinations. Risking everything dear to her, Emily is determined to go the icy distance and end his killing spree.
My Take: This book was my favorite – good suspense and chilling insight into a maniacal criminal mind.
FBI Agent Ella Dark, 29, is given her big chance to achieve her life’s dream: to join the Behavioral Crimes Unit. Ella’s hidden obsession of gaining an encyclopedic knowledge of serial killers has led to her being singled out for her brilliant mind, and invited to join the big leagues.
Ella finds herself in a cat and mouse chase with no way out, and she must wonder if she is hunting—or the one who is hunted….
My Take: If you love the hairpin turns in a life-threatening crime chase, you are going to find it here! Girl Unseen is book #23 in a series by bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose book, Once Gone has received over 20,000 five-star reviews and ratings.
The Longest Goodbye is the ninth in Hannah’s UK series featuring DCI Kate Daniels. Kate tackles a complex case while navigating an on-again, off-again relationship with criminal profiler Jo Soulsby. Three years prior, Kate investigated the murder of a police officer but the perpetrators were never brought to justice. Now, the suspects have been murdered. Seeking resolution will force Kate to confront her mistakes in the original investigation and put her career and her team’s lives on the line.
My Take: Nobody has better Crime Fiction than the Brits! Witness the popularity of Veraand Shetland – both stellar tv series. Mari Hannah’s work is now under development for UK television and streaming. You don’t want to miss this one.
Valerie Webster spent a career in law enforcement and national security technologies. She is the author of the Rita Mars Thriller series: Driven and Objects of Desire. Book three, The Book of Revelation is due out in the fall of 2025.
Valerie Webster and Driven: A Rita Mars Thriller in the spotlight via Author of the Day interview.
Make your next book club event an author event with a writer who’s lived the cases, developed the crime fighting technologies. Contact Valerie Webster today.
