The first time my wife and I visited Italy, we went to Florence and Tuscany. To say it was among the best vacations we ever took would be like saying espresso is mildly stimulating. There was so much to see and appreciate. The Uffizi Galleries. Michelangelo’s 17-foot marble statue of The David. The Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Ponte Vecchio. The food. The wine. The Italian people, so warm and welcoming. Every day was a feast for the senses and the soul—and none more so than in the realization that Florence was where the Renaissance was born, propelling humanity from the dark depths of the Late Middle Ages into the bright light of progressive thought. To walk the same narrow, cobblestone streets where Michelangelo, DaVinci, and Galileo once strolled was to be profoundly moved. And so, last summer, we decided to go back to Italy. This time, it was to the lake region of northern Italy, in the foothills of the Alps.
Many Americans who vacation in that part of the world tend to gravitate toward swanky Lake Como, where many celebrities own or have owned villas, from George Clooney and Madonna, to Richard Branson and Sylvester Stallone. We, however, were looking for something less glitzy and quieter, more relaxing. I’m pleased to say we found it. After spending a few spectacular days in Milan, where I nearly ate my weight in risotto (I love risotto, and I don’t even really know what it’s made from!), we rented a car and hit the road. Several hours later, having barely survived tailgating Italian motorists and approximately three thousand roundabouts (those of you who’ve driven in Italy will know what I’m talking about), we arrived at Lake Orta and the exquisitely charming village of Orta San Giulio.
Which brings me to the subject of murder mysteries.
When I sit down to write a new Cordell Logan mystery, it’s with the aspiration that readers will suspend their disbelief, that they’ll happily escape the challenges of their own lives and ride along with Logan as he goes after the bad guys in the Ruptured Duck, his beloved, aging Cessna 172. To achieve that objective, I’m obligated to craft in my prose a fictional world that resonates so credibly, it becomes all but impossible for the reader to distinguish what is fact-based and that which I’ve conjured from thin air. For me, anyway, it’s a lot easier to spin believable fiction that’s based, however loosely, on what I’ve seen or experienced first-hand. I suspect the same is true for most writers. You can spend months in a library or online, researching what it’s like, for example, to work for the CIA, but chances are you’ll never achieve the kind of persuasive believability that an experienced case officer might in telling a similar story. This is one of the fundamental lessons I strive to impart upon my students in the creative writing courses I teach at Harvard University’s Extension School:
Write from a position of authority to help maintain the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Everyone has an expertise in something. Write what you know.
Which brings me back to Orta San Giulio.
Rarely have I visited anywhere so beautiful–and so beautifully suited for a murder mystery. Honestly, I found it all but impossible to remain in tourist mode as we ate (more risotto!), drank, and shopped our way through the village, hiked the lushly wooded hills above it, or simply sat on the balcony of our B&B with a bottle of chianti, gazing out at the spectacular lakeside view. Call me crazy, but it was the tranquility of the place that screamed mayhem. We were there five glorious days. By the time we headed home, I’d already laid out the fundamental plot for a new Logan who-done-it.
I am now in the process of editing a second draft of that book. I’m calling it The Impossible Turn—an entedre that will covey a particular significance for my fellow pilots. Revisions aplenty still remain, but the manuscript is definitely coming along. And you can be assured that when it is finally finished, Orta San Giulio will be a big part of it.
Meanwhile, things are moving full speed ahead on the release of the seventh installment in the Logan series—Deep Fury. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon in various formats including Audible Audiobook (with the great Ray Porter narrating), and debuts Dec. 17th.
I hope you’ll mark your calendars.